2013
Ivan
Drink The Fool Aid
Ivan had been told to appear out in the middle of nowhere. He spotted a red truck in Taron Canyon. He remembered his quiz he'd taken online. Do you have red hair? No. Do you ever experience Deja Vu again? Yes. Do you want to be understood completely to be complete? Uncertain. Do you have the endurance to lie with nine new partners a week? you consider attraction relative to your own attractiveness? No. Do you want to be famous? No. Are you able to see things and see them as metaphors for other things like trees and angels? Yes. Can you easily ignore your entire family and join a new group of friends? Uncertain. Do your checks clear? Uncertain.
He got the results back. He sighed feeling ridiculous. He held a hand out. "Take me to my father-father brother-uncle...kifflom."
Just then, two Caucasian males approached. Both had brown hair and wore light blue tops but the man on Ivan's right wore black shorts while the other man wore blue jeans. "Peace brother brother..." Stated the man in the jeans. "Kifflom..." Stated the other man before kicking him in the testicles. Ivan doubled over. "Kakogo cherta, muzhik? Chto sluchilos' s uvazheniyem starshikh ?!"
(What the fuck, man? What happened to respecting elders?!)
"Kifflom..." Stated the other man before punching Ivan in the face. The last thing he remembered was hitting the dirt.
Several Hours Later
He awoke in a field seeing satellite dishes so he was able to guess that he was still in Blaine County. Jut then a voice spoke on a loudspeaker. "If you feel you understood nothing then you know everything. Come to Vinewood for the real truth. But first, that'll be $500 please. Kifflom be praised."
He stood up dazed to see a black truck driving away from him and he saw that he was stripped down to just a white wife beater and boxer shorts. He checked his email address and it said, "Give us 500 dollars..."
He sighed dialing Vasily. "Hey, man I can't really explain why but I need a ride. And a change of clothes. I'm uh...shit...out by the wind mills."
"Alright. I'll get there when I can. But why not just call a cab?"
stone looked at Ivan in annoyance. "Nah i don't hit them i keep motherfuckers who do AWY
"I'm in my fucking boxers, man. And my wallet is gone. Luckily, I did't have much money in my wallet but a few small bills but it wouldn't be enough to geta cab to Los Santos."
"But wouldn't it be enough to get you to nearest ATM machine?"
"Probably not, no. Besides, I'm still indecent. I'm lucky the cops haven't picked me up yet. Will you do me this favor or not?"
"Yes. Stay there. Jesus, man. If they were going to rob you, it would make more sense to steal your phone too."
He waited until he got there. It seemed like forever but finally, Vasily pulled up in a dark red Oracle. He handed him a pair of black jeans, a brown jacket and a white t shirt. "I owe you, brother. Thank you."
"Where to next?"
"Vinewood..."
"Sure thing but on the way there why don't you tell me what happened?"
Ivan broke it all down for him. Not only being kicked in the balls but having seen Chris Formage as he had his neath expirience. "That's just the lack of oxygen in your brain, comrade, You can't seriously believe in that nonsense? Besides, a lot of people have seen that crazy man when they've had near death experience. It must be something strange about this city. Maybe it's something in the air, no? Too much smog. Kind of like how there's something seriously fucked up about the middle east and how every thosand or so years a new religion gets started."
"Hey, I'm not saying I believe in this..."
"Ivan we are best friends. Even trhrough all the secrecy we've had to keep with our jobs in the past. We've gone from the KGB to the military to the Bravta together. And I know you are involved with the Epsilon Program or at least that you have drinken proverbian kool aid. I talked to Sugar. She's worried about you and she did mention that both her and Leela were a little weirded out that you saw Chris Formage. Let me be perfectly honest with you. I've even seen him a couple of times out here when I've been bleeding out and nearly died. All it really means is that our brain is going through memories as it shuts down. We've both seen him on television. That's all it means. It's the sub conscious."
"But how can we know for sure religious experiences are not valid? Everybody with beliefs like you who die and come back whether you see anything or not you still attribute it to a dying brain. But how can we ever really know? I have been an atheist most of my life and I took that same belief for granted. That's not even the first time I've had a close brush with death but every other time that I have I didn't see anything or remember anything and if I did see something, I forgot it. So what am I supposed to think here?"
"You are older. That's one difference. Did you know that when you sleep as you get older your brain is more in the lighter stages of sleep rather than deeper? That is why senior citizens get up so early and go to sleep early. Less sleep the older you get. Until you finally take the eternal nap we all must take."
"What if we're wrong, Vasily? We are true patriots of the motherland. Of this, I am certain but what if we got religion wrong? It doesn't have to be a tool of the masses."
"Are you fucking listening to yourself, friend? You've always been a man of reason and now you want to listen to some lunatic who believes the earth is only 157 years old? What's wrong with you? Maybe when you were shot there was more damage to your brain than I realized. This is a cause for concern. Besides, even if you could make the argument that religion doesn't have to be about controlling the minds of people and was strictly about individuakl faith, you just told me that they asked for $500. I can't believe I'm giving you a ride there. Really I should not be enabling this behavior. We have a job to do remember? Not only do we have to get your father out but we have larger concerns in the near future. We don't have time for this."
"Hey, maybe asking for money is not such a bad thing. I don't know why spiritual advisors get blamed for it. After all, we all need monety under a capitalist system. Why should the church man be any different? They have to eat too. They can't share truth waith us if they are dead."
"Now, I know you have lost your mind. I need to take you to the hospital to get your head looked at, John," Almost never did Vasily ever call Ivan by his English equivilant name the name he was given at birth in America. "That man must have hit you very hard. Chris Formage does not need your donations. Have you seen the Epsilon Church in Vinewood? Better yet have you seen how many places they have bought all over the world?"
"I get it, Vasily. You're a Stalinist and you view religion as evil."
