The Hunt and the Hunted
It had not been long. Vince took the Criminal that was parked in the garage at the very bottom of the Saints HQ. He, Johnny, and the DeWynter sisters went on a hunt to see if they could try to find the whereabouts of the Deckers' top enforcers. Vince knew he had to settle something with Matt Miller, after the helicopter crash, as well as taking all of the money from the Saints' account.
But from what he had been told and had also seen, he saw that Matt was only a kid. He was still going to take him on, but all of the wet work was on two ladies and their fellow mercenaries.
The four went out to Stanfield to search for any Deckers crawling around. While they could buy some more of their property, it would seem that there were some other areas to scope out. Johnny rode shotgun, while the twins were in the backseat.
"Okay, Viola, Kiki, tell me this," Vince said. "What is the best way to get these two enforcers to come out?"
"I couldn't tell you," Viola said. "They have their own methods of handling stuff."
"We may have worked with the Deckers," Kiki said. "But when it came to actual combat, they always had to rely on cyber stuff and surveillance. I know that you guys took out any operations from the Morningstar, but maybe the best way is to try to look into taking over their operations."
"You know something, Boss," Johnny said. "I have seen some of those guys guarding areas like factories and shit. I was thinking maybe we can shoot some of them and then have those bitches try to come out."
"I would think the same thing, except one thing," Vince said and picked up his phone. "I need to call someone first."
There was one person he needed to contact. Meanwhile, Johnny turned around to face the sisters.
"So tell me something, do you know anything about those big motherfuckers with those wrestler masks?" Johnny said. "I feel like I'm ready to take on those fuckers very soon."
Viola and Kiki looked at each other, puzzled. The confidence in Johnny was intriguing, but was he ready to take them on yet?
"If there is one thing you need to know about those Luchadores," Viola said. "Killbane relies heavily on big guns and brute force. I know you're proficient with a gun, Johnny, but…"
Vince cut in, "Don't forget that you were pinned down by those fools, especially those guys with those big-ass grenade launchers."
The call went through, as the look on Johnny's face grew with more of a concerned emotion. Although he wasn't afraid to stare death in the eye, it was evident that what happened that night at Angel's Gym that he could have been killed. Those grenade launchers were no joke.
"But we know some other ways to take them on," Kiki said.
"Everyone, shut up," Vince said and faced forward as he was ready to talk in his earpiece. "Kinzie, I got to ask you something. Can you tell me where I can find more of the Deckers' operations? I know I took some down already, but I need to find a way to lure out Matt Miller's top enforcers."
"Well, I can't think of a way, but I'll find it," Kinzie said. "We're on the verge of taking down the Deckers, or at least Matt Miller. Your best bet would be to at least to take down more of their operations. Kirsten and Grace have their mercenaries guarding some of them like fortresses. Also, Matt and his two top specialists have a bit more surveillance over Steelport than I do."
"When has that ever stopped me?" Vince said. "Send me some coordinates on where to find some of these operations. At least ones I haven't taken down."
"Let me see if I can…what the…? Damn!" Kinzie said.
"What's wrong?" Vince said.
"Someone is messing up my feed," Kinzie said. "I found some in Brickston. Go check out those areas first. Damn, I need to check the other computer first. Go!"
The call ended. Vince put the car in drive.
"What happened?" Viola said.
"I think the Deckers are fucking with her shit again," Vince said. "She told me to check out some areas in Brickston. We got shit to do."
The purple truck went on its way. They were about to drive from Burns Hill to Brickston. However, unbeknownst to them, a gray armored vehicle started to move as the Criminal got far from them.
Once they got out to Brickston. They saw that this area consisted of residential homes, not much different from Espina out in New Colvin. The Criminal parked in front of a house. The quartet exited the truck and saw Deckers mercenaries standing around patrolling the area.
"Follow my lead," Vince said.
Vince led Johnny, Viola, and Kiki slowly. All four of them were well-armed.
"On three," Vince said. "One, two…"
The four drew their weapons. Vince took a deep breath, ready to aim.
"Three!" he yelled.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! Then a rapid fire zapping sound occurred.
"What the fuck?!" Vince said. They all looked ahead of them. Several armored soldiers took down a few of the mercenaries. The rapid fire delivery of lasers came from close by, from a vehicle. That could only mean one thing.
"Shit, where the fuck did STAG come from?" Kiki said.
"That doesn't matter," Johnny said. "Even since I dealt with those assholes, I've been waiting to show them what I'm made of."
Johnny quickly went to a compartment in the truck and got some grenades and loaded one into his K-8 Krukov.
"Always come prepared," Johnny said.
