The time had come to take on Lauren. Playa, Shaundi and Pierce met up at the penthouse, geared up and made their way to the Syndicate tower, the sweet prospect of revenge almost in their grasp. Playa shot a glance to the passenger seat where Shaundi was holding her SMG tensely against herself.
"You sure about this, Shaundi?" He asked, knowing that Carlos' death had affected her at least as much as it had him.
"Don't worry about me, I need this. Loren has to pay for what he did, and I wanna be there when he gets what he deserves." She answered coldly, held-back anger slipping into her voice as she spoke. Sure, Loren might not have been to pull the trigger, but if it hadn't been for him, Carlos would still be alive, and she wasn't going to forgive the Belgian for that.
"No worries, girl. We're not stopping with Loren. We're takin' out his whole fucking Syndicate." Pierce made an attempt to cheer her up.
"I think we'll need to do a little more than kill one guy to do that."
"Why do you think we nicked a bomb?" Playa added and Shaundi approved in silence.
Nevertheless a thought had snuck into his mind and had been gnawing at him ever since. What if Gat was inside the tower? He couldn't come up with a single possible satisfying outcome if that were the case. Either they'd have to shoot him down, or he would get blown up by the bomb they had stolen during the takeover of the Morningstar's penthouse and were planning to use to now destroy the Syndicate tower. Either way, the Saints' plan left no other option but for Gat to die… and for some reason that didn't sit right with the boss.
They had only met twice but Playa still felt a strange connection to the other man. Perhaps it had been the shared beers, perhaps the bonding over murder or maybe the fact that Johnny had possibly saved his life once. Whatever it was, he felt understood somehow, though they barely knew anything about each other. And if Gat found out that he was the leader of the Saints, Playa suspected that one of them would have to die.
If only it never came to that...
The boss had to stop this train of thoughts and was grateful when Pierce interrupted the silence in the car.
"How hard you think finding Phillipe will be?"
"Mastermind of a shadowy criminal organization? Gotta be the top floor." Playa answered, trying to find humor to hide his unease.
"You think he's gonna be that cliche?"
"Doesn't matter... we're killing everyone in there..." Shaundi cut into their conversation and the uneasy weight in his chest grew once again. Right … God, how he wished for Johnny not to be there.
"The crew got the address... right?" He forced his thoughts away from Gat and back to their mission.
"It's all taken care of. Soon as we make sure the loading dock is clear, they'll drive it in." Pierce assured, having planned the setting of the bomb in detail.
"Alright. Let's do this." Playa nodded and drove the car into the Syndicate tower.
To clear the loading dock, they had to take out a few dozen armed guards, and a freakishly big man that reminded the boss of the hunters at Genki's. Once they had, the Saints' reinforcements arrived, bringing with them the large bomb that would destroy the building.
Playa activated the timer, then gave Pierce a nod who announced it to the other Saints.
"The bomb's set and the clock's ticking!"
Shaundi came running back to them, an upset frown on her face. "Why didn't we wait to do that until after we kill Loren?"
"That's... a really good question." Pierce slowly admitted, the stupidity of their action dawning on him. "We should move."
Knowing that time was quite literally ticking away now, the trio ran ahead and took the elevator up to the factory. At least that had been their intention when the lift suddenly shook to a halt and the doors opened again, floors below their actual destination.
"Did you really expect to waltz right up to my office when I control the building?" Loren's voice sounded through the speakers and no sooner than he had finished, more Syndicate goons appeared outside the elevator to halt their invasion.
Unfazed, the trio shot their way through the guards and reached a huge hall with several steely staircases that divided it into multiple platforms. The red-tinted window facade to their right and unfamiliar apparatuses clogging the concrete room gave it an ominous aura, though it were the ovoid containers hanging from heavy metal fixtures that caught the Saints' attention. Submerged in pink fluorescent fluid rested large human-like figures not unlike the brute they had shot down before.
"What the fuck is this room?" Shaundi wondered aloud, eyes fixed on one of the glass containers. "Are those people in there?"
"Looks like all those big guys we keep seeing." Pierce answered, just as confused. "Clones?"
"That would make sense." Playa mumbled to himself, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Shaundi.
"What?"