"It is. It's seling false hope. Listen, you know when you are dying your brain releases DMT. Scientists do not know why. But that's all you were seeing with Formage. My God, man and I thought the Vatican, the Muslim royal families and the Jewish bankers were greedy. A billion dollar cult is actually petty enough to ask you for five hundred dollars. For what? What will they do with this five hundred? What would they do if I gave them five hundred? It doesn't make sense."
"Your Anti Semeitism is unbecoming, Vasily. I would expect it from Grisha but not you. We are Communists after all. We are supposed to want equality for all."
"Yes but equality feels like oppression to the privilleged. In the case of the children of Zion, knowing that a lot of them have the most billionaires do you really think they would be willing to forgo their undeserved privilleges and redistribute wealth? The only reason we consider it worse to criticize Judaism than Islam and Christianity is because of the holocaust and because we still percieve them as an ethnic group but most of them are Ashekenazi."
"You know, tjhe Soviet Union did fight the Nazis. You may not want to talk so much like one."
"But this is exactly what I'm talking about. The USSR disliked both Nazis and Jews. I know Comrade Stalin made an alliance with Hitler first but Hitler broke it. In any case, Hitler hated Communists too so the alliance was stupid on both accounts."
"Get the fuck outta here..." Ivan said changing his accent to a Libertonian just for dramatic effect before going back to his normal accent. "You mean you are actually critcizing Comrade Stalin? The closest thing to a God you have?"
"Listen, true democracy and communism should be more in line with each other than capitalism ever has been. Besides, he was just a man after all and men make mistakes. I know you are more of a fan of Vladamir Lennin. And maybe his was the closest to true Communism. But he was not really able to see our country through was he? Stalin was the man. Besides, the champions of old school Communism were also Jewish. Marx, Lennin...Grisha may be a dick in the way he goes about saying things like that but he's not wrong. I don't hate them on the basis of their ethnicity. It's what they believe. The concept of a chosen people. They need to give that up. It's stone age barbarism keeping us in the dark ages."
"Yes but weren't you taking a different stance concerning the Vietnam war? Remember, the Soviets wanted to deesculate while China wanted a worldwide revolution. If that's the case, friend in your later years you are starting to be more predisposed to Maoism than Stalinism. And I am still a Leninist but I am aware that I could be wrong. I think Stalin was a Leninist at first but then he took it his own direction. Maybe Mao was the next step up. Of course killing so many people as he did was insane..."
"Yes but him championining the agarian working class was something we shoyuld have done in Russia. It was incomplete and i am willing to admit that. Maybe had Stalin lived, he would have seen to that."
"I guess..."
"Come on, man. My flexibility to Maoism is more logical than you considering Epsilon. Even Americans know their cult is full of shit and they are a people without real culture. I worry about you. It is fine that we both came out with Stalinist views while you were more into Lenin's views and Trotsky to a point while I lean more towards Chairnmen Mao. His philosophy not his practices. But you are joining a cult. Jesus, man. At least the church the synogogues and the mosques make an effort to at least make it look like their donations go towards helping the poor and tie in some way into some form of spiritual matter."
"Yes, but all those followers of the older religions have only the stories of men they have never met. But Chris Formage he is alive and well. He is a real person..."
"Come on, Ivan. Even if what they believe in Islam is not true we at least have historical record of Muhammad existing. For Jesus and Moses there is not. No archeological evidence of the wars that are attributed to Joshua, none of these things. Let's face it. The most significant thing to happen in Judea in the first century was not some hippie with magnificent beard. It was the siege of Masada and the second destruction of the Temple.
"Yes but even the events of Masada, were told through the eyes of Josephus. Is this not the same man that skeptics of Christianity pint out as being the true author of the new testament and the creator of Christianity as a whole? So you see even back then without archeological evidence claims can be inaccurate but he was hardly unbiased as it is. He became a Christian later in life."
Before long they finally got there and Ivan had donated another $500. "I appreciate the help. I will repay it, brother."
"Don't you mean brother brother?" Vasily said with an eye roll as he drove off. Ivan was able to access his bank account so he had been able to donate the money. He then withdrew more money so he could have enough for a cab or whatever else should something else happen. He looked down at the screen and it said Thank you for your donation, brother brother! Kifflom be praised! kifflom!"
24 Hours Later
He visited the Epsilon Warehouse on Alta Street. "Hello?"
"Kifflom!" A s masculine looking blonde haired woman showed up. She was skinny and wore an aqua blue shirt and blue jeans. "You have come this far but the journey you've only just begun! You've waited years for this moment. You're exactly in the right place. I was lost. I sold myself . I took drugs I was in conflict. Then I discovered an incredible truth. A truth so incredible that if I told you now you would melt into nothingness.," He stared at her in awe. "You are you are not ready."
"Oh I'm not ready..." She exclaimed, "Then you're ready!"
"Oh I don't know about that...I only came because..."
"The truth is incredible if you're capable of understanding it. We have your email address we will send you an incredible education tool that will help you to unlock the secrets of the existance. That will cost as little as five thousand dollars."
"Five thousand? Shit...I could buy a lot of things with that."
"What price could you put on having the tools to understanding everything and achieving the impossible?"
Just then a man with semi tan skin wearing s a sweater vest of an ethnicity Ivan could not determine walked in and said, "The price I would put on it is every penny you've ever earned." He held his hand up "Kifflom, sister mother..."
Ivan thought, Vasily is right. These people are insane and scam artists but I have to see this through...
"Well the price i would put on it is all the money in the world because that is how much it's worth. "
"But we're offering you millions of dollars worth of top quality research and learning by society's best only five thousand dollars."
"Think about it, Ivan," Said Marnie. "But if you take too long it means you're not ready."
"Kifflom..." Stated the male. "Kifflom!" She added. Ivan realized that she was Marnie. He had been in Liberty City in 2008. He had given her money before. He'd even see her buy cocaine from Bravta members in Hove Beach. Now here she was five years later in a cult. "Okay..."
