Chapter 3

Hello all and again I have to say thanks for reading the story. While its said its not really taking off I am still happy to see some people like it. I mean it's the brainchild of a shit load of thoughts that were in my head and I still got more.

Now to answer some questions.

This-Mickey-Seems-Iffy with my mind I have not ruled out any of the other Saints. If there are any you really like to see let me know I am may add them.

RoyalTwinFangs yes like Kingpin but the MC is looking to stand up to those who would try to bring him under their foot.

sglenn3232 no op shit. The MC isn't going to be supersmart or strong. It will be more around those who back him and dumb luck.

dominicperkins112 thank you

Ok on with the story and remember to leave a review guys and girls if you love it hate it or whatever. It really just helps out the story lol.

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Before we move on with the story, I want to give you guys a bit of history on the gangs in New York. Now in case you were not paying attention before the Italian Mob were no more. While like in my old world they flourished during the 1920's and all the way into the 70's that is also where things started to branch off. You see in the late 60's Joseph Dominick Pistone better known as Donnie Brasco in my old world grew tired and disillusioned with the way the FBI was dealing with the Mob. So, he along with a handful of like-minded agents went rogue and hatched a plan to infiltrate the Mob at its deepest core in order to bring it down. Going so far as to even commit a number of crimes including murderer to rise up in the ranks to become made men. With Joseph even reaching the heights of underboss for the Bonanno family sometime in 1971.

An impressive feat really and one that played right into Joe's hands. As in two years later in a surprise move that no one saw coming he and his fellow rogue agents turned themselves into the FBI on June 19, 1973. Bring along with them enough evidence to put nearly every boss, underboss, consigliere, capo, and soldier in jail for life along with Jon and his agents. Those that escaped the law did last very long afterwards.

Now I am sure a lot of you are sitting there thinking good for him. Way to go Joe you are a great man. You're a real superhero and should be released from jail right away. Well, I personally think he should have been given the death penalty for what he did. Because like so many so-called superhero's he didn't think or just didn't care about the consequences of his actions. And as a result of them New York City experienced a wave of crime that had not been seen since the Prohibition Era.

I find it funny how people don't seem to realize that we all live in a kind of symbiotic relationship with criminals. It's just one of those facts of life. Where there is light there is shadow. Where there is rain there is water. And where there is fucking money to be made there are criminals looking to take a cut. This is a fact Joe didn't take into account and because he didn't, he created a power vacuum that needed to be filled.

Without the Italian Mob around who were the biggest dogs around and who kept all the little dogs in line there was meat in the bowl that on one was eating. So, the little dogs did what animals do and fought over who would be the next big dog. A fight that didn't care who was in its way as both innocent bystanders and criminals were killed in high numbers. Even with all the FBI and cops flooding the streets to bring order an estimated 2000 people died between the years 1973-1975. Many of whom just so happen to be innocent people who were just in the wrong fucking place at the wrong fucking time.

So ya I truly believe Joe and his agents despite what the media, TV shows, or movies say should have gotten the death penalty for that shit. But anyways by the time the war was over in 1976 the Irish were the ones to come out on top. Controlling Manhattan and most of Brooklyn, with Jewish Mob running Queens, Dogs of Hell in the Bronx and a loosely affiliated group of smaller gangs dividing up Staten Island.

That was until the 1980's when the Juarez Cartel from Mexico came to Staten Island and took over. Followed by the Russian Mob after the fall of the Soviet Union in 91. Who preceded to take over Brooklyn from the Irish. Anyways now that you know what happened before the rise of my gang let's get back to the story.

For the next two years nothing of any real significance had happened for me or the Saints. As the Irish and the Russians warred between themselves, I took the opportunity to slowly expand my gang. Bit by bit over the course of 6 months me and Johnny laid low all of the low-level street gangs around Hell's Kitchen then started to move into the other neighborhoods. By the end of 1998 we had control of most of Lower Manhattan and our number had gone from a measly 54 people to over 1000 strong, not including associates. A big jump for if you ask me seeing as we had started off as little more than pickpockets.

