Hey guys, let me know if you guys like this story and if I should continue it or not. Again. Nothing is mine except Painted Face, and Kane is owned by Alith Anar. Please R/R
5. Hit the Red Shirts
By DahkPanda
Paul looked like a potato.
Oh sure, Painted Face may or may not have some Irish heritage, but it wasn't that which made her think like that. To her, the Saint's connection to Ultor, the man who seems to be behind some of the Saints fame...looked like a potato.
Perhaps it was the skin, it was a dull brown that was obviously a fake tan sprayed upon the guy at one point, somehow even getting on the inside of his hands. For a short, old man, his head was as thick as his neck...which was equally thick. Small nose, small, beady black eyes that held thick glasses that magnified his eyes four times its regular size. His shoulders were just a little beyond his neck, with his hips being wider, and under those were a pair of short stubby legs. All this incased with a light tan suit, white shirt underneath, and a purple tie to hint at his connection to the Saints.
Honestly? Make fun of her for her ethnic heritage but the fucker looked like a potato to her. Barely tall enough to meet her hips. She couldn't understand it, how this fucker was even realistic, but he was there, as plain as day.
Pierce had his back turned the moment Paul arrived, throwing darts though pausing ever so much whenever Paul spoke. The group was in the Broken Shillelagh, a small quiet bar in the middle of Steelport. Painted had to hand it to Pierce, the place wasn't too shabby.
She wouldn't tell him that, but that's beside the point.
Paul continued to speak, looking directly at Kane, who was more than a bit amused by the short man. "...In general, since you made sure that we could watch your account at your bank, we did see the transfer to another location. I'm afraid it will take several weeks to get the paperwork in and get your money back to you, but I will try to start right away."
Did Painted forget to mention that Paul had this very sickly-sweet voice? It was unnerving as fuck to hear this man talk like that cliché pedophile that shows liked to make them out to be. The way that Paul wrung his hands too, there was just something off about the guy.
No wonder Shaundi turned on her heels the moment she heard Paul was in town.
Kane waved Paul off with his non-beer hand. "Eh, no worries Paul. We got some money rolling in for now. If you can fix it, then do so. We'll try to keep the Saints financed in the meantime. Does Ultor want me to do anything else? Probably can send out my boys to spread some chaos while I do a commercial or two..."
Paul shook his head. "Actually, no. We may need Shaaaauuundi to do another ad for her new show, but otherwise Ultor is giving you freedom to do whatever you wish for now." The way that Paul said Shaundi's name sounded like he was halfway drooling. "We are, however, bringing what you requested, it will be here by tomorrow if you wish."
That made Kane cheer slightly, his hands over his head with the beer slightly tipped. This confused Painted more. "...Requested? The hell did you request?"
...She wasn't exactly sure what she just saw, but one moment, Paul's back was to her. The Next? He was facing her. It wasn't magic or anything, she saw him...move? He didn't move his feet, he didn't turn like any regular individual. It's like he was on a merry-go-round and pivoted to face her.
"And who is this vision of Loveliness?" Those were Pauls words, and they made her skin crawl.
Kane looked at her almost apologetically...almost. "She's an old comrade, Painted Face."
The Potato man instantly grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. Her sweaty, clammy hand that felt even wetter the more he held her hand. "Oh, such rough, tough, but somehow smooth skin. I could find a way to making her popular to the masses as well." He states, and gives a rather wet kiss to the back of her palm.
The look on her face must have been priceless. Kane covered his eyes with his glasses, holding onto them while snickering under his breath, and Pierce's shoulders were shifting, as trying to hide a chortle or two. Painted glared at the Potato Man and pulled her hand away. "...No thanks...and if you touch me, I will personally..."
"I don't mind a little damage..." Paul replied hopefully.
"..." Painted stared at the man for what seemed like several moments, then looked over to the dart board. "Pierce, I'm playing you. Move over..." Her movements away from Paul may have been a little too quick to get away from him. The Lioness' claws had been retracted and she ran away from…
...well, there wasn't really anything in the world as creepy as mister potato man.
