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It’s been only a few days since the Saints were able to run the self-proclaimed Cybergod Matt Miller out of Steelport. The Boss didn’t play into the teen’s mind games while in virtual reality, she was only focused on beating some respect into Miller, as opposed to tracking down his location and killing him. Boss wanted to at least repair some of the gang’s image, and killing a minor from another country wasn’t in the plan. Within a week, remaining Decker members dispersed with the thought of their leader dying as a legend. It looked like the Deckers were practically done for, but not until the Boss had a genius plan.
It was an unusually rainy morning in Steelport, despite it being sunny throughout the whole week without a single cloud in the sky. The red lights of the Gothedral were brighter than they were any other day, so no person in Steelport could ever miss the distinguishable novelty church in the rain. The morning’s weather reflected on the mood of the Decker members that made their way into the front entrance of the building, a funeral was being held for a major informant of the cyber gang who got killed by the Boss when she pushed him into an active tesla coil when the blonde infiltrated the nuclear plant. The informant was a bit older than a majority of the gang, he was about the same age as the Boss when he died in a gruesome matter, he wasn’t much of a fighter compared to everyone and his main job was to give out important information or leaks on the internet for the Decker’s network. It was just unfortunate that he was in that nuclear plant on that day the blonde happened to steal the NEMO chair.
The funeral itself was grim for the remaining members of the Deckers with no leader to help them through a difficult time, as countless had been laid out by the Saints in every direction. A gang that had all of the advantages technology and weapon wise was meant to overthrow the former street gang that turned corporate, but the blonde was able to adapt to her new surroundings which was shown with how the Saints were able to outlast a whole group of Deckers with a smaller team and without the Boss. What used to be a gang that contained hundreds of members, were only down to at least a few dozen overall, most have gone into hiding dropping their colors or fighting for their lives under critical condition.
The Gothedral was one of the more unique structures in Steelport, the black and red color scheme throughout the whole building stuck out to the tall cityscapes, brick and mortar stores, along with the other businesses that got acquired by the Third Street Saints. It was said that most of the population doesn’t have access to the novelty church, only a select few, with connection to the Syndicate would go inside. However, with the weakened state of the crime empire, it was a matter of time before something went wrong.
The ceremony proceeded as a normal funeral service, with members of the gang coming up to the altar to share sentimental words about the informant, plenty of NyteBlayde quotes were said after each testament. It was a private ceremony, no civilians allowed, except for one. A young woman who was about to get married to the dead Decker, who was the most devastated in the building. She did most of the coordinating for the event, to the decision of keeping it a closed casket after seeing the gruesome photos online. The inside of the Gothedral was dim, red neon lights that lit up the corridors and the windows were meant to give natural light on a clear day. There were candles that were lit throughout the church, providing minimal lighting for the ceremony.
After the informant’s fiance gave her final goodbyes to her loved one, there was audio playing from the speakers that were on both sides of the altar that played music from the NyteBlayde series. It was a mix of orchestra and drum and bass, what the informant would’ve wanted for his funeral. The subpar soundtrack of the mediocre television show was the right opportunity for an attack from where anyone would least expect it.
No one was able to hear the sounds of wood breaking as the Boss was inside the coffin throughout the whole ceremony. The blonde came prepared, stocking up with ammo for her Krukov, alongside being armed with a few flashbang grenades to blindside the funeral attendees. She remained sitting up in the coffin as she started shooting Deckers that were right in front of her. The people in the funeral were frightened of the sudden smoke coming into the corridors and many rushed into the exits but it was too late for them, Lieutenants were outside the facility, locking the doors from the outside, the few members that brought their guns were blindly shooting in different directions. Shots being fired, but none going towards the Boss, only to their own. Some were desperate to find a way to climb up the windows to escape, but to no avail as Saints helicopters were circling the Gothedral for backup.
This type of ambush wasn’t something that the Boss would normally do, especially when not too long ago, Gat’s funeral was crashed before it could even start. However Cecilia felt that she needed to send a warning to Killbane and STAG, that the Saints could attack at any direction, anytime. She got into playing mind games with rival gang leaders sending out various types of messages with her attacks on these different gangs through the course of several weeks, with still plenty to go around with the Luchadores being the next big target. The Boss wasn’t someone that would rub salt on an open wound, but she had no sympathy for the remaining Deckers in the ceremony. They’ve ruined not just her image, but the image of her friends in the gang. Having the general public turned against the Saints for something they didn’t do was enough for the blonde to get riled up and firing multiple shots at weakened Decker members. Fighting back served no purpose for those that had nothing to defend themselves, true colors were shown as people cowered behind pews wishing for it to be over.
“Alright guys, you can come out now, I left some alive on purpose if you want in on it.” The Boss said through her bluetooth earpiece, prompting the doors in the middle of the church to break in. A handful of Saints members ran into the center aisle to find anyone that was left alive, they there pumped after the Boss rallied them in the mission briefing. Pierce and Shaundi weren’t too far behind, armed just as a precaution.
“Heads up Boss!” Shaundi said, a couple of bullets were aimed directly at the audio booth of the church, killing the music. The lieutenant was familiar with that music, it annoyed her with how it was associated heavily towards Birk.
“Damn girl! We could’ve used that for the penthouse!” Pierce yelled, he saw potential use of the speaker system of the Gothedral for his own gain.
“Relax Pierce, we could easily get something better if it stops you from throwing a tantrum. You guys scout around and keep our guys safe, I’ll check the altar for any intel from anything leftover.” The Boss said, she was still speaking through her earpiece despite everyone being in the same building.
She walked around the altar area to find any remains that held anything important like a cellphone, or a new shiny device that can be used in the future to the Saints advantage. Just before she left, she heard a faint whimper from behind the centerpiece of the church. The Boss slowly walked towards the noise she carefully tried to look for, when some of her members were loudmouths running around the aisles. Armed with a 45 Shepherd she kept as backup after running out of ammo, the blonde was able to find the source of the whimpering that turned into crying. Cecilia found the fiancee of the informant who hid the moment she saw the leader of the Saints pop out of the coffin.
“Go ahead and shoot me! That will just prove the world that you’re still a ruthless murderer!” The woman shouted at the Boss, teary eyed with makeup running her pale face. She anticipated getting shot by the blonde, she heard gunfire and nothing else. The young woman opened her eyes, afraid whether or not she was dying. Instead, a bullet landed just inches from where she was sitting. The sound of the gunshot muffled her hearing temporarily, she could barely process the spoken words that the Boss said to her.
“Ehhhh, I’ll just let you live with it, I can’t kill someone that doesn’t serve any purpose to our gain.” The Boss said before she walked away. While in retrospective it seemed like a merciful act, almost noble to spare the woman, but it was more cruel in reality. The Boss realized that keeping someone alive can be worse than killing them if it meant bringing the fear of God into people. Cecilia almost pity the informant’s fiancee when she saw her crying, she wasn’t a Decker member with the way she dressed. She was just an outsider that landed on an unfortunate circumstance, that will hurt her for the rest of her life.
That young woman ended up being the only survivor of that funeral ambush, which was the final nail of the coffin for the Deckers as a whole. The Saints were able to land a final blow at the gang’s weakest, but their work was far from over. Certain actions can end up becoming consequences in the future, and the Boss anticipated it when it came to taking down the rest of the Syndicate.