Starlight Saint

After calling Paul to warn him about the imminent threat to the church, the two headed back there without delay while Starlight called ahead to Julius to warn him that the Carnales were rallying and heading their way soon.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Julius replied. “If those bitches wanna take the fight to us, they better be ready to bleed for it.”

By the time Starlight and Paul returned to the church, they noticed that groups of Saints thugs were taking up positions in buildings while watching every street for signs of their enemies. The bridges connecting the southern districts to the slums were heavily fortified.

Paul took Starlight to one of the safehouses where he stashed some of his stockpiled ammunition and loaded up on as much of it as he could carry while Starlight helped herself to the pistol and SMG ammunition.

While they were arming themselves, Paul decided to tell her something that he was hesitant to say since he had never had a friendship as strong as the one he had with Starlight before, “I don’t tell this to just anyone, but my birthday is in a couple of days.”

Starlight smiled as she heard that, “Is that so? This is perfect timing actually since I already know what I’m getting you.”

“You do? What is it?”

Starlight giggled, “As if you would get that answer from me so easily.”

Paul shrugged, “Fair enough. By the way, I figure that sword of yours is a personal heirloom or something since you keep it on you at all times, but do you think I could try it out?”

Starlight thought about that and knew what would happen before a devious smirk graced her face as she removed the sheathed blade from her back and handed it to Paul. “You can try.”

Paul held the weapon by the sheath and stared at it for a few seconds, admiring how it looked. However, it was when he tried to take the blade out that he realized why Starlight had that look on her face like she was pulling a prank on him. Try as he might, he couldn’t make the sword budge from its sheath as if the entire weapon was immersed in super glue. After a few more futile attempts he handed the weapon back to Starlight while shooting her a glare.

“I thought you wanted to try the blade out,” Starlight questioned with feigned innocence, before she couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore.

“Very funny, I guess this is more of your magic stuff at work?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why myself, but for some reason the blade is connected to my magic somehow.”

“Well, at least no one can use it against you, I guess.”

“Anyways, we’ve had our fun, but I think it’s time to show the Carnales why red shirts are a death flag. You ready for this?”

Paul cocked the platinum shotgun he borrowed from Starlight before holding it over his shoulder. “Right behind you!”

Shortly after the two left the safehouse, they received reports from the thugs in the field that several convoys of Carnales vehicles were crossing the bridges into the slums. A number of cars were taken out by RPGs before they charged past the fortifications only to encounter more fortified locations which made the Carnales suspect that the Saints were waiting for them.

The battle only lasted a half hour as the last of the Carnales quickly realized that they had driven into a proverbial meat grinder. However, Angelo, who was leading the attack, managed to escape. While a crew of Saints had him pinned down, he was rescued by Victor who helped the leader wipe out the crew before they fled back across the bridge, but not before Starlight popped the rear tires of their car with her gold pistol to add insult to injury.

“And don’t come back!” Starlight called out.

While the Saints were celebrating their humiliation of the Carnales, Starlight and Paul returned to the church where Julius was waiting to congratulate the two.

“Good job driving the Carnales from the Row, but this can’t go unanswered. We may have sent Angelo home with his tail between his legs but now we need to drive the point home that their days are numbered.”

“What do you have in mind?” Starlight asked.

“Since you busted up their drug labs and stole one of their shipments, their drug ring is hurtin’. Because of that they’ve moved to gun running. I found out they’ve set up a weapons plant in an old steel mill on Fox Drive. Make sure their business doesn’t get off the ground. Take out the equipment as well since we don’t have a use for it. Swing by Samson’s for some explosives.”

“We can do that,” Starlight affirmed before another idea popped into her head. “By the way, can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?” Julius asked.

“I want to set something up to throw Angelo off his game. However, I don’t plan to put it into action until Hector is out of the game. Can you forward the locations of all of the vacant buildings in the Carnales territories to Mr. Wong? Tell him to wait for my signal before sending his men to inspect the buildings while making sure the Carnales are aware of them. I plan to have Hector taken out by then.”

