Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
Pierce sighed as he leaned back in his seat on his helicopter as close to twenty or so of them followed after it, all of them heading to Steelport with Saints ready to show everyone in the city who exactly they had just pissed off.
'We're going to get even with those motherfuckers and then we're bringing these assholes down for you. I'm not letting these motherfuckers get away with this, they're fucking with the Saints and fucking with our money. You put me in charge for a reason and I'm not letting them change that. I'm the cash guy, right? I move money and make waves, right?' The Boss had put him in charge of the Saint's money years ago, right after he got done with Vogel and he had never and wouldn't disappoint the man even if he was dead now.
"Yo Pierce, chill with me for a minute." The Boss waved him over, Purgatory a party after him and Gat had finished off Vogel a few hours ago.
"Hey Boss, what'd you want?"
"I want you to do something for me Pierce." The Boss reached into his jacket, pulling out a check and handing it over to Pierce. "Vogel sent this in the mail a few days ago, said something about it being payment for offing the board. I got a buddy of mine to cash it. Saints just have a few millions sitting around now."
"Yo, Boss, that's cool and all but what the hell does any of that got to do with me?" Pierce took the check even if he was confused, it was always better to just do what the Boss said.
"You're pretty smart Pierce, I want you to do whatever the hell you want with it." Boss lit up a blunt and took a drag of it after he finished, letting out the smoke a second later. "Spend it on bitches, drugs, invest it for all I care. It's your cut for what you did."
"Boss, I really ain't do much. You and Gat pretty much did whatever the hell you wanted."
"That's why I'm giving you a cut, you thought up some smart stuff. I just don't like the way those kind of moves shows up on the street. People start thinking I'm some fucking nerd or something and I gotta set those assholes straight." Boss locked eyes with Pierce, grinning before he stood up. "You can do shit Pierce, show me why your one of my Lieutenants and keep the cash flowing."
"Man, I don't know what to say…"
"Don't say shit, just do whatever the hell you want." The Boss patted Pierce on the shoulder as he walked past him. "You're a Saint and Saints run this city."
"Yo Boss."
"What man, I'm trying to go get fucked up?"
"Thanks for this."
"Don't be a pussy, it's your cut like I said."
"We're getting close to the airport, I'm taking her down." The pilot, a former soldier who had joined up with the Saints after his tour a couple months before Pierce had grabbed him to be his personal driver, pilot, and bodyguard half the time spoke up and broke him out of his little flashback. "Where are we heading after this?"
"Don't know but I'm sure the cars should be waiting for us and we'll go to Gat and Shaundi and figure something out from there." Pierce looked out towards Steelport, the skyline marked by three skyscrapers he would enjoy burning down. "We're gonna tear this city apart for what they did."
"I couldn't agree more." The pilot began his descent, looking for the many landing spots set up by a few Saints who had gone ahead, a few burning black and red cars marking the spots better than the flares could ever do.
When in doubt, follow the carnage. Boss lived by that rule when it came to giving directions.
"Hey Pierce, can you hear me?" A voice came from the earpiece he was wearing, Pierce recognizing the voice of the Saint he had told to go ahead and get their landing zone ready.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Trust me when I say a lot."
"What happened down there?"
"Airport was under lock and key for a minute here, had to light up a few in there to get this place set up for you."
"You know, I remember that I gave you my checkbook. So, important question time: Why the hell didn't you get this shit done the easy way?"
"These fuckers you see on the ground?" He saw a gesture with the rifle he held in his hands. "They used to be security and they weren't taking anything except a Saints deposit right to the head."
"Then who the hell did those idiots work for?"
"No idea but they had some serious rep here and probably everywhere in this fucked up city. It took me one look and I knew they ran this place the moment they walked in. People cleared out when they pulled up."
"Fuck."
"Yeah, I've got people still in the airport cleaning up. Whoever these guys are they don't give anything up easily."
"Go in and clear that shit out with any Saints you got to spare, I brought a fucking army with me."
"You should've brought two."
The connection was cut, a Saint on the ground hollering out orders before several purple, black, and gold cars burned rubber down the airfield. From the chopper, Pierce's eyes followed them for a second before he stood up and walked over to the pilot seat.
