Matt held his breath as the Saint sitting beside him finished stitching up the gun wound on his arm. It was much more painful than getting it propery done at the hospital, but the Boss didn't want to go out and put his Saints in danger yet again while the Morningstar were still pissed about Matt and Pierce out doing business on the streets.
He let out the breath, sighing heavily. The woman sitting beside him wiped the rest of the blood from his arm and he nodded his thanks to her.
"Can I get you anything, Boss?"
"Yeah, the strongest drink we have around here."
As the Saint ran off to fulfill he Boss' wishes, Pierce walked into the room, giving her a smirk as he gazed up and down her body, before walking to Matt, mouthing "she's fine" with a grin. Matt just sighed.
"What do you want, Pierce?"
"Well, if we're gonna get a cash flow going, we'll need a business to funnel us money." Pierce replied simply.
"You wanna rob some store?" Matt thanked the woman that came back with his drink, and she left the two men together to have their conversation.
"That'll cause more trouble than it's worth. I'm saying we buy one from the Morningstar." Pierce proposed.
"Because they'll jump at the chance to sell to us..." Matt interjected sarcastically.
"Nope," Pierce's usual grin returned to his face as he shook his head, "because we already have the deed."
"Come again?"
"We take the deed from that lockbox and purchase the store in our name instead."
"Well, if they can't argue..." Matt stood up, shrugging.
He grabbed his pistol from the table, tucking it into his belt, then grabbed his leather jacket to hide the weapon. Shrugging the jacket onto his shoulders, Matt looked to Pierce, who was tossing his keys into the air. He nodded, and they both walked to the elevator, for yet another misadventure in Steelport. But Matt knew it had to be done. He wasn't about to let the Syndicate get away with murdering his best friend.
____________________________________________________________________
Pierce drove his new, pimped out car past many run-down looking buildings, overhead train lines and several important locations in the city. The most memorable one was the colossal sructure of the Steelport Arena, home to the famous wrestler Killbane. Matt hadn't heard the name before, but his name and face was plastered on every wall and entrance, so he assumed he had to be a big deal in Steelport. The outside of the Arena was lit up with green neon lights, that were just beginning to shine brightly as it began to get dark.
Eventually, Pierce pulled up outside a Friendly Fire, and he looked to Matt, who was looking back with a questioning expression. Clearly the deed was for the Friendly Fire, but Matt still didn't understand how it was supposed to be as simple as Pierce proposed.
"So... Friendly Fire?"
"Yep," Pierce replied casually, "best thing is, owning it gives us a discount."
"Sweet."
Matt looked up at the building. He couldn't help but smile to himself, mentally comparing to the Friendly Fire stores in Stilwater. His home of Stilwater had the same stores, but here they seemed so much more subtle. Despite the outlet having a huge gun above the door, and the sign with bullet holes and ammunition on it, the stores in Stilwater were far more common, and appeared more as department stores, some even having multiple levels of open wares, including military grade weapons that in all reason should never have been available to the public.
Matt stepped through the door, and walked to the counter to begin business. The manager came out, and soon enough, the deal was done, and the two friends were sitting back in Pierce's car.
"What now?" Matt asked.
"This city's full of businesses and buildings we could snatch up."
"The more we take from the Syndicate, the better..."
"Then I have just the place." Pierce winked, starting the car engine.
________________________________________________________
As Pierce pulled up outside a rather large, dingy-looking apartment building, and he nodded in satisfaction before the Boss turned to him.
"Didn't I already get us a new place?"
"Brick and mortar, baby, real estate's cheap." Pierce replied.
"Take more money out of the Syndicate's pocket and into ours... I like it."
An hour or so later, the Saints had purchased the estates, and night had totally fallen around them. Matt and Pierce walked back to their car, getting into it.
"Let's get outta here... I have the need to shoot something now." Matt said to his lieutenant.
"I've seen Morningstar all over the city doin' deals and shit."
"Sounds perfect."
Pierce started the car up again, pulling quickly out onto the road. Despite the main roads of the city buzzing with activity even in the late hour, the area around the two Saints seemed quite empty, and Pierce relaxed on his driving. He pulled around a few corners, pulling off a couple of skids, and came to a series of alleyways he passed through.