He donated the $5000 after they had left. He checked. He was texted to go see Marnie in Grapeseed.
Two Days Later
He approached to see the blonde in a field. "Hello, Ivan. Or should I say Nictow."
"What?"
"Your real name is are a king. You lived in a cloud city but evil forces came and cast you out. Now you are trapped here but you soon shall be free."
"I see..."
"I used to be called Marnie...now I am Shupar...Queen of the winds."
"Yes, I remember you from Liberty City. You really don't remember me?"
She thought for a moment. "I remember you. You gave me $500 before. You're a generous man. Then we met again in Varsity Heights and you gave me another $500. Don't you remember? You took me to Grand Easton Terminal station."
"No...I don't remember this. You must have me confused with somebody else."
"Doubting is the pathway to believing for non objectionable literature is very clear about that."
"You know what doesn't make sense about reincarnation? How come the religions that believe in it are supposedly the only ones who remember past lives? Not only that but you can see into the past lives of others. But how would you know what my past life was? Unless you were me? I also know why you call each other brother brother and sister mother. It's the same as Buddhism, right? Everybody was somebody's father, mother, son, daughter brother or sister at some point, yes?"
"Oh it is easy to be doubtful antithesis but be a thesis, Nictow. These are incredible truths.I used to be lost. Now I'm the most powerful person in existence."
He thought to himself, Wait, even more than Chris Formage? Then that must make him God.
"Last night, I went to forty thousand different places at the same time."
"Ah yes...I see. That's why we're out in the desert. This is where the peyote is. The Native American tribes out here used them. It was meant for ceremony, miss. Not to be used for recreation..." He recalled what Paul had told him about it even though Paul was not from the Southwest and neither were his people, the young man was still an interesting kid. He had bonded to a degree with Paul on an intellectual level even if it wasn't as much on a cultural or fraternal level like he had with Neto or Mai's maternal; instinct mixed with that of an older sister. He smiled. Shit...maybe we are what the Epsilon's say we are. Maybe Mai really is our sister mother.
"Objectionable persons fall at any hurdle."
"The fuck..." He started to walk away. "Helping higher beings is the pathway to acquiring a higher existence."
"I'm sure it is..."
"You're not..but you're on the of our true thesis holders who also happen to be top of their field actors, philosopher's and humaniterians require cars. Can you find it in your heart to be of service? The spirits shall email you their requirements."
"The spirits have need of a car? What is this a Stephen King novel?"
"Don't be an antithesis, Nictow...Kifflom."
"Kifflom..." He said walking away. He got back into the Vapid he had driven there. He pulled around and Marnie said, "Queen Shupar has already dismissed you."
He thought to himself as he pulled away, I don't know who you were confusing me with, lady but whoever it was, he should have left you as a junkie in Liberty City rather than give you money to start over. It's curious that you guys first asked me for $500 and you mentioned having $500 from this man...I think I know where the money went
2014
Alderney City
He had his jaw wired shut and it would be for another couple of weeks but his leg was mostly healed and he was able to walk on crutches. He had a cane now. Vasily was now in a panic though because the Trinity's were after tossed Ivan his Makarov. Vasily had a Glock in hand himself. "Poydem, tovarishch. Troitsy spuskayutsya na pervyy etazh, i oni podnimayutsya!"
(Come on, comrade. The Trinity's are down on the first floor and they're making their way up! )
They made their way down the hall. Ivan had his Cane in his left hand and pistol in his right. They heard running footsteps coming up the stairwell to their right so they headed for the left. Vasily got the door for Ivan and Ivan hobbled through it. The door to the south or rather, their right, opened and several green, red and blue clad gang members came through the door, about five in total. Vasily began opening fire with his Glock off the bat. He hit the first man, a Dominican mestizo in a red and blue tracksuit in the chest with three rounds and two in the neck, the second, was an Afro Dominican wearing a dark blue bandanna, a white t shirt, a gray puffy jacket and blue stonewashed jeans. He struck him with two rounds in the waistband and one in the right knee cap.
The third, a white Dominican with blonde curly hair tan skin and blue eyes and glasses, was hit with four more rounds. The next six rounds hit the other two but only wounded them and did not kill. The fourth Trinity, at ri racial man of Spanish, Taino and African descent wearing a green bandanna and a blue Swingers jersey fell but he retrieved his 9mm and fired at them just as Vasily slammed the door shut. "Stupid fucking Americansky's!"
They made their way down the stairs but after a couple of flights of stairs, Vasily heard somebody yell, "¡Vamos hermano! ¡Los rusos están aquí! ¡Oscar dijo que uno de ellos está lisiado!" As several rounds were fired up the stairwell as some Dominicans came up to shoot.
"What is this amateur hour?!" Cried Vasily as he reloaded and he fired down at them but took cover behind the stairs. "Yebat Kobat! Huis S gory," He fired striking one of the Dominican's in the hand. He saw a finger come off as the .45 was dropped. "Ivan fired striking the first ne that tried to come up. Vasily trained his pistol on the door as two more Dominicans emerged from the stairs above them. "Alright, we're stuck between a rock and hard place, my friend. In here!"
They went into the hallway entrance on the floor they were on. They made their way down the hall. I hope there is nobody on the opposite stairwell. I fucking hate housing projects. Ivan thought. I'd had enough of the high rises back in Liberty.
Two more Dominicans came after them one carrying a Sawed Off, the other carrying an Uzi. Ivan fired several rounds striking the one with the Uzi in the left jaw. The next three landed in the man with the sawed off shotgun's stomach. He reloaded after he finished the wto men and got through the door. They came around a corner and Vasily hit the button n an elevator. "We're in luck. Now we just need to make it to the car."