"OK, maybe 'makes sense' was too strong..." The boss admitted, managing to tear his attention off the strange sight and back to the enemy backup came running towards them.
The Syndicate's members weren't too difficult to handle and Playa was about to get cocky, when suddenly the metal platform began to shake and one of the huge clones came dashing towards them, wielding a huge flamethrower as through it weighed nothing.
"Careful!" The boss called to his friends who took cover in shock and tried to take out the large enemy from a distance. The brute wasn't only strong but just as fast and, while Playa was glad its focus seemed to lie on him and not his comrades, he had a hard time juggling both shooting and maintaining a safe distance.
The clone didn't even flinch under the constant fire of the other two Saints as it chased their leader across the platforms, and Playa felt the murderous heat close behind him. Fuck , he thought as he stormed up a set of stairs and saw more Syndicates approaching from the side.
Pulling up his SMG he took out two of the six, then took cover behind an iron drum to reload. He pulled a grenade from his side and tossed it over to the enemies to take out the remaining four when he felt the brute's heavy footsteps approach. Playa tried to run further but found himself at a dead end and spun around to watch the large figure approach rapidly. There was no escape. With his reloaded SMG, he opened fire on the clone, heart pounding in his chest as he saw the fire draw nearer. Only a few more steps and it would have reached him. Five steps. Fuck. Four steps. He kept on firing. Three steps. He was not going to go down like that. Two steps.
" WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUCKING WITH!? " He yelled over the relentless gunfire.
One step.
Without prior warning, the huge figure suddenly dropped its weapon mid-run and collapsed before the Saint who stared at it wide-eyed, adrenaline rushing through his veins.
"Boss! Are you alright!?" A panicking Shaundi came running up the stairs towards him, followerd closely by Pierce. He answered with a weird chuckle.
"Yeah. Let's go find Loren."
As they followed the topmost platform out of the giant hall, they were confronted with yet another unusual sight, however. Trapped with both his feet in one and his hands in two separate pink-glowing orbs, a huge, naked person was suspended above them. He was the spitting image of the arsonist they had battled before, but when the mountain of a man lifted his head to look at them, an intelligence lay in his eyes that the other man's had lacked.
"What the hell is all this?" Playa thought aloud as he stared up at the giant and was surprised when he was actually met with an answer.
"Phillipe likes his things custom-made… And for his brutes, I am the master pattern, you see."
"... Why you still strung up if they already cloned your ass?" Pierce spoke up once he had overcome his initial surprise.
"The copies are flawed. They have my brawn but not my brain." The naked man replied before making an unexpected offer. "I can help you."
"The last time a big naked dude said he could help me, it did not end well." Pierce lowly voiced his concern to his boss and Shaundi agreed with his skepticism.
"What could he do anyway? Those wires and shit are probably keeping him alive." She said, looking up at the handful of cables that ran from a large machine into the stranger's back.
"Trust me, I'm still strong enough to kill Phillipe." The large man objected with absolute determination. Pierce and Playa exchanged a silent glance, then drew their weapons to fire at the machinery that detained the giant until sparks jumped out of it and the huge stranger pulled himself free with brute strength.
Playa really hoped the big guy would stay on their good side.
"You want some clothes, man?" Pierce asked hesitantly as he looked up at the naked man who rolled his sore shoulders and neck beside them.
"No time." He answered and already began to jog ahead to the elevator that would take them to the offices.
"Man, like I said, the last time a big naked dude..." Pierce trailed off when Playa and Shaundi immediately followed the stranger, not half as disturbed by the naked physique as he himself was.
"Seriously man, if you want I can find you, like... a curtain or something." Pierce didn't let the matter go, even after they had stepped back out of the elevator and the giant was leading them to Loren's office.
"The human body is nothing to be ashamed of, unless you have... insecurities ."
"I'm good..." Pierce answered with as much persuasive power as he could muster but Playa cut into their exchange, realizing that they still had no idea who they were actually dealing with.
"And you would be…?"
"My name is Oleg Kirrlov..." The man answered briefly and Shaundi tried to dig deeper.
"And... what did you do before you were a glorified pin cushion?"
"I think it best for our friendship I never elaborate. Just know that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. As long as you oppose the Syndicate you have nothing to fear from me."
