Romance Isn't Dead

Tuesday, 4:30 PM, Del Perro Plaza, Boulevard Del Perro

Thomas went to the Up-N-Atom restaurant of the Del Perro plaza nearby his apartment for a meal. Once he entered the restaurant, he looked around the place and noticed how the place only had about nine customers eating their meals, which might be over 300 calories given how much stuff a majority of fast-food restaurants add to their foods. Thomas walked up to the counter and approached a female, African-American cashier as the next guy in front of him walked away.

"Hey there, sir! Welcome to Up-N-Atom Burger, how may I take your order?" The cashier asked. Thomas was looking at the menu to see what he could order, but noticed the amount of calories in all the burgers out of concern. Thomas cynically thought to himself, "Well, this is America where everyone does not give a crap about health unless one-third of the nation is dying of diabetes." Giving into his reluctance, he decided to order the food since he didn't want to starve.

Thomas answered to the cashier. "Yeah, I've decided to order two Triple Burgers, French Fries and a medium ECola." The cashier demanded, "That will be $10.99, sir." Thomas then paid the cashier for the entire meal as it was given to him. He then went outside to sit where there was a set of tables and chairs outside of the upper entrance on the second deck of the plaza. As he was eating his second triple burger and the last of his French fries, Thomas then remembered about the therapy session he had to attend with Dr. Friedlander. Wanting to waste no time, he threw away the remainder of his meal and ran to his apartment's garage to meet the doctor.

4:45 PM, Pacific Bluffs Coastline

Thomas arrived at the door of Dr. Friedlander's office and proceeded to knock on the Doctor's door since he wanted to be sure that he was there. "Hello, Dr. Friedlander, you there?" Thomas asked. He then heard the doorknob turn as the door opened and there before him stood Dr. Friedlander in a grey sweater, blue jeans, copper slip-ons, and a pair of glasses. Dr. Friedlander shook Thomas' hand as he let him enter his office. Friedlander's office was pretty spacey for a man who's made a lot of success with helping various people. He had a balcony at the back that gives a beautiful view of the beach, a personal small workspace, numerous couches, a bookshelf filled with various books, and a couple of windows around.

"Thomas, how are you today, anything wrong?" Dr. Friendlander inquired.

Thomas shook his head once he heard the question. "Well, I just wanted to talk to you about my experiences. Put all this baggage behind and leave it in a ditch."

"Okay then, have a seat, Thomas. Let's begin our first session together. So tell me why you are here?" Dr. Friedlander said to Thomas.

"Okay. I came to you, Friedlander because of a couple of serious issues I've experienced for over the past couple of years. I've been suffering from PTSD due to an incident that occurred over in Baghlan, Afghanistan when I was serving in Merryweather." Thomas explained to Dr. Friedlander. The therapist then looked at Thomas curiously. "Alright, go on with the story." Dr. Friedlander slowly said to Thomas

Thomas took a breath before he continued from where he left off. "It was about four years ago, I was assigned a mission by my CO at the time to rescue a contact who had important information about the Islamic Front of Afghanistan. The team that I had command over was assigned with another team that was a bit new to Merryweather. After the whole debriefing, we went out to go rescue the contact, but everything went to shit as soon as we left the base."

"Hmm… I'm aware of that terrorist group. I heard about how they've been losing a lot of their leaders recently, along with morale and support in their own ranks. But never mind that. What happened from there, Thomas?" Dr. Friedlander asked him. Thomas then stood up from the couch and went to the balcony for a moment just to calm down as he was experiencing a headache. As he entered in, Thomas said to Dr. Friedlander; "Look, doc. I'm not feeling all that great telling you this, I'm kind of stressed out by this as I've never really been that open to people all my life and I'm starting to get a headache so can I at least lie down for a while?"

"Whatever makes you satisfied, Mr. Marston. I think you might need some medicine though. PTSD does cause episodes like this in everyone who has the disorder. Just breathe in and breathe-" Dr. Friedlander said until he was broken off by Thomas.