"¡Obtén estos cabrones!" Screamed the Trinity's. Vasily cursed, "I should have brought us a couple of fucking Kalishnokov's but there wasn't time. I don't know if you'd be able to hold one and walk anyway."
They got into the elevator as the doors closed. Four rounds narrowly missed the two of them. They got to the bottom floor and headed out. Vasily got the black Admiral started and Ivan got in the passenger seat. He was ready with a fresh magazine and he aimed out the window as he saw several Patriots and Cavalcade's parked out front. Ivan fired shooting out at least one tire on each vehicle so that they couldn't follow them. They sped away. "I think we either need to get on a plane or a train after this and get back to Los Santos. Even if the Trinity's send more men after us they wouldn't be stupid enough to show their faces there."
Ivan knew there was truth in that. It wasn't just a matter of it being suicidal for a gang of outsiders to ever show up in LS. There simply wouldn't have been enough Dominicans in the city to maintain membership anyway like in Liberty and Alderney. Whenever a gang of a particular group set up shop in a city that was nationalist to a point you couldn't just factor in how many Dominicans or whoever else there were in the city you also had to subtract that by how many would recruited into a gang.
Vasily then said, "Well, I know what project in Alderney those assholes come from. They work with the Algonquin and Bohan factions sometimes. Whatever we decide as far as how we're getting out of here, I can promise you this. When we get back to Los Santos, they'll be receiving something themselves. We know Marco sent those goons to try and rub us out. We'll consider this their...how do Americans say...cease and desist letter."
Alderney City
48 Hours Later
Five Dominicans sat in their apartment smoking weed while the song enseñame a olvidar by Aventura played. "Don't even trip, B. Oscar will take care of those blanquitos on his own. In the meantime, I say we hit Hove Beach teach them a lesson in respect. That shit they pulled out in Northwood was fucked up, man."
"Oye, papa! Recibimos correspondencia de los hermanos en Santo Domingo," Called one of the gang members.
(Oye, papa! We got mail from the brothers down in Santo Domingo. )
He opened the package to find a jar of white powder. "The fuck is this shit? ¿Cocaína?"
He opened it and some of the substance popped out.
Los Santos
All though hardly anybody ever bought the newspaper anymore, Vasily and Ivan were from an era where they did. Vasily got a copy of the LS Times. On the front page was the headliner Terror Alert. Anthrax released in housing projects in Alderney. Terrorism? Or smuggling operation gone wrong?
Vasily had to chuckle at that one. More Trinity's than just the ones who had been in the room had died. The building had to be evacuated and quarantined which would likely result in the building have to be torn down. This would leave the Trinity's in Alderney City decentralized.
.
2015
Metra, Lincoln Parish
Miguel spotted Lady Casper. She was there to give him a lift back. Lady Joker spotted as she planted a kiss on his lips. They were not together, they were just friends with benefits but even for that, there had to be mutual attraction. He kissed her back and put a hand on her ass. He saw no reason to pursue Lady Joker. He knew she hated him and he had left her a note apologizing for what he had brought on her unwillingly but he doubted she would ever forgive him. She'd called him a cabron before. Now, normally that didn't matter especially in the context of friendship he had sensed the anger in her voice from it.
"You should say adios to your papa..." She said. Even though they were both headed back to New Austin, Ernesto would be headed to Blackwater. They had tracked down the man who had shot Flaco and he was laying low there with some Condados out there since Onda had run the Condodados that had done that out of Gulfton Heights. Miguel would be headed to Sunbelt.
"Aren't we even gonna talk about this?" Lady Joker growled. "You're just leaving us?"
"No. My dad will be back. But I'm leaving and the carnales from the SWC cliqua belong in Sunbelt."
"So after all the shit you've caused you're just running away?"
"Tu sabes...you can look down at me all you want. You don't show respect cause you see me as a boy and not a man deserving of Onda, right? Well I'm done trying to please you. I've spent the last months trying to help. Trying to make up for it. But you're never going to forgive me. I've apologized...there's nothing I can do beyond that. But that's not why I'm leaving. You want to know something?" He got really close and whispered in her ear. "Before my mama married that mayate from the Steeds, but after she divorced Ernesto...she started dating a vato. He molested me."
"You're lying..."
He lifted up his shirt showing a few scars on his back. "Nope. That fool got outta line. It was about what...six, maybe even years ago. So I know what it is. I got counsiling. I could tell you I'm healed but I'm not maybe we never are. You think I use that shit as an excuse to just stay angry forever? No. So don't give me any bullshit about how I'm a male and don't understand...because I do..." A tear rolled down his eyes. "My mom didn't know. When she did we got out. That was when she started to wonder if divorcing Ernesto was a bad idea. She didn't even tell him. I haven't told him...I wanted to tell him...but I can't. He's the idea of manhood I have but I had mine taken from me when I was just a kid. So I'll tell you this...you don't have to spend the rest of your days being bitter. What do Dede and Angel get? They don't get a second chance/ Loka never gets to walk again...did you lose your mom to execution? You lost a brother...so did I. Shot by the FIB. Unlike you, I didn't get to avenge him. You think you're the ONLY FUCKING ONE WHO'S LOST SOMEBODY AND BEEN VIOLATED?!" She stepped back a bit startled by his outburst but also surprised and saddened by what she had told him.
"But you are not the reason I'm leaving. I have my own reasons for that..." She said with anger in her tone, "If you're not leaving because of me, then why are you leaving? And why did you tell me that if you're not doing it because of me?"
He sighed. "Because...mi jefito...he feels for the varrio down here. You guys all...I know how you look at me. Undeserving of being Onda. Because of my age or being hot headed...whatever. But what if I told you Onda was founded by pissed off teenagers? You don't know what I can do and neither does Cruz. I realized something. Maybe I do need to earn my keep and that's something I could do better on. But when are you vatos y hynas in Lincoln Parish gonna learn to stand on your own two feet? You were barely making moves before we came. Cruz has my respect but I'm serious what were you doing that you don't run this state? Maybe it is time I take th 'training wheels' off but the same is true for all of you. That's what's going on."
