Stilwater Blues

Only a couple of days had passed since the irreparable destruction that occurred in Sunset Park. The Saints HQ was no more. Many of the surviving Saints had to scatter to various other places to stay at, whether they were at hotels, motels, or other hideouts that some people stayed at. Some rooms were found in the Burns Hill Reactors, at least in one of the cooling towers as the Deckers had that as their base of operations. Some stayed with Angel in his gym/abandoned casino, some stayed with Kinzie in her warehouse. The young woman could use some company and likely yearned for it despite her claims of enjoying being alone. Some even stayed at Safeword or with Zimos in his pad or in any of the rooms where his ladies stayed in. It wasn't like the Saints had nowhere to go.

But with all of the chaos that occurred just two days prior, this whole story had become quite a media sensation and has been all over the news. Vince, along with other Saints had heard from any of the Saints back in Stilwater that Jack Armstrong, the top news anchor of Stilwater, had been covering the story. In Steelport, Jane Valderamma and Tammy Tolliver had been talking about it. It had been all over the media, with the Saints' war against the Special Tactical Anti-Gang Unit, better known as STAG, as well as a particular area of Sunset Park in Downtown Steelport looked like a warzone, with the Steelport PD and STAG guarding the area with chain-linked fences and police tape surrounding it. Although the Saints were involved and took the fight to them, especially with burning up their banners at the PR Center and calling in airstrikes, most of the destruction was at the fault of STAG.

There was no denying that the Saints' war with STAG was far from over, but at least STAG kept by their word that they would try to go after the Syndicate, at least what was left of it. The Deckers were done. All that was left were the Luchadores and any reinforcements that Phillipe Loren brought in for the Morningstar from overseas. The Saints didn't forget about the rest of the Syndicate, either, nor did Vince and Johnny forget about that mysterious assassin on their tails.

Hours after the battle and destruction occurred, Johnny had filled Vince on that he believed he saw that assassin in the midst of their battle. He described this assassin as a woman in a black leather catsuit with some armor that had orange on it and that she flew a black and orange jet-bike. Vince had told Johnny that he got a glimpse of it through video footage that Kinzie provided. He still had to figure out who she was. Vince knew one person that he had to call, as there was one person from the Ultor Corporation whom he had quite an understanding with. After all, the Saints and Ultor became partners, at least to a point because if this assassin worked for Ultor, it would seem that other parts of Ultor wanted Vince and Johnny dead.

Before the streets were closed off, Vince and some other Saints went back to the parking garage to take any of his cars that he had parked there. The penthouse was the part of that building that was mainly destroyed. Fortunately, no damage was done to the cars.

It was in the middle of the day. Vince drove his Phoenix around Loren Square to meet with someone at an Apollo's. Once he found the coffee shop, Vince pulled over and parked the car. There was someone he wanted to check with, but before he could meet with this person, he had to make that call. One the call went through, a female voice answered and Vince asked the woman if he could speak to Eric Gryphon. It turned out that Gryphon was available to speak and the call went through.

"This is Eric Gryphon speaking." On the other end a rather gravelly voice spoke. Even before identifying himself, Vince knew who he was talking to.

"Eric, this is Vince, Vince Shane," he said. "I'll just cut right to the chase. I want to know something. Is there a special assassin working for you guys? It seems that this assassin is a woman. Do you know anything about this?"

"An assassin? Shit, I know that the Masako still handles their own shit, but I'm trying to wrap my head around this," Gryphon said. "A female assassin, I'm trying to see who this is. Why? What's going on? I hear you have been fucking up Steelport lately."

"Hey, I know when I fuck shit up, but this isn't one of those moments," Vince said. "It's those STAG assholes that are fucking up shit around here. Now that I think about it, do you know anything about those guys?"

"Yeah, I do, it seems that Ultor funded for them," Gryphon said.

"So you're saying that you're involved?" Vince said.

"No, I had nothing to do with it," Gryphon said. "At least not with this whole operation on Steelport. We only funded for this unit and their technology, but this occupation on Steelport is entirely on the government, like Monica Hughes."

"But someone could have given Hughes some ideas on this," Vince said. "I mean, shit, STAG had a computer from you guys to get some ideas on the gangs out here. Someone must have been providing them with intel on the gangs, especially us! Not to fucking mention that an assassin almost killed me and Johnny." Vince paused for a bit. "I'm starting to have a good idea on who is behind all this shit. I know that you guys have a power plant out here."

"Wait, I'm starting to remember something." When Vince heard Gryphon say that, the tone of the man's voice started to sound like something was coming together.

