Starlight Saint

The sun rose over Stilwater after an exciting night of gang violence. Starlight’s eventful night stroll had gained her a new friend and allowed her to test out her weapons.

Speaking of weapons, the first thing Starlight did when she woke up was use her magic to lock on to the beacon she placed on her revolver and teleport it into her hands.

After that she proceeded with her morning rituals to get ready for her meeting with the Saints.

Starlight overheard her parents talking. Her mother seemed to be worried about her. “Johnny, are you sure this is a good idea? She’s gonna be placed in a lot of danger and most of Stilwater will see her as a threat if they find out about her powers.”

“Starlight will be fine, Eesh. I trained her and she’s learned a bunch of martial arts at school. Plus she’s packin’ a lotta firepower now. If they’re gonna see her as a threat, it’s gonna be because of the destruction she’ll be capable of with those weapons.”

Aisha sighed, “You’re turning her into you. I blame myself for that, though. I haven’t had much of an impact on her life.”

“Nonsense, Eesh! You helped keep her on track with her studies and she graduated at the top of her class because of it. I just taught her how to fight. You definitely had an impact on her life.” There was a pause in the conversation, but Starlight assumed that the two were embracing each other.

“Thanks, Johnny, I needed that.”

“Anytime!”

Starlight finished getting ready and holstered her weapons before leaving her room and meeting her father at the door. “Ready to go, Starry?”

“Yes, Daddy, I’ve been looking forward to this,” Starlight replied excitedly.

“Then let’s get going.” The two left the apartment and headed for the church. Since the church wasn’t far, the two walked to the Saints headquarters.

On the way, Johnny looked over the weapons Starlight was carrying and noticed that his daughter had an interest in the classics. The .44 Shepherd revolver, though old fashioned, was still one of the stronger pistol-type weapons sold at Friendly Fires. The same could be said for the 12 Gauge shotgun. The Wado Ichimonji was still her strongest weapon though.

“You look like you’re ready for a zombie apocalypse,” Johnny commented.

“You never know when you might run across a zombie, especially with that voodoo service that moved into town recently. They advertise about bringing dead loved ones back to life and the other gangs might use that service against us.”

“Good point, maybe I need to up my arsenal as well soon.”

Paul soon caught up with the two, his footsteps heard from behind them to announce his presence. Starlight found it strange for someone to not speak so much as a greeting but she had to guess that the guy was extremely shy.

“Hey Paul,” Starlight greeted. “You ready for your canonizing?”

Paul looked at Starlight with confusion clearly on his face. Apparently he had no idea what he was about to get thrown into.

Starlight answered his confusion, “Daddy tells me that it’s a hazing ritual to join the Saints. Apparently getting into a fist fight with your soon-to-be homies is the requirement for joining the Saints.

Paul cringed at what she said. Apparently he was not expecting to be hazed.

Johnny noticed the look on Paul’s face and laughed, “That look reminds me of her first grade teacher’s face when she and I had a parent-teacher conference about a book report Starry wrote about a story called Animal Farm. She was deeply disturbed by what she wrote.”

“I have no idea why she got so upset. The teacher said we could choose any book we wanted and write a detailed report on it. Just because it’s a fictional setting about animals creating a fair and just utopia where all are treated equally doesn’t mean that they need to get bent out of shape over it,” Starlight complained.

“The whole class needed therapy after she read it out loud in class,” Johnny whispered to Paul.

However, Starlight heard what her father said and pouted, “Not my fault they can’t handle the idea of animals seeking to liberate themselves and determine their own destiny.” She snorted. “Look, can we just get to the church already? I’m tired of thinking about how limited peoples’ imaginations are.”

“Alright, alright,” Johnny said. That didn’t do much to cool Starlight’s mood as she sped up to get some distance from the two men, though Johnny spotted the red glow on his daughter’s face. He whispered to Paul again, “Funny thing is, we couldn’t punish her because her teacher gave her an A+, albeit begrudgingly. I even took her to see the premiere of the movie remake of that story back in ‘99.” The two shared a laugh at that. Starlight still heard the laughter and had a good idea what they were talking about which only deepened her blush.

