A Syndicated Proposal

Disclaimer: Deep Silver Volition own Saints Row, while Sega owns Streets of Rage, and Dotemu has a hand in it as they did Streets of Rage 4.

Quick note: Okay, this is a crossover between Saints Row and Streets of Rage. This is an idea that I toyed with for a bit. It's a one-shot, by the way. Enjoy!

It had been a long time since Wood Oak City had any crime element ever since the Syndicate had been defeated by the likes of Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, Adam Hunter, and others. The criminal organization had reigned in power in Wood Oak, causing many problems among the citizens, such as civil unrest and with so much corruption in the police department, there was little anybody could do about it.

The Syndicate had also allied with other organizations such as Neo Chaos and RoboCy, as they specialized in other departments, moving up from typical illegal acts such as drugs, firearms, human-trafficking, and so forth.

George Xanatos, better known as Mr. X, had been defeated twice, and then the third time his defeat was final, as a robot controlled by his brain had been destroyed and his brain could no longer command the Syndicate and any organizations within. Wood Oak City was at peace finally, and terrorist acts involving an element called Rakushin had been averted.

But the Syndicate wasn't defeated completely. In fact, Wood Oak City had only a portion of the organization controlling it and Mr. X was only one of the leaders and founders of it.

In fact, the Syndicate had control of various places. One city in particular that the Syndicate also controlled was known as Steelport. This portion of the Syndicate was controlled by Phillipe Loren, a man from Belgium who had specialized in weapons dealing, as well as prostitution, as well as having a hand in legal businesses, likely as fronts for any other operations.

The Syndicate actually went back farther than one would think, as Mr. X and Phillipe were the founding fathers and original leaders. Mr. X had met Phillipe in Belgium sometime in the 1980s to 1990s. Mr. X had done some business in Belgium, such as purchasing weapons of various sorts ranging from firearms to heavy artillery. But he wasn't just buying the weapons for himself, but rather to form his own organization and with all the weapons, no one would dare cross his organization as they wanted to gain power in Wood Oak City, with Mr. X being the boss.

But Loren had other ideas of his own. This man had started his own criminal organization himself called the Morningstar. It originated in his home country of Belgium and had people from other European countries as part of it. Loren had looked into expanding his organization into America. Mr. X was American himself and thought of the idea of working with this man, who had an eye for business and power. The Morningstar even had some muscle in their organization, two masked professional wrestlers known as "The Walking Apocalypse" Killbane and his tag team partner, Angel de la Muerte, which translated to "Angel of Death." Oddly enough, Mr. X also had a wrestler as part of his organization named Abadede, a man at 7 feet and 2 inches and packed some serious muscle with so much brute strength. Killbane was the same way, but Angel was smaller, but that didn't make him any less imposing.

For years, the Syndicate had been strong, especially in Wood Oak City, but Phillipe felt that he should take his business to Steelport while Mr. X ran things in Wood Oak. That didn't stop them from working together, however. Both leaders enlisted the services of a scientist named Dr. Dahm, who specialized in robotics, as well as genetic sciences. When Mr. X wanted to specialize in robotics, that was when Dr. Dahm had placed focus on Mr. X's projects.

By that point, Phillipe and some associates had hired the services of a brilliant scientist named Oleg Kirrlov, a man of such great intelligence and great strength, too. This man was a former KGB agent and he was rather tall and muscular, maybe even more than Killbane, who had now started leading his own gang within the Syndicate called the Luchadores, acting as the Syndicate's muscle. Some of the time he would enlist the services of Abadede to help out the Luchadores, especially in their big event that is often held in Steelport known as "MurderBrawl."

Mr. X had also expanded more of his business towards other countries. As part of his hired muscle, he brought in some ninjas, as well as other Japanese martial artists. One person in particular he had as his top muscle was a man named Leon Shiva, a man of exceptional talent in martial arts. This man was no slouch as he was able to take down Adam Hunter, who was back on the force in the WOPD, with such incredible ease.

