“Talk about ‘When Animals Attack’. Did you see the news?” Troy asked over a private and untraceable phone call to Pinkamena.

“Yeah, that was awesome. My enforcer is coming along nicely.”

“I know that you’re all into blood and gore, but could you at least tone it down when you’re in public? I know this city’s fucked up but I’d like to still have folks who aren’t traumatized or psychotic to come from this city.”

“That all depends on how far our enemies go. If they want to go to extremes then we’ll respond in kind. Chances are that Maero strong armed Vogel into releasing the Brotherhood prisoners since that’s the only reason I can think that he would make you do that.”

“Do you think Maero might make Vogel do more for him?”

“Doubtful, Vogel doesn’t strike me as someone who doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Maero’s most likely on his own now.”

“Well hurry up and finish him. If there’s gotta be a gang in Stilwater, I’d rather it be the one I have friends in.”

“We will, once Maero’s precious weapons shipment comes in.”

“One last thing, one of my sources told me that Ultor procured the shipment as payment for releasing the Brotherhood from prison. Expect some Masako when the ship arrives.”

Pinkamena ended her call. She then thought about the shipment and figured that if Donnie was right about its time of arrival, it was due to arrive tomorrow afternoon. With nothing else to do, the madmare retired to her room to prepare for the ship hijacking.”

Playa and the Equestrians checked their ammunition despite the strange fact that they had unlimited ammunition for nearly all of their weapons.

Treehugger had recently taken to her newfound interest in fire and started favoring a flamethrower as her weapon of choice against the enemies on foot. Pinkamena made a mental note to help her choose something that would destroy vehicles effectively later.

Gilda was slowly starting to like her nanite gloves but was encouraged to stick to her RPG launcher and her SMGs for range since Pinkamena really didn’t know how the griffon was going to be hospitalized if she got severely injured as there was no one in this world’s medical industry who would know how to treat a griffon.

Playa, Pinkamena and Treehugger boarded a helicopter and headed toward where the ship was approaching the city with Gilda not far behind.

Once the helicopter hovered over the ship, Playa, Pinkamena and Treehugger jumped out of the vehicle and engaged the Ultor security detail. Pinkamena went below deck where the cargo was located and slaughtered the Ultor guards guarding the cargo. Treehugger ran around on the main deck setting people on fire while being careful not to have the explosive barrels blow up in her face. Gilda kept the airspace around the ship clear while Playa finished off any stragglers.

While Pinkamena was examining the cargo, Playa called everyone to him to make an announcement. “Shaundi just called, we’re about to be visited by a lot of Brotherhood. You three ready to get the party started?”

“A Mena style boat party?” Pinkie said with excitement. “This looks like a job for my party floaters.”

Pinkamena reached into her mane and pulled out what looked like a soda can with Pinkie’s face on it. “This?” Pinkamena asked.

“Mmm-hmm, They’re like my party mines but for water.”

Pinkamena shrugged before overcharging the can and tossing it in the water near the ship’s starboard boarding stairs. She then turned to Gilda and Treehugger. “Gilda, keep the skies clear. Scrap any helicopters that approach. Treehugger, watch the other steps on the other side of the ship.” She pointed to the portside boarding stairs. “I don’t want any Brotherhood making it to the top of those steps.”

“Got it, boss,” the griffon and green pony said in unison. Treehugger got into position and Gilda took to the air as they prepared for the Brotherhood onslaught.

It wasn’t long before boats, jet skis, and helicopters were heading for them. Playa made sure to be careful where he fired his RPGs at the boats so he wouldn’t have his own rockets blowing up in his face.

The boats and jet skis that approached Pinkamena’s position ended up getting launched into the air and targeted by Playa. Some of the aquacraft ended up slamming into a helicopter that was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Since the helicopters were not attack helicopters, Gilda attacked the vehicles like she was at a shooting gallery. Every now and then one or more would get close and give her reason to rip them apart with her nanite claws.

The Brotherhood had an easier time boarding the ship’s port side but what awaited them was fiery death from Treehugger’s flamethrower. Some Brotherhood tried to jump in the water to put out the flames but behind Treehugger was a conveniently placed and running generator with an extension cord with its wires exposed connecting the generator to a hair dryer immersed in the water. Those who fell in the water for refuge were exposed to the electrical current in the water.

The attacks continued for several waves before the last of the Brotherhood invasion was wiped out.

Seeing nobody else coming, Playa called Shaundi to get a crew to collect the hardware and bring it to the hideout.

Once the crew arrived, the defenders’ task was done and returned to the hideout as the arsenal was gradually transferred there.

Playa learned that the Brotherhood invasion were mainly defenders from Fox Drive which left the neighborhood vulnerable to being taken, leaving the Brotherhood with only two neighborhoods.

The Saints rested well that night knowing that tomorrow would be the final push against the Brotherhood.

A large number of Saints gathered in the lobby of the hideout each taking out a weapon from the many crates in the room with eager looks on their faces as they awaited their leader’s order to begin the assault on the Brotherhood hideout in Stoughton.

It wasn’t long before Playa took his place atop the stairs of the lobby to begin his address.

“I’m glad ya’ll seem to like this new hardware the Brotherhood decided to hook us up with. Ya know, up until this point we’ve been toyin’ with Maero...kill his bitch here, steal his money there...but I’m through playin’. We know where he lives, we have his guns, and I say it’s time we take that motherfucker out, whatchu think?”

