During the two-minute gun battle, the two former friends continued firing at each other until Big Smoke finally ran out of ammo and heard his weapon click. CJ then found the light switch and turned the lights back on. He put the goggles over his head to face Big Smoke.
"Ah shit!" Big Smoke grunted. "Perhaps I should've loaded this damn weapon before using it!"
"You ain't got nothin' to take me down now, do ya?!" CJ told him.
Just then, Ryder kicked open the doors with his assault rifle. "Hey CJ!" he shouted running up to CJ. "You blast that fat motherfucker yet?!" He then looked up and down at Big Smoke. "What's the matter, fat boy?" Ryder sneered. "You misplace yo' bullets?"
"Shit!" Smoke muttered staring at CJ. "So you gonna blast your old homie now then, nuggah?! Huh? You gonna take out your own family, CJ?"
"My real homie wouldn't sell me out!" CJ responded. "My real family wouldn't work with another gang member for some moolah! Any last words, Melvin?! Before you finally shake hands with the devil?!"
Big Smoke let out a sigh in defeat. He then lowered his weapon to the side. "I guess I'm pretty guilty for all this," he finally said.
The look on Smoke's face was enough for CJ to alter from being legitimately furious to feeling rather shameful. His friend truly looked genuinely remorseful. CJ then lowered his weapon as well and decided to get some answers.
"So Smoke," CJ told him. "What made you flip out like that, man? Was it the drugs or what...?"
"I got caught up in the money," Big Smoke answered. "The power. I don't give a shit."
"Why you didn't just quit, man?" CJ asked on the verge of tears. "We was like family homie - you, me, Sweet, and Ryder. We were all like brothers. Why sell us out?"
"I had no choice, CJ," Big Smoke told him. "I had to do it. I want to tell you something, Carl. Before you came back, Tenpenny and his lackey appeared on my doorstep to try to make a deal with me. Like a motherfucking fool, I took the money!"
Big Smoke then turned to angrily toss his weapon to the wall. "I really cared about the Grove Street Families and thought I could help bring them back on top with a little cash in their pocket!" he growled. "Unfortunately, right after I decided to talk Sweet into making some easy green, Tenpenny called me and told me that I still had one more job to do after I took the money."
"Yeah?" CJ asked. "And what was that?"
"Kill the leader of the Grove Street Families," Smoke answered.
"Shit, Smoke!" CJ cried out in shock. "C.R.A.S.H. forced you to kill Sweet?!"
"I honestly tried to call the whole thing off with Tenpenny," Big Smoke continued. "So I tried to convinced Sweet to be my partner in the crack game. Big ass mistake! Sweet predictably refused, and that's when I gave Tenpenny a call and told him I'm taking the deal back. But unfortunately, it was already done. I already agreed to the deal since the money he offered me was his way of showing me that he paid me to murder the leader. He threatened to separate my head and body fifty feet from each other if I didn't do as I unwillingly agreed to."
"C.R.A.S.H. paid you to kill my brother?!" CJ asked sounding even more shocked.
"I couldn't do it on my own," Big Smoke told him. "I didn't have the heart to kill my closest homie. But if I didn't do it, Tenpenny was gonna serve my head to his pitbull. So I was caught in a quandary at this point. I had no free will to talk myself out of this conspiracy. I had one of the Ballas do it for me."
"So you mean to tell me that my Moms' murder was all an accident?" CJ asked.
"That's what I'm saying," Big Smoke told him. "The bullet wasn't meant for your Moms, and I had no intention to kill Sweet."
"But you still ordered the hit on my brother, Smoke!" CJ told him. "Even after you was still family to me!"
"You're right, CJ," Big Smoke answered. "So I'm giving you a choice: You can either kill me now, or you can let me redeem myself somehow for getting your Moms killed. I won't force you to do either of the two. However way I get punished, I'll just take it."
"Go ahead and make your choice, CJ," Ryder told him. "This fat fuck gonna pay somehow."
CJ then took a long, hard stare at Big Smoke. Now he was the one in a quandary. He wanted to get back at Big Smoke for arranging the murder on his brother that accidentally became implemented on his mother instead, but at the same time, he knew it wasn't Big Smoke's fault. Tenpenny had actually manipulated Big Smoke, and it seemed that Big Smoke had no other choice. This caused CJ to figure something out as he remembered most of his dirty work in the past.
"It all makes sense now," CJ answered. "The mention of C.R.A.S.H. being charged with racketeering, corruption, narcotics – don't you see? C.R.A.S.H. was the one who spread all that crack around our neighborhood. Tenpenny was the one who planned to make a huge crack business here in Los Santos with every gang manipulating it, and you became one of his victims who would eventually outlive their usefulness."
