Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rewrite)

Chapter 26: Robbing the Cradle

For the rest of the day, Vic had decided to deal with the Cholos' empires since they were the remaining gang left to take out. In each empire building, Vic destroyed the Cholos' vehicles, triggering a war between him (along with the new members of the Vance Crime Family) and the Cholos. It ended with Vic and his gang killing every member of the Cholos inside and outside and destroying the material inside their empire building, thus claiming it as theirs. The buildings consisted on three size rankings: small-time, medium-venture, and high-roller.

The buildings also consisted on three businesses: loan shark, prostitution, and protection racket. For protection, Vic had to kill many of the Bikers gangs (who were also in it with the Vance Crime Family) who tried to take over various shops and did what he could to intimidate the owners into paying for protection. He was getting into a heated shootout with the Bikers and Cholos every now and then, but after minutes of battling for protection and destruction, he finally finished the job.

For the loan shark, Vic had to collect each of two kinds of vehicles: PCJ 600s and Bensons. The Bensons contained the cargo inside, which meant Vic had to be careful driving it around. He, of course, had to even try to steal some of the vehicles from folks who were already driving in them, and there were even some chasing after him. It took a very long time to complete the task, but Vic succeeding in riding them back to his empire to store.

As for the prostitution, all Vic had to do was pick up the prostitutes and drop them off to their clients. Of course, Vic dealt with three problems during the tasks: some of the clients running away without paying, the clients beating on the prostitutes, and the clients kidnapping the prostitutes. It was getting rather annoying for Vic after a while of those three problems happening, but he was able to kill and get the money from some of the clients who refused to participate.

It took a good ten hours for Vic to get everything done, but it was all worth it in the end. He had taken over all fifteen of the gang's empire, and the Cholos and Bikers were becoming weak in power, thus bringing the Vance Crime Family on top. Vic was feeling great. He was getting very close to getting enough money for Pete's medication and almost had the gangs off his back.

He was feeling tired of all the hard work he did to build business empires. So he decided that it was time to see Louise to check up on her. He entered the apartment building and took the elevator to the third floor, where he walked down the hallway to door number 21. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Louise called from inside the house.

Vic stepped into the living room to find Louise sitting on the couch with her hands covering her face, which was hanging down below in despondence.

Uh oh, Vic thought. I wonder what's wrong now.

"What's wrong now?" Vic asked Louise softly.

Louise then raised her head up to face Vic "Vic, welfare said I was a bad mother," Louise told him, her voice almost cracking. "Their man said he was gonna take Mary-Beth off me unless I put out for him. He's in a white minivan. But I'll show him. I've got a couple of guys to take care of him."

"What?!" Vic cried out in surprise. "Killing him is gonna make things worse! When's this happening!?"

"Well... kinda right now," Louise answered querulously. "Did I do wrong? How was I to know better?"

Vic then came to surmise that the welfare people probably were taking Mary-Beth out of Louise's arms after discovering Marty's death, apparently oblivious to how abusive he was towards Louise since day one. So without a word, Vic walked away to settle the situation. Mary-Beth wasn't about to leave Louise's sight, especially since Louise didn't have a home of her own anymore.

Vic exited outside, where he saw the colorful red and bright orange sky up ahead. It was evening, and fewer cars were spawning. Vic hopped into his Admiral and started the engine. He couldn't let the welfare people take Louise's baby daughter from her all because Vic killed Marty. So Vic drove around the street in search of the welfare man. He made it through Little Haiti and finally spotted the minivan. To make matters worse, there were also thugs in a truck chasing after the minivan to shoot it.

Vic knew he had to keep the welfare man inside alive to have a discussing with him. So he rammed into the gang's truck off the road and chased after the minivan, which he continued to ram as well.

"Somebody help!" the welfare man pleaded vociferously as Vic continued ramming the minivan.

"File that in your report!" Vic announced to the welfare as the ramming continued. "Leave Louise Williams alone, pal, or you and I are gonna become close friends!"

It took a good thirty seconds to convince the man, but after so many rams against the minivan, he finally hopped out and ran away.

"OK, OK! She's white trash anyway!" he yelled as he ran as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him.

Vic sighed in relief. Mary-Beth was now staying with her mother. He pulled out his cellphone and punched in Louise's number.

Louise picked up the call. "So how'd things go with the welfare people, Vic?" she asked.

"I had a discussion with the man and he heeded my persuasion," Vic answered. "Mary-Beth won't be out of your hands now or ever."

"Thank you, Vic," Louise thanked gratefully. "Thank you so much for helping me."

"No problem, Louise," Vic replied. "Anything I could do to help a woman who's in need of assistance."

So Vic hung up the phone, and despite his success, Vic still felt that Louise's life wasn't improved just yet, and Mary-Beth was not going to grow up in her aunt's apartment. But he wanted to worry about that later and see what his brother was up to. He hopped back inside his vehicle and drove away to head Downtown.