"When you said that the assassin was a woman, I think I might know who you're talking about," Gryphon said. "Does she fly a jet-bike or something?"

As Vince sat in the driver's seat, his sunglasses slid down his nose a tad, his eyes widened. It was now coming together. Even with a light blue Magma pulling up and parking across the street and an attractive and familiar Mexican-American woman coming out, he couldn't think straight because now he was getting somewhere.

"Yes, she flew something like that," Vince said. "She had a powerful rifle, too. Johnny even told me that her hover-bike has a turret."

"Sounds like Cypher," Gryphon said. "She is one dangerous bitch. Usually if she gets a contract, she sees it through and won't stop until you're dead. You better hope that she doesn't find you."

"She shot me and Johnny, but we survived with vests, thankfully," Vince said.

"Well, she'll still try to see about taking you down for good," Gryphon said. "You better hope she thinks you're dead."

Vince continued talking on the phone and the woman walked up to the window. It was Luz. She gave him a signal, and Vince signaled to her that he will be right there in a bit.

"Okay, that makes sense, but don't worry about me, I will figure out how to get to her," Vince said. "I also have a good idea who might be behind the price on my head and Johnny's head. Just tell me one thing, Eric, have you spoken to Dex at all in the past three years?"

"Ever since Dex fled Stilwater, he's been all over the map," Gryphon said. "I know he's moved up the ranks, but he's been keeping a low profile. He probably knows you still want to kill him."

"After he sent the Masako after me one night, I still have unfinished business with that fucker," Vince said. "I wonder if he's here in Steelport. I notice that you guys have a power plant out here."

"Well, I don't know about Dex, but you better you watch your ass from Cypher," Gryphon said.

"I will, thanks, Eric," Vince said. "Oh, and tell Tera I said hello."

"I will, talk to you soon," Gryphon said. The call ended, Vince got out of his Phoenix and went to go meet with Luz who stood nearby.

"Hola, guapo," Luz said "Hello, handsome," in Spanish.

"Hey, Luz, how's it going?" Vince said.

"Oh, it's going fine," Luz said. "I've been feeling safe lately and been working a lot."

"I see," Vince said. "How are things going when staying with Z?"

"Fine, he's a good guy, but I know he's also an old pervert," Luz said. "I see the way he looks at me sometimes, but I'm surprised he hasn't tried anything."

A smile rose on Vince's face when he heard her say that. Vince had told Zimos not to try anything funny with her. He could have his ladies all he wants, though Zimos probably would try with any of the fellow lady Saints, and Vince was well aware of his history with Shaundi, as well as the DeWynter sisters. Even Kiki and Viola had filled Vince on why they had problems with one another, but it had started to cool down ever since the twins joined the Saints.

"Come on, I'll go get us a table," Vince said. The two went into the coffee shop. Luz went to sit in a table. Many people sat around with their eyes glued to their phones and laptops. The coffee shop was playing some alternative rock music on the speakers. To Vince, this was just a simple meet-up so that he could check in on this woman. She was connected to the Saints to a point. Vince helped her run drugs in Stilwater three years prior and he didn't try to kill her after the fall of the Carnales.

Vince went to the table with a couple of coffees, while Vince also brought a scone for himself. Luz didn't really want anything to munch on.

"So, Vince, that's you name, right?" Luz said.

"Yes, but I am still not quite used to being addressed by my name," Vince said.

"Okay, I see, but you will," Luz said. "I see that a lot of things have been happening out here, and I thought the gang war from eight years ago was bad, as well as the one from three years ago."

"You don't know the half of it," Vince said.

"Well, even I could tell you that the Carnales and the Morningstar had a touch of class, but some of the gangs I saw out here are crazy," Luz said. "I have a question to ask you and I should have called you that day to see what was up, but what was with that woman in your gang, Shaundi, I believe? When she saw me, she lost her shit."

Vince sighed a bit. "It's a complicated matter with her. Let's just say she knows about what we did."

Luz looked at him like she was a bit confused. "Really? Is she jealous? Are you two an item?"

"Well, sort of," Vince said. "We kind of have something going on, but we're not really together. I mean what we did was sort of different, but it's not like we were seeing each other or shit like that."

"I see what you mean," Luz said. "Even I could tell you that I was just really horny that day. I'm not looking for anything special right now, especially after Andre tried to pimp me out and also abused me."

"I'm telling you right now, but you really need to rethink your choice in men," Vince said.