Starlight managed to regain her composure as they reached the church courtyard where a large gathering of purple-wearing thugs were gathered. Julius and Troy stood inside an archway of the church which gave him an elevated position to give his speech. Seeing Johnny arriving, Julius figured it was time to get started.

“Everyone, can I get your attention?” The Saints stopped their conversations and looked up at their leader. “Every muthafucka here knows what we need to do. Those bitches be ridin’ around, thinkin’ they own these streets. I don’t care what flags they’re flyin’...Rollerz, Carnales, Vice Kings…we ain’t about to be scared to walk the Row. We ‘bout to lock this shit down…right now.”

The thugs cheered, knowing that it was time for them to make their move against their rivals. However, one of them suddenly noticed Starlight and Paul and called them out. “Who the fuck are these two? One of them looks like they’re wavin’ our flag with that dye job, but I ain’t never seen her before.”

“They’re with me,” Johnny said. “They’re here to roll with us.”

Julius looked at Starlight with scrutiny. To him, she didn’t look like she was fully matured physically. “Girl, you look like you’re still in high school. Johnny, you know what I said about bringin’ children into the Saints.”

“I graduated high school a few days ago. I was moved up a couple of grades in elementary,” Starlight explained.

“It’s true,” Johnny confirmed. “This is my daughter, Starlight.”

“You mean that girl you keep gushin’ about, Gat?” one thug asked.

“You did say that you didn’t want work in the Saints to interfere with school work, Julius,” Troy added. Even though he was uncertain about allowing someone below the age of eighteen into the Saints, Julius didn’t account for the loophole for accelerated education students.

“Alright, fine,” Julius sighed in defeat. “I hope you two are ready for your canonizing, then.”

While the thugs were moving to surround them, Starlight leaned over to Paul. “Is it just me or does he sound like Keith David?” she whispered. Paul shrugged.

“Alright Starry, I’ll need to hold on to your weapons for this,” Johnny said. Starlight handed her weapons over before she cracked her knuckles while Paul cracked his and his neck. The latter put up his fists while Starlight assumed a combat stance she learned in school.

“Nothing says we can’t work together. I strike, you block,” Starlight suggested.

The first two rushed in to deliver a swing to both of them. Paul blocked his attacker before countering with a punch to his face. Starlight ducked under a punch meant for her face and delivered a strong uppercut to her attacker which knocked him flat on his back.

Four more came after them which made things more difficult but still manageable. Two of them tried to punch their targets while the other two aimed lower by kicking them. Paul had to duck a punch and block a kick before he delivered a straight punch to the kicker’s gut. He then rose quickly and headbutted his puncher which sent him to the ground before Paul kicked his kicker to the ground.

Starlight sidestepped her attackers before elbowing the puncher in the kidney area to stun him and delivering a palm strike to his chin. A tooth was knocked loose from that hit. Her kicker tried to kick her again but Starlight sidestepped the kick and grabbed his extended leg before she hit the kneecap with her elbow. It was hard enough that it made him howl in pain and fall on his back to grab his knee, but not enough to deal any real injury. She didn’t need to go that far with this fight.

Surprisingly, the third wave composed of six attackers was easier than the last because there wasn’t much room for the attackers to strike at the duo without some friendly fire as one thug struck one of his friends in the shoulder with his elbow in an attempt to punch Starlight who ducked the punch and grabbed another kicker’s leg before throwing him backward. A sweeping kick sent the other two on their backs.

Paul wasn’t as lucky as Starlight as he received a few punches to the face and a kick to his gut which knocked him on his butt. He got back up and kicked one attacker in the gut and onto his back. Another attacker tried to punch him again but Paul dodged the blow, grabbed his arm and threw him toward Starlight who kicked his face, knocking a few teeth loose and knocking him out. The last attacker knew he was done for as Paul delivered a punch to his gut, followed by a few punches to his face and a kick to his side to knock him to the ground.

