A/N: kind of slightly drunk when I wrote most of this.

It was dark. Her arms were touching something cold. She groaned, and lifted up her head. Blinking blearily, all she could see was white. There was a pool of water in front of her face.

She groaned, and pushed herself back. She was hugging the goddamn toilet. She almost retched again, just looking at it.

Someone was pounding on her front door. That must have woken her up. She pushed herself to her feet, and stumbled to the door. She held onto the walls to keep her balance,her feet scuffing on the worn carpet. Her head was pounding, and each step she took seemed to make her feel more like throwing up.

She cracked the door open, and stumbled back when it was pushed in towards her forcefully. It was only then that realised that all she was wearing was an old singlet and a pair of black panties that were just a little too big for her. Despite this, she couldn't really bring herself to care.

"Wow," said Johnny." You okay? You look like shit."

She leaned against the wall. "I wanna die," she slurred. "Just wanna die. Are we gonna have to have a fight? Because I might spew on you."

Johnny shrugged. "Nah," he said, lightly. "Guess it was kind of an offensive question."

Dex took a step forward. She hadn't noticed him standing there. "Look, Kate, something's-" He broke off. "Shit, you really don't look good."

"Eat a dick," she moaned. "Are you assholes here for a reason or can I go back to sleeping into the toilet?"

"Yeah, we're here for a reason," said Johnny. "Cops picked up Julius."

"Fucking serious?" she asked, blinking into the light. "Picked up for what?"

"We don't know," said Dex. "He was calling me about you. He had to hang up. Nothing since."

"Me?" she repeated. "What'd he say about me?"

"He said that he trusts you. And that we're gonna need you."

"Need me to do what?" she asked.

Dex looked away, frustrated. "We don't fuckin' know," he said. "We don't know where he is."

"We need to show those fucks that we're not just gonna take this shit," said Johnny.

"And how you wanna do that?" asked Dex, flatly.

"Well, where they gonna be keeping him?" asked Johnny. "Police station? Let's go bust him out."

"We don't know if he's there," said Dex, irritably. "He's probably not. Way too obvious."

"Well let's fuck something up, then. Something big."

"We are not blowing up City Hall," said Dex. "Seriously. I'm shutting that down right now."

"God fucking damn it, " said Johnny. "The fuck do we do then? Wait them out?"

"I doubt they'll leave us hanging for long," said Dex grimly.

"This is fucking bullshit," said Johnny.

"Can you guys excuse me for a minute?" asked Kate. "I am actually going to have to go throw up."

She retreated into the bathroom. She left the door open and collapsed on the cold linoleum.

She heard Johnny's voice through the thin wall, from the front door. "Troy isn't here, is he?"

She groaned. "No," she called. "Why the fuck would he be here?"

"We can't get hold of him."

"I don't care," she moaned.

"Hey."

She looked up to see Dex in the doorway.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Come to the church. We need to think about this some more."

"But it's bright outside," she complained. "And loud. And it smells bad."

"Honestly," said Dex. "It doesn't smell much worse out there than it does in here."

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Fair point."

"We'll smoke you out," he continued. "It'll make you feel better."

"I don't feel like that would really be conducive to making good plans," she said.

He shrugged. "Probably stop you throwing up, though."

"That is," she said, "actually really nice of you. Let me, um. Find some clothes or something."

"Yeah, no problem," he said. "See you there."

The sun was uncomfortably warm on her clammy skin as she walked to the church. She was wearing the darkest pair of sunglasses she could find, and a baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes.

"You in disguise or something?" asked Johnny as she stumbled into the church, one hand on the wall for support.

She couldn't think of a comeback, so she ignored it. "Any news?" she asked.

"Not yet," said Dex, passing her a tightly rolled joint. "You go easy on that now, too much'll make you feel worse."

She took it gratefully and sat down on one of the two unbroken pews left in the church. She closed her eyes as the smoke filled her lungs.

"Okay," she said, smoke escaping through her mouth. "So. What were we going to talk about?"

Dex sat down next to her. Johnny remained standing in front of both of them.

"What we do when we get a call," said Dex. "What they want. Who they're representing."

"What do they want him for?" asked Johnny. "I mean, they're not going to ask for a fucking ransom."

Dex frowned. "Yeah," he said. "That's right. Seems more like they'll want something else from us. Maybe they want us to do something."

"I'm not doing bitch work for the cops," said Johnny. "No fuckin' way."

