Starlight Saint

Since Starlight’s car was nearby, she and Paul quickly got in and headed toward Misty Lane hoping that they weren’t too late.

Neither were sure if Lin was alright now that her cover was blown. They could only hope that she was in a position to make a quick escape.

Driving as quickly as they could while dodging many cars along the way, the two soon found Lin’s car and she was being shot at by a number of Rollerz. The worst part was that her car was not looking so good as it was full of holes and it was only a matter of time before they hit something that would damage the engine. A few lucky shots had punctured Lin’s back tires and the engine was beginning to emit smoke.

They didn’t have time to take out the pursuing Rollerz since it looked like Lin’s car was on the verge of exploding and taking her with it. Starlight had to think quickly and realized that she would need to do something risky to save her.

“Paul, take the wheel!” Starlight ordered. To the mute’s surprise the girl suddenly disappeared which left him panically grabbing the wheel and trying to avoid any obstacles while he struggled to get into the driver’s seat and gain access to the pedals.

Meanwhile, a panicking Lin was now terrified as her car was severely damaged. She knew that if she stopped or bailed from the car the Rollerz would capture her and use her as a hostage against Paul and Starlight. However, if things kept going like this she was going to die anyway from her car blowing up.

Just as she was about to resign herself to her fate, a loud pop sounded beside her accompanied by a bright flash which momentarily blinded her. She was glad there were no obstacles ahead of her to crash into. Before she could process what happened, she felt her arm being grabbed. Just as she noticed her car catching fire, everything in her view had changed abruptly and left her feeling completely disoriented. There was also a wave of nausea to accompany that.

“Don’t you dare throw up in my car!” threatened a familiar voice. Thankfully a paper sack was provided which Lin quickly grabbed and emptied her lunch in it. Once she was done she tried to regain her wits and get her bearings. After a few moments of catching her breath, Lin’s mind calmed down and she soon realized that she was in the backseat of another car.

“Paul, get us back to the church!” the voice ordered. Lin recalled the name and soon realized that she was in the company of Paul and Starlight. “Are you alright?” Starlight asked.

“Wh…what happened?” Lin asked. “Last I remember I was in my car and it was on fire, now I’m here.”

“Don’t worry about that right now, just relax,” Starlight softly spoke. “The Rollerz have totaled your car and they believe that they took you out so we’ve lost them. We’re headed back to the church to draw up a plan of action. Thanks to you we have all the info we need to take them down.”

With that, Lin had fully regained herself and was back to normal. “Alright, let’s regroup with Julius.”

Half an hour later the group arrived at the church and went inside where Julius was meeting with Johnny, Dex and Troy. The Saints were relieved to see that their members had returned unscathed.

“Lin, thank God you’re alright,” Julius said. “When the Rollerz figured out whose flags you’re actually flyin’ I feared the worst.”

“To be honest, I’m lucky to be alive. I don’t know how she did it, but Starlight managed to rescue me in the nick of time,” Lin said relievedly.

“Actually, before we continue, could you hold on for a few minutes?” Starlight asked. “I need to take care of something real quick.”

Starlight left the church and made sure nobody was around visibly or audibly. Once she was sure she was alone she teleported back to her mother’s house. Her mother offered her a cold, refreshing coke which she gladly accepted while she gave the album disc she received from Jack to her. Starlight quickly explained the situation and Aisha grabbed a marker and signed it to Jack.

After that she performed an exhausting series of teleports across the city to deliver the signed album to Jack before she performed another series to get back to the church. By that time she was very exhausted and that coke she had was extra refreshing as a result.

Once she was ready she returned to the others to resume the meeting. “Sorry about the wait,” Starlight apologized.

Julius began, “Alright, now we know how to take down the Rollerz. Given Price’s behavior it seems that the mastermind of the Rollerz is his uncle Sharp. Take him out and the Rollerz will be on their way out. With their income cut off Price will be easier to deal with, but probably more dangerous as well. Lin, Starlight, Paul, you three have observed the Rollerz long enough to understand how to deal with them. Do you have an idea on how to get Sharp into the open?”

“I think I have an idea,” Starlight offered. “Sharp is a lawyer who keeps his employees out of jail using his money and connections. We should use that against him. Julius, do you know any Rollerz who have been arrested lately?”

“Actually yes, some of the Rollerz have a court date coming up and Sharp will probably be throwing paper and pussy at the jury to get those muthafuckas off. They’re all sequestered at an apartment building in Tidal Spring.”

