Chapter 1
Aiden and Cassidy Jones, two Black and Puerto Rican mixed twins from Los Santos. Their life hasn't been easy by any means of the word. Orphaned at the age of 3, they couldn't even remember the faces of their own parents. They were "raised", if you could even call it that, in an abusive foster home that felt more like a prison than a home, all they could ever truly count on in their lives was each other. And that was all they needed. Sure they would argue sometimes and occasionally throw punches, but they still wouldn't want to be anywhere without the other.
Around the age of 16 they decided enough was enough, they packed their bags with what few personal items they had and ran away from their current foster home to live their own lives. Of course, they hadn't exactly planned for how difficult it would be to get by without any money, or shelter, or food, pretty much everything that was needed to survive, they did not have.
One night as Aiden was shuffling through the city looking for something that he and his sister could eat he saw a man shambling out of an alleyway blood dripping from a gunshot wound in his abdomen. Normally he would try to stay out of the spotlight and not draw too much attention, but something compelled him to go over to the troubled man and see if he could help.
"Yo dude, you need some help?" Aiden called out moving cautiously towards the injured man.
The mysterious man was dressed in a black hoodie with the hood up and matching black pants and boots. He looked up at the sound of the voice before dropping to his knees from exhaustion and injury.
"Aw shit, hold up amigo I got you, I'll get you to a hospital." Aiden said, rushing over to the man and helping him stand.
"No! No hospitals, just get me to my car it's over there." He pointed to an all black Lampadati Felon luxury car across the street.
"You sure man? I really think-"
"YES I'M SURE! Ah shit… look... take these keys and drive. I gotta get back to my boss, he'll make sure I'm patched up and shit and I won't need to deal with the hospital sticking their nose into my business and getting the cops involved." The man said through gritted teeth and pained breaths.
Aiden wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into but he knew it was too late to back out now. He helped the man into passenger seat before getting behind the steering wheel. "I know this might be a bad time to mention this, but I don't exactly know how to drive." He said with a nervous chuckle. It's kinda hard to learn how to drive when you're living on the street.
The hooded man cursed under his breath and let out a frustrated sigh. "Shit how old are you anyway?"
"Seventeen. Me and my sister kinda ran away from our foster home before we could get driving lessons. Just tell me how to get it moving and I'll figure out the rest."
"I guess I ain't really got a choice huh? Alright, you see that stick right there? Push it to the D for drive then put your foot down on the pedal on the right."
"Alright no problem, this ain't so har-OOOH SHIIIIT!!" Aiden yelled in surprise as the car took off down the street tires squealing. The car was clearly tricked out to some degree because it hit 60 mph in no time.
"Dammit kid, easy on the gas! I'm already dying from a gunshot wound I ain't tryin to speed up the process by slamming into a wall!"
Aiden lifted his foot slightly off the pedal the car gradually losing speed until it reached a steady 30mph. "Ok that's better." Aiden chuckled. "You really tricked this thing out huh? Goes zero to a hundred real fuckin quick. Haha." Upon seeing how the guy was clearly not in a laughing mood Aiden wiped the smirk off his face and continued driving in awkward silence. A few cringe worthy seconds later he cleared his throat and asked, "So where exactly are we going?"
"I set a waypoint on the GPS. Just listen to the sexy robot chick and we'll be there in no time. The boss works out of a penthouse off Eclipse Boulevard. Just drive up to the garage and I'll handle the rest."
"Cool… but uh, real quick you mind if I go and pick up my sister real fast? I don't wanna leave her alone too long." He asked uneasily. He had been gone for quite awhile and he was sure Cassidy was beginning to wonder where he was.
"The fuck? I'm bleeding out here and you wanna waste time picking up some little girl?" The man asked bewildered. This kid needed to get his priorities straight. Then again he was homeless and his sister was probably huddled up by some fire trying to keep warm with no roof over her head and fuck all to eat, so maybe his priorities were just fine. He let out a deep sigh before conceding to his request. "Fine, just be quick, if I die I swear to shit I'll haunt you till the end of your fucking life."
"You got yourself a deal. Besides it's not that far, we live under the bridge in Davis near the Ammu Nation." Aiden turned the car around and traveled back to him and his sister's little hidey hole, knowing how to get there from memory. Once he reached his destination he looked to his new criminal companion and told him he'll be right back. Leaving the keys in the ignition he headed into the shanty town of makeshift houses to grab his sister.