Of course, there was a lot of push back and by the end of our takeover of Lower Manhattan of the 54 people that made up the original Saints 17 had been killed. Leaving only was down to 37 of the originals still alive. No one I was really close to, in fact they really didn't matter in the long run, but it was awkward to see them killed. I know that sounds fucked up, but hey I made the ones who killed them pay for doing so. After all a gang doesn't last long if you let shit like that pass and with Dom it was easy to track their killers down.

Really without Dom the Saints would never have grown as fast as it did. Sure, Johnny and I were good at planning a hit and carrying it out, but without Dom's shadow powers we would never have known when or where to hit our enemies. Never mind having the equipment to carry out the attacks. When the Saints hit the streets, we quicky got into the gambling and the prostitution rackets, but that amount we were bring in combined with the amount we had to pay to the Irish to keep them off our backs wouldn't have been enough to make our moves. But as I said before there was nothing Dom couldn't get his hands on given enough time.

He was our single biggest earner after he ran away from the orphanage, bringing in somewhere up to 10 to 20 grand a month in luxury goods he stole from all over New York City. Yet his real value was in the ability to spy on anyone without them ever knowing he was there. While in his shadow world as I call it, he could go anywhere, hear everything, bring anything into it and never be seen while inside it. There were several downsides to his power, however. One of which was he couldn't interact with the outside world while he was inside this shadow world and some of the laws of reality still existed for him. I didn't know the full extent of what those were, but according to Dom he couldn't fly, travel underground or underwater, nor was he able to teleport from place to place despite what it may have seemed. In his own words the shadow world was like a black and white version of the real world with the only difference being that shadows acted as his doorways. So long as there was a shadow in the room he wanted to enter, there was no room that was impossible for him to enter.

As I am sure you can tell this was a very useful power and one, I had him use to track down our enemies. It may have taken time, but within six months we knew where everyone of their safe houses, store houses, and drug dens were, and we hit all of them. Stealing their cash, drugs and weapons to fund our gang. It was in this way that we were able to make our moves and become powerful faster than we otherwise would have. Something I would find out sooner than I had wished that I would need, but first let me take you cover a few other things before we get into that.

-2000-

The month, year, and date was March 3rd 2000 and that day was defining moment in Saints history. The reason for that was because on that day the Saints moved away from our rather ineffective way of laundering money to a more streamline method by opening our first real business venture. Which would eventually lead to the Saints first legitimate business venture in time. But before I tell you more about the business itself some history is needed.

You see, before I had the Saints hit the streets, I had made several very clear rules for the Saints to follow outside the typical no talking to cops rule you find in every gang. We do not rob, attack, or extort the business and civilians in our territory ever. To be clear and honest with you I didn't do this out of some sense of justice or anything. My reasons were fully selfish and self-serving. I knew people in general were little more than sheep when it came down to it. Oh, sure they hated to admit it but that was what people really were at their core.

People craved safety and assurances like a sheep and counted on the shepherd to protect them. In this case the cops, FBI, and politicians of the day. Needless to say, they failed and failed badly to do that when the gang war started. It was nice and all when all those arrests in the 97 took place, but it did nothing to stop the war between the Irish and the Russians. If anything, the arrests made it worse. Blood was in the water on both sides and they were weak enough to make every little gang in both Manhattan and Brooklyn believe that this was their chance to cut out a piece of the pie for themselves. I don't think I need to tell you the crime rate shot right through the roof.

And there was my opportunity. With the cops spread thin, the FBI not giving a fuck about small fries, and politicians making their normal empty promises the common man was looking for anything that was just a bit better. It's funny that in many ways protection was really the first racket the Saints got involved in. With the only difference being that I didn't demand payment for that protection. I offered it freely and even took it a step further by telling all the Saints to buy their daily necessities from the mom-and-pop stores in the neighborhoods. That way we became part of the financial ecosystem in the neighborhoods. Then when we got big enough, I made it mandatory for all initiated Saints to do charity work around the neighborhoods. In fact, if you wanted to be a Saint you had to prove you were willing to do such work.