“Excellent! I have an idea to deal with them. I just need some illegal fireworks before tonight.” Paul volunteered to obtain the fireworks but gave a confused look as he wasn’t sure what the plan was. “Don’t worry about it, just make sure nobody sees you with the crates and bring them to the apartments.”

“Oh, I get it!” Dex realized. “That’s actually pretty clever.”

While Starlight and Paul would usually find someone to help in order to increase the Saints’ reputation, they decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing and unwinding at an arcade. They had spent several days dismantling the Rollerz and it was about time for a well-deserved break.

After a few hours of leisure, Paul went to Chinatown to buy up several crates of illegal fireworks in secret while concealing them under a tarp on a large pickup.

Meanwhile, Starlight was overseeing the operation when she spotted something that kind of grossed her out. A man wearing nothing but a pair of shoes and a speedo was jogging in her general direction. The man’s outfit alone offended Starlight and she could understand why Mr. Wong would feel wronged by this man as well.

Still, this looked like a good time to polish her acting skills since the man’s appearance really helped her get into character. She then pulled out her shotgun.

As the man started to jog past her, Starlight let out a horrified shriek that got the attention of everyone around her before she screamed “Pervert!” and blasted the man into a bloody mess on the street. She then panted heavily to further sell the act to the crowd which got her the reaction she was hoping for: sympathy.

After a few minutes of this she told the crowd that she would be okay now and they could move on, which they did. Paul ran up to her and looked at her with concern to which she responded with a victorious smirk as she pulled up the hitman file and crossed Juan’s name off. “Six down, two to go.”

Paul was then reminded how scary Starlight can be sometimes.

That evening, a truck drove up to the Tidal Spring Apartments carrying the instruments that would drive the Rollerz out of the area. Paul and Starlight could tell that the Rollerz guards were unaware of any intruders in the area which was perfect for their plan. Paul looked at Starlight as he was really curious about her plan now.

“Here’s the plan, I’m going to sneak the crates into each apartment where the jurors are located. I know which apartments have jurors because I had Laserbeak check. I just need you to get their attention and lead them on a chase around the place while I work. I’m also going to place an anonymous tip to the police, so don’t attack them. Make yourself look like a victim to the cops. If we succeed, we can take this place without firing a shot.” Paul looked like he wanted to ask how she was planning on smuggling the crates into the apartments to which Starlight responded, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll carry out my part, you do yours.”

What followed in the next few minutes was Paul making a spectacle of himself to the outdoor Rollerz guards which led to them calling out that a Saint was running around which led to a bunch of thugs chasing after him.

Meanwhile, Starlight called the police and left a tip about possession of illegal fireworks before she levitated the five crates of fireworks and headed into the complex. With the guards distracted, it was easy for her to teleport a crate into each apartment while choosing rooms that weren’t occupied. She planted two crates in two apartments on one side of the complex before hurrying over to the other side to plant the other three, taking care to avoid the chase going on.

One police car arrived as she planted the last crate. Noticing the spectacle going on, he called in for reinforcements who arrived a few minutes later. Paul purposefully placed himself into a corner while the thugs were aiming their pistols at him. Before a shot could be fired they were forced to drop their weapons as officers aimed theirs at them.

After that, the police investigated the tip where they went into the various apartments and discovered the crates and checked the contents. This led to the SWAT team being called in. The jurors had no idea how the crates got there but the law enforcement still had to hold them for a few days which meant that they would miss their court date.

Paul continued his victim act to the police until he saw an opening for him to escape and regroup with Starlight who gave him a victorious smirk, “And not a shot fired.”

Paul scratched his head in exasperation, wondering if this girl was insane.

“That takes care of phase one of my plan to deal with Sharp, now I need to set things up for phase two.” This should work if I’m right about Troy.

It was still early enough in the evening for the Saints to still be at the church. They returned to the building and Paul went inside to give them the signal to move in on Tidal Spring while Starlight found a secluded place to place a call to Troy.

“Hey Starlight, what’s up?” Troy answered.

“Are you alone right now? I’d like to discuss something with you in private.”

“Uh, can you make it fast? I’m, uh, doing an important job for Julius.”

Starlight could sense that he was trying to lie to her. He was making it too obvious. It further confirmed her suspicions so she pressed on. “Then let’s cut to the chase, I’m pretty sure you’re a cop.”