"Yo, you got any guns on this?"
"None, this one just got armor from the shop when you called me in."
"Any of these birds got guns?"
"Only a few, I managed to get a few Tornadoes to follow us. I made sure they got the new shit the Boss ordered before they gassed up."
"Tell them to hit the terminal." Pierce's words had an immediate effect on the Saint, a grin splitting his face.
"Alright." The Saint picked up a radio, pressing down a button while turning a dial. "Got an order from the money man, you listening?"
A burst of static came over the radio for a moment before a response came. "Got a bit of interference but we can hear you. What he want us to do?"
"See that terminal giving us some trouble?"
"Yeah."
"We all got an eye on it."
"Light it up."
"Consider it done."
Five Tornadoes peeled away from the airborne fleet, moving towards the terminal and Pierce saw them open up with a salvo of rockets before one narrowly dodged an Annihilator rocket. Immediately they pulled up and gunners could be spotted looking for the source in the cockpits. A quick following of the trail left by the rocket and Pierce could spot the two in red. One was reloading and another was aiming right before the guns opened up again.
No more rockets were fired after that.
The Tornadoes didn't have the range to stop the Oppressors and Vultures he could see coming in from the city but he had a plan for that.
"So, what are we looking at on the ground boss?" One of the Saints in the helicopter, one of five, finally asked him and Pierce couldn't help but grin as the bird touched down on the pavement, taking a moment to smooth out his suit as he stood up.
"Some heavy shit kid, now let's get to it." Pierce spotted his driver hand over controls to the Saint next to him before stepping out and heading over to the purple and gold Phoenix waiting for him. Pierce slipped into the passenger's seat while his driver looked towards him.
"So, where are we heading?" At the driver's question, Pierce just pointed to the GPS he had already programmed from his phone while they were still in the air.
"We're going to get some guns." Once the Saints in the cars saw where they were headed, none could hide their grin before the Saints began rolling. The choppers lifted into the air and started leaving a moment later, heading back to Stillwater. They were safe from the helicopters coming in from Steelport thanks to more than a few Saints on the ground "introducing" themselves with Annihilators. The Tornadoes had moved their positions, opening fire and forcing the red and black birds to break whatever formation they had flown in with. Didn't stop more than one from going down thanks to the hell of lead the five heavily armed choppers unleashed. Any bullet fired towards them didn't stand a chance of getting through Ultor's latest armor either.
It paid to be on the corrupt mega-corporation's side sometimes. It paid even better to be the guys in charge of the corrupt mega-corporation.
"Boss, we've got a problem!" Shaundi looked panicked when she rushed into their current hideout, Gat instantly out of his chair and his gun was drawn, his eyes sweeping the room behind his shades.
"What, those red fuckers find us or something?" Gat glanced out the nearby window, the glass broken and scattered on the floor, finding nothing out of the ordinary on the streets outside.
"No, the SNG armory's under attack, I just got word on it."
"Damn, is it Pierce?"
"Yeah, probably Pierce."
"Dammit."
"Chaos is the scene here as a publicity stunt by the 3rd Street Saints has claimed lives!" A panicked reporter kept her head down as gunfire resounded all around her. "I'm here with leader of the Steelport National Guard General Baker! General, what do you have to say to this publicity stunt by the Saints?"
A man dressed in full military uniforms stepped into the camera view, wearing a pair of Saints shade and grinning.
"I think that this is a wonderful training exercise for the troops!" The General grin widened when several choppers brought in exploded at the hands of the Saints who had gotten their hands on a few Annihilators. "I look forward to working with the Saints in the future!"
"And did they inform you of this publicity stunt?" The reporter kept her head down as the General only shrugged his shoulders before he drew up his Krukov rifle, taking only a moment to load the magazine in.
"Who the hell cares!" The General practically charged into the firefight with his piece said, firing while grinning like a maniac which he probably was.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that was General Baker." The reporter ducked as a rocket flew over her head seconds later. "We'll have more news on the 3rd Street Saints at ten, until then, stay inside and stay away from the SNG Armory at all cost, this entire area is dangerous to be out in right now and-OH MY GOD! Is that Pierce Washington!"