Thomas put his hand in the air. "Please. Just let me rest, on a side note, sometimes when I do sleep, I have these flashbacks or vivid memories of the event that I was talking about." He then rested on the couch as Dr. Friedlander went to the balcony of his work for a drink. As Thomas was resting, he was remembering the final events of what happened four years ago.

"Baghlan: Part 3"

4:30 PM-Baghlan, Afghanistan

"How close are we to the courtyard?" Thomas asked Han, who was driving the Insurgent. The platoon had been driving around a couple of blocks for the past five minutes without any sight of the building where the contact was being held in. "From the GPS, looks like we're less than half a mile out." Han answered.

Thomas pulled out a box of Redwood and lit up a cigarette with his lighter. "Yo, Thomas, I don't think you should be smoking that tobacco shit. Haven't you heard about how those things kill you?" Deshawn said to Thomas as he blew out smoke into the air.

Thomas said to Deshawn as he put out the cigarette. "I know that, bro. But I don't smoke it all the time or at least most; I'm more of a pot smoker. I just smoke cigs just to calm down or relieve stress. It runs in my family, trust me on that one. What about you guys?"

Ricardo raised his hand. "No way, dude. That stuff killed my father when I was fifteen, swore never to touch that shit in my life. My dad tried to quit, but he got stuck to that shit more than his alcohol addiction. So from there on out, I had to provide for my three, younger siblings who are in College and my mom by working random jobs till I signed up for Merryweather."

Shawn and Paul looked at each other in surprise as Ricardo had not spoken during the majority of the trip. Jeremiah had a look of confusion as did everyone else. "Hol' up, Ricardo, we never heard you talk the entire time we've been moving about, why now?" Jeremiah asked.

"I don't talk much, I like to observe my surroundings and hear what others are saying depending on my interest of the conversation. Besides, tobacco has been killing people for a long time. I'd suggest using those e-cigs those teens are using nowadays. They're a lot safer though, been trending in High Schools for a while. One more thing on a serious note, in case if I do die on this mission, give the rest of my pay to my family. They're going to need it." Ricardo explained.

Thomas agreed. "Will do, Diablo. Will do."

Once the conversation was over, the platoon had entered into the street where the government building was located. The street they were on comprised of a marketplace, numerous houses and buildings connected by various alleyways making it a game of hide and seek for everyone. The area reminded Thomas of the Brazilian villas he had fought through when he first started in Merryweather.

As they went through the middle of the marketplace, Han took a look at the GPS and notified the others. "Listen up, you guys. We are a block away from the place. Given the stakes here, the place should be well guarded at best. However, knowing the streets in this country, there should be hostiles hiding in various houses. So how should we go about this?" Han asked.

Thomas spoke up with authority in his voice. "Well, given what we are facing here. I'd say split into two teams to cover more ground and meet at the end of the block. After all, driving through this street would be considered suicide. It's not going to be a walk in the park, there might be proximity mines hidden in various places so we can't take the risk. I'd also advise moving through buildings to move more quickly and do be careful of ambushes and snipers. Komodo, you're in charge of Diablo, Redbone and Smoke. You guys are going back to being Fireteam Delta for now. We guys will be back to our team, Fireteam Charlie. We'll regroup once we reach the end of this block. Keep in contact via earpieces. Everyone clear on their orders?"

Everyone else shouted in unison, "Sir, yes sir!" From there on out, everyone departed from the Insurgent to clear of any enemy forces hidden in different houses. As far as condition goes, the houses and buildings were torn up due to the fighting that had been going on in Baghlan. The territory the rest of the guys were in happened to be a small portion of Baghlan that was claimed by IFA. Some of the marketplace had looked like some environmental disaster came through and ruined the place, leaving small venues with ruined goods and destroyed items.

Both fireteams split up went into two alleyways not too far of each other and went on to check for any hostiles around the surrounding area. Thomas, Marshall, Shawn and Paul first went through an alleyway that was a little restricted of space no thanks to the close proximity of houses being very close and/or adjacent of each other.

They then entered the back of a two-story house which looked pretty decent for the standards of a country like Afghanistan. They went through the kitchen and a small living room, both vacant and having no harm done. Weirded out by this, Thomas signaled his men to follow him and check upstairs to see if there were any hostiles present.