Vince got out his AR-55, while the twins had their .45 Shepherds and AR-55s as well.
All hell broke loose. The four hid behind the truck for cover. Johnny quickly popped out and ran right towards the gunfight.
"Hey, motherfuckers!" Johnny said, everyone stopped shooting and turned around. "Mind if I crash the party?"
Johnny quickly fired a grenade right at the Deckers and STAG soldiers that were at the epicenter of the chaos. BOOM! Bodies flew. Deckers, STAG soldiers, the blast set them off. Many inhabitants of the nearby homes peeked through the windows. Some of them even opened the front doors to see what was going on outside and immediately closed the doors. Some holes were even burned on the walls of the houses from the lasers.
Vince and the twins ran right to the N-Forcer with a STAG soldier firing the laser turret. The twins ran and leaned near another N-Forcer and slid to peer out of cover and fired multiple shots at any Decker mercenary or STAG soldier, even though many examples of the latter were armored. Some of them dropped when they fired at the facial covers of their helmets.
Johnny and Vince kept going to work on anybody. They even reloaded ammo when necessary. However, many reinforcements from the Deckers and STAG crawled out of the woodwork. Solars, Kayaks, more N-Forcers, if that wasn't bad enough, Vince looked up and saw something in the air.
"Oh, fuck us all!" Vince said.
"What?" Johnny said. Vince tapped him on the shoulder and pointed upward, causing the twins to do the same thing.
"Holy shit!" Viola said.
A STAG VTOL Condor flew through the air. While this wasn't as bad as the F-69 fighter jet, this definitely had firepower that would tear everyone apart. Not just the fellow STAG soldiers, the four Saints, or even the Deckers, but also people inside the homes and nearby buildings.
"Johnny, hold these assholes off," Vince said.
"No problem," Johnny said and loaded another grenade into his K-8.
"Viola, Kiki, look out for that fucking plane," Vince said. "I have a plan."
The twins followed Vince to the truck and he looked through the compartment behind the backseat. Viola and Kiki looked up and looked around. The Deckers had their other specialists taking out STAG soldiers with their shock hammers.
"Man, they really learned from the best," Viola said.
"They're not that good," Kiki said.
Before the twins could open fire, Vince pulled something out. Shock grew over their faces. Vince pulled out an Annihilator RPG. He even got a special upgrade for it.
"Watch out, ladies," Vince said as he looked through scope upward. The target locked on. He quickly fired a rocket at the Condor.
BOOM! Suddenly everything went full stop and looked up. The Condor was up in flames and landed on a Kayak and N-Forcer in the middle of an intersection. Good thing it didn't land on a house.
"This shit's going to escalate further," Vince said. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
He led Johnny and the twins to the Criminal. Once they got in, Vince turned the key in the ignition and quickly the set the car to drive.
"Where are we going?" Kiki said.
"There's a safe place not far from here," Vince said.
There were only two options – Derek's place or Kinzie's place. One was closer, however. Vince stepped on the gas and swerved the truck in different directions. While this wasn't as fast as a Raycaster or even his Phoenix or Bootlegger, it was still able to handle well and to also avoid any other attacks from the Syndicate and STAG.
"What the hell was that all about?" Viola said.
"I don't know, but it seems like STAG is not just on us," Vince said.
"Man, I got to start using the shit they use," Johnny said. "I saw their shotguns. That's some killer shit."
It didn't take long until the truck pulled up in front of the apartment building. The sisters looked behind to ensure that STAG or the Deckers didn't follow them.
"We're clear," Kiki said. "What is this place?"
"Somewhere we need to hide out before the heat dies down," Vince said. "Come on, let's go inside."
The quartet ran towards the front door. They quickly got inside. However, unbeknownst to them, a STAG soldier with some orange on the armored uniform, looked through a pair of binoculars. He opened the face shield. It was a male, who looked to be in his mid-30s. He got out a transceiver of some sort.
STAG PR CENTER
Inside the boardroom, Cyrus and Kia sat around and looked at some files on a computer.
"Did you find anything?" Cyrus said as he walked up to her.
"Not a lot yet, I found some stuff on the Saints, but I haven't come up with a plan to take them down," Kia said. "This whole thing is a mess. I know we have the Syndicate to worry about as well, but Senator Hughes has assured us that the Saints have been causing a lot of problems here in Steelport."
"I told Hughes to authorize the Daedalus," Cyrus said. "We could have taken down the Syndicate as well as the Saints, and Steelport wouldn't have all of these problems."
RING! RING! RING!