Over time, however, Mr. X started to grow mad with power in Wood Oak that he started to lose focus on anything except potential terrorist attacks to the city, as well as the Lima Nations. After Mr. X was revealed to be alive after the initial fall of Wood Oak's division, he had vowed revenge on the ex-cops who took him down, and when things escalated even further, that was when he vowed to bomb Wood Oak and Lima. Phillipe wanted no part of this because most of this was all on Mr. X, who wouldn't have any of it. Although Loren did engage in criminal activity, including murdering anybody who got in his way, what his business partner thought of doing was something even more heinous. Many lives were at stake. It was complete terrorism, something not even the Morningstar nor would the Luchadores even consider engaging in.

Mr. X and Phillipe got into an argument about who was the real boss/leader, when they were both co-founders and co-leaders. Phillipe was no stranger in getting his hands dirty and even had his own men kill when necessary, but was against any other civil unrest such as terrorism. Mr. X was upset because the more things didn't go his way, he started getting even more mad with power. It led to a falling out between Mr. X and Phillipe.

After the fall of the Neo Chaos organization, as well as what was left of the Syndicate in Wood Oak City, that city was now in peace, with many of the surviving members rejoicing or turning over a new leaf. Some had believed that they had skipped town, maybe even went to other cities such as Steelport or even a neighboring city known as Stilwater, another crime and gang-infested city.

But contrary to popular belief, at least to those in Wood Oak City, the Syndicate was far from dead. No one knew that the Syndicate had other divisions across not only the country, but also in other parts of the world. After all, one of the founding members was from Belgium and had parts of his original organization still in his home country. While the Syndicate would no longer expand its influence in Wood Oak, they thought about trying other cities. After Wood Oak's division defeated, Phillipe assumed full control of the Syndicate, but mainly kept a lower profile than before.

In that time, two graduates from Stilwater University had come to Steelport to intern for one of the businesses that the Syndicate had owned. The two graduates were twin sisters, Viola and Kiki DeWynter. The two sisters had realized that the Syndicate had owned the business, but given their backgrounds in economics and business, Phillipe came to them to offer them a job and also to see about them going into business, even if it was in more…illicit ventures. After a while, the sisters had become full-on members of the Syndicate and the Morningstar and ran their prostitution business, the sex trade, running a BDSM club, as well as became right-hands to Phillipe.

Much later on, the Syndicate had another gang form under their umbrella called the Deckers, a gang of cyber-goths with an affinity for the cyber-world. This gang in particular was headed by a teenage boy genius named Matt Miller, who was from England and had his own personal friends with him, among other people specializing in other means. Matt's specialty was in technology mainly, as he was a gifted computer hacker, as were his personal friends. He didn't like to get his hands dirty in violence, as that was the reason he had hired mercenaries led by two female British mercenaries named Kirsten and Grace.

Despite the fallout with Mr. X, Phillipe would still allow any former members of Wood Oak's division to work with him, whether as hired guns or even help out in some of their other projects. Dr. Dahm had helped out in a cloning project at some point, as did any scientist who worked for the Ultor Corporation.

Sometime in the early-2010s, however, crime started rising in Wood Oak City once again. But with Mr. X being dead, who could possibly be responsible for any criminal elements out there?

At the Syndicate Tower in Downtown Steelport, in a district known as Henry Steel Mills, Phillipe sat in the boardroom with Viola and Kiki, along with Morningstar associates, as they were all wearing red and black, with a little bit of pink. With the Morningstar being the main gang of the Syndicate, most of the color scheme inside this room match with their gang color, with red walls and a black round table with a red and pink star in the center, complete with Roman and Greek warrior statues as part of the décor.

A meeting was called with the Luchadores, as Killbane brought some of his associates. With this being a meeting, Killbane wore a black and green suit, and the associates, while wearing their lucha masks, also dressed a bit more presentable. The Deckers had arrived as Matt sat at the table with his personal friends, along with Grace and Kirsten, all of whom wore neon blue and black outfits. What made them as one whole organization to note that they were all Syndicate was that they had some a little bit of pink, particularly a pink star to signify their standing with the organization.