"Well, Manuel was the only good one, but you remember what happened with him," Luz said. "I even got back in his good graces for a bit, but then he cut me off again. I just need to focus on me and my business right now."

"I hear you," Vince said.

After a while, the two said bye to one another and said bye to one another. It was crazy for Vince to think that Luz had become somewhat of a friend to him, despite whom she ran with a while before but had no participation in the gang activity. However, Vince looked at his phone and found that Shaundi sent him a text message that read "Call me." So Vince went ahead and did so. Once the call went through, Shaundi answered.

"Hey, Shaundi, what's up?" Vince said.

"Oh, nothing, just missing Stilwater and wondering about all the shit we went through," Shaundi said. "I even did something I never thought I would do again."

"Did you sleep with…?" Vince said.

"What? No! I got high," Shaundi said. "It's been a while but I needed to let loose somehow. I feel like a lightweight compared to how I used to be."

"That stuff happens," Vince said so calmly. There was no reason for Vince to get jealous even if she did sleep with Derek, but he looked at that guy and wondered how he got her, but Shaundi was different when Vince first met her.

"I'm just a bit homesick and thinking about the wild times," Shaundi said. "I also wonder if we could get back to focusing on the Syndicate."

"We will soon," Vince said.

Shaundi said, "But we still have these STAG assholes on us and-," out of the blue, a sound of a door slam occurred. "What the fuck?! SHIT!"

On Vince's end, that did not sound good. "Shaundi? Shaundi! Answer me!"

A strange female voice said, "Sorry, she's done talking. You guys took Birk, now we're taking some of you guys."

The call had ended. The voice did not sound familiar to Vince, but from what he could make out was that the voice came from an African-American woman. He had seen a newscast of Cyrus Temple standing with a black, tough-looking woman. Could that be her? From what it implied, it had to have been STAG. It seemed that after Josh Birk went with the Saints, it shouldn't be so much of a shock that they were still targeting the Saints and possibly the Syndicate. Who knows what could have happened if Birk just went back with them?

There had to be a way to get Shaundi back somehow. There were two people had to call soon. He reached for his phone and found one person he wanted to call.

"Hello, Boss," Kinzie said.

"Kinzie, I need your help, and I mean soon," Vince said. "Is Oleg there with you? I need his help, too. In fact, I need both of you guys' help."

Meanwhile, out in Yearwood near the Chupacabra casino, Johnny and some of other Saints got into a bit of tiff with the Luchadores. But out of nowhere, STAG troops had come in and started gunning down any Luchador mercenaries and Saints soldiers. It didn't stop Johnny, though, as he managed to take a few down with a lot of the dropped weapons on the ground.

However, more STAG soldiers kept coming out. Ammo ran low for Johnny. He was outnumbered. He wasn't sure if they were going to kill him or what, but he wasn't about to go down without a fight. The STAG soldiers had him cornered. There was just no way he would be able to take them down on his own like that. If he shot one, then it would open up an opportunity for another STAG soldier or the few others to just open fire on him. But he didn't want to surrender, either.

A shot was fired. Johnny felt something hit his neck on the right side. He reached over and pulled it out. It had sharp point at the end and had a thick cylinder over it. It was definitely a dart. Johnny then dropped to the ground and then the STAG soldiers picked him up.

From above, Sgt. Steiner grabbed his scanner and talked into it. "Commander Temple, we got Johnny Gat. We will take him to the Thermopylae soon."

On the other end, Temple congratulated Steiner for his work. It was time for them to bring these two in for questioning.

Author's note: That was it for this one. Okay, regarding Luz, I am going to admit that I questioned her being in this story at all but I have an idea for her soon. I almost felt like her inclusion was a bit pointless, but I often come up with ideas.

I also had wanted to have Eric Gryphon appear at some capacity. So he didn't make a physical appearance, but like what I did with Troy a while back, I had him talk through a phone conversation. He did, however, have a radio ad in the game. Also, I do plan to have Dex appear again. Just wait.

Regarding Shaundi's "relapse," as someone who has smoked weed, I can tell you that at times if you go without smoking for a while and when you go back, your body is not going to handle it like before. From personal experience, a friend had told me that if someone had been smoking consistently, your body can handle it, especially with how long the person had done it and also how often. Given Shaundi's past as stoner, it was clear that she had been off the weed in the third game, it shouldn't be a surprise that her body couldn't handle it like she used to. I'm trying to also calm her down compared to how she was in the game, at least to a point.

Next time, infiltrating the Thermopylae. Stay tuned.