"Washington, pickup's on the way, ETA six minutes!" A Saint next to Pierce put the phone away as they picked up their Annihilator again. "What are we doing until then?"
"Shoot these motherfuckers." Pierce let out another burst from his AR-55 and succeeded in putting down another SNG member before he reloaded the rifle.
"Yeah, that's obvious, but are we doing anything besides shooting them?" The Saint finished loading the rocket and stood up, taking a moment for the laser sight to lock on to the next APC and fired, blowing it to hell along with the six SNG disembarking from it.
"Hell no!" Pierce fired a grenade from the launcher underneath the barrel and grinned when it punched a hole in the barricade the SNG were using as cover and two more Saints outside tore them down with two mounted .50 caliber machine guns.
"Come on you motherfuckers!" Pierce made liberal use of the AR-55 he had taken from the armory, unleashing another burst on the SNG troops that had been stupid enough to try and stop them from raiding the place.
Who the hell did they think they were? Pierce was pretty sure Boss could have taken the entire armory by himself if he wanted and he could have brought Gat just for overkill. Against some of the best Saints he could get on short notice? The SNG were fucked and should've known it by this point.
"Washington, we've found something you may want to see!" A Saint rushed over to him, a grin on his face even as he threw a grenade over the rather makeshift barricade the Saints had made with their cars.
"Then shut up and take me there!" Pierce stood up, firing off a few more bursts from his AR-55 before tossing it to another Saint nearby and rushing after the Saint as they ran off. "Make sure no one gets past you!"
"On it." The gun was brought up and the SNG soldiers that were left were quickly learning to stay back or get shot. Another wave of Saints should be showing up any second now. They would be trapped between a hammer and an anvil in a couple more minutes.
"So, what the hell are we looking at back here?" Pierce eyed the crates on either side of him, looking for something as the Saint rushed ahead, towards the back of the armory.
"Trust me Washington, this is some high tech shit, it's crazy what the armory's got just sitting here!" the Saint reached a set of crates near the end of the armory and kicked off the wooden lid and began setting weapons out on the ground. "This shit is straight up sci-fi!"
"Who's storing it here?" Pierce grabbed a crowbar that was leaning up against a crate and cracked another open, spotting a few explosives beneath an Annihilator with a few rockets next to it, something he intended to use in a few minutes. "We got some high grade shit in the Stillwater Armory, we built the damn thing, and I haven't seen shit like this there, only from Ultor."
"The crates got this weird mark on them, looks fucking tribal." The Saint grinned as he picked up a M2 Grenade Launcher. "I'm gonna go try this son of a bitch out before the birds show up."
"Yeah, go ahead." Pierce waved his hand, paying more attention to the strange marking on one of the bigger crates inside. "Send a few guys back here to help me get this stuff ready."
"On it." The Saint grinned as they began running back to the ongoing firefight, beyond excited at the havoc they would be causing with the weapon in their hands.
"Stag? What the hell kind of name is that?" Pierce quickly pulled out his phone, taking a picture of the emblem along with the name on the crate before popping it open with a crowbar. "Let's see what the hell you got inside."
"What the hell is this?" Pierce picked up the white, orange, and black rifle, leveling it at his shoulder as he looked down the scope on it before he pressed down on the trigger. A moment later he could only grin at the effect it had on the wall. "Whoever the hell you are, thank you for the early Christmas present."
"What the hell does he think he's doing!" Gat drove like a maniac on the Kenshin he "liberated" from its owner. "I told him to show up with reinforcements, not rob the goddamn SNG!"
"Pierce always wants to come in with style Boss." Shaundi rode next to him on another Kenshin, one the owner gave to her after she walked up to him. His buddy, at least when the Saint leveled a gun at him, did the same for Gat. On her back she had a bag that had been "liberated" from a store with the contents of the case dumped inside. "Besides, the SNG is just another target anyway."