With his pump shotgun out, he slowly walked upstairs with caution and entered another living room that had a lot more space than the one downstairs. This one was connected to a balcony and three living quarters. Thomas quietly walked into the balcony and found four militants facing the view of the city, chatting in Arabic. He gathered Shawn, Paul and Marshall to execute them via firing-squad style which they did in quick succession.

"Tangos are down. How are your end of things, Delta?" Thomas asked Han.

"We're good, took down a couple of hostiles. Currently moving through another alleyway. Komodo out." Han replied back.

Fireteam Charlie then moved away from the balcony and went to check the living quarters nearby. Thomas gave the signal for his men to wait nearby the upstairs entrance while he went to check if there were any remaining hostiles nearby. One by one, he checked the rooms and found no one around. Thomas then signaled his men to come to his position.

"I'm not liking this. Why are there less of those bastards around here?" Thomas asked in a suspicious tone.

Paul sighed. "Well, I suppose they might be hiding in different houses or scouting about. After all, the majority might be in that mansion."

"Alright then, we'll have to keep moving." Thomas affirmed. The rest of the fireteam then went downstairs and exited out of the house, moving into another alleyway. As the team walked through the alleyway, a small group of six IFA scouts wearing green and black clothing with plaid scarfs, exited out of a decaying mud house about a couple feet from their location and were walking towards them.

Shawn noticing this alerted the others. "Guys, I'm seeing six tangos up ahead. Let's hide against the sides of those two houses opposite of each other, if they come nearby, we'll spring em' into a trap. If not, we keep moving till we meet up with Delta." He advised. Following what Shawn said, everyone hid by the sides. Marshall being at the house on the left took a quick glance and noticed that the six Shawn had mentioned earlier were coming towards their location.

Marshall then gave Paul and Thomas (being at the other side), a hand signal to warn him about the militants coming down towards their hiding spot. Thomas then nodded in agreement and gave the same one to Shawn. Wanting to waste no time, they charged in and fired at the militants with their carbine rifles, shooting at them with blind fire. The remaining two wounded militants quickly turned tail and ran off to the house shouting the words, "Merryweather is here!" before Shawn and Paul killed them by shooting rounds into their abdomen various times, and leaving them soaked in their own blood.

Thomas radioed Delta after the hostiles were eliminated. "Fireteam Delta, do you copy? This is Fireteam Charlie, the enemy now knows that we're here."

Ricardo's voice cracked through the earpiece radio. "Yeah, we just noticed cause' a squad of militants busted through the back of an abandoned home just now and started to fire at us. We've managed to eliminate the enemies. On the move right now, Diablo out."

Fireteam Charlie then proceeded to move towards the end of the alleyway till they reached the entrance of a three-story building that was in good condition. Thomas kicked down the door as three IFA fighters in the living room were thrown off-guard by his action.

He started to fire rounds at the first militant who was nearby the kitchen and screamed loudly as he was shot, but caught some rounds to the left side of his torso by the second one who was standing next to the TV set nearby him. Fortunately, he was wearing body armor, but could feel the pain of the rounds hitting him.

Marshall, Shawn and Paul then entered the building and quickly eliminated the other two militants in execution style. Thomas leaned down and coughed up a bit of blood from the rounds he took.

"Damn, that really hurt right there." Thomas said with pain his voice. Paul nodded. "Well, rounds to the armor does hurt like a son of a bitch. Come on, we have to meet up with Delta soon." They moved up to the second floor where there were only four rooms within a large hallway filled with paintings and vases filled with colorful flowers.

Suspicious of enemy activity, Thomas took a peak at the first room nearby the stairs. Lucky for him, there was one guy dressed in tan and black clothing with him looking out of the window with a sniper rifle. He quietly moved in towards the man and slit his throat with blood leaking out as the man gasped for air. He then ordered the others to check the remaining room in case of any hostiles being present. His suspicions turned out to be accurate as there were two guys in the rooms Shawn and Paul checked out, but none turned up for Marshall.

