Starlight Saint

After a night of rest and Paul having a nightmare about the R-rated things that went on in a car he was driving last night, he and Starlight returned to the church for another day of dealing with the Carnales. Of course, Paul had to pick up a coffee on the way to help him be fully prepared for whatever action would go down today.

As they entered the church looking for Dex, Julius found them and informed them that Dex and Troy were waiting for them at Samson’s garage. He also mentioned that Dex had requested a full crew for some reason that he refused to divulge. While his behavior annoyed Julius, he still granted him the crew for whatever operation he was planning.

Starlight groaned in exasperation, “He’s starting to remind me of Warren Williams. His big head is going to get him in trouble.”

“If he starts somethin’, I won’t hesitate to put him down,” Julius warned. “It ain’t gonna be like with Ben.”

“For now let’s just go along with his plan. I don’t know what’s gotten into Dex, but right now we need his tactical thinking to take down the Carnales without starting a war with the Columbians.”

After saying their farewells to Julius, Paul and Starlight headed to Samson’s garage where they found Troy waiting just outside the building.

“Hey you two, Dex is bringing the truck around,” Troy informed. “Let’s hope his little Trojan Horse plan works.”

As he said that, Dex approached them with a shocked look on his face. “How’d you figure out what I was planning?” he demanded.

While Starlight could have told him the truth, she instead turned her eyes to Laserbeak who was perched on her shoulder, giving the guy the idea that she used her drone to figure out the plan. She wasn’t here to pick another fight with Dex since it seemed as if he had a fragile ego. As much as Dex tried to hide his plan, it was still easy to figure out from a few clues.

“I hate that thing!” Dex growled, getting in Starlight’s face. “Why you always gotta be stealing my thunder, Starlight?”

“Dex, chill! Alright?” Troy ordered. “Let’s get this plan going.”

Reluctantly and because Troy was still ranked above him as Julius’ second, Dex backed away from Starlight who did her best to keep her anger under control. However, one thing was for certain, if Dex ever betrayed the Saints, she would show him no mercy and may find more pleasure in taking him out than she should.

Dex sighed, “Anyways, the truck is being loaded up with a crew. Drive the crew to the drug factory in Pilsen and take the place over. Take care not to blow up the equipment. We need it to compete with the Carnales in the drug market once we're running the place.” He then walked away, likely to cool off after his little tantrum.

Once the crew was loaded up into the stolen delivery truck, Paul took the wheel while Starlight took the shotgun position. The crew in the cargo hold were quite vocal about their eagerness to take down the Carnales, some making bets on how many they would take out. The two ignored them and headed south toward Pilsen.

On the way, Paul decided to ask Starlight about that project they discussed a week or so ago, “So what features are you planning to put into that Ravage drone?”

Starlight almost looked at him in surprise. Honestly, she had nearly forgotten about the project she promised for Paul. However, while she knew what she wanted to make for him, she wasn’t sure if her current knowledge of robotics was enough at this time for what she envisioned.

“Ravage will be mainly designed for supporting fire so there will be a few weapons integrated into it, but I also want to do more. However, self-teaching in the field of robotics can only get me so far and I need an expert to guide me in the field to fill in any gaps in my knowledge.”

“Maybe when this is over you can pursue that college degree,” Paul suggested. “You have all that money from robbing Sharp and Monroe so you should be able to afford any college at this point.”

Starlight did consider her options for colleges, though she did have some issues with that, one of them no longer being one after she cleaned out Sharp and Monroe. Her high school offered little when it came to extracurricular activities because of their pitiful budget, but she still took what courses and activities she could to make her transcript look decent and the self-defense classes may or may not help. She learned enough Mandarin from Mr. Wong to get by but she wasn’t sure if she could put that into her transcript since she didn’t learn that from an official source. She would have to show off her engineering talents if she hoped to pursue a degree in robotics.

Still, she wasn’t sure what the future held for her so she wanted to keep her options open. “I don't know, I'd like to see how things pan out in the near future before I commit to any plans. Though I would like to see if I can rob the Lopez brothers to further increase my little nest egg. I may consider pursuing a robotics degree so I can design a few upgrades for Laserbeak as well while building Ravage.”

Paul nodded in understanding, “At least you have a plan for your future, just be careful since you don’t want the wrong people to know what you can really do.”

Starlight nodded, “I will. I will also need to keep Laserbeak a secret from everyone outside Stilwater. The last thing I need is for some blabbermouth making calls to the feds, leading me to getting recruited into some paramilitary organization or something.”