Now it took a while, but soon enough we had won enough good will and integrated ourselves with the locals that businesses within those community were willing to launder money for us. After all, we pushed out the more violent gangs, didn't harm their business and in fact contributed to them and made the neighborhoods cleaner and safer to live on. To the common person we were bad people sure, but we were their bad people and doing what the cops should have been doing. Making their communities safer for them and their children. That is not to say everyone loved us and in fact many didn't but they still turned a blinds eye seeing as it was better to deal with the devil you know that one you don't.

Yet while this was good in its own way it wasn't very effective and by year 2000, we were simply making too much money to keep going this way. Even with having to pay off the Irish, some small-time politicians and cops we still made too much to money to move like that. Our gambling operations alone were making millions of dollars a month. Then there were the prostitution rings, and the loan sharking that we got into. And last while we were not directly selling or transporting drugs, we were extruding the dealers that were. In total we were bring in enough that everyone affiliated member of the Saints was getting at least two to three grand a month. As for me and Johnny and Dom it was more like, well I am not sure, but it was enough that we need to find someone to handle our cash.

So, I did the only logical thing that I could do and that was outsource for someone else to deal with it. That someone was a man named Leo Burda who was an ambulance chaser lawyer from Queens. Just to get it out there Leo doesn't play a big part in the story. Mostly because he died in 04 and before you ask no we didn't kill him. He died of a natural heart attack in a way that was less than flattering so I am not going tell how. Anyways Leo was, well Leo was a lot like Harrison. He was cowardly, had wicked bad anxiety and didn't do well at all under pressure. I mean he barely passed the bar and you couldn't put the guy in a courtroom without him falling apart at the seams. It was so bad in fact that Johnny who was the fuck it lets do it type of person questioned me on my choice when I picked him to help us launder the money we were making. Not that I could blame him on that because truthfully if I was him and didn't have a new small ability, I would have questioned myself too.

There was the thing however I did have a new ability after hoarding a good number of points during the last two years. Not enough to unlock anything that was truly powerful in the bang department but was a hell of an ability for scouting talented individuals among other things. The Eyes of Appraisal as it was called cost me over 1500 points to unlock which was a little over half of what I had saved up over the last 2 years, but it did exactly as its name suggested. I could look at anyone or anything and immediately tell if that person had talent or object had value. It didn't give me a whole lot of info but to give you an example picture yourself watching a football game right. Now as you watch the game all the players on the field shine in a bright light. The brighter the light the more talented the individual player was.

This allowed me to literally pick out the diamonds in the ruff with ease. Sadly, the downside of this skill was that it didn't consider things like personality, potential for injuries and things like that, but I could work around that, mostly. I mean I wasn't looking for a star athlete at the time or for the best courtroom lawyer. All I needed was a good lawyer who knew his way around financial law and didn't have much of a backbone. That was Leo in a nutshell. I mean he had no problems working with criminals in the first place anyways. He had a family after all and a failing practice so he couldn't afford to be picky. So, after I tossed him a 100,000 a month to help launder our money, he was on board all the way. And with that amount of money, I don't care who you are you would have trouble saying no to that.

Anyways, after he came on board it didn't take long for him to set up some offshore accounts and shit, I didn't know anything about. The man really was good at what he did and if he wasn't scared shitless of us, I feel he could have taken all our money and we never would have known if he wanted to. Not that he ever would try and so thanks to him we were able to move things along and in fact open our main way of cleaning our money.

That is where I was headed on March 3rd, 2000 to see the opening of said business in Hell's Kitchen. As I walked down the street, I took notice of the changes that had come to Hell's Kitchen over the last few years. The streets were cleaner, and people were walking out in the open without any real worry. There were also people dressed in the Saints colors hanging out on every street corner. Yet no one shied away from them or looked away in fear. Just how no one took any real notice of me. Not even those from my own crew.

Oh, before I forget, while I was the boss of the Saints and wore the colors of the gang it wasn't known that I was in fact the boss. After Johnny had killed Harrison and his cousin Michael was found hanging in his cell, I had taken the opportunity to fade into the background and I appointed a proxy to lead the Saints for me. Someone smart enough to play the part, but not so smart as to think they could really take over. I mean Johnny would kill them in a moment if they even tried but some people were too smart to realize when they were being stupid. We will get more on to him later, however.