Once they made it to the third floor, a duo of IFA militants came out of a room to their left and started to shoot at them, but their attempts were futile as Shawn and Marshall shot at them in point-blank range to their heads with their pump shotguns, leaving a bloody mess to both their skulls with brain splatter and pieces of bone on the floor. Suddenly, another duo of hostiles rushed out a room on the far and started firing at the team with sawed-off shotguns.

Marshall was the first to bare the blast of the shotgun and fell down to the floor from the hostile nearby the room, who was then killed by Thomas with his Carbine Rifle, aiming the weapon at the lower half of his torso and leaned back once he was caught in his fire. Shawn and Paul dispatched the other one at the same time, firing rounds into his body, leaving no chance for survival.

Thomas picked up Marshall from the ground, checking his condition. "Rascal, you alright?" Thomas asked. Marshall groaned. "Holy hell, those shotguns do pack a punch. One more hit like that and I'm bloody done for, mate!" Shawn then added his piece to the conversation. "Hey guys, less talking and more chances of surviving in a place where a bunch of terrorists want us dead." The rest of the team then moved to another hallway seeking for a way to get to the rooftop. As they moved through the middle of the hallway, a trio of militants carrying AK-47's came out of a room to the left and started to fire blindly at them.

Thomas hid behind a thin wall nearby where he was standing while the others took cover opposite of his position; the militants went back into the room and took cover behind a large dining table they knocked down. Thomas started to cook a grenade for a moment then threw it towards the place where the militants were taking cover and exploded, capturing them in the blast radius as they screamed in agony.

After the rest were eliminated, Thomas and the rest of the fireteam moved to the last room on the right and found a large pile of rubble in the middle of the room which led to the top of the bulding's rooftop. When they got on the rooftop, six militants spotted them from a small makeshift bunker on a rooftop of a building opposite where the others were and started firing. Under fire, the rest moved towards another bunker nearby their position.

Marshall aimed down at a balding man with a long, black beard RPG and shot at his head, leaving chunks of his flesh falling to the ground, a nasty exit wound at the back of his head and causing him to fire his rocket up in the air. Shawn and Paul fired at two masked men in black clothing and shot rounds from their Carbines, dropping both of them quickly while Thomas fired his grenade launcher at the remaining three, causing their bodies to fly away due to the momentum of the blast.

"I think that's the last of those bastards for now. I'm going to contact Delta, see if they're in the clear. Delta, do you read me?" Thomas said.

Han's voice cracked over the com, "Yeah, Blackwater, we read you loud and clear. We're at the end of the block, facing a house with a green shaft on the top. Sending you our coordinates on your GPS radar. See you soon, Komodo out." Han informed Thomas. Thomas turned around to the others, informing them of the new development.

"Alright, they're less than a mile out, I have their coordinates on radar. We should be able to meet up with them I'd say less than five." Thomas bluntly stated to the others. Everyone else nodded and left for Fireteam Delta's location for the rendezvous.

(Five Minutes Later…)

Thomas and the others approached the house Han had mentioned to Thomas over the radio. Han, Deshawn, Ricardo and Jeremiah came out of the building and greeted them as they came outside.

"Alright, so what's the sit-rep right now?" Jeremiah asked Thomas.

"We move in to the courtyard where those IFA dicks are holding Faheem immediately. We are pretty close to his position, it's only a couple houses away." Thomas informed everyone. He then pointed at Ricardo to bring out a map of the surrounding area.

"The only way we'll have to get to him is by moving down the street, go down the alleyway on the right and reach the entrance of the courtyard, get Faheem and call for evac to Flying Eagle." Thomas said.

"Commander Adams, this is Blackwater here. We're nearby Faheem's position; can you give us an estimate of what we're facing up against?" Thomas inquired.

"Well, from the data we're reading; you guys are facing about 40+ foot-mobiles in the courtyard and a couple MG gunners with some snipers. The whole place is fortified with bunkers and stuff, so I'd advise moving ASAP before those IFA men either kill Faheem or move him to a different location since he's a high-priority case. That's all I can tell you guys right now, Adams out." Commander Adams replied as he cut the chatter.

Thomas squeezed the bridge of his nose after hearing the news given to him. The thought of them going against 40 or more men was practically a rescue mission gone to complete the gates of hell. He just hoped in his mind that he and the entire team could make it out alive and rescue Faheem. If not, he would never be able to fully forgive himself for leading his own men into a horrible situation.

