It had been supposed to be an easy job. Enter the bank, claim the money, receive the loot and get out. Joshua Birk would have done his field research for his role in the upcoming Saints movie, and the Saints would have asserted their dominance over Stilwater's 1st National Bank. Win-win. Or so they had thought. No one had expected the heist to end with the arrest of the entire on-site crew, save Birk who had managed to take flight before all hell had broken loose.
"The fuck is this, we paid up this month." The Saints' boss growled as he was shoved into the prison cell with Shaundi and Carlos. Each month they paid the police a generous sum to turn a blind eye on the Saints' actions, and so far that had worked smoothly. That was until…
"Someone paid more." The annoyed officer replied and shut the barred door in front of them, leaving before the gang could bother him any more.
"What happened?" Carlos asked carefully as soon as the sound of footsteps had disappeared in the distance.
"We got arrested." Shaundi answered, clearly pissed by the situation.
"No, I mean… Why? There ain't nobody left in Stilwater who could possibly want to go against the Saints like this. And them paying the police more than us? What's up with that?"
"That is a great question." A woman's voice interrupted their conversation before half a dozen people stepped into their cell. They were clad in red and black, men in suits, women leaving little to the imagination. The Saints hadn't seen those outfits before. "And our employer would love to supply a detailed answer."
"If you'll indulge us…?" Another woman - the spitting image of the first - finished, though her tone left no doubt that she wasn't asking.
"Fine." Playa muttered, deciding to hear the other party out despite his discontentment over the current situation. He wasn't admitting that, without any weapons at hand, resistance was probably futile anyway. He was merely giving whoever was in charge the chance to explain themselves before he would pay them back tenfold. Didn't matter that he was in cuffs for now.
The three Saints were taken to the airport, seated on the floor of a cargo bay and, shortly after that, the airplane rumbled and rolled into motion. Its destination was unknown to the purple crew but they could imagine that whatever its owner had in mind for them, couldn't be in their best interest. Being tied and unarmed was not what one wanted to be in this kind of situation.
Playa glanced over to Shaundi and Carlos. The latter had noticed that the group guarding them was too focused on keeping their balance during the take-off to pay close attention to them, and had begun to sneakily work on the handcuffs behind his back. Good boy .
About half a minute later Carlos glanced over to his boss and Playa knew that he had succeeded.
"Whoa!"
A sudden turbulence jerked the aircraft to the side and Carlos seized the opportunity to shift closer to Shaundi, who was sitting next to him. Their guards didn't notice and, pressed shoulder to shoulder, Carlos started to work on freeing her from her cuffs as well.
By the time the plane stopped ascending the Saint had finished his work, but before they could try to free their boss as well, the three of them were pulled back onto their feet and led towards the front of the plane.
They walked through a spacious passenger compartment - "Hey, why didn't you guys let us wait in here? It's empty!" - then an even more luxurious one - "Or this one! ...What a waste." while the Saints boss' held a one-sided conversation to keep the focus off his gang members and their unlocked handcuffs.
The silent guards showed their annoyance only through the roughness with which they shoved the three of them onto a row of seats facing the mounted screen, desk and revolving chair before it in the third room.
The twins from the prison cell were each standing on one side of the table, watching over the man who slowly turned in his large white chair to face them.
"You have any idea who you're fucking with here!?" Playa glared at the white-haired man's face who remained perfectly calm.
"Of course." He answered with an audible French accent before he moved to introducing his own crew in return, starting with the twins at his sides. "These visions are Viola and Kiki. And I am Phillipe Loren, chairman of a multi-national organization called the Syndicate."
"Never heard of it." Shaundi couldn't sound less impressed but that, too, seemed irrelevant to the elderly man.
"Evidently not, or you wouldn't have robbed our bank." He took a deep drag of his cigarette before he continued. "Perhaps you wonder why you're still breathing at this point."
"Just why would your organization suddenly open up a bank in Stilwater?" Carlos interrupted, trying poorly to mimic the other's nonchalance.