"Yo Cass!" He called out into the campsite, not feeling like walking all the way to their designated cardboard box. Instead of the young voice of his sister, he heard the nasally voice of an old man, "Quiet ya little brat! Some of us are tryin' to sleep here!" a haggard old man shouted back from his "comfy" cardboard box.
"Shut the fuck up ya old bastard!" Cass yelled kicking the man's box to further emphasize her point. "Aiden? Where the hell you been bro?" She looked him up and down eyes widening in shock as she noticed the blood on his shirt. "Holy shit you're bleeding! What the fuck happened?" She asked worriedly, trying to lift his shirt to get a look at the wound.
Smacking her hands away he explained, "Chill out it ain't my blood. I'll explain in the car let's go." He turned around and headed back towards the aforementioned vehicle.
"Car? What car? We don't have a car." She blurted out in confusion following behind him.
Aiden reached the car and opened the back seat for Cassidy to get in. She crawled in and promptly screeched in panic at the bloody man sitting in the passenger's seat. "Jesus fuck, Cass calm down he's not dead… wait you aren't dead right?"
The man groaned in pain, coughing up a little blood. "Not yet dipshit, I am a little deaf thanks to Mariah Carey back there. Now can we please get a move on." He demanded more than asked. Aiden took the hint and pulled off following the instructions of the GPS lady.
"Oook, Aiden you need to explain this right fuckin now! Who is this guy? Why the fuck is he bleeding? And what do you have to do with this?" She blurted the words out in a rapid and barely comprehensible mess of vowels and syllables.
"Is she always like this?" Mystery man asked sarcastically.
"Not really, she just doesn't like surprises or sharing cars with a slowly dying man headed toward fuck knows where in the middle of the night. Y'know normal stuff like that." He said with a sly smile earning a chuckle from the bleeding man.
"'She' is also sitting right here and can be spoken to directly." Cass said with annoyance clear in her voice. "Look I don't really give a shit what you do in your spare time Aiden, as long as it's bringing in money. But seeing as we barely have enough cash for a bag of chips at the corner store, I would love to know what the fuck is going on."
"I was gonna tell you if I could get a second to speak." Seeing the look of impatience on his sister's features via the rear view mirror he continued. "Thank you. Now, FY your information-"
"'FY your information'? Who the fuck says that." The hooded man queried from his seat.
"I say that, hood guy. I say that. Don't make me pull this car over and leave you to your own devices." The teen threatened.
"Alright, Jeez. Just asking."
"Ahem, your explanation brother dearest? Anytime now." Cassidy requested from the backseat.
"Quit cutting me off and I'll get to it assholes!... Jesus Fuckin Christ, as I was saying I'm not into any criminal shit ok. I was walking through the city and I see this guy," he gestured to the bleeding man on his right, "stumbling out of an alley so I went and gave him a hand. He tells me he can't go to the hospital, he needs to go back to his boss. So I'm like fuck it why not. We get in, he explains to me how to get the car moving and where we need to go, I tell him I gotta pick you up, we do that and badda bing badda boom here we are… Happy now?" He says with an annoyed sigh.
"Hmm… yea whatever, I guess that's good enough." Cassidy said, disgruntledly.
"Nothing pleases you woman." Aiden said with a frown. A few silent moments pass before Cass breaks the silence asking, "So hoodie dude, you got a name?"
"I think "hoodie dude" will do just fine for right now." He said, brushing off the attempt to learn more about him.
"You tellin me that while we're going through all the trouble of saving your life you can't even tell us your name? What the fuck type shit is that?" Cassidy was not happy to say the least.
"Yea that about sums it up sweetheart, I guess I'm just nice like that. Look we ain't friends, or acquaintances, or anything resembling any kind of closer relationship than three random strangers sharing a car, got it? So you'll have to forgive me if I don't feel like sharing my backstory with a pair of homeless kids!" He yelled at the end causing him to cough up more blood. He rolled down the window and spit out of it.
"I don't give a tap dancin' fuck about your backstory fuckstick! All I asked for was a goddamn name to associate with your butt ugly face, but since you wanna be such a prickly little bitch about it never the fuck mind!" She yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration before slouching back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest and an angry scowl on her face.