For a few moments the line was silent. Starlight had a feeling that her fellow interlocutor was struggling to come up with a response after that shocking accusation. What she got was a pitiful defense, “W-what makes you s-say that?”

Starlight rolled her eyes that he had all but admitted to being a cop. She suspected that he may have barely passed undercover training which was enough to keep the rest of the Saints fooled, but not her. “Still trying to deny it? Then let me spell it out for you. I overheard your little monologue the night before me and Paul joined the Saints. You said a few things that sounded like something someone from the PD would say, such as ‘Monroe’s been bustin’ my ass to keep the Saints from turning into another problem for Stilwater.’”

She could hear Troy cursing despite his attempts at not having her hear it. He calmed down after a few moments. “I’m guessin’ you’re callin’ to blackmail me?”

“Maybe a little, but nothing that will involve innocents. You see, you’re going to be part of my plan to take down Sharp. For that I need your position in the Stilwater PD for this to work.”

“Whaddya need?”

“Remember that court case on the Rollerz coming up? Since the old jury will have to be thrown out after what happened tonight a new group will be selected on short notice which means that Sharp won’t be able to rely on them and it will pressure him into attending the court in person. I want you to be a part of the security staff there…”

Starlight went into the specifics about Troy’s role in the plan to which he agreed to it since he felt that he didn’t have much choice now.

However, Troy had one last question to ask before the call ended. “What if your dad finds out about this, Lady Joker?” He had apparently decided to give a code name to her since he had a feeling that they were going to be making more hidden deals in the future.

She decided to go with it, it did seem like a name that could grow on her. “Lady Joker, huh? I like that one. Anyway, since this is for the benefit of the Saints, I’ll keep your secret as long as you help us. I can keep daddy off your back but just know that you will suffer a worse fate than daddy beating you up if you betray us. I’m actually quite skilled with a computer and your wages and retirement fund aren’t safe from me. That would make for good compensation for any betrayals you might commit.”

She could hear Troy gulping. If she had a record in the PD then Troy would know that she could do a lot worse to him than her father ever could.

Once she went over the plan she hung up and headed back home to rest up for tomorrow.

The Saints were very lucky that night. The incident at the apartment not only drove the Rollerz out of Tidal Spring but because the arrests had also thinned out the Rollerz near the Ultor Dome which made defending it infeasible so they were forced to abandon that neighborhood to the Saints as well. Only Copperton and Misty Lane remained controlled by the Rollerz at this point.

The next day Starlight and Paul didn’t have much to do since the court case was tomorrow so they would need to find something to do today.

Starlight was in favor of increasing the odds of Sharp’s attendance in court and she had an idea on how to do so. “Mr. Wong gave me the number and address to an attorney in Chinatown. We’re going to see if he can help out.”

After a few minutes they were in front of the door to the lawyer’s office and went inside. They were greeted by a man who put on a friendly act in order to sell his services. “Welcome to my office! You can call me Seth. What can I do for ya? Were you in a car accident? Walking accident? Coffee accident? Self-inflicted stab wound accident? Your injuries are worth money to both of us.”

Starlight looked at Seth in confusion at what he mentioned. “Coffee accident? Self-inflicted stab wound accident? What?” She shook her head and tried not to get sidetracked. “Nevermind, I was hoping to hire you as a defense attorney for tomorrow’s Rollerz case and lose it on purpose. Mr. Wong personally recommended you for legal services.”

“Ah, Mr. Wong, nicest fella in the whole city. Well, I can help ya but even though he recommended me I can’t give my services for free. I’d be losing money over this and I can’t accept that.”

“So what do you need us to do?”

“Well, as I said, your injuries are worth money to us. If at least one of you were to get yourself injured by like…say…playing in traffic during rush hour, that should cover my legal fees.”

This subject made Starlight a little uncomfortable. It was one thing to go around hunting bounties for Mr. Wong, it was another to watch her friends injuring themselves for cash.

However, Paul still volunteered for this since he was sure his ragdolling skills would come in handy. Starlight wanted to stop him but it seemed that he really would pull almost any stunt for money.

In the end Starlight had no choice but to watch as Paul was battered repeatedly by various types of cars, including civic vehicles such as police cars and ambulances. He always knew to go limp just before the impact to reduce the damage he took. The people who witnessed this thought he was insane for running around a busy street. The drivers tried to swerve away which only fueled the chaos and led to a few bystanders on the sidewalk being hit.