"So you're punishing us? I don't get it. What does that have to do with what happened to you?"
He said, "Because, mi fejito like I said, didn't even know about this. He still doesn''t. I don't want him thinking I'm some kind of faggot. But when my dad was locked down and couldn't do shit...mi mama told Flaco and he did do something about it. He took care of that motherfucker. He cut his dick off and buried him in the desert with it in his mouth and his tongue up his ass. That's what Uncle Flaco did for me and now he's gone cause some Cornudo bitch with no respect for OG's decided to kill him. So if I have to start taking responsibility not only for those that relied on me, on us, I have to go back. What happened to you was fucked up. But as fucked up as it was my varrio is bigger and a lot more of my homegirls from back in Sunbelt went through the same thing and they haven't gotten justice yet either. You got your revenge. I did all I could even if it was just killing enough of the mayates that were in the way for you to get your revenge. Maybe papa isn't ready to let you all stand on your own yet but me, it's time for me to be on my own taking care of business. So I'm leaving and I'm not coming back. Unless he needs me but if he needs me he can come see me right there where we're from. I'll never get to torture that piece of shit the way you did those 4th ward chavalas. So you got closure. Me, I lost the man that handled that when I was too young so I owe him... and before that, mi compa Snapper. I have to handle that too. The 3rd ward lames in Sunbelt killed him. I can't let that stand."
"Espera, sin embargo ... Necesito hablar contigo sobre lo que dijiste en esto ..."
(Wait though... I need to talk to you about what you said in this...)
"There's no point. Look...we weren't really friends anyway...at least...not in the way it's supposed to be. I know it's hard to see me for anything beyond what happened to you. "Y eso está bien. Pero me voy, así que tu excusa para ser amarga se ha ido como los cuervos del cuarto grado que sacaste. Tienes tu venganza. Tengo que obtener el mío ahora."
(And that's fine. But I'm leaving so your excuse to be bitter is gone just like the 4th ward cuervos you took out. You have your revenge. I have to get mine now. )
" ¿Que hay de ella?" She asked referring to Lady Casper.
(What about her?)
"No tienes que preocuparte por eso. No es solo el hecho de que estar por aquí siempre habrá un elefante en la habitación. No hay nada más que pueda hacer por cualquiera de ustedes aquí. No sé por qué papá está aquí y quiere estar aquí más que en casa. Tal vez él no quiere recordar a mamá. Pero nuestra familia está de vuelta allí,"
(You don't have to worry about it. It's not just the fact that being around here there's always gonna be an elephant in the room. There's really nothing else I can do for any of you here. I don't know why papa is out here and wants to be here more than home. Maybe he doesn't want to remember mom. But our family is back there.)
"Your sister...hey...I wasn't supposed to see anything and I won't say anything about what happened at the motel but...does she know?"
"No. Because there's nothing to know."
"You look like you know something I don't. If you want to apologize...i'll think about it all...but if you know something that's going to happen...tell me. That's how you can ptove you're really sorry..."
He stared at her long and hard then said. "Fine. Thetre's a chance you may get your revenge on me yet...and I don't want it to happen but Karma just might make it happen..."
"Miguel what are you talking about?"
"You helped us go against the Romans. That's dangerous. I know that...they didn't do what was done to you and the other two homegirls but they did kill people close to you. I'm not sure if they'll ever find out it was us. But the SWC...they're my comaradas now too and I gotta be there to have their back when they come for them. I've known them longer...they're gonna retaliate. They're going to retaliate in New Austin. i'm going to stay there and divert their attention if that happens. Marcus Roman...away from my father, away from Felix, away from Task and Adayh, the Creek reservation...from you..."
"Yu're going on a kamikaze mission?"
"I didn't say that. I just see a storm coming..down here you get hurricanes...we get tornados where I'm from. It's funny to me that people used to call Neto Hurricane. A Hurricane destroys the cities around here and a Tornado destroys our state. So I guess that makes Neto a Hurricane...maybe me and papa too. While, Mark Roman...he's a Tornado. A black dusty motherfucker sweeping across the south destroying houses and lives. Well I'm taking the fight to him."
"Before you go...I just want to know what you mean by karma.. you owe me that much."
"Fine. I owe you that much and nothing more. I apologized and apologzed. But I don't need your forgiveness no more. It only matters that I make up for it and forgive myself. Beause their deaths will be with me forever too. Carmen.. she's still back home. I think one day...if Mark and others like him don't kill her, one of our other enemies will. I have to stay near her to try and make sure that doesn't happen. I have to be there for her the way I wasn't there for you. The way my dad couldn't be for me. I'll do what I can. I'm not going to get her involved in what we do but I'm gonna make sure none of our enemies try and retaliate against her either. still..."
"Still what?"
"What I mean by karma and you getting revenge is...I keep dreaming she's gonna die. I'm not sure if Mark is the oe who would do it. I don't know if he will it's always obscure...every time. But that hijo de puta was going to go after her before at her clinic. So I might die if I go against him but 'll make sure I take as many of them down with me if I do. Lee, his father his brother...this is a war between two familiesonly he;s got more gangsters in his family and we got more civilians."
He thought, I wish Luis was still around he would have left all of them full of lead. "I think if any harm does come to her...it'll be my fault in the greater scheme of things too. Karma...failing to protect you when I did. It may not even be revenge you'd want but it will break me too. I don't plan to do what I did at the motel. I might die a bloody death but it won't be by my own hands."
He then looked at her and said, "Adios..."
He got into the car. "Are you alright?" Asked Lady Casper. La Tortura was another woman he had fucked during his stay in Sunbelt. She saw in the car too. But today, they wouldn't be having any kind of kinky sex or partying or neighborhood barbeques. They were out for blood. Ernesto would be leaving a couple hours later.
