Back to Basics

Troy went to go check with Julius about something. The Chinese-American woman had since left, while Julius talked to Troy as Vince waited.

Troy walked down the steps, approaching Vince. "Alright, time for you to buy a piece. There's a Friendly Fire on the corner. I'll be outside waiting."

It was now time to really prove himself and his worth in the Saints. Vince took off, leaving the church grounds to walk towards the corner where Friendly Fire was. It was daytime. The streets weren't as busy in the Row, but the L-train made a lot of noise as a train passed by above, as well as traffic on the freeway. Vince went inside. He had some money on him.

The gun store clerk was friendly as Vince looked at the inventory the place had. He only had $1,000 on him at that moment. It would be best for him not to spend too much right then. He looked at the pistols. He saw that there were Vice 9s and NR4s, and for the mini-submachine guns, there were T3K Urbans and SKR-7 Sprees. Some of the guns were cheaper than others, so he took a Vice 9 and a T3K Urban.

"Thank you for shopping at Friendly Fire, my good man," the clerk said. Vince nodded his head and left the store. Troy stood outside, smoking a cigarette and saw the newest recruit exit.

"All right, man, what do you say we take those pieces and clean up the Row?" Troy said.

"Sounds good," Vince said.

"Okay, let's get to it," Troy said. "Some of our boys saw some Vice Kings hanging out behind the church. If you're man enough, go take care of them."

Vince nodded his head. He holstered his Vice 9 in the back of his pants. He was going to bring the bigger gun on this. He ran down the street. Troy wasn't that far behind him. Once he reached the end of the block, to his left, right at a corner were some guys in yellow.

So those are the Vice Kings. He thought. He remembered the night before when the other three gangs going into that big fight. In order to earn his stripes, he knew exactly what he had to do. He drew his T3K and quickly opened fire. Right before the two Vice Kings turned around to react, they quickly dropped. One had received five shots to the chest, as the sweatshirt had so much blood running down over the loud yellow. The other had gotten a couple of shots to the chest and some even hit his neck.

Troy caught up to Vince and saw the two rival gang members' bodies on the pavement, which now had turned red in their surrounding area. He looked up at Vince with his eyes wide, as if he was impressed. But Vince knew that the task was not complete.

Several pedestrians ran off or even ran to the bodies of the two Vice Kings. Some saw it happen, but with gang violence between common in Stilwater, they just went on their merry way. Vince went farther up.

"Hey, man, wait up," Troy said as he saw that Vince ran ahead of him. "Jeez, who is this guy?"

At the end of the block was a white girl in yellow, as well as a black guy in yellow. Vince once again drew his weapon, except this time, these two Vice Kings members were ready. They drew their pistols. Vince and Troy quickly drew, opened fire. The girl dropped rather quickly at the shots she took from the T3K. Considering she wore a crop top, it was not a pleasant sight to even see some bullet wounds even on her bare midriff, not to mention on her clothed chest. Troy held his gun in the standard way and fired his gun at the either Vice King. He only managed to shoot him in the shoulder. He struggled to bend over and pick up the gun.

BANG! Troy looked over at Vince, who had drawn his Vice 9. Smoke cleared the barrel and the other VK member was seen lying face down with blood draining from his head onto the concrete.

"Damn," Troy said and looked down towards the left. In front of an abandoned store with boarded up windows stood two more VK members.

"Hey, Playa," Troy said. Vince turned and saw them. Without warning, he fired right at them with the T3K, dropped them without any time for them to react.

"Looks like that got their attention," Troy said. "If shit ever gets too hot, go to Forgive and Forget, they'll cover up everything."

"Forgive and Forget?" Vince said. "Didn't know that some places could do that."

Vince looked at his phone. The GPS had shown that such a place was only blocks away. There was a yellow Compton parked nearby where the bodies of the last two Vice Kings members were laid out. Vince ran right towards and got in. Troy got in the passenger's seat and Vince started up the car and they were off. He drove down the road and made a right. At the end, on the other side of the overpass was a Freckle Bitch's location. The GPS said to turn right and there that one place. It looked like a drive-thru place and had some angel and devil symbols as the logo. Vince drove right through the place.

"I must absolve you of your sins," a voice said. "That much cash goes a long way for you to repent."

Vince was at a loss. How could a place like this exist? But hey, as long it could get any cops or rival gangs off his back, it was good enough for him. They got out and back onto the road.

"Hey, man, now that everything's squared away, can you drop me off at Freckle Bitch's?" Troy said. "I'm hungry for a Fun Bag."

"Hey, I could go for a Fist myself, maybe some Chicken Bazooms with a Big Swallow," Vince said.

"Okay, sounds good, and then we'll go back to the church," Troy said.

Vince drove into the lot where the fast food restaurant was. Rather than go into the drive-thru, Vince parked the Compton and they went inside to get their grub on.

It was now afternoon. Not a lot of people were around, though. Did they beat the lunch rush crowd? Or was it afterward? It didn't matter, as Troy and Vince were next in line.

Vince got out his wallet.

"Psst," Troy whispered, Vince looked up at him. "It's okay, it's on me."

Vince nodded his head. Troy went ahead and bought them some food. Troy got a Fun Bag, which was the kid's meal. Vince got a Fist, which was a big burger and a Big Swallow with some Joe Cola.

The two went outside at the tables to go eat.

"I got to say, I'm impressed," Troy said. "You sure know how to handle yourself."

"Thanks," Vince said.

"You don't really talk a lot, do you?" Troy said.

"This stuff is new to me, I'm trying not to fuck up here," Vince said.

"Understandable," Troy said. "Anyway, listen, after we're doing, take me back to the church. You go get yourself some new threads."

Vince nodded and after they were done eating. They headed back to the church. Vince dropped off Troy. Because he now proved his worth, he now needed the right colors to wear. The nearest clothing stores were outside of the Row. He took off to Sloppy Seconds in Sunnyvale Gardens, as it was the closest.

As soon as he got out of Saint's Row, he now knew that he was in rival territory. This area in particular was run by the Vice Kings, the same people in yellow that he encountered earlier. It was clear to him that Stilwater had a lot of areas that were run by gangs. Now that he found himself in with the Saints, he knew he would have to deal with the rest of them.

It was not long until he pulled up to the clothing store. He went inside and bought himself a purple baseball jersey and a black, white, and purple baseball cap. That was all needed to start with.

MEANWHILE, AT THE CHURCH…

"So how did the new guy do, Troy?" Julius said, sitting at a desk in what appeared to be his office. His office was a metal plaque on his wall that looked like a snub-nose but with one bullet missing. Troy sat in front of him.

"Impressive, this guy seemed like he knew what he was doing," Troy said. "He took down the Vice Kings without breaking a sweat."

"Cool, looks like I made the right choice after all," Julius said.

Troy nodded and then his phone rang. "Hold on, I got to take this call. What's up? Really, I'll get the boys ready. I'll let Julius know."

As soon as Troy got off the phone, he said to Julius, "Word is that we got a turf war going on right now. Let's get our asses out there."

"Wait, you should call our new guy," Julius said.

"We don't have time," Troy said.

"There's always time, text him, call him, just let him know and have him come back here and we'll handle our shit," Julius said.

"You got it," Troy said and went ahead to make the call.

Author's note: Yes, this was rather short, but I added some extra bits to help set up the next one.

Next up, the Saints get involved in the turf war and set up a plan. Stay tuned.