"Explain." The two rode across the bridge to the armory, spotting a few Saint Tornadoes beginning to lay down fire on the SNG still moving on the armory in the distance as several Storks dropped cables down into the busted out skylight of the armory, no doubt there to carry off all the firepower stockpiled there that Pierce was "acquiring" for the Saints and their cause. Pierce wouldn't let them start bringing it to the fuckers responsible for killing the Boss without some serious hardware to bring them down. Hard.
He was going to make sure they were going to hate fuck them at the minimum.
"Guess who donates a lot of money to the SNG on a monthly basis?"
"The Syndicate?"
"Damn right, these guys are probably in their pocket. Might as well rob the fuckers."
"Damn, really? Anything those asshole don't got a hand in?"
"Not a lot. They're not too big on getting caught so cops definitely. Hell, I think they've got the orphanage stashing guns for them. Maybe even more than that."
"Fucking hell. The orphans, they're not mules right?" A homicidal maniac he may be but he drew the line when it came to kids. He joined the Saints in the beginning to make sure kids could grow up to be homicidal maniacs because they wanted to not because they had to.
Choice was a big fucking thing to Johnny Gat.
"No but they're Syndicate Rats. They run away and get 'adopted' by anybody against the Syndicate. They either get something on them or the parents just disappear and they go back in the system to wait for the next sucker. The more they snitch the more money they get back from the Syndicate."
"Hell. What the fuck is wrong with Steelport?"
"Everything. It's Bangkok's fucked up cousin."
"Alright, everybody get the fuck out! We are leaving!" Pierce hopped up onto one of the pallets of crates they were taking, bringing up the STAG rifle he had taken as Saints quickly got into the cars pulling up as Tornadoes kept the SNG pinned down. "Move it motherfuckers!"
Pierce fired off a few bursts, keeping a careful eye on the red bar filling up on the scope of the rifle to avoid it overheating.
After you go batshit crazy with a laser rifle and the damn thing suddenly overheats and stops working in the middle of a firefight you start paying attention to the meters on it.
"Washington, we've got eyes on Shaundi and Gat." The pilot's voice came over his earpiece and Pierce grinned as he held onto the cable as they gained altitude.
"Keep a bird on them, we're out of here." Pierce returned fire on the SNG when some of them tried to shoot at him, scoring a few headshots before the Stork was pulling away and all the Saints riding below grabbed onto the cable when they nearly fell on their asses. Pierce, having secured himself before they even lifted off the ground, spotted one that nearly fell over the side. "And don't throw us off the damn thing!"
"Yeah, can't make any promises." The pilot rose higher, narrowly avoiding the rockets coming towards them from the ground before one of the Tornadoes Pierce had with him opened fire on the ground, putting down most of the SNG left with a hail of gunfire. More rockets flew towards the helicopter and the pilot swerve to avoid them. "It's like the fucking 4th up here!"
"You've got to be fucking with me!" Pierce wildly sprayed the ground with his rifle before chucking it to a Saint next to him and pulling out his phone. "Fuck the plan, take us to the factory here!"
"Understood." The pilot avoided another rocket, Pierce actually feeling the heat from it before it detonated and he was nearly thrown off the crate. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Good." Pierce tightened his hold on the cable as a smile crossed his face despite the insanity taking place around him. Already the Saints were burning rubber to circle the SNG still trying to stop them and he could hear the gunshots gradually die down the more the cars circled and the Saints inside opened fire.
"I can't wait to see the look on Gat's face when he sees me with all this shit."
"Boss, stop!" Shaundi's bike skid to a stop, Gat doing the same a second later once he spotted the roadblock ahead of him along with a good number of rifles aimed at him and the new Boss of the 3rd Street Saints cursed before he turned around and flew down the bridge, Shaundi following him.
"Shit, looks like we're not getting in that way." Gat didn't stop when the two heard cars take off in pursuit of them, no doubt the Syndicate had ordered the SNG to go after them. He risked a glance above and saw the purple and gold helicopter that hadn't left their sight ever since it first seemed to catch sight of them. "Think Pierce will get us a ride?"
"He better!" Shaundi blindly fired behind her, not hitting anyone but forcing the paid off officers inside to duck for cover in fear of being shot. One rammed his car into a street light and another lost complete control, swerving in loops on the street until finally coming to a stop.