As he drove, Lady Joker stared at him as he drove off. She didn't know what to think about this all just like she hadn't entirely processsed his suicide attempt either but more things made sense now. He was taking responsibility.
In his own mind however, though he felt he wanted to, he thought it would be best if he never set foot back in the state of Loiusiana and that he would never see her again. He tried to follow his father's advice. To not worry about her acceptance of him. She was not the primary reason he was leaving but she was one of them.
6 Hours Later
He had pushed the thought of the chola he'd had a crush on and mixed feelings for aside but now he found himself missing Felix and Task and Adayh. Those guys were cool. Maybe, he hoped, they might visit one day. But he knew he had spent too much time in Lincoln Parish. He'd been told he could come and kick it with Lady Casper and Tortura who were room mates if he ever wanted to but he had this new apartment because he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.
He had his mind on the vato that had killed Snapper. Allegedyly he was related by blood to the Romans, he was a second cousin or so he heard. Others had said he was an in law. Or just a friend of the family. The only thing that was known was that he did know them and he actually had reasonably good relations with Marcus Roman though not as well as Marrick and Maurice and for reasons he did not know, he seemed to hate Martin Roman and their mother. The hatred he had for Martin was public while the hatred towards Yoldanda was more alleged and private. It didn't matter why and he didn;t care.
His name was no indication that he was related. Miguel had the pictures of Marcus, Marrick Maurice, on the board as well as every cousin in Sunbelt underneath it. He had not shown anybody his board. He had a picture of the man he was supposed to take out. His name was Jamari Hightower. He was a dark skinned black male with a shaved head and cold beady brown eyes. He was thirty years old, had served a nickel in a prison in Western New Austin, a max security one at that and he had done some time in New Arcadia Parish. He was a notorious drug dealer out of the the 3rd ward clocking an average of ten k a week. He was alleged to still have couriers deliver and pick shit up in New Arcadia as well and have some ties to the Madrazo cartel.
He also had a picture of Lee up too. The Chicano had been taking boxing lessons himself in private trying to get better at fighting beyond just brawling. He would kill Lee or ie trying and even if somehow he did die trying, even if he didn't kill Lee he would make sure that by the time it was over he would wish he had. He actually hated him more than Mark at this point but not by a lot. The chink didn't have any family that he knew about so taking out those that he considered close to him in the BSU as family would have to do. Miguel put his pocket knife in the picture of Lee's face. He would bide his time and plan very carefully but pretty soon, he would see that he was not somebody to be looked down on, trifled with or underestimated in any way. He admitted he'd underestimated the New Arcadia boys and he regretted it but they had underestimated him too.
He went outside getting into the dark red Peyote. They began to make their way to the 3rd ward. La Tortura wore a yellow bandanna over her face and a white tank top that was a half shirt plus black dickies. Lady Casper wore a yellow and brown plaid button up and a dark blue bandanna tied around her head and another around her face. La Tortura had an AK-74 while Lady Casper carried a Remington 1100. For a sidearm, LT carried a Beretta 9mm while Lady Casper had a Glock 40. There were a couple of Azteca cars as well as South West Cholos headed to the 3rd ward.
Miguel loaded up his Sub Machine Guns as he got ready. "You want us to come with you when you ride on the Cornudos?" Asked La Tortura. "Chale..." Miguel shook his head. "Chale, esa...that's...that's gotta be just family. I'm meeting him tonight to do that...it'll be a long drive."
"Orale...we're here for youi if you need it..." He nodded. "Griacias..."
As they drove, the song Natural High by Lil Rob played as they drove.
3rd Ward
Jamari "Hi Power" Hightower was taking a hit from the bong as he and five other crew members smoked. In the kitchen an African American female in a dark blue midriff top with a red bandana on and blue daisy dukes shorts sat with another girl, a yellow bone Creole woman with yellow brown skin who wore a black halter top and a hat with the words Sunbelt on it. They were rolling up a blunt while Jamari and his crew were smoking at the table and playing cards. His best friend, Demari James a mulatto with straight hair standing at six foot four and a bulky build said, "Man, I'm tired of these Mara bitches...and the Aztecas...always fucking with us. Who do they think they are, brah?"
"It don't matter..." Hi Power stated as he blew smoke passing the bong. "You niggas don't gotta get along with the crews around here...now the Condados, not the Vagos...not the Aztecas or the Mara Putas...but what you do gotta do is be showing them cartel mofuckas respect cause they all about their paper and without them we got no shipment, dog. They keep it professional."
"Yeah, I know we customers and all that but I' saying it's deeper than that with Marabunta and them South West bitches you feel me? I mean why they aint trying to have us be contract killers man? They could o more than just give us blow. We could be doing hitys. Shiiit. if it they don't you should see about them Zeroes. See if they fuck with us."
"Nah. I dion't trust them bitches," Declined the crew leader. "And I killed a couple of them anyway. Remember that drop back in '11 I was telling you about where we met Madrazo up near the New Austin Panhandle? Some of them tried to fuck up our deal. Martin and Javier got away on their plane before the cops showed up but yeah we had to bust our toolies at a couple of them, mane. I hear horror stories about them down there. Shit that I don't want brought up here."
"It's already up here, my nigga..." Stated a gangster with cornrows with light skin wearing a black wife beater and baggy jeans as he anted up. "How you think they get all that fear?"
"Well lret's not bring that shit to the wards. That's all I'm saying..." Stated Hi Power. Just then, the sound of automatic fire filled the neighorhood and seven rounds all of them 7.62 crashed through the window striking the female in the red bandanna in the chest. "Fuck. Keesha!" Cried out Jamari. They all ducked down but Demari was the first to get mowed down at the table. The corn rowqed gangser ran to the bedroom getting a 20 gauge shotgun. He looked out the window. "South West Vago bitches are rolling on us, man!" Hi Power, grabbing the gun that he was nicknamed for due to favoring, grabbed his Hi Power Browning and he also grabbed an M-16. The 3rd ward hustlers had taken cover inside and around the apartment complex while the South West Vagos were opening fire and taking cover behind their vehicles.
