Starlight Saint

Having gotten Lin closer to the Rollerz leadership through Donnie, Starlight and Paul celebrated the completion of their latest mission by having lunch. The day was only half over so they wondered if they could do more against the Rollerz before the end of the day.

The two had a meal at Freckle Bitch’s while they waited for Laserbeak to finish setting up what surveillance equipment it had in order to listen in on the conversations of the leaders.

As they were eating, they spotted a Varsity truck pulling in, driven by a dark-skinned man with a very nice shirt and pants. His clothes looked expensive though his vehicle didn’t. Paul pulled out the hit list and informed Starlight that it was Charles.

“Huh, must be trying to hide the fact that he’s rich from this part of town,” Starlight noted. “He’d have done better if his clothes were cheap too. At least the truck has a street grill.” Shrugging, she handed Paul a police nightstick. “You know what to do.”

Nodding, Paul walked up to Charles and led him into an alley, leaving the naive rich man to believe that there was something interesting there. What followed was a series of pained shouts and heavy impacts while Starlight casually leaned against a wall near the alley entrance and checked her phone. The nearby pedestrians had a feeling that they really didn’t want to ask questions so they kept walking.

Once the shouts ceased, Paul emerged from the alley and went to the restroom at the Freckle Bitch’s. He returned a few minutes later cleaned of the blood.

“Take the truck to Dennis,” Starlight offered. “I’ll wait a little longer to see if that meet will happen soon.

Paul nodded and drove off in the Varsity.

A few minutes later, Starlight received a notification from Laserbeak which meant that something was about to happen at the Rollerz headquarters. She activated the app and listened in.

From Laserbeak’s camera, she could see that they were in the living room of what looked like a cozy mansion, probably the one in Misty Lane, where two men sat. One looked pretty ripped. He was bald and wore a black tank top with blue zipper pants with black and white stripes. He also wore sunglasses and a chain around his neck. He looked like he could be a stand in for Vin Diesel. The other man looked like a distinguished older gentleman in a business suit.

“So he’s okay? That’s great!” the tough man cheered.

“Yes, how could we possibly score dime bags without him?” the older man sarcastically questioned.

“Oh come on, Uncle Will, he’s not that–”

“Sup, Price?” Donnie greeted as he and Lin walked in. He and the tough guy, who Starlight found was Joseph Price, shared a bro handshake.

“You scared the shit outta me, Donnie,” Price said.

“I scared the shit outta me,” Donnie added.

The older man, Will, continued his spree of sarcasm, “Donnie, it’s always a pleasure when you bring strangers into my house.”

“Aw, fuck, I forgot, this is—”

“I’m Lin.”

“She totally saved my ass, Mr. Sharp, she’s a helluva driver.”

“I’m the best racer that ever came out of Chinatown,” Lin bragged.

“How come I’ve never heard of you?” Price asked.

“Cause I got tits.”

“Is that what you call those?” That earned Price a punch to the face. “Suppose I deserved that.”

“Yeah, you did.”

“My nephew has a…unique sense of humor,” Sharp offered.

“That was supposed to be funny?” Lin growled.

“I thought it was, until you hit me in the face,” Price joked.

“Yeah, then it was hilarious,” That earned Donnie a close up view of Price’s middle finger.

“Joseph, you better hurry. You don’t want to miss your meeting,” Sharp urged.

“Sorry, I gotta take off,” Price said as he hurriedly made his way to the door. “Lin, it was nice meeting you. I’ll catch you later Donnie.”

“So we’re finally hitting that convoy tonight, huh?” Donnie asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Donnie,” Sharp firmly stated.

“Sure you–”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Donnie.” Sharp repeated in a dangerous tone.

“Oh…riiight. Lin, just sit tight. Price should be back soon.”

“As stimulating as this conversation is, I’m afraid I need to make some calls. If you’d excuse me.” Sharp then left the living room.

The conversation came to an end so Starlight closed the app. “So they’re hitting a convoy, huh? Sounds like another opportunity to fuck them over,” she muttered to herself.

Just then, Paul arrived and wondered if Starlight had any useful info. She informed him about the convoy tonight and got a look at the two leaders of the Rollerz. “The convoy will probably arrive in a few hours so we have some time to kill. I also need to dig up some info on someone named Will Sharp. I have a feeling that he’s a big shot among the Rollerz, given how he seemed to have some control over Price.”

Since she was finished listening to the enemy leaders, Starlight decided to give her construct a break. “Laserbeak, go into solar recharging mode.” Paul gave Starlight an amused look. “What? Just because we’re gangsters doesn’t mean we can’t be eco-friendly.” Paul shrugged at that.

As they were wondering what they were going to do for the next few hours, Starlight’s phone rang. She checked the ID to find that Laura was calling so she answered. “Hey Laura!”

“Starlight, how are you doing today?”

“I’m good, I just had some fun eavesdropping on those people at the mansion in your neighborhood.”