"Alright, we're going up against 40 or more men out there in the courtyard where they are holding our guy, along with a couple MG gunners and snipers. I know what we're doing is considered suicidal, but we have a job to do and also this will give us a good payroll after this. All I want you guys to do is to cover each other and take out any hostiles, is that clear?" Thomas said to everyone.

"Yes, sir!" everyone shouted. The platoon then moved down the street and made their way down to the alleyway which led to the courtyard where Faheem was being held. Nearing the end of the alleyway, Thomas then spotted two guards standing in front of the courtyard entrance and gave a hand signal for the rest to stop in their tracks. "Shawn, Paul, snuff the lives out of those two." Thomas commanded to the both of them. Both nodded and brought out their sniper rifles and aimed down at the heads of the two guards, sniping their heads off clean with their bodies dropping to the ground. With that obstacle taken care of, the platoon ran towards the doors of the courtyard.

"Guys, take cover. I'm going to set the C4 charges to the door!" Thomas shouted to the members of the platoon. Everyone stood back a couple feet as Thomas held the device that would cause the C4 to explode. "Three, two, one!" Thomas said as he pressed the button, causing the C4 to blast through the door and charged in with everyone following suit, ready to rescue Faheem from the clutches of IFA's hands.

(Flashback ends)

5:15 PM, Pacific Bluffs Coastline (present-day)

Thomas woke up in the same couch he slept on as he stretched out his muscles. Dr. Friedlander came out of the restroom with a triple X-rated magazine in his hand and noticed Thomas being awake. He tossed away the magazine on a couch nearby him and walked over to where Thomas was sitting and sat nearby him. "Wow, Thomas. For a moment I thought you were going into a coma with the amount of time you were sleeping." Dr. Friedlander stated to Thomas.

Thomas replied, "Uh, hello, Doctor? I was having a headache, not only that, but I had another flashback about my time in Baghlan. I've got to say, I think I'm making progress here." Dr. Friedlander nodded at Thomas in response.

He then cleared his throat for a moment and patted Thomas on the back. "That's good to hear, Thomas. Glad to hear that from you. You know, progress is key to keep moving in the world in order to get ahead. Speaking of progress, you'll have to pay me a total of $2,500 dollars if you want to continue our session together."

Thomas stood up from the couch in anger and pointed his finger. "What the hell is this crap I'm hearing?! Why in God's name would I have to pay 2.5 K for something as small as this?" Thomas said, seething with anger and annoyance. Dr. Friedlander put his hands up in alarm with a scared expression. "Whoa, whoa! Calm down, this is a tough economy, you know how it's been since 2008! People are trying to make ends meet in this city."

Thomas then thought back about what Miles said to him about Friedlander, but couldn't disagree with what Friedlander just told him. He knew that he was in the crime game just to secure him a good future with any money he received, but also enjoyed the thrill of it all. He mentally cursed at the air over the entire issue since he did not want to pay such a hefty fine for a service to help patients in need.

Tired of it all, he drew out his wallet out of his pocket and threw down the money on the table. "You know what, here's your goddamn money! My friend was right, you are a greedy excuse of a therapist. Maybe what you need is a self-checkup, you little bitch. I may be involved in some work you wouldn't be too pleased to hear trying to make ends meet, but at least I recognize what's real and what's fake. Have a nice day, jerkoff!" Leaving Friedlander to his own stutter, Thomas then stormed out of his office and took off in his gauntlet. While driving back to his apartment on the highway, he received a text from Ron, the man who had contacted him yesterday on behalf of Trevor. It read in the following statement:

"Hi there. This ain't strictly business, but it'll keep Trevor happy, and that's good for everyone, right? Now, he wants one of those Lost MC vans - something to do with his friend Ashley, and making it rock to torment her fella... I don't know. Can you take one and bring it to the trailer. R. Jakowski. P.S, I'd advise using silenced weapons for this and go at nighttime, makes it easier on you."