Phillipe sat at one end of the table with the DeWynter sisters standing on opposite sides of him. He put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. As soon as he puffed and blew the smoke out, that was when he spoke as his thick Belgian accent drew everyone's attention on him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I called for this meeting because I am looking into expanding our business back to an old city. A city where an old dear friend of mine, whom is no longer with us, used to control. While there are more cities that we are looking to expand our organization into, such as Stilwater, I believe that this could help us more."

"What city would that be, sir?" Matt said.

"I am talking about Wood Oak City, Monsieur Miller," Phillipe said. "You see, a long time ago the Syndicate used to have control in that city, but this old friend of mine had endured some problems, which led to even more problems in our organization. Although my friend and I had a falling out, our organization was still connected."

"Wood Oak City, huh?" Matt said. "I think I could look that up in a bit."

Killbane looked to both the older man and the young man. "I don't see why we didn't just take that fucking city after Mr. X was killed. We could have looked for those assholes who killed him. I think I knew one of those guys, too."

"You're right, Mr. Killbane, I don't know why we didn't just take over it after George's death," Phillipe said.

"Wait, Wood Oak City?" Viola said. "If I'm not mistaken, but wasn't that the city where their division had tried to bomb it as well as the Lima Nations with Rakushin bombs?"

Kiki added, "I think I had heard of that element. Something our old associate Dr. Dahm would know about it, or even Oleg."

Matt had pulled out his laptop computer. Normally he would use his smartphone or even his tablet, but this required an actual computer as it would be easier to use an actual keyboard than a keypad on a screen. With Matt Miller being an expert hacker for his age, there was nothing he couldn't do. All he had to do was look through Wood Oak's files.

"Ah, yes, I think I found something here, Mr. Loren," Matt said and turned the laptop computer over towards his boss and other associates.

Matt had a tab up about criminal reports in Wood Oak, but at the same time he also found a file on a Mr. X, real name George Xanatos. Although Matt had found articles about the crime element that occurred a decade prior in the early-2000s in Wood Oak, with crime being on the rise currently in the year 2014, it was likely that things started escalating.

At some point, Matt had pulled into some police records of two rather young criminals who seemed to be not much older than he was. With Matt being 16 and having earned his spot as one of the top leaders of the Syndicate, these two appeared to be 18 or 19. Not entirely a stretch in age difference, especially with seeming to be the heads of this new criminal organization.

Phillipe, Killbane, and the DeWynter twins took a closer look at the photos of these two on the monitor. One was a young man; the other was a young woman. They were definitely no older than 19 or 20. The young man's name was Yves Xanatos and the girl's name was Yazmin. They both had long white hair. No one was sure if that was their natural hair color or was dyed that way, but given their strong resemblance and the fact that they were the same age, they were definitely twin siblings. Add to that, their profiles even had them also known as "Mr. Y" and "Ms. Y."

When Phillipe saw what their surname was, a look of intrigue rose on his face.

"Interesting," Phillipe said. "I never would have thought that. I forgot about those two."

"What?" Kiki said.

"What is it, Phillipe?" Viola said.

"Those two are the children of my fallen old friend George," Phillipe said. "George Xanatos, better known as Mr. X."

When Killbane heard Phillipe mention that name, it took him back. While the Syndicate in Steelport mainly consisted of the Morningstar and the Luchadores, along with any other criminals in the city, Wood Oak's version had several types for working for Mr. X. Bikers with spiked shoulder pads, Japanese ninjas, dominatrices, Muay Thai fighters, guys with jetpacks, etc. Hell, one early example in the Syndicate as whole experimenting in genetic research was when they mutated this one man whose name was Zamza Souther into some kind of man-beast with extraordinary abilities such as flipping in midair. That wasn't to say that the Syndicate didn't have power in Steelport, but when Phillipe and Mr. X ran things, they were unstoppable as even some of the Morningstar and Luchadores went down to Wood Oak to help out.