"They could want our connections," offered Kate. She took another drag on the joint and then passed it back to Dex. "Colombians gotta be valuable."

"You think they'd kidnap Julius to ask for a fuckin' introduction?" asked Johnny. "Seems like a lot of effort to go to."

"Can we habias corpus them?" asked Kate.

"What?" asked Johnny.

Dex had become very still, the joint in his hand turning into ash. He leaned forward, one eyebrow raised. "We - could," he said. "Though I think they realize they're holding him illegally so won't acknowledge it." He paused, frowning. "And they'd probably take it as us trying to fuck with them. Could end badly."

"What are you even talking about?" asked Johnny.

"Oh," said Kate. "It means like, 'show us the body'."

"I'm not liking where this is going," Johnny replied.

"Nah, it just means they have to justify holding him," said Dex. "No actual body involved. Hopefully."

"You think we should call a lawyer?" asked Kate. "I know a couple."

"Like Legal Lee?" said Dex. "Let's hold off for now. Anyway, you go to college? Didn't know that."

"Uh, for like a semester," said Kate. "Not enough to count."

"Still," said Dex. "You-"

They fell into silence as the tinny ringtone of Kate's mobile phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket and stared at it for a moment.

"Answer it," hissed Dex.

She looked at him uncertainly, then tapped the answer button.

"Hello?" she said.

"Good afternoon," she heard.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Straight to the point. I like that."

She shared a wary glance with Dex and Johnny.

"This is Chief Monroe. Your friend is safe - for now."

"You still haven't said what you want," she said.

"Clever girl." His voice was dripping with condescension. "Let me explain: I need Marshall Winslow out of the way. You are to park his bus on the northbound train tracks in thirty minutes. Do you understand?"

"Winslow?" asked Kate. "I was going to vote for that guy."

"You were going to vote?" asked Johnny.

"I'd remember to tell him to use that in his next campaign advertisement," said Monroe. "'Mayor Winslow: Number one choice of Stilwater gang members'. Except there's not going to be a next campaign advertisement. I'm sure you understand."

"But-" Kate began.

"You're wasting time," he replied. "If you fail in this task - well, you'll find your Julius' body tomorrow. Don't be late. You won't have a second chance." The line went dead.

Kate looked at the others, her eyes wide. "Seriously?" she asked.

"We don't have a fuckin' choice," said Johnny.

"This just feels bad," she said.

Dex closed his eyes. "Johnny's right," he said, quietly. "We got a choice, Julius or Winslow."

"And we don't even fucking know this Winslow guy," added Johnny.

"God damn it," said Kate, pressing a hand to her eyes. "I don't want in. This is fucked up."

"We need you as a ride-along," said Dex. "You can't just decide when you want to be in the Saints and when you don't. You have to come."

She blinked. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah. Okay."

She followed the others out to the car, and sat quietly in the back as they started to drive, lulled by the purr of the motor - and the weed, probably - into a half-sleep.

She was startled when Johnny, sitting in the front passenger seat, leaned forwards. "There," he said.

The bus was guarded closely by two FBI vehicles, one front and one behind.

Dex threw the car into a spin, coming to a halt in front of the first FBI van. The three of them jumped out of the car, weaving past the confused law enforcement officers, and jumped onto the bus.

"What are you doing here?"

Kate turned her head towards the voice. The mayor, Marshall Winslow, was sitting next to a staffer, looking up at her with alarm. She froze.

"We're taking you on a scenic tour," said Johnny, aiming his shotgun at the mayor.

"You're from Saints Row?" Winslow asked, quietly. "So was I. Born and raised."

Kate couldn't look, and turned around to watch Dex's driving. He was navigating the bus around a barricade of police cars. Sirens filled her ears.

"You can just walk away," the mayor continued. "You don't have to do this. This isn't the way forward."

Kate pressed a hand to her lips, her back stiff as she refused to look back. Her stomach felt like it was in one big knot.

"What's really going on here?" asked Winslow.

The bus bumped gently as the tyres rolled over the train tracks.

"Well, this is our stop," said Johnny. "Thanks for the ride."

Dex grabbed her arm as he leapt out of the driver's seat, dragging her out of the bus. She stumbled down the steps after him. The blare of the train's horn was almost deafening as it closed in, but the noise was nothing compared to the crashing shriek of twisting metal and breaking glass as the train hit the bus.

She stood, eyes closed, by the side of the road. Dex hadn't let go of her arm. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here."

She followed without a word.