Starlight tried to assist Paul by using her magic to fortify his body to withstand the impacts but the scene was still painful to watch.

In the end, the insurance companies were forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for his medical bills so Seth was ready to uphold his end of the bargain. Starlight had a feeling that she would have to get used to seeing Paul maim himself in traffic in the future. She didn’t like it but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Paul was also concerned that this activity was going to be a thing for years to come.

“This is the worst money we’ve ever earned…” Starlight moaned. Paul nodded in agreement.

With the mood fully dampened, Starlight and Paul went home to await the trial tomorrow.

Coincidentally, as if something unlocked in Starlight’s mind, an idea for an enchantment spell she could place on clothes popped into her mind. The spell was made to offer some protection from explosives which would help a little if someone tossed a grenade at them. Deciding that it couldn’t hurt, she secretly placed the enchantment on Paul’s clothes as well as her own.

The next day at the courthouse, everything was ready. Julius had informed Starlight that one of his boys spotted Sharp driving into the city heading in the direction of the courthouse. Everyone moved into position.

Sharp moved up the stairs and into the courthouse grumbling about a bunch of nimrods hiring an incompetent lawyer to represent them, likely referring to the arrested Rollerz. He headed toward the entrance to the courtroom before one of the police officers guarding the entrance stopped him.

“Hold on a minute, you’re Mr. Sharp, yes?” he asked.

“What is it? Be quick, I am a busy man,” Sharp growled.

“I need you to come with me for a moment, sir. Someone’s requested your presence in a private room.”

This should have sent red flags in Sharp’s mind. After what happened to Lin, he figured that the Saints would be out looking for revenge. However, he chose this time to disregard his suspicions since it would be foolish for a bunch of thugs to invade a courthouse and that was all that the Saints were.

The officer led Sharp to an empty office. The lawyer looked around the room for anything that might have confirmed his suspicions but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Stay in here, Mr. Sharp, they’ll be with ya soon.” He then closed the door and locked it.

Upon hearing the lock click, Sharp suddenly realized that something was very wrong. However, he didn’t realize that he had already fallen into a trap. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was a man swinging a baseball bat between his eyes.

Sharp came to a little while later sitting in a chair. It didn’t take him long to realize his hands were tied behind him and his legs were tied to the chair legs. He also realized he was being gagged.

Now that he knew his situation, Sharp took a look at his captors. One was a black haired man, probably the one who knocked him out. Another was a girl who seemed to be of high school age with purple hair with a teal stripe. The third was a bit of a shock for him. He had no idea how she survived the attack, though the thugs never found the body so he had his suspicions. Now they were confirmed.

“Wakey wakey, Mr. Sharp. It’s time for the festivities to begin,” Starlight coaxed.

Lin removed the gag from the lawyer who glared daggers at the three of them. “How did you escape?” Sharp growled.

“That’s for me to know and you to consider the mystery for the rest of your life,” Starlight answered.

Paul also wanted to know how she saved Lin but Starlight was being extra tight-lipped about it. He could only hope that she would trust him with that information at a later point.

“It would seem that I have underestimated you. I thought you Saints were just a bunch of stupid children, like Donnie.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Donnie like that!” Lin hissed.

“Easy Lin, he’ll get what’s coming to him.” Starlight gave the lawyer a huge shit-eating grin. “You’re not as clever as you think you are, William Sharp. You never even noticed the second spy who was eavesdropping on your conversations.”

Sharp soon adopted a genuinely shocked expression, as he never suspected that the Saints would have a second spy feeding information to his captors. “What second spy?”

Just then, Laserbeak perched on Starlight’s shoulder. The girl rubbed the top of its head. This little guy has been feeding your conversations with Joseph and Donnie to me. That mechanic has some of the loosest lips I’ve ever seen.

Sharp looked at the girl in disbelief. He had never imagined that someone would bug his house from under his nose. Even more unbelievable was the fact that he was utterly outplayed by a high school girl. This was truly a nightmare turned reality. “What do you plan to do to me now?”

Starlight’s grin widened as she rifled through the man’s pockets until she found his phone. Looking through it she could tell there were some encryptions and passwords protecting his files but nothing Laserbeak couldn’t handle. “Laserbeak, decrypt the data and download all files to my phone.”

The process took a few moments as the security wasn’t hard to break. It certainly wasn’t anything like that one time she tested her skills by hacking into the Pentagon. She suspected that at least one person noticed but since they never responded to her attack, she figured that they never traced the hack to her.