"Y'know...we're about to kill a high ranking asshole in the oldest gang in Stilwater, and you're perfectly calm..."
Kane had to raise a brow while glancing to the passenger seat to the newly 'borrowed' Cosmos. Riding Shotgun was Jackie, dressed in a pair of jeans and a violet jersey over her muscled frame. She was clutching the weapon that was given to them by Dex, the McManus Sniper Rifle. To see such a weapon coming out of Friendly Fire was strange enough, though to see Jackie speak sweat words to it that made it all the stranger.
Jackie shrugged lightly in response to his statement and grinned. "Eh, gives me the time to shoot one of these babies...been a few years since I touched one."
That got Kane's attention, as he looked to the dark haired girl. "Really..." He looked at her muscled arm before looking back to the road. "...Military Branch?"
Jackie stopped her idolizing the gun and turned to him, looking a bit surprised. "Marines...Actually had offers to continue my training and join the Seals but an old Injury cut me off of military..."
"Head...?"
Jackie shook hers. "Nah, knee. Shrapnel from a mine when I was out in the hot desert road. I got lucky that I didn't lose the leg, but the damage keeps me from running too fast or too long. Said if I tried to continue my career as a Marine or even Seal, I'd probably lose the ability to use it..."
Kane flinches. "Sheesh...sad to say I never got that far..."
That got Jackie's attention. "Wait, what branch?"
"Infantry, actually gone to Special Forces before they kicked me out for sleeping with the Nurse...and her assistant...and perhaps that one young barber girl..."
Jackie snorts. "Huh, who'd a thought that you'd be a playa..."
Kane shrugs lightly. "Didn't really care for the rules, I like the guns, I like the flying. Hell, I flew a helicopter when I was eighteen...pretty damn good at it if I say so myself."
Jackie shrugs. "Not making fun of ya, just surprised you finally started to talk about yourself, instead of talking about the shit you and Johnny are doing...or perhaps LIiiiiiiiiinnnn~"
Kane growled. "Oh shut up...we're here..." He slowed the car to a crawl, before jumping out, grabbing a duffle bag, and making his way up the building, with Jackie on his heels.
"So...Do I have a shot?" Kane asked, slowly fixing the scope upon his own McManus gun, watching as the meeting below them started. Hector Lopez wasn't quite in view yet, and Dex asked him to wait until he and the Columbians were close enough.
"Hmm?" Jackie was on one knee (probably her good one) as she aimed her own at the Carnales.
"...Well…you think I have a chance with Lin?" Kane had to look away, as if something else caught his attention.
The response? Jackie laughed, which made Kane's heart sink...until Jackie added. "Honestly? The fact that you're one of the few Saints who hasn't humped her leg upon the first meeting, you've already left an impression..."
Kane response was just a small smile as he looked down his scope again.
Jackie looked through her own scope. "Lin was always into the strong and silent guy...those who run their mouths like an asshole generally don't get too many positive reactions from her. Though, again, the terms 'Bitch' and 'Ho' are usually the triggers. You never once said either of them. Hell, the moment you said something, she was actually more surprised by the fact that you could speak."
"Once you started talking to her, she started to talk a bit more about you. You never overtalk, you tend to keep your mouth shut at the right time and even when you do talk, you get to the point. Plus you listen to her a shit ton, which is bonus points." Jackie took a moment to think on it. "Take her out to a sit-down place. Nothing fancy and not freckle bitches. Take her to a kung fu movie or action flick, she loves those action flicks more than romantic crap you see these days."
Kane grinned. "Thanks for the info..." He stated, and fired...
"...You're trying to hit him, right?" Jackie asked, looking through her own McManus at Hector Lopez, who was now looking around from where that bullet came from. It missed him by a mile.
Kane growled and recocked the gun. "Shut up..." He stated, and pointed...and fired.
He missed by a mile again. Jackie glared over at him. "Want me to take the shot?"