Aiden decided to just sit back and let the whole scene play out, not really feeling like escalating the situation. He continued to drive, following the orders given by the soothing feminine voice of the GPS. "You have reached your destination." Aiden heard as he pulled up in front of a tall building that apparently housed the hooded man's boss. "Ayo we here, what now?" Aiden said to the unknown man.
cough cough* "Drive up to the garage door." Aiden did as told and once there a voice from the speaker on the wall said, "Who is it?"
"Open the door Tommy, it's Austin." The hood guy, now revealed as "Austin" said through gritted teeth.
"Austin? Holy shit man, we were starting to think you were dead."
"I will be if you don't OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!!"
"Alright calm the fuck down." Tommy said defensively. A moment later the garage door lifted up allowing the trio to enter.
"So that's your name huh?" Cass said smugly with a shit eating grin on her face.
"Oh screw you." Austin said to the teen.
Aiden drove slowly down the wide rounding driveway into the underground parking garage. His and Cassidy's eyes widened at the vast display of expensive looking cars, there were dozens of vehicles of all different classes, shapes, sizes, and colors, it seemed like it would never end.
"Holy shit, are all of these your boss's?" Aiden asked in astonishment.
"Kinda they belong to the members but the boss can drive whichever one he wants. Hey stop here." Austin opened the door and got out of the car, barely managing to stand all the way up before he started falling. Cass, who had got out of the car on the same side as Austin, caught him before he could hit the ground. "I shoulda let your angry ass break your nose on the ground. You're lucky I'm nice." Cass said grunting as she supported his weight. "Yo Aiden, a little help here this dude is heavy."
"Yea I got you." He draped Austin's left arm over his shoulder and help Cassidy guide him. Three men approached the trio. Two of them grabbed hold of Austin and carried him away, while the third stopped to talk to the twins.
Judging by the way he carried himself Aiden could tell he was someone of importance in the gang, his confidence was immediately apparent and the charming grin he wore on his thinly bearded face only added to that assumption.
"How's it shakin?" He said with a wide smile. "The name's Will, I gotta say we appreciate you bringing Austin back, that guys one of the best members we got here. Even if he can be a dick at times."
"At times? I've known him for like 20 minutes and he's pissed me off more than anyone I've ever met." Cass said with a frown.
"Haha, yea he has a real talent for pissing people off, but he's not so bad once you get to know him. So anyway, now that you know me, how bout I learn a little about you two, what are your names?" He said with the same goofy grin on his face. His happy go lucky personality really made Aiden just want to punch him in his mouth. What the fuck was he so happy for? One of his friends just taken half dead. Surely that should sour his mood a bit. He was so focused on his musings that he visibly jumped when a gloved hand waved in front of his face.
"Hello~ anyone home in there?" Will said in a sing song voice trying get Aiden's attention.
"Huh? What?" Aiden said having snapped out of it.
"Cassidy here told me her name, now I'm just waiting on yours."
"Oh right, it's Aiden. Aiden Jones, me and Cass are twins. So uh, what exactly is all this? Austin didn't tell us a whole lot just that he needed to see the boss and that these cars belong to members of the gang. Hell he didn't even wanna tell us his name."
"Oh right, speaking of the boss, I'm sure he'll want to meet the people that brought home one of his top dogs. Just give me a second while I call him up." Will pulled out his phone, speed dialing the boss and stepped a few feet away.
"Thanks for answering my question." Will sighed.
Cass turned to her brother and smacked him on the shoulder earning a "what the fuck" from her other half. "Bro this is exactly what we need. Think of all the money we could make if we work with these guys, goodbye cardboard box, hello air conditioned penthouse and soft silk sheets." She said raising her hands to the sky in excitement.
"Ok first off, ow that wasn't necessary. Second," he punched his sister hard in the shoulder getting a cry of "aww fuck" from the girl. "And third you're right, but first we gotta put in a good first impression with the boss. If that goes well then maybe they'll let us in. Ow shit!" Aiden shouted in surprise as his sister's fist connected with his jaw. "Quit fuckin hitting me asshole."
"Then don't fuckin hit me fuckass." She spat back at him.
"You know what, fuck you." He threw a punch into her stomach, she rolled with it and threw a right hook at his face that he ducked under but he couldn't get out of the way of the elbow that she brought back at him. He stumbled back before running head long and tackling her to the ground throwing body shots into her side, she flipped him off of her with her legs and rolled on top of him and landed two blows to his face.
"Hey woah woah guys, chill out, what the hell happened? I turn around for two seconds and you're trying to kill each other." Will called to the twins causing them to look up at him.