I continued to walk down the street for a time till I came to a 3-story building. Stopping in front of it I looked up and read a sign that was in big bold letters that read Gat Record. Named after the one and only Johnny Gat himself who coincidentally was the only one old enough to run a business. Legally I mean. Sure, me and Dom could have faked our ID's but I wanted this to be as legal as it could be. I mean Johnny may have been a known Saint and was famous to both the cops and the people on the streets as a violent psychopathic killer. But they had no evidence that he had killed anyone and that just gave him credibility in the eyes of those street artists of the day.

It was one of those artists and my Eyes of Appraisal that convinced me to open a record label as our first business. Who again consistently made me wonder what the hell type of universe I was in. Perhaps I really shouldn't have been surprised to find Aisha from Saints Row walking down the street with Johnny one day. But was it so wrong to hope that this universe would run off of just one of the known comic books, moive or video game universe instead of a mix and match? Again, perhaps it was.

Moving on, Aisha was the reason I had decided to open Gat Records. For those of you who didn't know who she was in the game Saints Row Aisha was my old worlds equivalent of Beyoncé or Rihanna and had the talent to back up. By using my Eyes of Appraisal I was able to see just how much talent she had and it was like looking into the fucking sun. I mean that is how bright her light was.

I knew right away that her talent could in theory help the Saints become more legitimate faster than I had ever planned. I would never get out of crime, but if I wanted to stand high enough to keep myself from falling under someone else's thumb, I would need legitimacy at some point. And fun fact this universe was missing quite a few key artists. Beyonce and Rihanna didn't even exist in this world. Why? I am not sure but I think it had something to do with the copyright laws of my old world. If their music didn't show up in the movies, they didn't exist in this world or something like that. Not 100 percent sure that was how it worked but whatever it just gave me a shit load of material to steal from.

When I walked into the building I headed upstairs and entered the main office where I found Johnny and Aisha more or less pawing at each other. It made me laugh a bit as I saw this and understood why Johnny seemed so broken up about her when she died in the game. She made him better, you could say. Centered his more violent tendencies while at the same time knowing who he was but not caring in the least. He needed that I think.

Pulling themselves from each other when they hear the door open Johnny looks at me and says, "Hey man check this shit out. The builders did a hell of a job right. Could never tell it was a drug den before now."

"Or the brothel it was before that." I say with a smile of my own.

"Or the place where we chopped up those guys last year. Aw good times." Johnny says and laughs about it.

Only for Aisha to slap him in on back of his head. "Johnny, seriously I don't need to hear about what you boys do when I am not around."

"Come Eesh we are only playing." Johnny says as he grabs her ass.

Pushing him off her Aisha stands up, "Ya whatever so when do we start recording?"

"Soon. Leo is finding you a producer, manager, and anyone else who doesn't have any problem working for a gang affiliated company." I say to her from behind Johnny's but in reality was my desk.

"Shouldn't be a problem seeing as we are dumping a shit load of money into this place. Hell, the equipment alone is worth over a mil or at least it would be if Dom didn't steal the shit." Johnny says, still smiling.

"More than a mil Johnny. In total all this has taken a big chunk of our own personal funds, but it is a small price to pay for what this place will bring in." I said to him,

"Now hold up a minute. Listen Emilio, I told you boys before I don't mind that you guys are pushing your dirty money though this place, but I am not going to be some pop princess bitch who is only around for that, I what to make my music and Johnny promised me I could. So, you better be taking this seriously." Aisha says getting up in my face to do so. Something I had to respect.

"Come on Eesh, lay off it. I already told you we are for real about this." Johnny says to her.

"No Johnny I won't lay off it. I want to hear it from his mouth myself. I want to hear that he is taking this fucking seriously." Aisha lashes out at him.

I just smiled as she yells at us both. While I can't say I was very close to Aisha at this point in time she kind of reminded me of my sisters and how we always fought with each other all the time. Something I missed dearly and was happy to experience again.

"Aisha believes me when I say I am thinking this very seriously. I am sure Johnny has already told you about some of my abilities. So, I know just how talented you really are. Even more so than you probably know yourself. Running our money through this place is only temporary. My overall plan is to take this place and build it into one of the most powerful labels out there and you Aisha are the key to that happening." I say in a dead serious voice.