Kane reloaded and growled before taking aim. Just as the Lieutenants were about ready to escort Hector, the leader of Los Carnales was finally shot down with a bullet to the throat.
"Nice shot, though it did take you six times..."
Kane growled. "Shut...up..." An Explosion hit the wall just below them, and both took aim once more. "Shit, they have rocket launchers here!?"
Jackie smirked. "What? You thought this would be easy?"
Kane sighed and leaned in, trying to fire, but rolled to avoid a rocket passing by. "Damn it." Several other explosions indicated...well, nearly dozen and a half guys were shooting at them.
Jackies sighed a little and took aim. "Seriously, could have just zoomed in to shoot him, but noooo..." She stated. She fired three times, then rolled herself from a rocket explosion. "Three down..."
Kane looked at her. "Bullshit..." He looked over...as the Lieutenants were loading their rockets. Sure enough, there were three guys down. He ducked down again and stared at her. "Not Bullshit..."
Jackie just grinned. "Here's a trick, hit the guys in the red..." She rolled back into fray, aimed, and fire the last two shots. "Two down..."
"Seriously? Really? I'm going to be beaten by this little shit..." Kane muttered and loaded before pulling his gun out and firing three times...he hit one guy in the shoulder. "No way. Ain't no way I'm going to get beaten by you..."
Jackie aimed her gun and fired twice. "Two more...That makes seven for me...you want to count Hector as four to try and even the score?"
"Oh, fuck you..." Kane muttered as he aimed his gun...then growled and tossed it. "You know what? Screw this!" he muttered as he went for the duffle bag, and pulled out a rocket launcher as well. "Let's give them a taste of their own..."
Jackie unloaded her entire round. The sounds of explosions just stopped now.
Kane frowned and looked over the edge...and found that the entire group of lieutenants were down. He stared for a moment before turning to Jackie. "Not cool, man, not cool..."
Jackie grinned and shrugged. "Hey, just proves who is the better Hitman..."
The moment Mr. Potato Head left the bar was the moment that Kane saw Painted's tense frame go slack. She was losing to a game of darts with Pierce, though Kane figured it was the greasy Paul that was messing with the already insane girl. Hell, that was proven only moments later when Painted threw a dart and made a perfect bullseye. Kane smirked a little and sipped his beer. "This doesn't seem like your kinda place, Pierce..."
Pierce grinned and threw a dart. "What's to hate? The beer is cheap, and I'm the best looking motherfucker in here..."
Kane laughed lightly as he sat back, though after a few moments, he settled. "Look, you may think it's time to kick back but I'm done toying with these bastards, I want Loren and I want him now. Where is he?"
Pierce shrugged. "No idea." He tossed a dart, catching up with Painted with surprising ease. "But 10k says he's hiding in that big ass skyscraper."
Kane's brow furrowed. "Loren's a tactician, he's not gonna hole up in a building that screams 'I'm a criminal mastermind.' I need something concrete."
"That's what you boys have been up to since I left..." Painted retorted, and tossed a dart as well. This earned a glare from Kane, though by the tone of Painted's voice, it was anything but anger towards him. He chose to ignore it.
Pierce smirked lightly. He was going to beat Painted Face in a 20k dart game. "Then hit up Powder."
Kane raised a brow. "I don't have time for a stripper."
Pierce cursed when Painted hit her target, suddenly he was being beaten. "No, Powder's a designer gun store downtown. I saw some of Loren's thugs talking to the owner, there's gotta be something there..."
Painted tossed a dart...though hearing 'designer gun store', she missed. The dart hit some guy, holding up his drink...though he pulled his hand away to find that the dart somehow struck between his fingers and into his drink. "Designer gun store? Hell, where do I sign up?"
Kane grinned. "Well then, let's go shopping."
Because both Pierce and Painted were joining the fray, Kane couldn't call in his new Temptress in and instead brought in a Infuego. Along the way, Painted called up Shaundi...more or less to sweet talk the girl into joining in (Shaundi was still a little pissed by not taking out Loren right at the beginning). Still, it took Painted to use the magical words...