From what he could see at the window, six 3rd ward hustlers outside had bought it already and probably more were on their way to. The return fire from the neighborhood gangsters had dropped five SWV's but the Mexican American gang still had them by surprise. Hi Power's window was shot out and he went to it anyway but a few rounds whizzed past his head. He fired striking down two of the cholos who were coming out behind a gold Baller SUV.
"Fuck ya'll!" He screamed. "You can't have what's mine!"
The two men crawled weakly on the ground one with six rounds in the gut the other with four chest wounds. Just then, the door was blown open by a shotgun. His homies at the table fired at the door and struck two Vagos as they tried to enter. Their triumph did not last. A Molotov was thrown in and all of the men who were left at the table were caught in the blast radius.
Lady Casper had been the one to throw the cocktail and as she came in, the Creole woman fired at her forcing the pachuca behind the couch for cover. She fired at the door but La Tortura fired striking her in the stomach and the woman fell over wounded. Lady Casper readied the shotgun pressing it to her chin. She pulled the trigger turning the African American females face to hamburger meat.
Miguel ducked as several rounds were fired at him through the wall. He returned fire with the SMG's and he heard a cry of pain. The two cholas went inside and kicked the M-16 from the 3rd ward gangster's hands. He had five rounds in the stomach two in the chest and one in each leg. He was bleeding out. He looked up and spat blood. "You..."
"Me..." Miguel said. "Remember the homeboy Snapper? You just killed him like it was nothing."
"It was nothing..." The black male said coughing up blood. "To me...you ended homies of mine too...I don't give a FUCK about Onda...the bottom line is...it aint you niggas I gotta stay on the good side of. It's Madrazo...the cartels. They're the ones with the real power...it's a free market out there, man! Your boy was competition. Simple as that..."
"You know it would have made more sense if he'd actually done something to you...you know the carte in Colombia had a saying...silver or lead...you gave my homeboy lead...but since you are so quick to make money and try and keep Madrazo happy we're gonna take you somewhere you'll get plenty of silver..."
With that they took the wounded man in the car with them. As he drove the two cholas kept their guns on him. The South West Vagos and the neighborhood defenders were shooting it out but the Vagos covered their exit. The Aztecas were there too and dressed in a way that they were too similiar to be told apart by the SWV's and luckily they had not sustained a casualty. Soon afterr, the Aztecas took off in their cars. The Vagos then did too but only after dropping two more dealers.
"Tell me something..." Miguel ordered. "Did the Romans put you up to it? Killing Snapper?"
"Nah man..." La Tortura dug her nails into his bullet wounds. "AHHHHHH SHIT!" He then cried out, "I swear, man...! I aint talked to them niggas in over a year and a half! I been meaning to chop it up ith them...I wanted to see if Maurice wanted to merge the Roman Boyz there and here into one big thing...we could take over the south...I was a man with a plan..."
"Yeah well...the best laid plans..." Miguel said with an eye roll. They drove for a time. "Keep this puto alive," He warned the two cholas. "I want him alive for his reward."
They were in the desert within a couple hours. He then pulled over and pointed Hightower's own Hi Power at him. "Orale, puto...here's what you're gonna do. You want silver? Here's your silver. You already got some lead in your diet...now you eat silver..." He handed him a quarter roll. "Do it..."
"Swallow it or I will kill you. Puto...puto..." The two cholas began to chant. He swallowed and then reluctantly put a quarter in his mouth cringing. "Show me your tongue..." Miguel ordered. He swallowed it and groaned. "Atta boy. Now another one..." The two cholas began chanting, "Otra vez Otra vez! Otra vez!" He did it and groaned with pain. "Ya'll are fucked up...my people's gonna get back..."
"Your hood is done..." Miguuel told him. "We already have the 2nd ward in this city. We'll be taking the 3rd too. More..." He made him swallow another quarter. And another. "Well look at that. Do you think If I got some hooker to pull on your crank, you'd shit out a dollar? Jackpot!"'
"Fuck you...bitch...he said coughing mre and groaning in pain. "You can suck my crank..."
"Oooh...he's either out of order or I didn't feed enough coins to play the game. MORE..." He force fed him another quarter. This time he tried to close his teeth so Miguel pistol whipped him three times knocking his teeth out. He spat it in bloody pieces on the dirt crying out in pain. "One more..." Miguel made him swallow more.
He then began to feed him pennies.
"Goddamn...my stomach..." He cried out hitting the ground weakly. "Well yeah,. You know you're not supposed to swallow coins, , stupid. The pennies are gonna be worse for you. This particular penny roll is from 1981, bro. Mi abuelo used to kill motherfuckers by forcefeeding them this shit. Zinc poisoning..."
He lost control of his footing collapsing on the ground. "You're about to have a very painful death..."
With that, Miguel Lady Casper and La Tortura got back in the car and left the gang member to succumb to his fate. "I wonder if he'll shit first or die first? If it's the first one he's gonna be in a lot of pain..."
4 Hours Later
He had bid the two cholas farewell for now and got his way out to Blackwater. He met Ernesto at an apartment off a carnal from out there. They had the man that had done it. He was a beaten and bloodied up Mexican American man. He had his gold teeth as well as regular teeth removed all over the floor which was covered in plastic. Ernesto also had cut off five of his fingers. His father was surprised to see him there. "Now tell me...why you killed Flaco..." He growled punching the Condado in the face. He turned to Miguel. "Remember Uncle Flaco? This piece of shit is who killed him. Joel Chavez..." Joel was an overweight member of the Condados with long black hair he normally tied back. His face was bloodied and beaten. "Why?" Miguel demanded. "Do you have any idea what he meant to us, motherfucker?"
