~*XXXX Wintercrest. E. Hunterfield.*~
It was getting dark. Li and Ren had been sitting for two hours outside of the young girl's home. Which was three blocks from Aisha's house. Ren huffed. "He usually will head back out. My mother hardly goes out anymore cause of him."
Li was playing a phone game. She hummed acknowledgement. Her phone then rang, looking to see it was Gat. "Yeah?"
"Where you at?"
"In the area up the way, you talk to Pierce?"
"Yeah, he called, said you'd be there later."
"Good, at least he can follow directions." She saw someone stepping out of a car that pulled up to the house. "There he is."
"What?" Johnny was listening to what was going on at the other end of the line.
Ren nodded her agreement, reaching for the door handle. Li stopped her. "Stay put. Not you Oshiri."
"Who you talking to, then?" He could hear the car door close on the other end.
Li had gotten out of the car, gun in hand, hid by tucking it in the back of her pants. Walking up to the angry-looking man in a fitted suit, older, looked like money, the husband who supposed to have been taking care of Ren and her mom from what it Ren told to Li.
"Johnny, my god you are so damn nosey. Give me a sec."
Gat was listening to what was going on;
"' Scuse me, you know Ren?"
"Yeah, I know that little shit. What about her? She dead?"
"No, I have her with me, right there."
"Come here, you little bitch. Your mom wants to see you."
"Now that's not nice, here I am bringing this poor little foundling and you insult her. Dishonorable."
Gat then heard shots fired. He was outside and heard them from where he stood;
"Hello?"
"Oh, that's what you meant by up the street."
Li scoffed. "Yeah. I'm about to head to the place in a few. You bringing Ish?"
"Yeah, we'll come get you."
"No need. I have a ride."
Ren was shocked and in awe. "No shit! Thank you!" getting out of the car, looking at the body of her Mother's former lover.
"Watch your mouth, kid. Come on, I want to meet your mom." Looking at the phone went to hang up when she realized Johnny was still on the other end. "Nosey." She hung up on Gat quickly.
Ren led her to the front door, knocking on the thick wooden door. They knocked again, harder. A brunette woman in her mid-thirties answered. " Just a moment. Yes… Xiuying?"
"Hey mom." The young girl cleared her throat.
Her mother pulled the girl into a tight embrace. "I was so worried about you. Where have you been? Have you eaten? Come in quick before Ronald gets in."
Li coughed, bringing attention to herself. "Sorry to break this up, but uh.. Ronny boy won't be back… like at all." She smiled and chuckled.
"What do you mean?" The girl's mother questioned curiously.
Li stepped to the side, showing the body in a pool of blood in the middle of the street. "See, what had happened was… he shot at Xiuying, I mean I sorta did too, but the point is I got him. Heard he wasn't a nice man." Li grinned.
Ren's mother covered her mouth and cried. "What have you done? What am I going to do now? How will we live?"
Li flabbergasted. "Whatchu mean? Seriously, he was a shit to your daughter and you, but you care about how you are going to live?" Li crossed her arms and scoffed. "Ren, I think I see why you left."
Aghast, the girl's mother felt absolutely insulted. "How dare.."
Li sneered. "Yeah, I damn dare, ungrateful…" Li pulled out her phone. "Gat ya'll left yet? Come up the street. No… no… Quit fucking asking questions and come the hell here. Make a left at the end of the street then a.. uh.. a right. Yeah, Wintercrest." Hanging up, she went and waited by her car, leaving Ren and her mother standing there.
~
Two minutes later, Gat with Aisha pulled up, Li had not bothered to look up. Aisha started getting out of the car. "Ky, what did you…" gasped as she saw the body still laying in the street.
Li half expected the Stilwater PD to show, seemed odd that they had yet to arrive or she even hear the sirens. Went to meet them at Gat's car.
She shrugged when Aisha pointed to the cooling corpse. "This woman here let her douchebag husband play with her daughter." Pointing back at Ren and her mother like a tattletale.
The women looked to the three by the car, hurrying down to dismiss the accusation in hushed anger. "I did no such thing." Hearing what Li had said about her.
"Mom." Ren started coming to meet the group under the streetlight. "He was. He told me he would kill us if I told. That's why I ran away, because of it. The cops didn't listen to me. I was scared... That's why I left. I'm sorry."