"Phillipe owns a gun store in town named Powder. Wanna go shopping?"
It wasn't a real surprise that by the time that they arrived, Shaundi was already there, scoping the place out. Kane made sure to drop the Infuego out in an alleyway before the team met up with Shaundi. Kane was the first to say anything as he looked near the front of the store.
"Lotta people with guns in there. We'll go in the back way..."
Pierce didn't seem too amused by this. "You don't think the back's guarded."
The group moved their way to check the back. Kane smiled at what he saw. "There's like, two punks..."
Pierce waved his hand to them. "What about the inside, motherfucker?"
Shaundi slumped her shoulders and sighed, before reaching back and grabbing one of Painted's guns from her hand. Quickly, Shaundi fired twice, and watched the two guys drop.
Painted grinned as Shaundi handed her back her gun. "Put in your tampons and let's do this..." Shaundi growled as she moved to the back door. Kane smiled and shrugged his shoulder before following after, Painted followed and Pierce...just sighed before following.
Several men jumped out from the back door and within moments, it became a firefight.
Kane was the first to respond to this. "Great plan, Shaundi" He stated, taking out a few guys with his dual Silver Shepards, gleaming so brightly that it was blinding his opponents…or he'd like to think that.
Shaundi growled as she shot the next guy in the face. "You said two guys. Not my fault."
Kane grinned to her. "No. I'm serious...this is my kind of plan."
When everybody in red was down and out, the foursome made their way into the shop. Painted had gone in first, and the moment she stepped in, a single, bright light could be seen, glancing right off her cheek. It took her all of a few moments before she ducked and rolled just as a stray bullet passed bye.
"They have Snipers in here!" Those words from Shaundi made Painted roll her eyes, when she could, she gave Shaundi a glare that read "no shit, Sherlock" before running for another location, dodging the bullets headed her way. She wasn't surprised when Kane managed to take out one of the snipers with a pistol, before she rolled behind a shelf filled with guns.
The second sniper was taken out by Pierce, though it took a full load from the rifle he brought in.
Shaundi shot at the third, though that man ducked behind cover. Painted noted the catwalk the man was standing on, and grinned. She ran away from the shelf and under the catwalk. With one quick movement, she fired upwards and took out the third sniper.
Once the smoke was cleared, the group came together again. "Whoever's in charge here probably knows where to find Loren."
Kane nodded. "Let's head to the office and see if they're hiding under their desk..." He states, cocking his guns and making his way to a locker area before finding stairs that led to the catwalk, and possibly the office they needed to get to...
...Too bad there was a giant beast of a man standing in front of said stairs, completely armored and armed with a...
"MINIGUN!" was the last word from Pierce before he dived out of the way from a barrage of bullets. Painted rolled behind another shelf whilst Kane and Shaundi both took cover behind the wall, having not entering into the room just yet. The massive man of muscle let out a roar as he waved his minigun from side to side, the shelves and all the boxes upon them being littered with bullets.
Painted turned her head to find Pierce trying to turn the corner and fire, only for the bullets to strike out nearby him, making it impossible for him to counterattack. She could hear gunfire from the doorway as Kane and Shaundi were trying to attack, but they too had to pull back when the arcing attach came their way. In fact, the only location that the massive brute wasn't focusing on was her.
A mistake that he'll regret... Painted thought as she rushed from one shelf to a shelf facing perpendicular to the last. As she stepped out from the far side of the second shelving area, she was now behind the large beast.
And in seconds, the minigun suddenly jammed, and that's all that Painted needed. She rushed out behind the beast, and pulled out a knife. As she ran by, she slashed at the beasts armpit as he had his arm up to smash upon the minigun. The cut was deep, and it got the big guy's attention. Quickly, the beast got back up again and tossed his fist to crash down upon the painted woman, only to hit air as she merely danced away. As she slide in front of the beast, her knife found its way into the beast knee, slamming into the kneecap so hard that the knife embedded itself far too deep into the leg for it to be pulled out….but it did its job as the beast fell to his other knee, letting out a roar in pain.