"Yeah...but he's an enemigo...he killed one of my homies...we got no love for no scrapas!" Ernesto turned to the compa who's apartment this was. "Turn on some music, wey. It's about to get loud in here..."
The song Stuck In The Middle With You by Steelers Wheel played and Ernesto handed Miguel his combat knife. Miguel began to dance to the music before taking the knife to Joel's right ear severing it. Blood sprayed all over from the ear sized hole out of the side of his head. "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU FUCKING SCRAP BITCH!" Miguel chuckled. "Can you hear that?!" He screamed into the ear before putting it up to the stereo. "I'm stuck in the middle with you!"
Ernesto took a wooden baseball bat to Joel's knee caps and the man screamed in agony as Ernesto crippled him. Miguel with the knife, and Ernesto with the bat, smiled at eeach other. The father son duo would continue to work on Joel. It would take him several hours to die. Evidently, Ernesto had already gone into the Condado neighborhood in Blackfoot with a crew and lit them up to get him here so Miguel had missed that. Still, he had to for Snapper. It was worth it.
Ernesto pretended to stutter and then said, "Bat's all, folks..." As he put Joel's right leg upright on the table before bringing the bat down causing a compound fracture out of the man's leg. The carnal turned the music up even louder to drown out the Condado's screams. Bits and pieces of hm would be scattered all over the state.
It would be weeks before any of it could be identified.
That's it for this chapter I wanted to make it longer but I have a job interview tomorrow and need to turn in early but I wanted to give you guys something so even though Paul, Neto and Mai were absent from this chapter, I did show the starting parts of Ivan doing the Epsilon Program missions which Michael can do in GTA V I think its mainly available after the game is beaten but i'm not sure maybe before but if after it wouldn't be much use to you, the money you can get in any case Ivan is going to be doing that and I know I kept you guys waiting as far as this but Mai will also be doing the lowrider missions for Lamar at some point soon.
This chapter I more wanted to show some character development for Miguel and have him say his piece to Lady Joker since she till holds animosity towards him. This was just his way of being a man and standing up to her regarding that but he did also apologize I couldn't decide what to have the note say so I leave that up to Zuilla 200 which by the way if you read either of these stories like I said you should read em both. Anyway, I wanted to finally show that with Ernesto and Miguel getting revenge for Snapper and Flaco who were characters in Sunbelt.
As far as Blackwater I made that the city from RDR be the setting for modern day Austin, Texas. I did skip the shootout with Ernesto as far as him taking out the Blackwater Condados to get to Joel. I admit it I was too lazy plus I did show a shootout between the South West Vagos and the 3rd ward gangsters and you gotta admit being forced to swallow coins after being shot would be a hell of a way to go. As far as what Hi Power could have meant to the Romans, I'll let Zilla decide if he addresses it at all. I mean i was thinking maybe he's just another gangster who did business with them or he can be family or whatever but either way he would have opened his door to Roman Boy refugees following Hurricane Katherine.
I also intended Fool Aid to be a parody of Kool Aid both as a parody and a reference to how only fools drink the kool aid.
As far as this chapter I know it's not that action packed and there was no lemons so I admit it was a sucky enough chapter in terms of that but I did show Miguel grow to a point and he is worried about Carmen and whatever blowback could come back from having killed the two Romans before and he ios willing to divert any and all blowback back towards himself rather than the Lincoln Parish gangs. He's not just covering for Cruz and Lady Joker in that sense but also Felix, Adayh and Task. Also yes, that torture scene with Stuck In The Middle is from Reservoir Dogs with the ear cutting.
Obviously, because of what will happen with plans me and Zilla talked about with our collab I'm assuming Miguel will be back either that or whatever happens in the story will happen in New Austin but Miguel figures the best course of action with Lady J is to stay away from her. The pedophilia thing that happened to him, I wrote that as a way to show why Miguel would have a deeper vested interest in justice for Flaco and also show that he actually does understand it more than she realized but he almost never talks about it and he doesn't know how to tell Ernesto. Marisol was ashamed and took that to the grave.
Plus like he said, he does think that it'd be best if they stayed away from each other in terms of his own fear that the role the Lincoln Parish gangsters played in the hi in Sunbelt could have consequences that blow back on them. Of course, Mark knows Cruz wouldn't forget the death of his son so even if he doesn't know it's him yet and might think it was just a dispute unrelated to him between the SWV's and the dealers in Sunbelt, he knows he'll have to deal with Cruz. But Miguel fears further reprisal on Lady Joker so despite him standing up for himself he does care. He also is afraid it'll come back on Carmen so he wants to keep a close eye on her.
If or however Miguel comes back to New Arcadia, will be up to you Zilla but if you have it happen you should have it be that he's been staying in New Austin for a while before he does I mean you don't have to adjust your story accordingly I'm just saying like if a month passes or whatever that's good enough.
Oh I almost forgot the Bat's All Folks was a meme that came out with Negan from Walking Dead holding a bat in the circle Poky Pig is normally in so I decided to make it appear in this.
And the slang that Vasily was using like Yebat Kobat! Huis S gory. Yerbat Kobat is like saying Jesus Christ while Huis s Gory means yu're like a penis from the mountain it's like when a guy appears out of nowhere and nobody knows where he came from.
Yebanko just means clumsy person. Which, if you had a broken leg for a month and were on crutches now who wouldn't be? As for the anthrax attack that's a nod to Oz when Keller finished off the Aryan Brotherhood with a "Package" One thing I never understood about this scene. Dr. Nathan reports that the Aryans are dead plus two COs. How did she find this out? If she, or anyone, approached the bodies, the anthrax would have killed them, too. So, how did she or anyone view the bodies in such a way that they could ascertain that the Aryans were dead without getting killed?
Anyway until next time