"It is simple, Mr. Mendoza." Loren lifted himself off his chair. "Our organization is expanding into Stilwater. And I am offering you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives. Ladies?"
He stepped aside to clear the view towards the mounted screen which was displaying a pie chart and the woman on the right started talking.
"You may continue to operate the Saints/Ultor media group as you see fit, in exchange for 66 percent of your monthly gross revenue."
"That is before taxes, of course." Kiki finished the outrageous explanation.
"Listen, you French fuck-" Playa raised his voice in anger.
"Please. I am Belgian!"
"You could be Swiss for all we care, but there's no way we're gonna accept a rotten deal like that." Carlos interjected.
"...And I had so hoped to come to a rational business arrangement." Philippe clicked his tongue in disapproval and moved back to make room for his armed flunkey to point his gun at Carlos' face. Negotiations were over.
Shaundi suddenly kicked up, knocking the gun out of the man's hands, and Carlos lunged forward to tackle him down. Before the second guard could react, Shaundi had already reached for the dropped gun and bashed it against his head, rendering him unconscious.
Carlos got off the motionless first guard and ran towards the boss to uncuff him. Loren who wasn't going to just stand by idly drew a knife and dashed towards the Saints' boss. Playa heard the freeing click just in time to dodge and retaliate by running Loren's face into the window at their side. To both of their surprise it cracked and a loud whooshing noise signaled that the plane was decompressing.
A hand on his elbow pulled him back and redirected his attention to the matter at hand.
"We gotta get out of here!" Shaundi called over the ruckus and Playa answered with a nod.
They shot down the wave of approaching Syndicate members who had been attracted by the noise and, fully armed now, made their way to the back of the plane. One glance back revealed Kiki and Viola leading a bleeding Phillipe Loren into the cockpit, then the Saints' boss made his way into the opposite direction.
Guns blazing the three somehow managed to reach the back of the plane mostly unharmed. Shaundi was working out a way to open the large door of the cargo bay, Carlos ran ahead to look for parachutes and Playa was backing them up.
"Boss, catch!" Carlos suddenly called and tossed a backpack to his leader, just in time before the plane started to open.
"Good job, Shaundi! Now get yourself a chute and let's bail!" The Boss shouted over the sound of the opening door and watched her shoulder a backpack as well.
The strong winds had started pulling the contents of the cargo bay outside and Playa had to dodge the crates that came flying towards him. When the transported cars started to come loose, he knew they had to hurry lest they got crushed before they could even try to leave the plane.
"Go!" He shouted and jumped off the aircraft.
He turned his head to watch Shaundi and Carlos do the same. Not a minute too early, as a couple of cars dashed past where that had stood mere seconds before. They weren't out of danger yet, however.
Ordered to kill the Saints, more Syndicates leaped off the plane to shoot at them, parachute backpacks strapped onto their backs as well. Playa turned around mid-flight to shoot them down. His associates watched his example and did the same. When most of their enemies started opening their parachutes, the Boss, too, spun around to assess their situation. They were approaching ground level fast. No need to play it any riskier than it already was.
"Alright, let's sail!" He tried to call over to his friends before pulling on the knob at his side and feeling an abrupt pull as the parachute eased his fall.
Shaundi, who had started her fall shortly after Playa, saw her boss' action and followed suit as well. Then came Carlos, who pulled on his knob.
"Come on, Carlos!" Playa yelled at the boy who had already passed his two associates in their fall and seemed to gain distance.
"Pull the damn knob, Carlos!" Shaundi shouted, and a hint of fear slipped into her voice as she watched them approach ground level.
"CARLOS, GODDAMNIT! OPEN THE FUCKING CHUTE!"
The boss didn't know if he had heard him but when shrinking figure looked up, eyes widened in panic as it yanked on the knob over and over again, he felt an ice cold shiver draining all color from his face. No...
" ! ! !" Shaundi let out a bloodcurdling shriek.
Playa felt his stomach turn.
Helplessly, they hung in the air and slowly glided into the darkness below them that was Steelport.