Painted slammed the butt of one of her pistols into the beasts face. Normal man would have gotten a broken jaw but this guy just looked pissed afterwards. The beast threw his fist out to try and catch the painted girl again, but yet again only found air. The woman had slide to the other side and slammed her foot….onto the knife. Pushing it deeper into the leg and cutting through everything inside, blood spurt out now and another howl of pain from the beast.
The beast clutched the leg with one hand while clenching his teeth. He didn't attack this time, which gave Painted the opening she needed. She kicked the beast in the jaw, and sent the giant man down onto his back. As nimble as she could, she lept onto the beast and stood on his chest. With her pistol, she fired right into the giant man's jaw.
To the surprise of the three onlookers, and to Painted herself, it took several shots to even do damage to the beasts cranium, though finally after the fourth shot, the beasts head exploded in gore, leaving the ground stained with blood.
The three wandered up as Painted gleefully stepped down, pulling out a cig and placing it into her mouth. After lighting it and inhaling, Painted glanced to the other three and shook her head. "You guys do sure keep pissing off some big boys..."
Pierce was more stunned to really respond to her. Instead, he managed to state. "That guy looked like that one dude from the store..."
Kane had to pull off his glassed to look at the body…though the head was missing, he remembered the guy he had to take out. This dude looked just as built as the first one. Still, he didn't really fret, he just pulled up his shades and grinned. "Eh, probably his twin or something..."
Pierce shrugged lightly as Kane grabbed the minigun. With a wild grin, Kane turned to the others. "All right, let's take out everything that has a red shirt..."
"To be honest..." Phillipe managed, dabbing at his cigarette lightly. "I was expecting you to bring up plans of ways to remove the Saints from Steelport with a few of your operatives. I had not expected you to bring in your own hired guns, Marko.."
The younger man just glanced back to this old man and smirked. Marko should have made that bet with Kiki to see how long Phillipe was going to complain about hiring the hitmen. That was his old man, always thought about money first and…that's it. To get the best of the best meant that your wallet was going to be a heck of a lot emptier by the end of it. Still, Marko did state he was going to bring in a few guys, and at least half of these guys he has used before...
He called up a handful of hitmen to come in and help out. Some were guys that he just dealt with once or twice while others may as well have been in his pocket since the beginning. The first two that had arrived were some of his closest. The moment they got the call they were already on the jet to head to Steelport. The first guy was an old friend of his back in Liberty City, and the moment that this hitman heard about who they were after, almost flew the jet himself to get here. To the Syndicate, this guy was a nobody, but to Marko he was one of the best thugs out in this business. The Ski mask was mostly Marko's idea, as the guy didn't really wanted to get known to anybody outside his city. Still, brown coat with jeans made this guy look to be nothing but a peasant amongst royalty in Phillipes eye, but he could hold his own.
The other guy was another that was close...for the most part. Marko knew he was a hitman back in Stilwater years back, and had a vendetta against the Saints. Hell, he was the first person that Marko thought of when it came to fighting against the Saints. Dressed in a trechcoat and matching black outfit, the only strange thing about the guy was the fact that he wore a mask as well…and always wore it. Which wouldn't be bad...except the mask was fucking creepy. It looked like a gimp mask, with a zipper where the lips were, and buttons were the eyes would be. No hint of a nose and lumps were the ears would be. The guy just resembled creepy. And the very large gun that this guy carried made sure that you never wanted to make fun of the guy at all.
"Look, Pops. As much as you're looking at dollar signs with these guys, understand that we should not take these guys lightly. Six gangs fell under these fools already, and two were particularly powerful." Marko stated and looked back to his old man. "hell, the Ronin was a gang you had your sights on because we could find a beneficial relationship with them, much like your rabid hound in a Luchadore Mask. Let me take care of the gang, and you continue onto Stilwater. Money will come back again in ten fold in the future if we take out the issue now…" Marko grinned at his ever frowning old man. "Does that work for ya?"