"Wow, that's going to cause a lot of issues between both sides. I'd like to see where this goes." Thomas thought as he made a right turn to Bay Area Incline off the highway. He then parked his car in front of his apartment and messaged Mikaela, Shizuka, and Samuel for Ron's job, courtesy of Trevor Phillips. He messaged them about the details of the job and to meet in front of the Ammu-Nation store at the Vinewood Plaza within an hour an hour or less.

"Well, let's just pray and hope Trevor is pleased with this one." Thomas said to himself. Afterwards, he went into his apartment to change and rest in.

6:15 PM, Ammu-Nation, Vinewood Plaza

Thomas woke up from his rest and changed into a pair of ranch blue jeans, brown boots, a black leather jacket with a white shirt and tan-tinted white aviators. He then walked out of his apartment and left for the Ammu-Nation store in Vinewood. Twenty minutes later, he drove into the parking lot with Mikaela, Shizuka and Samuel waiting in front of the store on their phones. They looked as Thomas parked his Gauntlet nearby the entrance.

"Thomas, you're here! So anything we gotta do before we go over to Stab City, home of the Lost." Samuel asked. Thomas was surprised by Sam's mention of the Sandy Shoes hideout of The Lost.

"How do you know where it is? Let me guess, Underbelly of Paradise?" Thomas inquired to Samuel. Samuel then nodded his head towards his question, but then Shizuka interrupted. "So are we here to talk a-about r-random shit like H-High S-School geeks or go on a-a j-job some nutcase wants us to do?" Thomas and Samuel then awkwardly walked into the store with his hands inside his pockets. Entering the store, he set his sights on a sniper rifle, and an AP pistol. Everyone else got the same weaponry and applied suppressors for the job. With that task out of the way, they left the store for Stab City with all of them leaving in Mikaela's Premier.

7:00 PM, Stab City, Sandy Shores

The team drove into the outskirts of Stab City, which was just a run-down trailer park full of meth-addicted and alcoholic bikers either killing anyone who set foot into their territory or minding their own business. The place was also filled with ruined shacks and clothing lines hanging around various areas of the trailer park. As they went up to the vantage point on a small hill nearby, Mikaela looked around the trailer park with her suppressed sniper rifle, disgusted with what she saw. "This place could use one hell of a cleanup, how do the Lost live in this dump?"

"It's pretty obvious their Methamphetamine addiction may have helped with that. You think any sane biker would live there?!" Sam replied back. Thomas then interrupted their talk with a "Shush!" wanting to focus on the targets with Shizuka.

Thomas and Shizuka both scoped through their sniper rifles and picked off two, white, bald-headed Lost members standing nearby the left side of the trailer park with their sniper rifles. Thomas then scoped through his rifle and noticed that there was only one man nearby the first Gang Burrito "Lost" van at the far Northwestern side of Stab City, five Lost bikers nearby another trailer with the second van and four others standing next to a trailer nearby where they all parked their vehicles. He then gave a smirk to the others after his little inspection.

"Great news, all we have to do is sneak around the left side of the trailer park, take out the two men standing nearby the van and get the hell out of there. Is that agreeable to all of you?" Thomas said to everyone. Samuel disagreed with his notion. "Hold on, shouldn't we like watch our vehicles while one of us gets the van? If they spot Mikaela's car and my bike, we'll have to go loud then." Thomas then looked over to the trailer where the same four bikers were and noticed they were still talking. "Don't worry Sam, they're still talking. But yeah, I'll go and get the van, you guys be my guardian angels in the meantime."

Thomas left the vantage point to sneak around the ruined parts of the trailer park in silent motion, taking step after step in order not to alert the other bikers about his location. Close to the spot where the van was, Thomas peeked behind a dumpster and saw a brown-haired Lost member with torn black jeans, a sleeveless T-shirt with the Lost emblem and a spiked bracelet standing next to the van, facing the opposite side of Stab City.

"This is going to be a piece a cake." Thomas thought as he smirked. He then removed himself out of his hiding spot, loaded his suppressed pistol and shot the man at the back of his skull, shouting a small "Ugh" as he dropped to the ground dead. Thomas quickly ran up to the van and broke the Driver's window with his elbow, entered the van and hotwired the van. He then spoke on the earpiece. "Alright, I have the van." Thomas confirmed to the others. Shizuka, on the other hand, noticed three bikers crossing over the bridge nearby Stab City. "Hey Thomas, I-I'd advise g-getting the hell o-out of there right n-now! Three bikers are nearby the entrance of the trailer park."

