Bad Boys Ride or Die: How to Get Away With Fraud

Chapter Four

*⚠️ (starting)*

Lucius stared at his ceiling, his ears ringing. He felt alone, dirty, and enraged. His stomach hurt so terribly that he wanted to punch himself until he threw up his own guts. No matter how ruthless he was in earlier years and how angry he was currently, he wouldn't wish such pain on anybody. He nearly hyperventilated himself trying to cry or scream or have any relatable reaction to such a situation. But he couldn't, all he could do was stare and blink in hopes of processing his emotions. Lucius took six consecutive showers while Mike, Marcus, and Armando were gone and burned the outfit he was wearing in a nearby dumpster.

*⚠️ (ending) *

When Armando, Mike, and Marcus pulled up to Fletcher's club, he wasn't hard to miss. Even Mike was looking up at him. As soon as they had the opportunity to talk to him, Mike pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at him. "Howard sent you here didn't he?" Armando furrowed his eyebrows. "He's dead," he stated. Fletcher looked down at him. "No shit." he said sarcastically. Offended, Armando lunged at him before Marcus pulled him back. "Woah, ay! Be civil remember?" Armando nodded, the annoyed look still on his face. "What did Howard tell you before he died?"

"There's another video for you."

"Well?" before Fletcher could tell them more, someone shot him in the head from behind, his blood splattering only on Armandoks face. "Why is it always me, man?" he whispered to himself wiping off the blood. "What did you do!?" Marcus exclaimed. Mike being the only one with the gun made things very awkward. "I didn't shoot him!" Armando looks up to see about five gunmen aiming towards them. "Mike!" he yelled, pointing at them. The gunman started to shoot at them, making the trio split into three different directions and taking cover under tables. Unfortunately, Armando was the only one without a gun on him. "Mike!" he didn't even have to ask Mike before he threw an extra gun at him. As soon as Armando got a hold of it, he shot one of the gunmen down in one shot. "Damn, Mando!" Marcus yelled. Marcus turned to his left to see a jug of party juice had fallen over and cracked during the gunfire, making a fountain of juice spill from it. Withdrawing from the amounts of sugar he used to have, Marcus took sips of it earning a scoff from Armando and Mike. "Marcus! Seriously!?" Mike exclaimed. Suddenly, in his sugar high, Marcus jolted up and shot around the room, killing two more. The remaining two gunmen escaped in a flash when they realized they were being overpowered, ending the carnage.

Soon, Rita and her backup arrived at the scene. "I get rid of your son's parole and you guys go and do this shit!?" he exclaimed. "It would have happened if we didn't get-" Mike quickly shushed him before he could tell Rita or anyone else about the video from Howard. If anyone was going to know, it would be Dorn. "No, no. Shut up." he told him. Later that day, the trio took surveillance pictures of anything they could to try and find more information. "Got it." Dorn said. Little did they know the information would be a QR code in one of his art pieces. "It's good to know you two aren't stupid," Howard said. "I didn't get you on the case because I knew you two would die. The others sent did exactly that. Those crooks are working with people under your noses. Don't fuck this up." the video cut off. "It's not me, just to let you guys know." Dorn said sheepishly. "Yeah, thanks, Dorn."

~~~

The trio went back to Mike's house to pick up Lucius because where they were going would take hours. One man who would know who was a crook and who wasn't. Miles Santiago. Miles was one of Armando's old school friends who was currently in jail for his cartel work. Needless to say, he wouldn't be very happy to see Armando considering he was extremely jealous that Armando got away with his crimes. When they walked in, they saw Lucius at the kitchen sink washing his hands with extreme focus. "Lucius?" Armando then realized that his weird behavior wasn't exclusive to one moment. Lucius had been washing his hands so much that his cuticles started to bleed, making the stray water in the sink deep red. "Luci!" Marcus called out, snapping him out of whatever trance he was in. "Hm?" he mumbled turning to them. "¿Qué pasa?" Armando approached him and laid his hand on his shoulder but was quickly shoved away. "Nada." Lucius said, turning off the faucet and shaking his hands dry. "We're going on a mission, little man. But it's way too far you gotta come with." Marcus explained. With a stone face, Lucius grabbed his gun from his room and walked out. "Okey." he said as he left. All three men knew something was wrong with him. On any normal day, he was a very talkative, cheery boy who loved his family. But now he seemed like there wasn't any emotion left in him. Nevertheless, they all shrugged it off and left after him.