Before another wave could move in, Julius called out for the end of the fight. As the thugs backed off, Troy walked up to Paul to give him a bro handshake. “You two earned your colors today.”

A guy wearing a shirt like Troy’s with a gray denim jacket over it and wearing a purple headband walked up to the two of them. “That’s some impressive shit; the only other Saint who kicked ass like that was Johnny.”

“Who do you think taught her, Dex?” Johnny pointed out.

“C’mon Johnny, you really think she learned martial arts from you? I ain’t never seen you fight like that.”

“Daddy did teach me the basics of how to fight,” Starlight defended.

“Heh, what a daddy’s girl.” one of the thugs commented. A death glare toward the speaker from both father and daughter shut him up quickly.

Julius walked up to the two to give Paul a fist bump and a handshake to Starlight. “Welcome to the Third Street Saints, you two.” He then got everyone’s attention again to continue his speech from earlier. “Let’s get down to business. If we’re serious about takin’ back the Row, we gotta let those muthafuckas know what time it is. Now you break it down, and it’s all about respect. Get enough of it, they’re gonna back off, and we’re gonna move right on in. We got some friends in town that could use some help. Give ‘em a hand. ‘Course, you can always drop any muthafucka flyin’ the wrong flag. So long as word gets out that the Sants is on the Row, I don’t give a damn how you do it. You feel me?”

Once Julius was finished talking, Troy led Paul to the nearest Friendly Fire to buy himself a firearm to protect himself with. Johnny returned Starlight’s weapons while they waited for their friend to make his selection.

Once he was ready, Starlight joined Paul and Troy to take out a group of Vice Kings patrolling the area. The yellow shirts were taken by surprise as Paul eliminated two of them with a few shots from his pistol. Another pair of VKs were paying so much attention to Paul that they failed to see Starlight sneaking up behind them and lifting the burden of their heads from their shoulders with her Wado Ichimonji sword.

Another group of VKs were on the next block ahead of them where they each took out one pair. Paul’s VICE 9 pistol was a cheap weapon so it took a few rounds to take out each of his targets. The last pair was eliminated by Starlight when she took out one with a couple of shots from her revolver while she avoided returning fire from the remaining VK. The thug made his final mistake by trying to chase after her when she ran for cover behind a building as the last thing he saw was the barrel of a 12 Gauge.

Once they were finished clearing the streets, Starlight had a feeling that more VKs could come at any minute to avenge their homies. That was when Troy drove up to her with Paul riding shotgun. “Get in quick!” he ordered. Starlight complied and jumped into the back just before Troy hit the accelerator.

“Looks like you two got their attention,” Troy pointed out. “If it ever gets too hot, go to the nearest Forgive and Forget. They’ll cover up anything.”

“Forgive and Forget? What kind of place is that?” Starlight asked.

“Some rich tycoon saw the rampant violence that goes on in Stilwater and decided to open a chain of drive-thrus where you pay a sum and they clean up the mess you made. Doesn’t matter if it’s the other gangs or the police, they can make it all go away so they don’t bother you anymore…until the next time you piss them off. Don’t ask how they do it though, nobody knows.”

As he finished his explanation, he drove into a building that looked like a small tunnel for vehicles to drive though. Troy stopped at a window in the drive-through and handed the attendant a small bundle of cash. “Money cures a lot of ill will, my son.” the attendant said in a priestly tone.

As the car exited the building, Troy returned to the road and drove toward the nearest Freckle Bitch’s fast food joint. “Now that everything’s taken care of, let’s get somethin’ to eat. I’m jonesin’ for a fun bag.

Starlight and Paul shrugged while Starlight added, “Sure, I could eat.”

She never thought that she would be having a good time with friends. She never did have friends in school since her intelligence and antics had her classmates scared of her. Now that she was with the Saints, she had a feeling that things would be looking up for her.