"Well, I never thought Mr. X's own children would take over their father's business," Killbane said. "It's like if Zeus died, Heracles and Apollo, if one of them was a girl at least, would take over."

Viola and Kiki shot Killbane with a look of "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I found something else here," Matt said, calling everyone's attention. "I found that those twins are in control in Wood Oak City. It appears that their organization is known as 'The Y-Syndicate.'"

"The Y-Syndicate?" Kiki said. "You got to be shitting me."

"I certainly am not, Kiki," Matt said. "That's what it says here."

"Wait a minute," Viola said. "Is it just me or did they use that name because they tried using our name but found that it was taken?"

"I don't know, sis, but it's possible," Kiki said.

Phillipe added, "Whatever the case is, I think we could an extra asset to our organization. If they wanted to use our name, they could have come to us. After all, I was one of the founders of the Syndicate, as was their father."

"What do you think we should do?" Viola said.

"I think it's time we have ourselves a little talk with them, maybe set up a deal with them," Phillipe said.

On Y Island, inside the castle Ms. Y took part in her usual fencing training, while Mr. Y went and did his own thing by checking out this mechanical vehicle that they planned to use should they try to wage war on the city. Many members of the Y-Syndicate were hanging around, as they had plotted a scheme on the city. For instance, Diva, an attractive African-American woman with orange hair cut a certain way with it faded on the right side of her head, played with her pet snake. As did her two cohorts and friends, Beyo and Riha, both of whom had a similar style to Diva. Another member named DJ K-Washi was testing out some music for the Y-Syndicate's scheme.

It had been quite a day on Y Island, as it was not too far from Wood Oak. After Ms. Y was done with her fencing training, she checked her phone and there was a missed call and a new message from an unknown number. But rather than disregard it, she played the message on the voicemail and what she heard was a man with a Belgian accent introducing himself as Phillipe Loren and wanted to have a sit-down with her and her brother sometime soon. This caused her to talk to her brother about this potential meeting.

"What do you think this is about, Yves?" Ms. Y said.

"Hell if I know, probably trying to sell us something," Mr. Y said.

"Doesn't seem like it," Ms. Y said. "This man said that he was an old friend of Father's. I know when our father was alive, he would try to keep us out of his shit, but this guy sounded like he knew him and said that he headed the Syndicate."

"But I thought the Syndicate was finished," Mr. Y said. "That's why we started the Y-Syndicate, to carry on Father's legacy. Don't you think he's bullshitting us?"

"I don't know," Ms. Y said. "In his message, he mentioned our city and also Steelport."

"Steelport? That's quite a ways away, isn't it?" Mr. Y said.

"Yes, but this sounds like something we should consider," Ms. Y said. "Before we initiate our attack on Wood Oak, we should talk with this man. This could help make us more powerful."

"I don't know why Father never mentioned this man to us before," Mr. Y said. "I know he kept his own stuff a secret as he didn't want us following his footsteps, but look at us now. Still, he should have told us."

"We'll just have to see now, won't we, brother?" Ms. Y said. Mr. Y nodded at his sister's comment. It was time to see what this man wanted to offer. Sure, the Y-Syndicate was still rather new, but if this organization was called The Syndicate, then maybe this man who was in control was really connected to their father at some point.

The meeting was now set. Mr. Y and Ms. Y took off on their luxurious plane to head out to Steelport. Although they would want some of their associates like Diva and her two associates, Beyo and Riha to join, as well as Nora and her fellow dominatrices, this was strictly a business discussion. The only people with them were their bodyguards such as Gold, Iron, Silver, and Bronze, all of whom were men of large stature and wore suits of various colors.

With the Y twins owning this particular plane, it went straight for the city, landing in Wesley Cutter International, the airport in the New Colvin district of Steelport. Close to the runway, a black and red limousine with a red star on the roof pulled up. Although this was a civilian airport, the Syndicate owned it.

