Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rewrite)

Chapter 40: Bar Brawl

Tommy had a bad feeling about this the next afternoon. He and Lance had taken out Diaz and seized his whole empire, and Lance was already ruining everything with his incompetence and rather dumb decisions. He really didn't wanted to regret hiring Lance as his partner.

So Tommy met Lance at the bar drinking a tequila. He seemed rather relax and nonchalant at the moment.

"What's the problem?" Tommy asked.

Lance took another sip of his drink and turned back to face Tommy. "Some bar over at Ocean Beach is refusing to pay," he answered. "They reckon they're protected by a local gang of thugs. But don't worry Tommy, I can handle it."

Tommy watched as Lance just sat there drinking, not even budging from his seat. Tommy glared at his partner in disappointment. "You call this handling it?!" he growled as he got into Lance's face and banged hard on the table.

Lance just stared back in intimidation. He felt genuinely threatened by Tommy's curt diatribe and was rather shocked by the latter's attitude, so shocked he even hesitated to pick up his cup.

Tommy then turned to two of his other allies sitting adjacent to Lance. "You two, off your asses... " Tommy demanded. "Let's go."

Tommy stormed out of the room as he guided the two out through the front entrance of the mansion. He was very disappointed in Lance at the moment. So far, Lance had screwed up Tommy's fastidious planning to kill Diaz, started sniffing coke in private, accidentally killed two of their allies, almost gotten both of them killed during the speed chase in Viceport, and was now sitting while drinking. He was becoming an indifferent parasite at this point.

Tommy, however, decided to keep his patience and guided his two allies to his red Sentinel as he hopped inside the driver's seat. "Get in the car, useless," he told them bluntly.

The two allies complied and hopped inside as well. Tommy started the engine and turned to his right as he drove through the exit of the driveway and made a right turn on Starfish Island and straight down the bridge leading to Washington Beach.

Tommy made a right turn on the other end of the road and drove straight down the city. The cars were moving moderately on the road, and the pedestrians were casually strolling on the sidewalks on both sides.

Tommy then made a left turn on the intersection of the road and drove straight down until he made a right turn on the road of Ocean Drive, driving straight down until he finally made it through Ocean Beach and parked right in front of the Front Page Café.

Tommy and his two bodyguards hopped out of the vehicle and the trio were fired at by the two guards up front. The trio took cover behind the Sentinel and Tommy fired back at the two guards, killing each of them one by one.

With the two guards now dead, Tommy and his bodyguards casually walked to the front of the café and faced the owner, who was at the dining area sitting in a chair.

"Your protection needs a little more protection," Tommy reminded the owner.

"Aw hell, not again!" the owner complained. "I don't need this crap! These idiots operate out of DBP Security around the block. You guys just sort it out amongst yourselves."

"I'll be seeing you later," Tommy told the owner.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the owner replied.

So Tommy and the other two mobsters returned to the Sentinel and hopped inside. Tommy started the engine and made a U-turn to turn back to drive up north. Tommy knew that the DBP would know about his arrival and would be ready for him. So it was vital for him to get there before they cleared out.

Tommy finally made it at the DBP Security's headquarters over at the corner of Washington Beach and he and his allies took out their SMGs and started shooting at the guards that were hanging outside.

Once all four of the guards were dead, Tommy then looked straight ahead to find that two more guards were now escaping on PCJ-600s. So Tommy followed them both through Ocean Drive and all the way down Ocean Beach. Before the guards had a chance to make their turn on the road, Tommy pulled up beside them and fired at them with his SMG, killing both guards as they fell off their vehicles.

Tommy let out a relieving sigh. He finally took out the guards who refused payment for protection and no longer had to deal with the issues.

Just then, Tommy heard his cellphone ring. He parked on a curb on the right side and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket to answer it.

"Tommy, we gotta talk about stuff... " he heard Lance complain over the phone.

"What's the problem, Lance?" Tommy asked.

"It's you, my friend," Lance complained, "I feel you're not giving me a fair slice. And more than that, you been embarrassing me in front of the boys. I can't have that."

"Lance, it ain't like that," Tommy told him calmly. "You've been making mistakes."

"Tommy, I'm not your message boy," Lance whined. "I'm not your running boy."

"Lance, don't screw up, and we won't have any problems," Tommy replied sternly. "I screw up, you can lay into me any time."

"Tommy, I've done everything for you," Lance protested querulously. "You treat me like a fool. Don't do that."

"Lance, I won't rip you off or stab you in the back, okay?" Tommy responded in a conciliatory tone of voice. "Just take it easy. This is tough enough without you getting all emotional on me. Trust me. Do you hear me, do you hear me?"

"I hear you Tommy," Lance replied, "but I can't take this much more."

"Lance, don't be like this," Tommy replied calmly. "Now I'm warning you. Do you hear me? Just relax, take a few days off. Okay ? I'll talk to you."

Tommy hung up the phone and shook his head. Sure he never really meant to snap at Lance during the past missions, but he still felt no regret for it. If Lance kept up his incompetence and indolence, the two's business would be in jeopardy, especially considering that everyone in Vice City was after Tommy's throat since his arrival. So Tommy had to call Lance out on his attitude if the two would become more successful partners.

Without another word, Tommy drove away. He wanted to see if Lance was much more serious about the business empire around Vice City this time.