Paul gave Starlight a weird look, “That sounds…oddly specific.” Before Paul could elaborate further, they found that they were nearing the factory and the crew in the hold was getting more riled up by the second, making further conversation difficult. “Alright, we’re about to enter the factory. Hope you’re ready.” Starlight nodded in response while reaching for her sword.

Once the truck came to a stop, the crew sensed that it was time to get the party started so they kicked open the cargo hold doors and they started jumping out while spreading out and shooting any Carnales who saw the truck.

The place quickly went on alert as a number of Carnales thugs came at them from both sides of the factory while some were shooting at the Saints from the scaffolding along the factory perimeter. Starlight took care of them by throwing them off the scaffolding with her magic which left them open to shotgun blasts.

The Saints made their way around to the back of the factory where the doors were open. A sign above the entrance told Starlight that the place used to be a plastic factory until it was shut down and abandoned. Most of the crew stayed with Paul and cleaned out the exterior while Starlight led a few inside where she began cutting down the thugs manning the machines.

“Come on, boys…” Starlight taunted while spinning her sword. “I don’t bite!”

While the Carnales tried to defend the factory interior they found that Starlight was a terrifying enemy with how she brutally slaughtered them one by one and that terror caused their morale to plummet. After a few minutes of fighting, the thugs gave up and retreated. “¡Esta perra está loca! ¡Salgamos de aquí! (This bitch is crazy! Let's get out of here!)” one thug shouted.

The Carnales were in full retreat at that point though a few Saints did manage to gun down a few of the retreating thugs while the rest managed to escape in their cars.

While the Saints cried out in victory, Starlight took a cloth to wipe the blood off her blade before looking at her reflection in the blade. “Why are boys puddy in my hands?”

Paul rolled his eyes, “Do you really want me to answer that?” he asked dryly. “Anyways, let’s call Julius and tell him the good news.”

“Let me mark this factory’s address first.” After Starlight found the address and texted it to Wong, she called Julius and informed him that the factory raid was a success and the Saints could take Pilsen from the Carnales.

“Good work, I'll send another crew there to reinforce the area,” Julius informed. “In the meantime, I'd like for you and Paul to look into the Stoughton Shipyards just to your south. I heard the Carnales got in another big shipment of drugs. There's too much product for us to take, so make sure they can't move any of it either.”

“How much are we talking?”

“Enough to fill six large crates. If we had access to heavy equipment, it would be another story. Unfortunately we don’t, so do what you can to dispose of it.”

Once the call ended, Starlight started to consider what was available in the factory. Noticing the cargo trailers often hitched to semi cabs, an idea formed in her head. She drew her sword again which Paul raised an eyebrow to. However, he was more focused on their new mission. “So how are we going to dispose of the containers? I can find a bulldozer and shove them into the lake.”

Starlight smirked as she raised her sword to one of the cargo trailers. “No, I have a better idea. See if you can find a Peterliner somewhere. Check the Copperton truck yard if you are having a hard time finding one. Meanwhile, I’ll get the crew ready to hitch this to the Peterliner. This is going to be how we steal the cargo in Stoughton.”

Starlight then proceeded to cut into the walls of the cargo container, using her magic to help her cut through the metal. She moved all the way around the container until she had completely cut out the walls. The crew then moved in and lifted the severed walls off of the trailer, leaving a flat bed.

Half an hour later, Paul returned with a Peterliner and positioned it as best as he could in front of the trailer hitch. The crew helped to move the flatbed into place. Starlight entered the truck with him and told him to head to the shipyard. “Julius said that we are dealing with six large crates of drugs and the flatbed will barely hold them so don’t drive recklessly or we might lose a crate,” Starlight warned.

They arrived at the shipyard within a few minutes since the neighborhood was near the factory. At first the Carnales guarding the area were confused about the truck driving by but they didn’t recognize any enemies yet. However, that confusion turned into shock and disbelief when they saw one of their shipping containers floating in midair and landing on the flatbed. Several Carnales rubbed their eyes because they believed that what they saw was impossible.

By the time Starlight landed her third container on the flatbed, the Carnales finally got their acts together and realized that their shipment was being stolen. However, their guns were nowhere near effective enough to stop a passing semi while their crates mysteriously floated onto the trailer so they were able to steal the last container and leave. A few Carnales vehicles gave chase but a few well-timed grenades and pipe bombs took out their pursuers.

The truck returned to the factory without further incident while the awaiting crew cheered about how they humiliated the Carnales twice in one day. When Julius was informed about what happened he was shocked and glad that they now had a firm foothold in the drug market.

“And Julius said we couldn't move that much product. He underestimates me sometimes,” Starlight gloated.

“Did you even know you could lift that much?” Paul dryly asked.