Thomas quickly changed gears and reversed the Van out of its spot, but unfortunately for him, the five bikers nearby spotted the Van leaving and shouted warnings about the black Gang Burrito leaving. The others noticing this, got in their vehicles and left to cover Thomas as he got out of Stab City, crossing the bridge into the road leading to Sandy Shores. Now they had a trio of pissed-off bikers chasing after them. Samuel, sitting at the back of the Premier, turned around and fired rounds at the two bikers riding on the right of the bikers in the middle. The biker driving caught seven rounds to his abdomen, losing control of his bike, then crashed into a ditch nearby a gas station, knocking both his companion and himself into unconsciousness. Samuel laughed at his successful attempt at dispatching them. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Got those bastards!" Mikaela interrupted his moment of glory. "Hey, Sammy Boy. Don't get too cocky. We still got three more chasing us down."

Meanwhile, Shizuka sitting in the passenger side of Mikaela's car, blindly dumped rounds at the three bikers following them, only hitting the second biker with the passenger, causing him to crash against a short railing and flying in mid-air being out of commission. As for the lone biker, he started to fire rounds from his Heavy Pistol at the back of Mikaela's Premier, shattering the glass and alerting everyone to duck down.

"Shizuka, hold the wheel. I'm taking this son of a bitch out, I paid good money for this shit. That dick ain't getting away with this. Pass me my gun at the glove compartment." Mikaela said with contempt. Shizuka did exactly as she said as Mikaela slid down her window, turned around and fired three bullets at the biker, dropping him off the bike and falling on the gravel road, choking on his own blood. She then high-fived Shizuka with a smirk and patted her as Shizuka gave a blush on her cheeks.

"Hell yeah, we beat those Lost bastards!" Sam explained with a fist in the air.

"Mission accomplished, my friends! Now I just have to deliver this to Trevor real quick." Thomas anxiously said as he neared Trevor's home. Shortly thereafter, he parked the Gang Burrito in Trevor's garage and got out of the van. Everyone else arrived just as Trevor walked in between them.

"Thank you, thank you all! Ya know, I thought you guys were going to be some pathetic Millenial shitheads with no sense of what to do when someone orders them to do something, but you didn't go down that route! For a moment, I thought of taking you guys up to the mountains for a little trip if you all failed me on bringing a van for Ashley and me." Trevor said as he laughed, leaving the others feeling uncomfortable.

"So about the van, why do you really need it?" Mikaela asked as she raised her eyebrows. "Well, I'm glad you asked, my beautiful, Mulatto friend." Trevor said he patted Mikaela on her cheeks, leaving her both disturbed and confused. He then continued on. "Here's the thing, when you're a meth dealer in a place like Sandy Shores, there are some benefits when it comes to dealing. This girl, Ashley is pretty hung up on Meth, so in exchange for some speed, she gives me her pussy for my little Johnson to enjoy for about ten minutes or more." Trevor explained while the rest awkwardly listened to his explanation.

Thomas quickly got out of his shock and waved his hands. "Okay, we've heard everything that we needed to hear. Thank you, Trevor for sharing that experience. By the way, what about our payment?" Trevor spun around and shouted. "Ron! What about their payment?!" Ron came out of the trailer, walked nervously to Trevor and handed him four envelopes which Trevor then snatched out of his hand. "Just l-letting you know, that's a total of $11,200 dollars right there." Ron noted to Trevor before leaving to head back into the trailer.

Thomas then shook hands with Trevor. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Trevor. We might have gotten off a bad start, but I can tell this will be the beginning of something good."

"We'll we aren't exactly all 'buddy-buddy', yet Tommy. But at least you and your friends are starting to prove your worth here at Trevor Phillips Industries. If you know any more people, just gimme a call or something. And don't forget to call to tell me how much you love and adore my own being." Trevor said with a creppy smile, giving off a weird vibe to Thomas and his friends. After that, they left Trevor's home and went their way back to Los Santos. But they were already delving into their own conversation about a certain someone while on the highway.