One of his friends almost immediately slammed into the passenger side, both cars out of action thanks to the crash.
Gat was a bit more accurate when he pulled out his piece. He turned around and put a round right between the eyes of one of the officer pursuing the two Saints. His car immediately swerved out of control and hit the curb, flying into the air and hitting a building. He didn't get a chance to fire again.
"Focus on the road!" Shaundi got his attention back ahead of him, Gat narrowly taking hold of the handlebars in time to avoid running into the back of a car. He immediately pulled along the side of it and fired into the driver side tires.
The driver immediately lost control and formed an impromptu barricade between the Saints and some of the approaching officers, a trio of cars hitting one after the other and taking three more of their pursuers out of the chase. Gat waited for Shaundi to pull up to him and the two opened the throttle, flying down the street and putting more distance between them and the officers in pursuit of them.
Gat glanced behind him and grinned at the blockade that spanned most of the street, the officer unable to continue the pursuit for now. The trio of squad cars that had ended up wrecking were blocking most of the street and what they didn't wasn't passable with parked cars in the way.
"We're almost in the clear! Let's head back and hit up Pierce!" Gat got a nod from Shaundi before her eyes widened.
Gat focused back ahead just in time for red to fill his vision. He was staring straight into the laser sight of a McManus Sniper Rifle. The man that was holding it down the street grinned at the look on his face before pulling the trigger.
"BOSS!" Shaundi was faster.
She threw herself off her bike and tackled Gat to the asphalt, the bullet missing both of them and striking a squad car behind them. The two veteran Saints didn't stay stationary on the ground, weren't struggling to collect themselves.
Gat was already behind cover with a car in the way of another shot. The two motorcycles toppled over, their momentum carried them forward along the street before eventually they stopped. It wasn't too far away from the sniper and his impromptu barricade/transportation, the Oppressor whose pilot had decided to land in the middle of the street. A number of Morningstar not carrying a sniper rifle, four in total, began to move down the street as the chopper's blades began to spin once more.
"They're getting airborne Boss!" Shaundi opened fire with her Shepherd, putting a round in the leg of one of the approaching Morningstar thugs. Before he could really get to screaming, red painted the pavement when her next shot put a round in his head.
"Fuck that!" Gat leaned out from his cover, Shaundi emptying out her clip to make the three remaining Morningstar rush for cover.
Gat closed one eye beneath his shades before squeezing the trigger once.
He hit the gas tank of his former ride.
The Oppressor was caught in the explosion from the bike exploding before it could get off the ground.
"Shaundi! Gat!" The helicopter was hovering above them, kicking up winds that blew trash against the edge of the buildings. "You need a lift?"
"I've got you covered Boss!" Shaundi had reloaded once Gat had taken his shot and both had taken cover from the explosion of the two bikes. She hadn't moved fast enough to get herself entirely out of the blast zone and ended up getting tagged by a handful of heated shrapnel. It wasn't bad as bad as it could be, causing the same effect as a bullet would. "Get on!"
"We're running together!" Gat drew his second Shepherd and looked out from behind his cover once more, his head barely visible behind the trunk of the car. The Morningstar were down it seemed, their ear ringing from being so close to the bikes when they went off. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"
He didn't need to tell Shaundi twice. Both turned and ran to the purple and gold Oppressor, golden fleur-de-lis on both of the slid open doors. A Saint was hanging out on either side while the pilot kept the bird hanging above the street. One lit up the right side of the street with a D4TH Blossom and the other was waiting for a head to pop up so they could put a hole in it with his Shepherd. Gat and Shaundi piled in on one side and the pilot immediately gained altitude, taking them high above the streets of Steelport.
"Where to Boss?" He called back to Gat, the new leader of the Saints strapping himself into a seat.
"Wherever Pierce is at right now! I need some guns!"
The pilot offered him a quick thumbs up before he was off, the chopper heading away from the street and towards where the Saints were setting up in Steelport.
They had a war to win after all.
AN: Yeah...I've got nothing to say about the years since updating this story.