“You mean the one owned by Mr. Sharp? He’s an…interesting person, though it’s really hard to strike up a casual conversation with an attorney of his caliber. He always keeps himself so guarded.”

“Well, depending on how things are he might not be around for much longer. Anywho, what’s up?”

“Oh right, I just received a call from another friend of mine who also happens to be my neighbor. She runs this club of exotic dancers and she was wondering if I knew someone who could help drive her girls around while they give private dances to her special clients.”

“We can go pay her a visit, just text me the address and we’ll be there.”

“Thanks dear, talk to you again.” Once Laura said her goodbye, Starlight hung up. Paul looked at Starlight questioningly, wondering how she could be so close to a school teacher. “Laura is an interesting friend. Remind me to tell you about the time she showed me how to make a pipe bomb.” Paul then decided to put that information on the back burner and focus on other things.

Once Starlight received the text, she had Paul drive them to Misty Lane and to the indicated address which turned out to be a strip joint and bar.

The two headed to the entrance where Starlight encountered an issue where her age would give her problems. The bouncer stopped the two at the door. He asked for their IDs. While Paul’s ID was good, he had to refuse entry for Starlight.

“Sir, you’re good to come in. However, the girl has to stay out here. Can’t let underage kids inside.”

“Think you can handle this one solo?” Starlight asked. Paul gave a confident nod and went inside.

Sighing, Starlight was left to wander around with nothing to do while Paul was chatting with the owner. Thankfully, her phone rang to show that Phil wanted something. “What’s up?”

“Hey Starlight, what are your thoughts on racing?”

“Bet I could outrace a certain someone I know from Chinatown,” Starlight confidently stated, hoping that certain someone felt that jab.

“Well, there’s a race going on around the north side of the Ultor Dome soon. If you hurry, you can net yourself some cash and prizes.”

“Sounds good, I think it’s time to break in my new ride.”

Once she hung up, Starlight made a quick detour to Phil’s garage where she brought out her new Attrazione and headed to the racing location.

She soon found herself in an area where a number of racers were gathering while a woman with dyed midnight blue hair was directing the racers. Starlight suspected that she was the officiator.

“OK people, if you aren’t at the line in five, you aren’t racing!” the woman shouted. She then spotted Starlight. She hadn’t seen her until now so she figured that she just got here. “You here to race?”

“Yep, I heard there’s some cash and prizes in it,” Starlight replied.

“You better hurry up and get to the line then. The winner gets a coupon for a ten percent discount for customizations at any Rim Jobs for a whole year.”

“Selective parts or whole store?” Starlight asked.

“Whole store.”

“Sounds good.” Starlight then drove her car to where the racers were gathering.

The starter girl gave her countdown and the racers floored their accelerators. Starlight proved to be a formidable adversary at the wheel as she used some tricky maneuvers to stay ahead of the other racers. The race was a checkpoint race so she had to make sure to drive over lines of fire that served as checkpoints as she went.

She smoked the first bunch of racers but she also found that she was in for a series of races before she was through. She ended up taking part in five checkpoint races, two lap races and one point to point race. None of her opponents were worthy challengers for her skills.

Once the series was over, the woman approached Starlight with the coupon. “Those are some sweet skills you got. There's more events like this one going on in other parts of the city. If you're interested, I'll let you know where they are once the locations are announced. They will also be giving discount coupons for Rim Jobs and the discount stacks. Also, if you win 3 coupons, present them to one of the race officiators and you will be given the grand prize: a 50% discount at Rim Jobs for a whole year. You can have your rides modded dirt cheap for a whole year.”

“Are these coupons transferable?” Starlight asked.

The woman shrugged, “I guess. Just don’t go losin’ them or it’ll be your loss and someone else’s gain.”

“Right. What’s your name, by the way?”

“Libby.”

“Well Libby, how good of a driver are you?”

“Pretty good, not ‘you’ good, but pretty good. Better than these losers at least.”

Starlight took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote something on it before handing it to Libby. “If you’re looking for some side cash, give this number a call. He’s a good friend of mine who’s looking for a driver.”

Libby looked at the name associated with the number then took a moment to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “Wait, Wong? As in Wong Sheng Tai? Fuck girl, you have some powerful friends in this city.”

“He’s actually a pretty nice guy as long as you don’t mess with his family. Just tell him Starlight recommended you.”

“I think I will call him tomorrow,” Libby decided.

“Great! Anyway, I have somewhere I need to be very soon so I need to go. Later!”

A few minutes after Starlight left, she received a text from Paul telling her that he was taking a shower at Wong’s place and would be ready soon. Starlight replied by asking why he was doing so at a time like this. He replied with: “The things that I experienced in the car I was driving are things that you are still too young to hear.” Starlight figured that Jenna had him drive her sex workers around so they could do their business with clients. She did recall during one of her races that she saw a car trying very hard to dodge news vans.