"We wipe the Morningstar off a corner, they'll think twice about comin' back." Pierce broke the silence.
Pierce pulled into an alleyway, that was dimly lit by the street light just outside of it. There was a building directly in front of them, and the alleyway branched into a corner. Pierce got out of the car, and Matt followed. The chill in the air took his breath away, and as he breathed out, he could see his breath hang in the air in front of him for a moment before dissolving away. Pierce put a finger to his lips, indicating to the Boss to be quiet, and he pulled out a shotgun and ducked down, walking slowly to the corner. Matt took out his pistol, crouched, and followed along. They leaned up against the cold stone wall - the seemingly unnatural bite of cold matched the city's darkness and lack of morals - and peered around the corner.
There were about seven Morningstar members gathered around several red and black cars, all branded with the signature pink star of the Syndicate. They all wielded assault rifles and shotguns, and were gathered around a crate, the contents of which were unidentifiable to the Saints. Some were sorting through the contents of the crate, while others paced back and forth on guard. Whether the contents were of any use to the Saints or not was of no matter to Matt. In his mind, this was a Syndicate operation, and he was going to mess it up. Pierce looked to him, and he nodded.
Together, the two Saints sprang out from the corner and aimed their guns. One shot each had taken out two of the patrolling guards, and the Saints ran and dived for cover behind one of the Morningstar cars as the others became alert and began firing blindly in shock, hoping that at least one bullet would catch the unknown attackers. A tyre was shot out beside Matt, but he didn't wait. The second one of the men stuck his head around the corner to see who was there, a skilled headshot almost decapitated him. Pierce nodded in awe at the Boss, and Matt stood up. He used the front of the car as cover as he quickly scanned the situation, and ducked back behind the vehicle. In a second, he had determined his course of action, located the four remaining henchmen and calculated his plan.
Matt waited for the click of the nearest man's gun as he reloaded, and in one swift movement he took his chance and jumped over the hood of the car, sliding along it. Before he came off the other side, he took out one of the men who was so shocked at his sudden movement that he didn't have enough time to react. Landing swiftly on the other side, Matt crouched, dodging a bullet from another of the gang members, and he took the next one out as they stood there in shock. Mattlooked to the man who was reloading, then to the other who was aiming his gun at the Boss, and before the latter could even clip the ammo into the rifle, Matt had taken him out. There was one man left, and as the Boss shot the man who had been reloading, Pierce jumped out of cover and took out the last one. The two stood in silent victory, looking over the bloody scene. Matt shook his head as Pierce stepped over to the crate. After a moment, Matt moved to his side, quickly scanning the contents of the crate.
"Anything useful?"
"Nah, man," Pierce threw his hands up, turning away, "just a ton of merchandise and shit. The Syndicate are trying to make a name for themselves."
"Really? They were guarding a box of shit that's even worse than ours... Yeah, fuck that."
Pierce went to open his mouth to reply when they heard sirens in the distance. The police had been informed of the gunshots that went off where they were, and they had to get out.
"Let's roll, dude, we gotta get outta here before they show up." Pierce began moving to the car.
"One second..."
Matt looked to one of the bodies, and he had been holding an unopened bottle of spirits. The Boss quickly ripped a piece of material off the dead man's shirt, opened the bottle and shoved the material in.
"Yo, Pierce, gimme your lighter."
Pierce didn't argue, he just reached into his pocket and threw the metal-cased lighter to his Boss, who lit the rag hanging out of the bottle, then threw it into the crate, smashing it against the side. The box of merchandise went up - the mixture of clothes, drinks and other things making it go up quickly - and the black smoke began to rise like a beacon for the cops to know there was trouble. Matt sprinted back to the car and jumped in as the police sirens drew nearer.
"Let's get going. Head back to the penthouse." Matt instructed his lieutenant.
"Got it, man. Let's go home."
The word "home" sent a wave of unexpected despair through Matt, but he ignored it. He had to be strong - for his Saints, and for Johnny. He wasn't going to fail again.