"Shit!" Big Smoke cried in surprise. "So Tenpenny was responsible for bringing the crack in our neighborhood! I guess he was still pissed off of what we did to his office last year."
CJ finally came to a conclusion. "You know what, Smoke?" he told him. "Normally, I'd kill anyone who sold me out, like I did to B-Dup over a week ago, after that asshole set me up with the Ballas. But Tenpenny has already fucked you up good. If you asked me, that's punishment enough for you. So I'm giving you a second chance to redeem yourself – under one condition."
"What's that, CJ?" Big Smoke asked.
"You tell us who was the asshole who shot my Moms!" CJ told him in a low tone of voice. "Since you orchestrated that assassination that night, you're the only one who knows."
"Tell you?" Big Smoke asked. "Screw that! I'll take you to him! And I'm gonna help you take out them Ballas and Vagos and find that scumbag Tenpenny!"
CJ then extended his hand expecting a handshake. "Welcome back to the Grove, Smoke," he told him as Big Smoke returned the gesture.
"F'sho, fat boy," Ryder agreed giving the gesture to Big Smoke as well. "Let's hunt down the motherfucker who tried to ice Sweet!"
"That's right, nuggah!" Big Smoke replied. "Now let's ditch this fortress and pop some Ballas and Vagos heads!"
"That's the Smoke I know," CJ said smiling. "Grove Street 4 Life!"
"GROVE STREET 4 LIFE!" all three of them shouted raising their weapons to the sky.
Big Smoke then went into another room to grab a spare assault rifle. "Let's go blast them fools!" he announced.
The trio got their weapons ready and headed out of the entrance. But as they made their way through the exit, they heard a tremendous explosion below, and the lights turned out.
"What the fuck was that?!" CJ shouted.
"Ah shit!" Big Smoke shouted. "Someone must have shot down the generator below!"
"Shit!" CJ shouted. He pulled out his night vision goggles and strapped them on his face. Suddenly, they started dimming. "You gotta be kidding me!" he snarled. "The battery's low!"
"I got something," Ryder told him handing a thin vile of green goo. "That old guy gave it to me."
"Ah, I remember now," CJ said. "Truth definitely is a reliable bastard!"
Toreno had once told him the green goo was used as a battery to charge up the night vision goggles. So CJ opened the hatch on top of the goggles and poured the goo inside. As he closed the hatch, he put the goggles back on his eyes and activated. It worked perfectly!
"A'ight, you guys." CJ told his friends. "This way!"
CJ guided Big Smoke and Ryder out through the hallway. They walked past the statue of Big Smoke, which caused Big Smoke himself to stop to take a glance of himself. He used his weapon to emulate the pose of the statue.
"Damn, I look like a straight killah, baby!" he said laughing.
Ryder just smacked him on the back of the head. "Snap out of it, fat boy!" he shouted. "We got a motherfucking building to escape!"
"Right!" Big Smoke said.
The trio made it through the lounge where they encountered some Vagos shooting after them.
"Incoming!" Ryder shouted as the trio ducked from the bullets firing at them. They shot back at the Vagos, riddling each member with several bullets.
"Taste metal, motherfuckers!" Big Smoke bellowed.
"Stay close, y'all!" CJ told his friends.
The trio continued to run through the hallway. They spotted some Ballas shooting at them and dodged the bullets. All three of the Grove Street members fired back at the gang, killing each member at a time. They continued making their way through the next hallways and through the lounging area.
Unfortunately, by the time they reached the third floor, the floor caught on fire.
"Ah shit!" Ryder yelled. "The flames are swallowing this building up!"
"Carl, you gotta put out them flames, baby!" Big Smoke yelled.
"With what?!" CJ shouted. "I don't see no fire extinguisher!"
Then the trio walked into an office, where they spotted a fire extinguisher on the wall.
"Well looks like my prayers have been answered!" CJ said. He ran up to the fire extinguisher and grabbed it off the wall.
As Big Smoke and Ryder followed along, CJ used the fire extinguisher to efface the fire out of the pathway. He and the other two navigating through the walkway while dodging the bullets being fired at them by the Ballas and Vagos below. As the trio finally made it down the stairs, they took out each and every member of each gang.
"Oh shit!" Big Smoke shouted. "The heat generators are on fire! No wonder this building caught fire! We gotta get the fuck out of this building before it explodes!"
"We will!" Ryder shouted. "As soon as we take out these perpetratin' motherfuckers!"
Big Smoke just laughed heavily. "Just like good times, right?!" he shouted as he and the other two fired at the gang members.