"I've got to say, that Trevor has the creepiest vibe I've ever gotten off of anyone, yet he's interesting as a person. How does a guy like that able to keep a viable criminal business like that?" Sam asked in his confusion. Thomas turned to Sam and nodded. "I have no idea, but I don't think he's all screws loose. Dude obviously has some sense of the world around him, but is pretty insane and friggin' violent."

Shizuka threw in her own two cents into the convo. "I'm not sure w-whether to feel s-sorry or not for Ashley s-since she is an m-methhead, but why the fuck would she sell her own pussy out for some meth? S-Shit like that doesn't send a g-good message to w-women out there. Just shows t-them to be shallow w-whores and used like s-sex dolls only t-teenage virgins would use!"

"True, true. Trust me, there are worse people in Los Santos." Mikaela added. Samuel disagreed. "I respect what you just said, but at the same time, there are people out who are just as messed up as Trevor. At least, he's not fully insane." Thomas made a sound of agreement with that. Thomas then remembered the time when they went on their first mission when Sam got kicked in the groin by Shizuka. "Ya know, I'm surprised the three of you are getting along so well after the last mission we went on." Thomas noted. Mikaela replied back to his comment. "Well, when you start hanging around people you see on a daily basis, hang out with them and get to know them better as a person, you tend to let bygones be bygones. And if not, then you cut off the rope that tied the both of you together."

"Definitely would agree. S-Samuel told us about the h-heist he went on when he was 23, which t-turned out bad. Only him and t-two others survived, while four of his associates died at the hands of the police. I r-related to it somewhat s-since... I lost my now-d-dead girlfriend about e-eight years ago in a plane i-incident. *voice starts to break* She's the reason why I took up piloting, to r-remember her for the good memories we both had. Everytime I fly, I still think of her with a good memory." Shizuka said with a pang in her voice.

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that." Thomas said. Shizuka answered back with a laugh. "No, it's alright. At least I have you guys and others."

An hour later, Mikaela parked her car beside the road nearby a Los Santos Customs shop on Popular Street, La Mesa. "Sorry, guys but I have to go and fix my car right now no thanks to the shattered windows and bullet holes caused by the asshole biker from before." Mikaela said in an apologetic tone.

"Nah, it's alright. We'll just call a cab to drop us off at the Vinewood Plaza." Thomas said, giving a smile to Mikaela. Afterwards, Mikaela departed while Samuel, Thomas and Shizuka hailed down a taxi cab driving down their side of the street. They then departed for the Vinewood Plaza, pleased with the way the job was handled.

Alright, so that's Chapter 14 for you guys. Sorry about being gone for over a month. I've had to put the story on hiatus due to writer's block. If any of you are asking who the "Ricardo" dude is, I mentioned him in Chapter 10, but completely forgot to include him in Chapter 11. I've decided to leave the flashback as a cliffhanger instead of a complete one just to hype y'all up for it. Trust me, it will get dramatic for the final one. With Trevor, I tried my best to bring out some of his personality and I wondered what the others would think of him, so I wanted to give you all some insight of what they thought about him as a person. For the mission, I wanted to show more dialogue, especially with Mikaela, Shizuka and Samuel considering the last mission they were on which didn't get them on good terms, so I wanted to show some positivity and emotion for them.

As for Chapter 15, I will start working on it tomorrow since I've had to revise this one multiple times. I will say working on this flashback scene wasn't easy on my brain, so I took a short break from the chapter just to get an idea of how I wanted it to be. I'm pretty proud of this one though. Chapter 15 will introduce an OC named Francisco Moreno from Native Guns (Sorry, dude. I'm more accustomed to that name, not holding anything against you.) and will be laid back. As for the future of this story as whole, I will be starting College in two weeks, so expect longer updates, but I will have more time on the weekends to work on more chapters. So just be glad about that. I'd also like to mention that my story has gotten 1.8K views as of late July so I would like to thank all the people who've been reading this far. Thank you all, until next time-Tom The Author