Ren's Mother blinked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked at Li, who stood with her arms crossed and no expression. Li had heard it before. Most of the prostitutes were former runaways. Hell, the runaways were just runaways. "
Kyouki was sympathetic. Hearing how the cops didn't want to listen seemed like what would have happened because they followed nothing up. The girl ended up in a gang. Sometimes these women choose their men over their children.
Kyouki knew that song well. Ashia held on to Kyouki's arm. She knew too. Feeling like she was witnessing the sex trafficking ring that Warren and Anthony tried to force her and her sister and several other girls into.
Gat knew it well. To protect his family, he and Dex joined in with everyone else. While Dex stayed in school, Gat did the opposite and dropped out. Xiuying was heading down the same path. Kyouki would have to thank Pierce later for this. He helped save a live somewhat.
Rushing to her daughter. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry." Looking back to the woman who helped her only child. "Thank you. Thank you so much. You have my utmost gratitude."
Li nodded. "Yeah. When the cops come. Tell them what I told you. He shot at and assaulted your girl. You never saw us. Right?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Thank you." Ren's mother thanked profusely.
"If you need anything… You got a phone?" When Ren's mother handed her phone over. Li put in a number to one of the dummy phone she carries with her. "If you need anything." Li left, getting in the car and drove off.
A few minutes later, the police arrived at the scene.
~*Stilwater P.D.*~
The other side of town, Harrowgate, the new Stilwater Police Department, a young officer carrying a stack of files in his arms, comes to the Chief of police's office door, knocking he then given the clear to enter.
"Chief, there was a murder at XXXX in the suburbs about forty-five minutes ago. Here's the report." The young officer handed Chief Bradshaw the report that came in. "That makes three since this afternoon." the young officer noted.
Troy looked up. "The ones from the park and now here. When isn't someone being shot around here? With all the other crimes going on." Troy looked annoyed. He did his best, but the streets were out of hand.
"Well, yeah, you'd be right, but witnesses say there was a young woman who matched the same description at both scenes, teen to mid-twenties, dark hair color, about five foot six, she drives a yellow Wakazashi. Plate numbers XXXXXXX ."
Troy looked back up, he closed his eyes. "The fuck, was it an inside job? Both those territories are Ronin. This report… the man who was killed?" waving the copy of the report in his hand. As he looked over the other files on his desk.
"Oh um, see here…. A girl named 'Renegade' reported him a year ago for molestation and physical abuse to her and her mother, and then again earlier this year. Nothing else. Oh, He worked for Ultor."
"And the others?" Troy sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Let's see… Oh, witnesses say there first was some sort of altercation, then Ronin members attacked a young couple who were leaving the scene... Ronin by the jackets they wore. The only thing on them were their ID cards." The young man closed the files. "That's it." as he shrugged a shoulder.
Troy nodded, "Alright, go see if there is anything else." Dismissing the man with a wave of his hand. Troy reached behind his ear for the cigarette he keeps tucked there, going to light it stops.
"Ronin and an Ultor head? A woman at the scene both times? Nah, must be my imagination." Tossing the cigarette in the trash, he opened his desk drawer.
A photo of Kyouki and him from Valentine's Day earlier that year greeted him. He rubbed his thumb over her face, then stuffed the picture on his desk before he grabbed a lollipop. He snorted. "Couldn't be. That would be crazy." Troy reached for the reports, seeing no connection, he put the files away.
~*Underground Hotel, Bavogian Plaza.*~
The trio - Li, Aisha and Gat - came to the hideout that was tucked away in the Red-Light district, a former Mission house to serve as a beacon of light to the sin of the flesh and drink, that was around them, now a new home to the forming Saints.
"It's still under construction, but it's coming together." Gat pointed out to Aisha when they descended the steps of the main foyer.
Li went to slide down the banister, lost her balance and fell backwards, landing on her feet into a few boxes of packing peanuts with a laugh. "Oops, little too much polish on that." She laughed at herself.
Her mirth faded when looking from her vantage point; from behind the banister, seeing Shaundi sweeping up some of the crumbled walls, and Carlos working on wiring; I Pierce moving some boxes and even Brian was helping. Li sat lazily, watching everyone. Even the skeleton crew was donning purple and doing something.