"Great to have you back on my side, Smoke!" CJ replied as he continued firing as well. "I can't wait to get my hands on the asshole who blasted my Moms!"
So CJ, Big Smoke, and Ryder fired back at the Ballas and Vagos until each and every member dropped dead. The trio made their way through the exit and prepared to shoot any gang member who tried to get in their way. Through the burning building, they made their way through the doors and made their way down the stairs.
When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, they took a quick peek behind the walls to find the members of the Ballas standing around the room. Big Smoke pointed at one of the Ballas wearing a purple hoodie and beige khaki pants, with the hood over his head, whereas his partner was wearing a blue baseball cap, white T-shirt, and baggy blue denim pants. The former was chubby while the latter was skinnier.
"They the ones," Big Smoke whispered to CJ pointing at the two gang members. "Big Charm and Lucky."
Big Charm was the leader and head of the Front Yard Ballas. He had helped bring the Ballas back on top after Sweet killed Tuckah a year earlier. Lucky was the co-leader of the gang and Big Charm's lackey who followed along with his boss's orders.
"They were the ones who performed the drive-by on Moms?" CJ asked.
"Yeah," Big Smoke replied. "Go get 'em, CJ!"
As Ryder and Big Smoke stayed hidden behind the wall, CJ walked up to the two gang members.
"Yo Charm!" CJ called confronting the Ballas leader.
"Well look who it is," Big Charm sneered. "The co-leader fresh out of Liberty. I'm surprised you even made yo' punk ass in this building to begin with!"
"Yeah," Lucky repeated obsequiously. "Ain't no way his punk ass could've survived in this building!"
"You know what I'm here for, motherfucker!" CJ shouted at the Ballas leader. "You performed that drive-by on my block that night! You murdered my Moms!"
"Nigga, how the fuck was I supposed to know your Moms would be at the house that other night?!" Big Charm growled. "Those bullets were meant for yo' punk ass brother!"
"Yeah!" Lucky reiterated. "They were for yo' punk ass brother!"
Big Charm glared at his partner, who obediently backed away. He then turned to CJ. "It's all good though!" Big Charm said cocking back his assault rifle. "Because right after I'm finished with you, I'll make sure your family reunion truly becomes cohesive now - especially after what you just did to the rest of the leaders of my gang!"
So the gun battle between CJ and Big Charm began! The two of them hid behind the boxes around the room, and Lucky helped his partner take down CJ.
"Yo somebody shoot this motherfucker!" Big Charm shouted. "Take him out! Don't leave me hanging!"
Soon, the rest of the gang came around and fired back at CJ. This was when Ryder and Big Smoke came to help CJ fire back at the gang.
"Yo I got you covered, CJ!" Ryder said as he rolled right beside him to shoot at the rivalry gang.
"Me too, CJ!" Big Smoke added. "Fuck the drug business! Let's make all these punk ass niggas pay!"
As Ryder and Big Smoke shot at the other gangs, CJ took all his focus on Big Charm and Lucky. He was the one who drove through his old neighborhood and tried to murder Sweet, only to kill his mother instead. Lucky was also the one who was driving the vehicle to cruise through the neighborhood during the drive-by. So they had to be eliminated once and for all.
Big Smoke chuckled through all of this. "Just like good times, CJ!" he shouted. "You still my dog, baby! Showing these assholes who's boss! You still an ice cold killah, baby!"
CJ just smiled as he shot back at his rivalry gang. He was glad to hear Big Smoke genuinely complimenting him again.
CJ then ducked behind the crate and cocked his assault rifle back hard. This was really serious to CJ now! "This one's for you, Moms," he whispered.
CJ was now in adrenaline rush. He was very angry of the death of his mother and the permeation of crack in his city. So in a rage of fury, he fired his assault rifle at the two Ballas members and riddled each of them with bullets at a time. He yelled his loudest and angriest as he fired wildly around the burning building.
The whole shootout lasted for a good fifty-five seconds until everyone around the Building, save for CJ, Ryder, and Big Smoke, were all dead.
CJ slowly walked in front of the corpses of Big Charm and Lucky. He had now gained justice for his mother, and because of that, his mother would finally be at peace...almost.
"That's for Moms, motherfucker!" he shouted at the two corpses. "And that's also for Sweet!" He stomped on Big Charm's head hard, causing blood to fly out, and he spit on Lucky as well. Just then, the building gradually began to collapse.
"Come on, Carl!" Big Smoke. "Let's get out of here! The place is about to blow!"
"Let's go, fellas!" Ryder shouted as he and the other two ran out of the building. "TACTICAL RETREAT!"