~~~

Monterrey State Penitentiary, Monterrey, Mexico

"Hola, Miles." when Miles looked up, he saw Armando Aretas in the flesh walking up to him with two men on either side of him like they were bodyguards. Marcus' eyebrows deepened when he saw a huge scar right down Miles' left eye. "How'd he get that scar?" Marcus asked Miles. "Middle school argument." Mike and Marcus stared at him. "What?"

"Now I can see where you get all that vigilante shit from," Marcus said to Lucius who tried his best to smile but just pushed his mouth into a line. "¿Carajo quieres?" Miles hissed. "¿Qué policías están trabajando con los cárteles en este momento?" he asked. Miles stood up, walked as close as he could without hitting the bars of his cell, and spat in his face. "vete a la mierda." he swore. Mike sensed what Armando was about to do. "Cálmate," he said. Speaking in Spanish usually calmed Armando down and/or made him feel more comfortable, but this was very different. Armando wiped the saliva off of his cheek and looked like he was about to calm down before reaching through the bars and starting to choke him out. "Armando!" Mike and Marcus pulled him back before he could kill him. "I thought you said you two are friends,"

"We are." just then, Miles started to laugh so much he started to cough. "Ay, güey. como en los viejos tiempos, ¿eh?" he said, fist-bumping him through the bars. "¿Qué pasa, niño?" Miles fist-bumped Lucius, noticing him. "Yeah, man, about that cop shit, I don't know who specifically. But I do know that they have shit-loads of backup comin' to smoke your asses." Armando turned to look at Mike and Marcus. "We're gonna need more guns."

~~~

Miami, Florida

Just like that, Mike, Armando, Lucius, and Marcus flew back to Miami and were driving to God knows where. "Where are we going?" Armando asked. "Tabitha's. She's a friend." Marcus tsked. "Man, Tabitha does not like your ass." he said. "We have no other choice." when they arrived, Armando was not expecting her place to be a strip club. But Mike Lowery was his father, so his life was full of surprises. When they walked inside, Armando stopped Lucius from walking any further. "I- I don't think he should-"

"It's fine, she's in her office, not in here." Armando hesitantly nodded. When they walked in, Lucius' eyes widened every woman in that room was just as explicitly dressed as the strippers outside. Armando cut his eyes at Mike. "My bad, man." Armando rolled his eyes. "Look who slithered his way up here," Tabitha said in a flirty tone. "Whatchu want, baby?"

"We need guns, Tabitha. Tons of 'em." Tabitha tsked. "What are you gonna do for me, though?" Mike sighed, knowing where this was going. "What do you want?" she clicked her younger. "I'll do it if you eat this pussy, Mikey." Armando jolted up, not wanting Lucius to hear any of this. "No, no, no! Ángel, get out." before Lucius could react, Tabitha addressed him. "You next, little man, we got kids here too," Armando was about to hit a woman for the first time, but, poor Lucius, scared out of his mind, pulled out his gun and pointed it right at Tabitha. "¡no me toques mierda!" he yelled. Suddenly, Tabitha and every other woman in the room pointed their guns at Lucius, Armando, Mike, and Marcus. "Where you think you goin'?" Tabitha hissed. "Damn, Mike, you were about to do it too." Mike scoffed at Marcus' remark. "I was just stalling so I can bag the million-dollar bounty on your asses." Mike furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"This nigga was supposed to go to jail and you two are helping him." Armando turned to Mike. "I thought you paid my bail!"

"I did!" suddenly, a familiar face burst through the doors. Manny. "Suprise motherfucker!" he screams with a gang behind him. "Aw, shit."

"This is what your ass gets for smashing me meat cleaver!" thee three manage to overpower the women and snatch their guns before running back to Mike's car and speeding away. "I am not goin' back to jail, man!" Armando exclaimed. "You're not, you're not. I'm gonna call Rita and get this figured out." before Mike could pick up his phone, he heard sirens behind him. It was Judy. She did exactly what she said she'd do. She had accused Armando of violating his parole just so she had an excuse to pursue him. "Shit!" Mike and Marcus yelled. Luckily, Mike took a back road and parked on the opposite side of his house so as to not be followed. They were officially fugitives. Marcus immediately called his wife to let her know he was only safe at Mike's house for now, and Lucius stormed to his room and slammed the door. Something was wrong with him and Armando had to find out.