The plane had landed and a cart pulled up with stairs coming right at the door. The twins got off. Mr. Y wore his long white coat and black pants, while Ms. Y wore her dark gray dress. Standing before them were some men and women wearing black and red outfits. Some of the men in suits had pink ties, and some even had pink stars either on their red shirts or on their black jackets.

"Mr. and Ms. Y?" a male Morningstar member said with a French accent.

"That's us," Mr. Y said. "Are you a part of the Syndicate?"

"Yes, you came to the right place," the Morningstar soldier said. "I'm Gus, by the way. Mr. Loren is expecting you, along with his other associates. We will drive you to where you need to go."

The twins, along with their bodyguards, followed the Morningstar members into the limo and they were off. They quickly headed towards the gate that went onto the road where billboards were shown of Planet Saints stores, as well as other stores like Let's Pretend, Nobody Loves Me, and Leather & Lace. This city didn't seem all that different to Wood Oak, especially with the way how Wood Oak was at that point, depending on where one was.

Ms. Y looked out the window. The Planet Saints store had drawn her attention, as she believed that she had heard about an organization known as the Saints, but they were from Stilwater, but they clearly franchised their name as there were stores in this city and may even come out to Wood Oak sometime. The color purple gave it a way, but they clearly weren't in this city, at least not currently.

The limo crossed the bridge onto the Henry Steel Mills island, which was north of Downtown Steelport. With the amount of factories that were on this island, this could probably be where Steelport got its name, as it had a rather large industrial area, as well as other areas with factories built.

It wasn't long until they finally reached a really tall building with red windows and a large red star at the top of it.

"We're here," Gus said to the Y twins. The limo pulled into the loading dock/parking garage at the bottom of the building.

As soon as everyone got out of the limo, with the Y twins accompanied by their bodyguards, and other Morningstar soldiers getting out of their cars like the Justice and Infuego, it was now time to meet the boss himself. They headed towards one of the elevators with the same color scheme as what they had noticed on these gangsters, as well as their vehicles. The Morningstar guided them to the elevator, as the other members went into the other ones.

They had finally reached the floor. This building was big. Sure, their tower in Wood Oak was big as well, but this was something else. They weren't there for a tour, but for all of the floors this building had, who knew what went in the lower floors? As soon as they hit a hallway with a door at the end of it, the Morningstar had guided Mr. Y and Ms. Y, as well as their bodyguards into the room.

Gus knocked on the door. Their boss and other associates were notified ahead of time that they were coming. Once the door opened, they went inside the big boardroom. On one end of the table, the Y twins saw an older man with gray hair who appeared to be in his late-50s to early-60s in black and red suit with a pink tie, with two pretty women at his sides who were also twins and looked to be in their late-20s. Another one that sat nearby was a really large and muscular man in a bright green suit and a green button-down shirt, and to top it off, a black and green with a touch of pink lucha libre mask. Finally, there was a young man who appeared to be around their age, maybe younger who looked like a goth with a blue streak in his hair and a black and neon blue outfit.

"Welcome." The Belgian accent drew the Y twins' attentions as they recognized the voice from the message. "Please sit down."

"Hello," Mr. Y said.

"Greetings, my name is Phillipe Loren, chairman of a multinational organization called The Syndicate," the older man said. "Beside me are Viola and Kiki, my right-hands. Over there is Killbane, my top muscle, and over there is Matt, expert in technology."

Phillipe moved his chair up from the reclining position. "And you two must be Mr. Y and Ms. Y, children of my late associate, Mr. X."

"Yes, we are," Ms. Y said. "Our father never told us that there was more of the Syndicate. My brother and I believed that the Syndicate was finished."

"Ah, yes," Phillipe said as he blew some smoke from his cigarette. "Wood Oak City's Syndicate was finished, but the Syndicate as a whole wasn't. You see, your father and I started this up ourselves many, many years ago. Mr. X controlled all of Wood Oak City, while I controlled Steelport. For years, the Syndicate has had a hand in different countries, as well as cities across the United States. Right now, we're looking to expand our organization into Stilwater, although it's not the first time we've tried, but recently we found out that Wood Oak City has a new organization controlling things."