"Hold on, Kia," Cyrus said and answered his transceiver. "This is Temple. Steiner, you got something? I see. No, we need to wait until all of the heat died down in Brickston before we make the move. Listen, you and some of the other lieutenants can scope out other areas. All of these gangs won't stand a chance. Wait, did you say they blew up one of the Condors?"
Kia looked up at him like she knew something was wrong. As calm as Cyrus was, it didn't seem genuine. It looked as if he wanted to explode in anger from it.
"Well, until we know the whereabouts of Birk, then we can make our move," Cyrus said. "It won't be long until we make the move out in Brickston to their hideout. Thanks, Sergeant."
Cyrus got off the transceiver.
"Permission to speak, sir?" Kia said.
"Granted," Cyrus said.
"Why do you think we should wait to make our move?" Kia said. "If you have a clue as to where the leader of the Saints is, then shouldn't we go and apprehend him?"
Cyrus turned to face Kia. "With all due respect, this guy means business. I was told that he took down one of our air units with an RPG. This kind of gang-member has a lot of firepower that may take a lot more than just our ground units to apprehend him. We will need a lot of support to take him down. Besides, Sgt. Steiner informed me that their hideout is in Brickston. So we will send some people to stake out the area."
"Understood, sir," Kia said.
"Good," Cyrus said.
ELSEWHERE…
Matt Miller was in his personal command center looking at his stuff on his computer system. Out of nowhere, his phone rang. He quickly looked at the screen, but it wasn't someone who he had hoped to hear from. He picked up, however.
"Hello, Kirsten," Matt said. "No, I've been doing everything I could to deal with the STAG problem, whether it's in Stanfield, Carver Island, Downtown, or even New Colvin. I have tried to mess with their systems. I…"
Matt sat their in silence. Looks of shock and concern grew on his face. It was like his top enforcer did not mess around with what she had to say.
"I understand that you and Grace have been trying to look at any location where the Saints control, but that is usually your responsibility," Matt said. "No, I totally get that, madam. Besides, you and Grace only handle the wet work. Me friends and I usually just handle the hacking. You know that I have a problem with violence."
Matt sat there quietly as he let the other person talk.
Matt said, "Well, Mr. Loren has a lot of respect for me as an equal because of my genius expertise, as does Killbane. I know that you and Grace call the shots, and you have a high enough ranking in our organization that any of the areas we run, you have a say in some of the leaders for that area. Well, I'm not sure what you want me to do. I have a problem of my own regarding the Saints."
Matt sat there in silence some more.
"Listen, you handle your stuff with the Saints, dear," Matt said. "I will see about finally taking down Kensington and taking over the cyber-world. Talk to you soon, love. Cheers."
After the call ended, Matt let out a big sigh. Could things have escalated any further? Matt wondered why he was involved in this line of work to begin with. Maybe it was time to go back home to England and rethink his choices in life.
But it wasn't the time yet. He still had his own score to settle.
BRICKSTON
It had been an hour or two since the carnage that occurred not far from there. The twins stood around. Johnny looked at the weaponry that was lying around. Vince sat on the couch and watched some TV, as a news report came on with Tammy Tolliver talking about what happened earlier that day.
RING! RING! RING! Vince's phone rang. He saw that it was Kinzie who called him.
"Kinzie, what's up?" Vince said.
"Boss, I want you to know that the system is ready," Kinzie said.
"Come again?" Vince said.
"It's time, Boss, time to put an end to Matt Miller and his stupid games," Kinzie said. "Come by when you're ready."
"I will, tomorrow for sure," Vince said. "I'm definitely ready."
He hung up.
"What was that about?" Viola said.
"Kinzie called to tell me that her system is ready," Vince said. "It's time to take down Miller."
"Wait, Kinzie has set up something for you to take on Matt?" Kiki said.
"I don't understand her nerd talk, but she said something about having me go into the Decker use-net," Vince said. "She set up a VR system with a supercomputer and that high-tech chair."
The twins looked at each other.
"Are you talking about that big chair that Matt had at the reactors?" Kiki said.
"Yeah, why?" Vince said. "Matt is a computer nerd, right?"
"Yeah, but he also knows how to fuck with the cyber-world," Viola said. "I don't know much about the cyber-world, but there is a reason he is up there with Phillipe and Killbane. I was there when Phillipe had him wipe out your account. All I can tell you is you better be ready. Kinzie may know what she is doing, but there is also a reason Matt fucked with her career as a fed."
"I'm ready for anything, honey," Vince said with so much confidence.
Author's note: That's it for this one. I decided to do things a bit differently. Initially I was going to have the Saints take down the Deckers' top enforcers, but I decided to have that happen after the next one.
Next up, a journey through cyberspace. This will be tricky for me to write, but I will manage. Stay tuned.