Looking at me closely for a moment she finally backs off, "Fine now where is Dominic? Shouldn't he be here today?"

Johnny looks away from her, not answering her. Her and Dom had a kind of brother sister thing going on lately so he was not really willing to tell her where he was at this time. So, I answer for him. "He is busy."

Giving a dry laugh she says, "Busy? Right where the hell did you two jackasses send him this time. The boy should be in school. I mean you two are lost causes anyways, but he is smart. He could really be something if he wanted to be."

"Ow that hurts Eesh." Johnny says playfully.

I then add, "He is something Aisha and is where he wants to be."

-POV Dominic-

We all start off innocent. Nobody and I mean nobody start off as what they eventually become in life. Me for instance, I was not always what I ended up being. Before the Saints were my family, Johnny my brother and Aisha my sister I had a family. I had a mom, a dad and a sister. I had the same normal everyday problems that every kid has. My life before was normal.

Looking back, I lived a good life for the first 12 years of my life. My dad worked 12 hour shifts and my mom 10 to give me and my sister everything they never had. Yet while they were all ways so busy, they were always able to make time for us. We went to the parks to play, Coney Island on the weekends and were always there for our school plays or whatever. A child could not ask for better parent. It was to bad those good times had to come to an end when we were caught in a drive by shooting that saw my family murdered right before my eyes.

I can still see their bodies, my dad and mom laying on top of me and my sister trying to keep us safe but failing to do so. My sister crying in pain from several shots to the stomach which would eventually leading to her death a few hours later at the hospital. And me walking away from it all with not a scratch. Only to suffer a fate that was even worse than dying. I was the one who had to deal with the cops and watch as the system let my family's killers walk free.

My mom and dad had taught me as a kid that cops were my friends, the system worked, and bad guys went to jail. But even after I gave them the license plate number of the car and a description of several of the guys who did the shooting it took them months to make an arrest. Only for them to be released and all charges drop because a kid couldn't be counted on to be a reliable witness. It was a tragedy of justice, if there was such a thing. I would find out later those cops were paid off to drop the charges.

Then I was moved to that shithole of an orphanage where no one was ever adopted. Now I hate to sound conceited but damaged as I was, I was a good-looking kid. The type of kid people would love to have as a son but like I said no one was ever adopted there. But I was still good looking, what some would call a pretty boy and like the good-looking girls I was treated very well and for the same reasons. Needless to say, I didn't like the idea of what my fate would have been if Johnny hadn't found me.

Johnny never said why he took me under his wing so to speak but I was grateful, nonetheless. A gratefulness I paid back by helping Johnny help the Boss take over New York. Something that I was often conflicted about as a kid seeing as the things, I would end up doing made me no better than the criminals who took my family away from me. I put that out of my mind at the time however because by joining them I had a chance to vent my anger on those I felt responsible for what happen. It would only be later that I would come to realize I had become that which I hated but looking back I don't regret a thing. I was happy to kill all those people proud even.

Like I was with my first kill back in 98. We had just started to make moves on the streets of Hell's Kitchen. Johnny and the Boss with my help tracked down every low-end dealer, or gang member who didn't want to pay up to the Irish and kill them. Often in the most brutal fashion they could think of. I can still remember one time when the boss beat a man to death right in front of the original 54 Saints as a message of what happens when you try to stand against him. It was a horrifying thing to behold but it got the point across. Mostly that is.

From the very beginning the Boss made it very clear the Saints were not to sell drugs. At least not yet that was. He didn't what the type of heat that would bring down on us at such an early stage of our existence, but not everyone wanted to obey that rule. One such person was Trever Pittman, a 16-year-old punk kid who didn't believe in following rulers. He had guts, I will give him that seeing as he sold drugs even after the Boss killed that man in front of him or perhaps, he was just stupid.