The Saints accepted that it would be better not to pry any more and decided to leave it at that. No one wanted to piss off an 8-feet-tall mass of muscle that could fight and think.
"Works for me." Playa shrugged it off, glad enough to have found a valuable ally. "Welcome to the Saints."
"Loren's office is this way!" Oleg announced as they rushed through the office building and, just as they ran around the corner into a circular hall, Loren stepped into an elevator, doors closing before the Saints could reach him.
"Damn it!" Playa spat out, slamming a frustrated first against the elevator doors.
"That's an express elevator to the basement…" Oleg explained. "There's no way to catch him."
"Fuck. That." The boss snarled and looked around for a solution.
They found themselves in a round room. Several doors and elevators led in and out of it but Loren had taken the only express elevator. That wouldn't do. They needed something faster. A circular balustrade fenced off the large hole in its center. It seemed to reach many floors below. Above it hung a large ball-shaped counterweight. There was a handle on it's underside. Jackpot.
Playa fell into a sprint and leaped over the railing, caught the ball's handle in his grip and shouted over to his gang members.
"Cut this loose! We're going to smash that smug fucker!" They immediately understood.
"Leave it to me." Oleg answered and began to work on the steel wires holding the ball in place. Meanwhile dozens of Syndicates flooded their and the lower floors to shoot at him.
Playa freed one hand to shoot the oncoming enemies. Shaundi helped out on his floor while Pierce had headed down to take care of the goons shooting at their boss from below. Unable to dodge in his current situation, the boss was lucky enough the Syndicates in charge didn't seem to be particularly good shots and at this rate, he found, they would have taken them out before having suffered any major damage themselves. That would be no use to them if Loren managed to escape, however.
"He's getting away! Now!" Playa shouted only a moment before his voice got caught in his throat.
Right there, in the doorway through which the Syndicates had entered, stood a dark-haired man with sunglasses and stared at him. Playa froze in place, his heart pounding all air out of his lungs and rushing the blood through his ears so loudly that it drowned out all noise inside the room. No . Time seemed to have slowed down. For what felt like an eternity their eyes were locked in absolute stillness, neither of them making even the slightest movement. The world around them had vanished completely. Then, slowly, the man raised his gun and pointed it right at him. NO .
Playa's eyes widened.
"Done!" Oleg shouted as the large counterweight suddenly came loose and plunged downwards. Playa heard a shot bounce off the metal above him. He fell and his mind was blank.
The large ball crashed down the stories, breaking through whatever stood in its way until it finally slammed against the basement floor, effectively crushing Loren under it.
It would have been a hell of a ride and something to brag about for years to come, if Playa's mind hadn't been somewhere else entirely.
"Dammit. I should've thought of a Belgian Pancake joke..." He tried to joke to himself, but it felt stale and heavy instead. Fuck .
It didn't take long for Pierce and the others to catch up to him and join his side.
"Time to blow this place to hell..." Shaundi said, still out to destroy whatever stood in relation to the Syndicate but Oleg objected.
"I hate this place more than anyone but it would be folly to destroy Phillipe's research without seeing what we can harvest from it."
"We came here to send a message, didn't we?" She answered in annoyance. Knowing she couldn't be convinced, the Russian turned to Playa instead.
"Why not keep the building for yourself?"
"Your choice here, boss." Pierce shrugged, deciding not to take sides in this discussion. All eyes were on the Saints' boss but there was only one thing on his mind. Gat was still in the building.
"We're keeping it." He announced promptly as he walked over to the bomb to disarm it.
"Good call." Oleg agreed, overshadowing Shaundi's exasperated sigh.
Was it really though , the Saint asked himself, knowing full well that he was throwing away his best chance to get rid of the legendary Morningstar. But despite that, he just couldn't have killed off the other man that way. It felt cowardly and unfair and, after the man had saved his life once, this was the least he could do to repay him.
"We're even now, Gat." Playa mumbled to himself.
"You say something, boss?"
"Nah. But maybe you should get your ears checked, Pierce." The capo answered, putting on a teasing smirk, and gave his friend's shoulder a pat. "Let's check out our newest acquisition."
The crew nodded and followed him back upstairs, where the Saints' reinforcements were set already to take out whoever hadn't followed the remaining Morningstars into retreat.