Once the data was downloaded and decrypted, Starlight had a look at the contents with a smug grin on her face. “What have we here? Passcodes to your various bank accounts, the phone numbers of your contacts, a few personal files that I don’t care about but could be used for blackmail, the codes to your mansion’s security system…” She looked away from the phone and gave a wicked smirk to Sharp who was starting to look like a boiled lobster from anger. “Thank you for this wonderful gift, Mr. Sharp. Now I have a gift for you. There’s a shipping crate at the airport with your name on it and we will need to be leaving soon. I even put some air holes in it and paid the shipping costs out of my pocket. My gift to you is a one way trip to a run-down desert town called Santo Ileso.”

Before Sharp could protest further he was suddenly given more time for a nap, courtesy of Paul’s baseball bat.

Leaving the courthouse was not difficult thanks to Troy handling security. Sharp was placed into a body bag and carried out. Whenever someone saw them, Troy made the excuse that they were transporting a body to the morgue.

Outside the courthouse, the group decided to be inconspicuous about transporting Sharp’s unconscious body by stealing a car they could all fit in. It just so happened to be a Westbury minivan that conveniently had muscle rims installed. Sharp was placed in the back while Paul, Starlight and Lin drove to the airport. While the airport was deep in Carnales territory, the enemy gang left them alone for the time being.

Once at the airport, they quickly stuffed Sharp into a crate she had designated for transport aboard a cargo plane. The crate was loaded up by the crew and was set to take off soon. Since the Rollerz were still unaware of what happened to Sharp, there was no chance of a timely rescue attempt.

“That takes care of him. Price will probably think we killed him and act rashly from now on,” Starlight figured.

At that moment, however, a blue car approached them and came to a stop. To everyone’s surprise it was Donnie who got out of the vehicle. The mechanic had a concerned look on his face. “Lin? I thought it was you. I thought you were dead, then I saw you with these two Saints. Is it true what Price said? Were you really working with them the whole time?”

Although the time they spent together was short, Lin felt bad that she used Donnie like she did. He may not have been much of a fighter, but he could definitely keep up with her in a conversation about cars and she was impressed by his work. Not to mention that he did look kind of cute.

Lin didn’t have the heart to lie to him, he deserved to know. She sighed, “It’s true, Donnie. Though I did have a great time talkin’ about cars with you. You’re actually kinda cute when you get passionate about cars.”

This left Donnie stunned at the admission but at the same time she called him ‘cute’. This filled the naive mechanic with some hope that not everything from their time together was fake. “Um…is it still possible that we have a chance to go out sometime?”

Lin chuckled, “I’ll think about it.”

Starlight approached the two which made Donnie jump in fright as he remembered her from the attack on the shop. “Hey, sorry about the whole psycho act. I needed to scare you into escaping with Lin. The whole shooting up the car was partly to sell the act and partly because I was feeling a little petty at the time because Lin made me pay for her expensive tea.”

“I’m sorry, alright! Fuck, if I knew you were gonna get like that I’d have ordered something cheaper,” Lin groaned.

Starlight giggled, “Apology accepted.” She then looked at Donnie and gave him a serious look. “I’m gonna level with you, with Sharp out of the picture the Rollerz are in their death throes. I suggest dropping the blue before you sink with them. I know Price is your friend, but he won’t be able to keep the Rollerz going for long. I’ll give you three choices: Drop your flags and lay low until the war ends, change your flags to purple or go back to the Rollerz and risk getting killed. For you, I will give Price a similar choice but I doubt he will walk away without a fight.”

Donnie was now left with a dilemma. There was no way he would ever betray Price, they had been friends for years. That meant that he couldn’t join the Saints as that would be seen as a betrayal. He also didn’t want to die in a losing battle, if what Starlight said was true. In the end, he only had one choice that would preserve his life without betraying his best friend.

“I’ll drop my flags,” Donnie decided.

Starlight nodded, “Let me give you the address to head to Mr. Wong’s place. He will protect you until the war is over if you drop my name. Once the Rollerz are through, the Vice Kings and Carnales are next. The war will end once they are finished, or we are.”

Donnie thanked Starlight and received the address on his phone before he got into his car and drove away. The rest of them followed suit as they didn’t want to be on the tarmac when that cargo plane took off.

After dropping off Starlight and Lin at the church, Paul delivered the Westbury to Dennis before stealing another ride to get back home.