It was the gentle beeping and general "white noise" of the hospital noises that Lin first became aware of. Slowly blinking her eyes open, Lin took a moment to take everything in. How long had she been unconscious? More's to the point, what was her name? Lin wanted to sit up but found that her body just wouldn't respond how she wanted.
Everything felt so bright and loud to her for a little while as Lin adjusted to being conscious again. Nurses would filter in and out of the private room to check on their Jane Doe. Very occasionally other staff, maybe doctors or admin people, would pop in and discuss who she might be in hushed voices when they thought she was asleep. It frustrated her as she knew that she knew things like her name and where she lived; but her brain just didn't want to let her have the information just yet.
It wasn't until a couple of days later that he brain finally started to let her start remembering things. The medical staff were delighted as it meant they could find medical records and potentially treat her better. So began the several weeks of treatment and physiotherapy. It took a long time for Lin to get her body to work again but eventually she got there.
During that time she also watched the news and it filled in some of her missing memories. The Playa was apparently dead; they had been on a boat when it had been destroyed by a bomb. Johnny Gat was on death row. Many of the other gang members were either dead, in prison or dropped their flags and had helped the police in exchange for not going to prison. Others had plain disappeared. Lin pondered what to do once she got out of hospital. She had no way of contacting anyone from the old days, not now she knew most of them were dead or otherwise uncontactable. It wouldn't have been worth the risk doing so anyway; not without getting herself arrested or killed.
When Lin returned to her old place, she wasn't surprised to find final notice demands stapled to her front door. It had been at least a couple of months since she was last there. Letting herself in, Lin grabbed a satchel and went to her secret safe where she had a tidy sum of money stashed away. As she packed and made plans to leave Stilwater over the following few days, she started to notice the new gang in their bright yellow cars and motorbikes.
They reminded her of the Westside Rollerz but with a different paint job. Intrigued, Lin decided that she would maybe stick around for a while. She wanted to know about them. Even though, at that point, Lin didn't know for sure that they were a gang, they gave off the impression of being one.
Lin moved travelled across town. She found a studio apartment. It wasn't great by any means, due to being in a poorer area of the city; but it was cheap, it came with some furniture and she was able to pay for it outright in cash. It desperately needed some fixing up, but at least Lin didn't have to worry about the bailiffs turning up. She had a roof over her head at least for a while. Lin also managed to find a cheap little car. It too needed work but she felt she would be able to get it running again easily.
Lin found herself a job at a local Rim Jobs. It paid peanuts but it brought in enough money to cover her monthly bills, buy food and start slowly doing up the apartment and her car. Her first job in the apartment was to buy tools to fix up the kitchen and the tools she would need to start work on her car. Whilst the counter tops and cupboards were in okay conditions, the cupboard doors were falling off. The oven was in dire need of a really good clean and the microwave… well, Lin didn't dare use it as it looked like it would likely explode.
Taking it to the local dump, along with some other rubbish, she found a dirt cheap working microwave at the dump's on site shop for $5, along with a toaster, a coffee machine plus pots, pans and other kitchen items for only a few more dollars. Lin had forgotten the shop existed but appreciated that they were there. It helped to keep perfectly good working items out of landfill – the items were always repaired and tested for safety, where need be—and it meant Lin got to pick up dirt cheap items.
Working at Rim Jobs also meant Lin was able to start finding out about this new gang. The other mechanics at the other branches had worked on vehicles for the gang so were able to find out little snippets of information. Over time Lin found out about another two gangs that had appeared in the city as well. One called themselves the Brotherhood and one called themselves the Sons Of Samedi. Still no sign of the Saints returning though. Maybe that was for the best though, Lin thought.
So, she kept her head down and stopped watching the news. All the news seemed to talk about now was Johnny Gat potentially going on death row; the city seemed to want him dead a little too much. Lin couldn't take it any more. Johnny was a lot of things but he'd been a good friend to her. One of those few people who'd actually care about her and looked out for her. For the next few months, Lin threw herself into her work and fixing up her studio apartment and car. She got herself onto the good side of the three gangs with her work. She was a good mechanic and got their vehicles working better than before.
Some years past, she didn't pay attention to how long. Then, slowly, she began to hear rumours – the type of rumours she wasn't expecting to hear. There was talk about another gang appearing on the scene and they were causing quite the stir. Then started the talk about this gang being the Third Street Saints. Lin scoffed when it was mentioned to her. The Saints were dead and gone as far as she was concerned.
"Have you not been keeping up with the news?" Lin had been asked. She replied no; it had been too depressing to watch or keep up with.
"I'm telling you, they're back and they have a new person in charge," the colleague insisted.
Lin began to look into it. If nothing else it would shut people up if she could find out if they were wrong. But the more she dug, the more it seemed that they were right. How the heck did the Playa survive that explosion? Apparently they were called the Boss now. Johnny Gat had escaped from court. The Sons Of Samedi had their drugs farms destroyed. The Brotherhood leader, Mero, he ended up in a situation where his girlfriend, Jessica, was set up in such a way that she ended up being crushed to death; apparently in revenge for a member of the Saints being killed by her. The Ronin had their casino robbed….. and so many more other things kept happening in a short space of time.
More and more people in Saints colours started to appear. More vehicles coloured purple seemed to be on the roads. Or was Lin just noticing it now that she was aware of what was happening? After much contemplation, Lin decided she would try to reach out to the Third Street Saints. Through her contacts, Lin eventually got in contact with a young lady who called herself Shaundi. She was a big time stoner but she seemed like a good kid. They met at a local bar and Lin told her at least some of her story. About how she had once been in the Saints but had nearly died when her car had gone into the water when a planned heist had gone very wrong. How she had planned to leave town but something about the Ronin had made her want to stay.
Shaundi promised she would talk to the Boss and see if he remembered her; and if he'd be interested in having her back in the crew.
"You'd certainly be useful as you've been with us before," the younger woman said.
It was a few weeks before Lin heard anything again. Lin was returning to her studio apartment with a bag of groceries in one arm and a takeaway coffee in her other hand. She had just put her coffee on the floor by her feet so that she could get the key for the outer door to her building. Lin didn't really take much notice of the car pulling up behind her. It wasn't until she heard the voice that she took notice.
"Well, well, if it isn't Lin back from the dead." Turning around Lin saw it was Johnny Gat. He was leaning against the hood of the car and approached her for a hug as she squealed in shock and delight at seeing him after all these years.
They went inside and spoke for what felt like hours. There was so much they had to catch up on. The Playa had been in a coma in prison for some time but was now back using the Boss moniker. Aisha had faked her own death and living with Johnny Gat. Troy was an undercover cop who had essentially set them all up. Dex was a police informant. Julius had disappeared and, for now, nobody knew where he was. Johnny invited her to join him for a ride back to their "hideout" at the old underground hotel. Lin was nervous but agreed. After all, didn't she want to see the Playa again?
Nothing could prepare her for actually seeing him again though. He was looking great for someone who had gotten blown up. The two of them were dumbstruck for a few moments. Neither of them had ever expected to see each other again. Both had thought the other was dead for a long time.
But then the Playa had grinned and said, "it's great to see you again. I never thought I would get this chance." With that he hugged her.
Lin returned the hug and desperately tried not to cry. It failed. After introductions, Lin agreed to come back to the Saints.
As they were doing the meet and greet, the Playa said quietly to Lin, "we have a whole lot of catching up to do."