Cassidy begrudgingly got off of her brother, but not before giving him a quick kick in the side.
"Asshole." Aiden muttered under his breath.
"You say somethin' numb nuts?" Cass said cupping her ear.
"Ahem… ASSSSSHOOOOLE!!" He yelled into her ear, causing her to recoil from the assault on her ear drums. Aiden had a smug grin that went from ear to ear.
"You little…" She raised a fist ready to strike her brother but was cut off by Will speaking up again.
"Ok people let's take a step back and relax ok. The boss is right upstairs, let's all gather our senses and go and meet him. Ok?" He said trying to calm situation down.
"Hmph fine…" Cassidy mumbled crossing her arms.
Aiden, feeling like the cat who ate the canary, strode forward past Will, "Onward me amigo. Let's not keep the boss waiting." He strolled toward the elevator followed by a chuckling Will and a pissed off Cassidy.
In the penthouse
"And here we are." Will said, grinning enthusiastically, "The boss is right down there and through that door." Will waited for them to exit the elevator before pressing the button to go back down to the garage.
They stepped through a door and instantly they were blown away, the penthouse was like nothing they had ever seen before. It had a purple and white royalish theme to it. Purple walls, white ceiling, a smooth wooden floor. To say they looked out of place was a major understatement.
The view from the massive window was breathtaking. When you're this high up Los Santos looks like a concrete paradise, especially at night. Del Perro Pier was lit up and was easily the biggest eye catcher, with its vibrant colors and amusement rides, but there were so many other things to see and honestly they could have stood there and took in the view all night.
They looked to their right and saw the massive flat screen HDTV with two large speakers on either side of it. It was currently playing some random show with soldiers in green armor saying some very controversial things to an alien.
To the left there was a set of stairs leading up to what was presumably the bedroom. Walking down said stairs was a man of Hispanic descent, the twins could only see from the side but they could tell just by the way he moved that this man was not someone who should be fucked with. His very presence commanded attention and respect. He oozed power and when his gaze fell upon them it was like a heavy weight was strapped to their back.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you not to stare?" The man said as he came down the stairs. "So you two are the ones who brought home Austin?" He eyed the twins taking in their appearance. They looked dingy to say the least, dirty all over them, rips in their clothes and Aiden's shirt was covered in Austin's dried up blood.
The twins shifted under the man's gaze, his piercing eyes making them feel uneasy. "Anyway, my name's Boston Rodriguez, but everyone calls me Boss. I'm the head of "Angels Inc." or 'Los Angeles.' In case you couldn't guess it, the name is Spanish for The Angels. So anyway what are your names?"
"I'm Aiden and she's Cassidy, we're twins." Aiden spoke up first, opting to take point in the conversation, seeing as he was the more mature twin.
"Twins? I figured as much, you look alike. Y'know I gotta say you two look like shit, seriously." He chuckled. "Ok check this out, there's a shower upstairs one of you go and clean yourself up and I'll talk to the other. Deal?" He proposed.
Aiden and Cassidy shared a look at each other before Cass shrugged and headed up the stairs. "I guess it's just me and you for now boss man." Aiden said looking back at the man after he watched his sister reach the top of the stairs and disappear around the corner.
"Sure looks like it kid." He walked over to the couch, beckoning the male twin to follow. "So tell me, Aiden, what's your story? What are you two doing living on the street?"
Aiden let out a tired sigh, "It's kind of a long story, but not really there are just a lot of small details that aren't really important but... I'm rambling aren't I?" He asked embarrassed, looking towards the ground.
Boss chuckled heartily. "It's no problem kid, you're a thinker. That's good, it lets you process things better than most people. Just skim through the story tell me the most relevant parts."
"Uh ok… so me and Cass were really little when our parents died, like 3 years old I think. So… DHS put us in a foster home, maybe they thought they were helping us or maybe they just didn't give a fuck, who knows. Right off the bat it was clear that they didn't care for us like they did their own family, they would abuse us, make us sleep outside, barely feed us. The shit was horrible. We tried to stay out of the house as often as possible, sometimes staying over a friends house, and sometimes we just slept in a park or something. For thirteen years we lived like that, being treated like less than human, so around last year, soon to be two years, we ran away. Packed up what few personal items we had and just left in the night, we figured we could take care of ourselves better than any bullshit foster parent could. I'm not gonna say we were wrong but, as you can see by our clothes, this whole "independent" shtick ain't easy. Fast forward through all the hunger and cold and sadness, and it brings us to this very moment." Aiden said, his face completely blank and void of emotion as he retold the events of he and his sister's lives.