Every Saint in the room roared with cheer while waving their new toys in the air.

Playa led the Saints all the way to Stoughton where the two gangs clashed in a bloody display of violence.

Meanwhile, Pinkamena’s plan was in place. All she needed to do was find out where Maero was hiding in the chaos. In the meantime, she and Playa indulged themselves by murdering Maero’s lieutenants.

With the Brotherhood being pushed to the wall, Playa started calling out for Maero to come face him and figured that Maero would be hiding on the roof of all places.

On the way to the roof, Playa and Pinkamena cleared out some Brotherhood who were guarding an indoor pot farm. Neither bothered with the stuff and moved on. Treehugger happened upon the room during her assault and dropped everything as she gathered what she could of the farm so she could start her own in her room. Once she plundered what she could, she burned the rest.

Pinkamena and Playa emerged from the building and onto the rooftop where Maero was waiting with a minigun in his hands. The weapon looked small when in the hands of a large person like Maero.

“So, you finally show yourself to me, you monster,” Maero shouted from the distant roof.

“You enjoy that movie I gave you? I was even nice enough to provide the snacks and even some complementary jewelry to go with it,” Pinkamena quipped.

“I’ll make sure your death is slow and horrifying for what you did; turning my girlfriend into cupcakes and melting my tattoo artist’s face off with toxic waste. I don’t even know what you did to Donnie and Lin.”

“You seriously didn’t find out how you lost some of your trucks shortly after the war started? Lin and Donnie were hiding among you till the Saints returned. They were pretty much spies working with us in a sense. How else did you think those cars got blown up and how else did we find out about the shipment?” Pinkamena could tell that Maero’s eyes were turning red with rage from the news about the betrayal and that was just how she wanted this whole matter to be set up. “Too bad I’m not your opponent.”

Maero was too blinded with rage to notice the griffon diving for him. Once Gilda got in melee range, she used her nanite claws to destroy Maero’s minigun in one slash at the barrel.

Maero staggered backward slightly as the weight of the weapon became lighter. He took a moment to reassess the situation and found the strange creature landing in front of him with a smirk on her face. Maero tossed the minigun aside and charged at the creature intent on throwing all of his strength into a punch to break her face.

Gilda quickly flew upward at the last second while Maero was unable to stop his momentum and fell off the building. He managed to survive the fall by landing on some soft garbage. He was dazed for a moment but regained his wits as he ran for his monster truck to make a getaway.

His plans were dashed as Gilda landed on his truck and ripped the engine out. The griffon glared at Maero before roaring and hurling the engine at the Brotherhood leader. Maero dodged the projectile by diving to the side. Gilda landed near him while giving him time to get up. The large man prepared to fight to the death against the griffon.

Maero charged Gilda again with intent to grab her by the neck. Gilda blocked his attempt by grabbing on to Maero’s hands with her claws. The battle turned into a brief pushing match where they seemed equally matched as neither gave an inch.

The match ended when Maero’s hands started to burn before the skin on his hands began to erode. Maero pulled away from Gilda and screamed in pain as he felt the burning on his skin.

With her prey weakened, it was time for the predator to capitalize on such a display by slashing away at Maero’s flesh. Using her speed, she slashed at every part of Maero’s body, leaving large gashes on his arms, back, chest, legs, abdomen, and face. Another slash tore apart his mullet.

As Gilda ran out of places to slash, chunks of Maero’s flesh were ripped from his body. Each slash brought unbearable levels of pain and agony as he was literally torn apart, piece by piece. Nanite claws cut through Maero’s bones. A few slashes to the front torso caused his entrails to fall out as the raging griffon continued her bestial onslaught.

Gilda eventually stopped her attack after she realized that Maero was never getting up again. She panted hard from the exertion while her feelings of rage were slowly replaced with a sense of satisfaction.

“How do you feel?” Pinkamena asked from behind the griffon.

“I. Feel. Awesome…” she said with each pant. “I felt like I channeled the fury of my ancestors as I ripped him apart.”

Pinkamena looked at the griffon with concern. “You’re not going to behave that way every time I ask you to kill someone or blow something up, right? If you’re going to be my enforcer, I want you to be an enforcer and not a beast.”

Gilda laughed at that statement for a full minute before she calmed herself. “That’s ironic coming from you.”

“I’ll have you know that I go for irony in my kills...most of them anyway. I have style with my methods.”

Gilda chuckled some more as she looked at what she did. One last sigh allowed her to relax enough to return the gloves to normal so she could take them off. “Anyway, after that I feel like I got a lot of my anger out of my system. I don’t even feel mad at Dash for turning against me anymore.”

“You know you brought that on yourself, right? Pride is good to have but too much of it can get you in a lot of trouble. It’s kinda been the downfall of many villains in stories and television series.

“I guess…” Gilda said as she rubbed the back of her head. “So what next? Vogel?”

“Not quite yet. There’s still a special someone I want to deal with before we bring Ultor to its knees.

Gilda tilted her head in confusion, “Who’s that?’

“Someone I plan to kill before a certain sniper assassin gets to him first.”

With Maero dead, the remainder of the Brotherhood neighborhoods fell to the Saints.

Author's Note

Only two chapters left in Saints Row 2.