Julius wasn’t sure what Starlight had in mind, but her past track record with the other gangs left him little room to doubt her. “Alright, I’ll take care of it. For now, take out that plant.”

With a nod, Starlight headed out with Paul to Fox Drive. On the way there, Starlight called Wong and told him her plan and hammered out the details. They also stopped by Samson’s garage where they received four charges to blow up the steel mill’s equipment.

When they got there, they found that the mill was heavily guarded. Starlight had a feeling that the Carnales weren’t taking any chances since the Saints had taken out a number of strongholds in the past. Either that or the Carnales really wanted to make sure their weapons business succeeded. Further observations drew Starlight’s attention to a pair of rooftop snipers.

“So what’s the plan?” Paul asked.

Starlight observed the complex a little more through a pair of binoculars until she noticed an easily accessible path to the roof from the back of the building that could lead Paul to the snipers’ positions. The wheels started turning before her idea took form. “You still have your dad’s hunting rifle?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if we were going to need it again but I kept it just in case. Why?”

“Remember Sunnyvale Loft?”

“Ah!” Paul realized. “You sure you can handle being in the yard for long? There’s a lot of them this time.”

“There’s a lot more room to work with as well. Plus, I think I can show off a little more since I’m not as worried about them having enough time to mount a proper defense against me if word gets to Hector.”

Paul nodded, “Alright then, I’ll hit ‘em high, you hit ‘em low.”

Once the plan was acknowledged, Starlight hid out of sight behind a fence near the entrance and teleported Paul to the unguarded rear of the steel mill.

Fighting back a case of nausea and a few choice words he wanted to have with Starlight at some point about teleporting, Paul quickly climbed his way to the top of the roof. Taking out his rifle, he loudly took out the rooftop sniper which got the attention of everyone around the mill. Acting quickly, he followed up by taking out a sniper perched on a walkway on the side of the building.

Once she heard two shots go off, Starlight made her move, charging in with her sword drawn. With everyone’s attention on Paul, Starlight had plenty of time and the element of surprise on her side.

Taking several nearby cement blocks in her magic, Starlight kept them at the ready before engaging the defenders in melee combat. She managed to cut several down before the Carnales took notice of her. Once this happened, she bashed several more thugs in the head with the cement blocks.

The Carnales soon realized they were caught in a pincer attack between a swordswoman using weird powers they had only ever seen in movies on one side and a rooftop sniper on the other side. Because of this, they had no idea who to focus on and none of them were smart enough to tell the others what to do. This resulted in the defenders being wiped out quickly.

Not long after the yard was cleared out, a door into the mill’s receiving station opened, releasing a few more thugs into the yard who were sniped from behind by Paul.

“We have our way in, let’s go!” Starlight called out. Paul jumped off the roof and ragdolled to minimize any damage he took from such an action. Somehow it worked as he got up and dusted himself off before pulling out a shotgun.

The two entered the receiving station and cleared out the Carnales inside before finding a door into the main plant. Paul switched to a pair of SMGs and sprayed the thugs on the walkways while Starlight cut down those around the equipment. Seeing the streams of molten slag in the room and several barrels that she hoped were filled with something flammable, she took the barrels in her magic and hurled them into the slag. The resulting explosions distracted the Carnales long enough for Paul to finish them off.

With the room clear, Paul began planting bombs with one by the equipment, one by a series of pipes and one in the foreman’s office. Paul decided to plant the last bomb at the top of the plant, but not before telling Starlight to evacuate first. Starlight nodded and teleported out while Paul headed out the back and climbed onto the roof where he followed a rusted metal walkway to the top of the plant before planting the last bomb. With the charges set and less than a minute to escape the imminent blast, Paul sprinted with everything he had to get down to the roof and jumped from it again, once again ragdolling. With a few seconds left, Paul got back up and got some more distance before diving forward as a series of explosions rocked the area.

With the plant demolished, the remaining Carnales in the area understood that the entire operation was scrapped so they retreated. Seeing this, Starlight called Julius to tell him the good news and to send in a crew to claim Fox Drive.