Phillipe said nothing, instead just turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Marko with the DeWynters. The Hitmen having left a few moments after Phillipe did.
Marko whewed lightly as he sat back on the table. "It's times like these when I really had dealing with the old man, y'know...?"
Viola fidgeted lightly, and Kiki grinned to her sister. Kiki looked to Marko and shrugged. "You think this'll work?"
Marko shrugged casually as he pulled out his own cigarette. "Eh, depends..."
"D-depends?" Viola stuttered, some of her bitterness was gone, and looking like a shy little girl in front of their Boss's son. Kiki understood why though, as she knew that Viola had...something for Marko. Marko was nice to the DeWynters, something that both kind of liked despite the professional relationship with Phillipe.
"The Saints are chaotic and random. They use a lot of low brow tricks in order to get things done, rather than using money to make things go away..." Marko grinned. "hell, I heard in order to take out an armored car, they hit it with a stolen bus." Marko inhaled the smoke from his cigarette. "I didn't recognize the girl, Painted Face, because she had a helmet on her head the time I saw her in action. Wasn't until I remembered her story about going after an ex-Saint named Dex, who had come to Liberty City for a while before he made his escape. If she's just one of the many examples about what the Saints can do...Steelport might be leveled if we don't take care of them here and now."
Both DeWynters looked surprised by this. By all means, they had heard about the Saints reputation of being wild...but this was when they were making commercials and TV shows with Ultor. To think they had this much history of violence...well...it's like picking a fight with a lion. Sure, if you had the right tool you could beat it, but it's still a lion that could take your head off at any moment.
Marko's cell rang suddenly, and he picked it up. "...Matt Miller? Yeah, what do you got for me...they're having a what set up?" Marko made a face...though grinned. "Thank you, Matt, I know what I want to do with this info..." He states, and hangs up.
Slowly standing and tossing his half-gone cigarette away, he grins and holds his arms out to the DeWynters. "Well, my lovelies, I think I need to borrow you two for the time being..."
Viola smiled just slightly, though Kiki raised a brow. "For what?"
Marko wrapped his arms around both their shoulders, and slowly led them to the elevator. "A little party that the Saints had just booked. I'm gonna head over and say hello..."
"You got it here already!?" Kane stated in excitement. "Yeah, yeah, book it. I need a little bit of everything there, call the presses and everything. I want everyone to see..."
He hung up abruptly and held out his hands, looking over to the others, who were just...finishing killing the last red-shirted man that was in the room. Shaundi had already gotten the information they needed several minutes ago and were making a path to get out of there. So no surprised everyone looked over at Kane dumboundedly.
"Okay, guys! Don't be mad..." This earned glares from the girls and a brow raise from Pierce. "But they brought 'it' here! We need to head back to HQ, there's going to be a celebration for it coming here!"
Shaundi groaned lightly, and Painted raised a brow. "It?"
It was like watching the gears turn in Pierces head before it suddenly clicked in his head. "Oh, You mean…IT IS HERE?" He asked, and Kane swore he could hear a girlish squeal come from his large black lieutenant. "Hell yeah, we need to get this show on the road."
"It?" Painted Face repeated, glancing to Shaundi, who was already marching her way to the door, glancing to and fro to make sure there wasn't anybody coming around the corner.
Kane grinned as he walked side-by-side with Pierce past Painted. "It's going to be so cool. With bright lights, sparkles, dancing girls. Hell, even the Press!"
Pierce grinned in return. "You think that one cute reporter is coming?"
"IT?" Painted repeated again, glaring at the back of both their heads as she walked behind them.
Shaundi groaned again as the two boys laughed.
"You bet she'll be there. You might even get her number this time!"
Pierce squealed again. "Fuck yes! I can't wait till we get there!"
"HEY GUYS!" Painted growled, getting the attention of everyone. "What is this 'IT' You're all talking about!?"