Starlight blushed and chuckled awkwardly, “Uhh, truthfully, no. Guess I learned something new about myself today.”

“And you called me reckless…”

Starlight was about to argue when her phone went off. Her ID informed her that Wong was calling. Answering it, Starlight tried to give her most professional tone which fell flat as she was still trying to work out her embarrassment. Still, Wong ignored that and gave Starlight the new request which made her give Paul a pitying look which gave him a bad feeling.

After the call, Starlight sighed as she told him the new request, “Mr. Wong has another client who needs help. It's some doctor named Raymond Gonzales and he wants your help
in fabricating medical reports for money. Hope you're ready to play in traffic again…”

Paul groaned as his phantom pains from his previous flights through the streets started acting up. “Not that I’m complaining about the money, but there’s gotta be a better way of doing this kind of thing.”

“Unfortunately, a successful scheme requires witnesses and they need to watch you injure yourself. False witnesses would only risk them getting caught with the perpetrator and a false report without witnesses will also get the perpetrator caught. Insurance companies want proof of the medical claims and injuring yourself is the most convincing way to make them fork over the cash.”

“Still hurts. A lot.”

When they met the Latino doctor, he acted like he was the first who came up with the insurance fraud scheme, apparently ignoring the fact that Seth and Legal Lee had them doing the exact same thing before. Starlight had a feeling that this guy might be incompetent and was probably going to screw up and get caught. However, that wasn’t her problem.

After a couple of hours of Paul maiming himself with cars driving over the speed limit because the cops couldn’t care less about traffic violations for some reason, Starlight mended what injuries she could before hailing a taxi. However, that turned into a carjacking as Paul pointed a gun at the driver and made him abandon his vehicle. They took the taxi to a Rim Jobs for a cheap customization before delivering it to Miguel before Starlight summoned her car and took them home.

“I can’t wait to see what you got me for my birthday tomorrow,” Paul remarked as he got out of the car and headed toward his house.

Starlight smirked, “Trust me, it’s going to be amazing.”

Meanwhile, at the villa…

“Manuel, you worry too much. Everything is under control,” Hector reassured.

However, this didn’t stop the Columbian liaison from worrying. “I’ve heard some nasty rumors, Hector.”

“Like what?”

“That one of your drug labs was shut down.”

“¿Qué eso? No es una problema. (What’s that? That’s not a problem.) One of our couriers thought he could cut the shit out of his deliveries. It looked like we were missing a lot of product, it really was just this pendejo. Angelo took care of him.”

“And the drugs?” Manuel asked.

“Found.”

“What about that gang from Saint’s Row?”

“A bunch of mulas (mules), a nuisance, nothing more.”

“Your father would have killed them all by now,”

Hector narrowed his eyes, “I am not my father, he was killed by some advenedizos (upstarts) from Sunnyvale. I will not make the mistakes he made.”

The two were suddenly interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and a woman screaming. A moment later, Luz angrily walked out of the house with an equally angry Angelo following her. “Hey, don’t you walk away from me, puta! (bitch!)” Angelo shouted.

“¡Ay Angelo! ¿Qué te pasa? (Oh Angelo! What is wrong with you?)” Luz shot back. “¡Es tan grande que pueda ser mi padre mijo! (He’s so old that he could be my darling father!)” Manuel frowned as he heard that.

“Mira (Look) woman, you listen to me–” Angelo shouted.

“Enough!” Hector roared while getting out of his seat, silencing the couple. “¡Yo estoy intentando trabajar aquí! ¡O se comportan o salgan de mi casa ya! (I'm trying to work here! Either behave or get out of my house now!)”

Not wanting to anger Hector further, Angelo and Luz quickly retreated back into the house. Manuel took this time to get out of his chair and head toward the back gate, but not before giving a remark dripping in sarcasm, “You’re right. Looks like everything is under control, Hector. We’ll talk about this more when the others arrive tomorrow.”

The sarcasm was not lost on Hector. As Manuel left the house, Hector kicked the chair Manuel was sitting in moments before. He knew that he was losing control of the situation. He wanted to downplay the Saints to not make his gang look weak, but he knew Manuel saw through the ruse.

Things were getting worse with each day. Not only did he lose two drug labs and the weapons plant to the Saints, but he learned today that the Saints had taken over his drug factory and stolen another shipment. Though the report made him wonder if the lieutenant needed to be admitted into an asylum for how insane it sounded. He also had to wonder how the Saints anticipated the attack on their home turf with enough notice to prepare fortified positions. Someone was playing him for a fool and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

However, that would have to wait until after he met with the other Columbian representatives.