Boston sat silently for a few moments taking in what he heard. "Damn kid, that's… that's fucked up. But y'know at least you can remember your life, I don't remember anything before about… I don't know, nineteen years ago. All I know is I woke up in some house in the desert where this lady was taking care of me. She said I got shot in the head or whatever. I couldn't remember a damn thing about my life, not my name, not my address, I couldn't even remember my favorite fucking song. I don't even know how old I am kid, I just go by the years since I woke up, I'm only nineteen as far I'm concerned."
"Lemme guess, with no memory and no money you decided to start a criminal career right?" Aiden said sarcastically.
"Hit the nail on the head with that one." Boston chuckled, "I met this guy Vincent a few months after I woke up. He was real big time, at least bigger than what I was doin' at the time, he decides to take me under his wing, teach me how the world works." He reached over for his bottle of soda, (he tried not to drink too much alcohol), he poured himself and Aiden a glass. After taking a sip he says, "Next thing I know I'm selling drugs, running guns, robbing banks, my whole life turned into one big action movie for the next 8 years! The money's flowing in like a fuckin tsunami and I'm thinking, 'I owe it all to Vince.'" The smile he had on his face while retelling the events disappeared, replaced by a look of sorrow. "Then one day, he was gone. Shot down by one of the other gangs. But man did he go out with a bang, haha! Took out a bunch of those assholes before they got the better of him... While he's shooting he calls me up, tells me I'm the new boss, that I gotta 'Keep the dream afloat and make sure nobody forgets what we built.' I hear the gunshots in the background and I put two and two together quick and I'm already out the door. I'm following the signal on his phone, tryna get to him before it's too late."
"I finally make it to where shits going down and I see this crazy mothafucka standing on the broken billboard at the top of that parking lot on 'Peaceful Street.' How's that for irony eh? He's standing up there with two Assault Rifles in his hands, one gold, one purple, and he's just emptying into these mothafuckas like fuckin Rambo. I'm racing my way up to the top floor ready to jump out and take those cocksuckers down, when I hear an explosion and I see his body come crashing down into the ground. I jump out the car and run over to the side I saw him fall from, and damn he was fucked up. I ran over to him but I could already tell it wasn't shit I could do." He went silent for a second, his head hung low and a blank stare on his face.
After a slow exhale he continued his story. "8 years of hard work, of bloodshed and broken bones, we had fought and clawed our way to where we stood and now it was just me. So, I did the only thing I could think of I grabbed his guns and went back up to finish the job. And finish it I did, I started with all the bastards at the parking lot and I didn't stop until every last son of a bitch in that gang was dead. Shit was personal, every stronghold I hit up I did it by myself. By the time I was done anybody who had a problem with me runnin shit, quickly changed their mind, and every other gang knew to stay on my good side."
Aiden had been sitting back quietly listening to Boston's rise to power and he had to admit he was more than a little intimidated. It takes a serious badass to bring down an entire criminal organization by himself, and this man was definitely a badass. "Holy shit… you're a fuckin one man army, like like that dude from the 60s in New Bordeaux. Do you still go out and handle business on your own?" Aiden asked fanboying out.
"All the time, I hate being cooped up inside. I run jobs for some of our contacts and when we ship out our products I'm always there making sure shit goes smoothly. Shit most of the time I'm the one being told what to do instead of the other way around. That don't change the fact that I'm the boss though." He smirked and sipped his drink.
"That's fucking epic. So anyway listen, me and Cass were talking and we were wondering if maybe there was a spot for us in the gang, we been living on the street and now we see a chance to change all that up, y'know?" Aiden was hoping to all hope that Boston would agree, he really didn't want to spend another night in that fucking cardboard box.
"How old are you two?" Boston asked with a contemplative look on his face.
"We're seventeen but we turn eighteen next week. Age isn't a problem I assure you, we'll work hard to prove that we're worth the trouble." He bargained, hoping to do away with any doubts Boston might have before he could even say them.
After a few moments of excruciating suspense Boston said with a shrug, "Fuck it, why not? I'll give you a chance. But do not make me regret it." He said, the threat evident in his last statement.
Aiden sighed a breath of relief, "Believe me, you won't regret it for a second." The two shook hands and sat back on the sofa until Cassidy returned from her shower.