“I think we’ve done enough damage to the Carnales for today,” Starlight commented.

“We still have time to do something else,” Paul offered.

Starlight shrugged, “Yeah, but tonight’s the last series of races of the year. Libby called me earlier and said that Lorenzo, who’s running these races, is waiting for me.

“Alright, I’ll go find something else to do then.”

“See you tomorrow, Paul.”

“You too, Starlight.”

Once they parted ways, Starlight picked up her racing vehicle and headed for the gathering place for the street racers at the western end of Poseidon Alley. She soon found Lorenzo, a Latino wearing a green and black jacket, staring at a magazine sideways. Lorenzo took a few moments to notice Starlight’s presence which caused him to hastily toss his magazine aside. Much to Starlight’s dismay, she caught a glimpse of a picture of a man in nothing but his boxers laying on a car. She had nothing against Lorenzo’s tastes, but she wasn’t ready to see what she saw.

“Uh, hey, what’s up…” Lorenzo laughed awkwardly. “Uh, you didn’t see…”

“I saw nothing!” Starlight hastily replied.

“C-cool cool, right so…Starlight, is it?” Lorenzo asked. Starlight numbly nodded in response. “Right, now that you’re here, we can get started.”

Lorenzo led Starlight to the other racers who were having a meet and greet until they spotted her and Lorenzo. He quickly got the racers into position and got the races started.

Once again, Starlight demonstrated her superior driving skills by smoking the other drivers. One particular driver in a Bootlegger was doing his best to keep up with her and was doing fairly well for most of the races but could never keep up with Starlight in the end.

Once the last race was over, Starlight received her discount coupons for vehicle customizations, including the ten percent and the fifty percent coupons.

Before Starlight could head home, that one racer who came the closest to keeping up with her stomped toward her with a furious look in his eyes. “I demand a rematch!” he shouted.

Starlight gave a flat look at the sore loser, “Are you really that butt hurt over losing a few races? Why should I entertain your demands?”

“What, are you gonna go running home to your mommy whenever a racer calls you out?”

“Grow up, I’m not going to rise to your tantrums just because you can’t lose with dignity.”

As Starlight started to drive away, the racer gave one last insult in a desperate attempt to get a rise out of her. “I hear your mom was pretty famous before she died. She must have sucked a lot of cocks to get so many record deals because her songs sounded like nails on a chalkboard combined with cat screeching!”

Straight’s car came to an abrupt stop before turning her head back to the petulant man. She could take a lot of things, but the racer had just crossed the line. “Fine, you want your race then you shall have it. One thing though: this will be a high stakes race with both of our cars at stake. Understood?”

“Hell yeah! You’re going down, bitch!”

The two did a lap race around several blocks in the neighborhood. As Starlight expected, the racer tried his best to overtake her. However, she was done with him so she stopped holding back, using nitrous to boost herself along the track even if it proved unnecessary. The thing was that she didn’t want to just beat him, she wanted to lap him to drive the point home that he was out of her league. The racer stood no chance.

Once the race was over, the racer didn’t bother with the last lap and just stopped his car next to Starlight’s car. She gave the idiot her most menacing glare, “Next time you insult my mom, you'll be getting my sword to your throat!” she threatened.

“Mark my words, I will crush you one day! You hear me?!” The racer ran off, but not before Starlight magically tied his shoelaces together, making him trip and throw away the last of his dignity.

Once the idiot was finally gone, Starlight called Paul to get him to pick up the Bootlegger she just won. However, she found that her friend was in the middle of taking several showers again, just like the last time he escorted several sex workers around town. This time it was a job from some club owner named Jack who paid him in cash and a zoot suit.

Since Paul was going to be indisposed until morning, Starlight decided to call Julius and have him send a wheelman over to pick up the Bootlegger and deliver it to Miguel. Thankfully, the car had the necessary modifications that the mechanic needed so there was no need to pay a visit to Rim Jobs.

With the car being delivered, Starlight was finished for the day and headed home to enjoy a nice warm meal.