Thinking back, she killed a man today. He deserved it from what Ren said. "I'll check on them in a day or two." Li thought out loud. She shifted positions, turning her back to the others leaning on the wall of the stairs, in the shadows. Li became lost in sobering thought, seeing flashes of when she was running around organizing this family of hers when Julius went missing. She still doubted herself for taking on this task. This gang.
Gat stopped giving the tour when he asked Li a question. He thought she was behind them, backtracking he almost made it to the landing. Hearing a heavy sigh and movement, he leaned over the railing. "What you thinking about?"
Li nearly fell over. " Bikkuri shita , Jonathan!" She patted her heart.
"Jonathan?" He smiled, hearing his birth name slipping from her mouth. "Must be serious if you call me that." Gat came back down the steps from his spot on the stairs.
Aisha's heels clicking on the floor next to her, taking a seat on the dirty floor.
Lights flickered on from Carlos and the others. They could hear cheers as they got the old connectors going.
"What's up?" Aisha leaned to look Li in the face.
Li sighed. "Just thinking, I was like that kid I saved… One day watching the Disney movies, and Anime, home with no worries, then I was running and then leading the Saints. I am about to do it again, aren't I, for real this time?"
"Yeah, last week was trippy." Gat joked.
"Damnit man shut up!" Li chuckled then sighed again, pulling her knees to her chest, groaning she straightened her legs. "What I'm going to lose this time, huh? Seriously, I need to know!" She looked to her left and right at her two friends beside her.
Aisha looked at Li with sympathy. "We don't know, but we'll be here for you. You kept the Saints together, had'em doing things that no other leader would or even thinks about doing… and when we didn't have you, it all went south." Aisha put her arm around Li. She said this already.
A few weeks ago, Li was very close to giving up completely. Looking at Aisha, Kyouki's brows knitted. "You believe in me that much?"
Gat got to his feet, brushing his pants off, extended his hand out. "Get up, Boss. We got things to handle."
Li looked at his offered hand. She looked at Aisha, giving her a quick hug, took Gat's hand, then she pulled Aisha up right after.
Nodding, she took a deep breath. "Alright."
Coming to stand at the foot of the stairs, called over all the noise. "Shaundi, Carlos, Pierce, I need to talk to you for a sec, Brian. You might want in on this too." Li called as she ascended the stairs. She led them to a makeshift office, closing the door once everyone gathered.
"Ok, what I need is for you to find trustworthy people who are, in heart, Saints. These people will be your crew. They will answer to you if there is a problem with them; I or Gat will handle them, cause then they answer to me. Who runs these streets is something I want to know. I already met with some Ronin and Samedi. Who else is there?"
Carlos nodded, speaking up. "The Brotherhood."
Li nodded. "Brian and I have the racers as the circuit knows things others won't. You good with that, Brian?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "You have your orders, meeting so they all know next weekend. Dismissed."
They left save for Brian, who looked like he had a question, but halted by the look on Li's face. When the door closed Li let out a long breath, her eyes filled with tears, it still felt fresh the overwhelming feeling this is wrong for her, but for girls like Ren, and kids like Carlos, like her former boss Rich who welcomed and supported her Saints without question. She will put the doubts to bed.
Li is going to have to rally these people for the cause. Looking at the ceiling, she sighed. " Obachan, koreha dekirudeshou ka ?"
Gat answered quietly enough for the four of them to hear. "She'd say yeah."
Aisha looked at Gat and nodded, pulling Brian out of the room with her. When the door clicked, Gat grabbed Li into a hug, holding her head to his chest. Li went to protest, but she needed a - put the pieces back together - hug. She can only get those from Gat. She clung to his shirt, then went limp, her arms falling to her sides.
Johnny released her. "You good?"
"I'll let you know." Li shrugged, muffled in his chest. Pushing him away, she took a deep breath before walking to the door, looking back over her shoulder, and smiled. "Thanks." When she stepped out.
"Anytime, yeppeun ." Gat followed behind her with a smirk.
Li rolled her eyes with a snort. "Let's get this place cleaned up. Someone get me a list of what we need. I want this place habitable." She called out on her way to help with the cleaning.