"You got that right," Mr. Y said.

Ms. Y added, "We're looking to continue our father's legacy."

"Right, but as co-founder and current leader of the Syndicate, I was thinking of something bigger," Phillipe said. "What we are considering is a business proposal."

"What are you proposing?" Ms. Y said.

Phillipe called attention to the DeWynter sisters. Matt had set up the screen on the wall. One the screen, a pie chart depicted that Steelport could get half of the shares, while Wood Oak would get the other half.

Viola said, "Our boss believes that with you being the son and daughter of one of our co-founders, you two could control Wood Oak City as you see fit."

Kiki added, "You could do what you want, but just remember that with both of our organizations tied together, our monthly gross revenue will be at an equal 50 percent."

Both of the Y twins looked at each other with some amazement. Although they haven't controlled Wood Oak for that long, it was clear that this man was offering a fair business deal, especially if he had known their father.

"I just want you to know this, Monsieur and Madame," Phillipe said. "Sometime before your father's death, we had a difference in the way we handled things, which led to a falling out between us. If I had known that he had two children, I would have likely kept onto his share of the will and passed it onto you two when you two reached legal age. Since I found out recently, I wanted to do what I felt was right."

The Y twins looked at this man with so much amazement. This man was loaded, especially since he owned this whole city, and from what it seemed, if this man was willing to offer half of the revenue that he and his Syndicate make, then this should be a good deal.

Killbane added, "Maybe if we're lucky, I would like for you to track down the legendary Max Thunder. I have wanted to face him in the ring again for some time now."

"Max Thunder?" Ms. Y said.

"Oh, you mean Max Hatchett," Mr. Y said. "As a matter of fact, I think we can arrange for that to happen."

"So do we have a deal, Monsieur and Madame?" Phillipe said.

Once again, the Y twins looked at each other. If this man was willing to make a deal like this, then this shouldn't be so bad. They would make sure Wood Oak City was at the palms of their hands sooner than they know it.

"Yes, we both accept," Mr. Y said.

"Good," Phillipe said. "And you two are welcome in Steelport anytime and if any other opportunities in expansion come, we will be sure to you let you know."

"That'll be great, Mr. Loren," Ms. Y said.

The Syndicate was now even more powerful than before. Although the Y-Syndicate planned to keep their name like that, with ties to their father's former employer, they would be more unstoppable than ever before.

Author's note: And that was that. I had thought of this story for a while now. Although this story was mainly about the Syndicate (from Saints Row: The Third), I only made a passing reference to the Saints. I had once thought of an idea regarding Mr. X and Phillipe Loren meeting, but then I thought about the Y twins meeting with the Syndicate in Steelport, which was what I went with.

Also, whether or not this is tied to my Saints Row: The Third novelization/rewrite, I am only going to say this: I didn't intend to have it tied to it, but with this taking place before the events of the game (or my version of the story, for that matter), it could go either way.

Regarding the time frame, well, both Streets of Rage and Saints Row are pretty screwy with their timelines. Many Streets of Rage fics that I've read have had it set in the 2000s or 2010s, maybe later (including Matthew Drury's stories, which take place from the early-2010s to 2030, but that was from his own vision), and the games never really stated when it took place. Only Bare Knuckle III (the Japanese version of Streets of Rage 3) had acknowledged that it was in the 1990s, but it was said "199X" as the first three games were released then, while Streets of Rage 4 came out last year and even made more modern references. So in this case, it shouldn't hurt that it was set in the early-to-mid-2010s.

As for Saints Row, well, how I'm doing it is by how either Volition confirmed it or even how some fans speculate it. For example, SR1 was in 2005 or 2006; SR2 in 2011; Saints Row: The Third in 2014, and Saints Row IV? Well, that one was even screwier. Then you had other people saying otherwise. Personally, I am going with the years that I mentioned.

I wouldn't mind touching on Streets of Rage again, but I'm not sure. This was mainly something I wanted to do for a bit. Thanks for reading.