Shrugging, she returned her Attrazione to Phil to switch out for her Reaper and headed to Wong’s place to await her partner. She also considered that if she was to move her family and herself to a new place it would need to have a bigger garage if she keeps getting new rides.

Once Paul was able to face the world again, he jumped into Starlight’s car and headed toward Misty Lane. She reactivated Laserbeak on the way and had her drone track the shipments of car parts. Much to her dismay, while she heard that the Rollerz were hitting a convoy it didn’t look a thing like a convoy since the trucks were all in separate locations.

“Ugh, Donnie needs to learn the definition of a convoy,” Starlight complained.

Thankfully, the first truck was nearby and the Rollerz were not far behind. One of the attackers was taken out quickly when Paul made a lucky throw of a grenade into the backseat of their car. Starlight took out the driver of the other attacking car which allowed the delivery truck to escape.

The second truck had three attackers. One attacked first and had a little accident when Starlight secretly grabbed their steering wheel in her magic and forced them to crash into a wall. Two more ambushed the truck from further down the road so Paul and Starlight took out one driver each, allowing the truck to escape.

The Rollerz had beaten them to the third truck and were already shooting at it so she had to use her magic to make one of the attacking cars bump into another in order to trick them into thinking they were competing against each other. It worked and both of them crashed. The last car was taken out by Paul.

Once the last of the delivery trucks was no longer in danger, Starlight had Laserbeak return to Sharp’s mansion while she waited to hear the fallout of their actions.

Meanwhile, Starlight decided to use the search engine on her phone to look up Will Sharp, or rather William Sharp. She already figured that the man was an attorney from what Laura said and she found that he contributed money regularly to Alderman Hughes and his upcoming mayoral election campaign. There wasn’t much else she could learn.

Not long after, she received a notification from Laserbeak that there was something going on at the mansion. Opening the app, she first spotted Donnie getting high from smoking a huge joint with Lin sitting next to him. They seemed to be talking about car parts until Sharp and Price entered the room.

“They all got away?” Sharp asked.

“That’s what the word is.” Price replied.

“How did this happen?”

“A couple of the Saints fucked up our boys.”

“Two individuals made a mockery of your crew?” Sharp asked, incredulously and with more than a little disappointment.

“Probably the same two who fucked up my shop,” Donnie added. “I think they’re the Fifth Street Altar Boys or somethin’.

“The Third Street Saints,” Lin corrected.

“What she said.” Donnie took another puff of his joint only for Price to grab it from him.

“Will you quit smokin’ that shit? I need you to focus!” Price admonished.

“If you need me to focus, I’d pass that shit back,” Donnie coughed.

“Donnie…”

“Alright alright. You got some time before the buyers need those parts, right?”

“The buyers?” Lin asked.

“Oh, they’re a bunch of guys overseas that Mr. Sharp kn–”

“Donnie, do we need another…conversation?” Sharp interrupted warningly.

“Sorry,” Donnie apologized.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, just think,” Price urged.

Donnie then asked for some time while he and Lin thought of something which Lin voiced her commitment to helping.

Starlight turned off the app and thought about what was said. She then believed that she had a firm grasp on how the Rollerz worked now. “So, Sharp is collecting car parts to sell to overseas buyers while using the Rollerz as a means to obtain the parts illegally without having to spend money to acquire them. Some of what he collects from the buyers goes towards Hughes’ campaign in exchange for using his influence to make the Stilwater PD turn a blind eye to the activities of the Rollerz, even getting them to let the thugs off with a slap on the wrist. Sharp is most likely the mastermind behind the Rollerz so taking him out will probably cripple the Rollerz.”

Paul thought for a moment before he pointed to a picture of Aisha Starlight had stuck to her visor. “What are you going on about? Wait, are you talking about her stalker?” Starlight asked. Paul nodded. “It’s possible, but unlikely. That kind of person is normally just an elusive shut-in who acts normal in public and acts like a creep when they think nobody's looking. We don’t even know his name so the PD won’t be much help.”

Paul shrugged and turned his attention back to the Rollerz. As they were thinking about how to deal with Sharp, Paul found a small pipe in the street and had an idea. He then presented the pipe to Starlight with a smirk on his face.

“Oh? You want me to back up my claim earlier?” Starlight asked. Paul nodded. She then accepted the object with a smirk of her own. “Very well, let me show you what I learned in chemistry class.”

Paul gave his friend a sympathetic look wondering what kind of childhood she must have had. “Don’t give me that look, the only reason Child Protective Services hadn’t come for me is because they’re scared that daddy will rampage in their office if they tried to take me away. Given his reputation he really would.”

Starlight spent some time gathering the necessary reagents to crafting a pipe bomb while talking more about how abnormal her life was. Paul did wonder if his friend had a plan for the bomb which she assured him that she did, promising a huge explosion when she was ready to use it.

Paul had a feeling that whatever she had planned was going to be as huge as the promised blast.