Whatever it was he was eventually busted trying to transport a truck load of coke across state lines. In fear of going away for what looked like 10 to 40 he was ready to talk about something worse. Like all the murders the Boss and Johnny had committed over the past year. Now it would be safe to say he didn't know any real details or had any evidence about them but that would still get the cops attention. We couldn't have that and unluckily for him we had a few cops on the payroll. As he waited for his lawyer to arrive so he could cut a deal I had used my powers to get into his cell and kill him with a single gunshot to the head. I remember him begging for his life before I pulled the trigger and how I showed no mercy for betraying us.

Yet, while I felt no pity or shame for killing him, I did feel guilty for the boy's family. Unlike me, Johnny, or the Boss, he not an orphan. His father at his worst was a drunk and mother worked 60 hours a week to feed her children. They were good people for the most part and he even had two little sisters who thought the world of him. Really, he should never have even been in the gang. Perhaps it was the fantasy gang lifestyle they sing about in rap songs that appeared to him. Whatever the reason, I still put a bullet in him. Sadly, the sheer look of despair on the faces of his family when they buried him still haunts my dreams to this day. His and so many others as well.

Anyways the date March 3rd, 2000 was a very important date in my life. Not just because it was the day Gat Records had opened but also because it would be the day the war between the Russians and Irish would end. As well as being the day I would meet one of the most important people of my life.

I still remember the day like it had happened yesterday. The Boss had called me into the warehouse where the Saints began. While by this point, we had more than enough money to move our main headquarters to any number of locations, the Boss preferred to use this place as the meeting ground for all his top officers. So, there was no surprise that he wanted to meet there, but it was that he would called me. It was no secret among the upper officers that we didn't get along well so generally he had Johnny call me on his behalf. The fact that he was calling me personally told me right away that he needed something delegate taken care of. Something that he wanted done without a whole lot of noise.

When I showed up late like I always do when he calls me just so I could piss him off he gave it to me straight. It was time to terminate our agreement with the Irish. I knew this day would come sooner or later. From day one it was made very clear to Johnny and me that they were just a means to an end. They had most of the cops, politicians and judges in Manhattan in their pockets. People we needed if we wished to grow as an organization and people we wouldn't get because we couldn't pay them what the Irish could at the time. So, to get around this problem we paid the Irish for the right to use their connections while pretending we were weaker than them. Something that was not all that hard to do seeing as we were at the time.

Things changed however and by 1999 we were making more than the Irish seeing as they couldn't do business with the ongoing war with the Russians was taking place. We were in fact their only dependable source of income by 1998 onwards. This fact caused them to try and squeeze as much money out of us as they could. Never realizing that the Boss kept giving into their demands so as to make them easier to deal with later on. It was a classic slight of hand move. While we did one thing with one hand they didn't pay attention to what we were doing with the other. Leading them to believe he or we were weak and obedient. They really should have realized the Boss was only pretending he was so as to give us time to pick away at all their connections.

Oh, sure they realized it eventually, but they were so preoccupied in their little war they never thought to look at what was happening around them. It was a classic case of tunnel vision. They put too much focus on winning that they forgot to keep on top of those that would look to replace them. Though that probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for all those arrested in 97 and the Russians hadn't hurt their pride by taking Brooklyn from them in the first place. Pride often leads to a down far as the saying goes.

Regardless, the damage was done and in a desperate gamble they called a meeting with the Russian leadership to talk about a truce. While the Russians were winning the war they were suffering too. Their violent and often over the top use of force brought them a lot of attention from the cops and FBI. More so than the Irish and their operations were being busted left and right. So, they too were having money troubles and without money you can't hope to control anything. As proven when the Jewish Mob started to push back at them. They were losing control and they knew it, so a truce was their best choice.

That's why I was here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that day. I liked to go there to help calm my nerves, before I did a hit. Something about being surrounded by all that art was calming for me. Especially when it came to the landscapes. I couldn't tell you why they calmed me, but they did and seeing as I was about to kill quite a few people I needed that.

It wouldn't be too hard to kill them. With my power and knowledge about where they were meeting, killing them would be fairly easy. Little did I know that while I was getting my head in the game so to speak, 4 people in the museum that day would walk up to me and speak.

"Hello there." A feminine voice called out to me.

Looking over I spotted a gorgeous 5'6 red head, a 6'3 broad shoulder, All-American looking white boy who I could tell was a bit of a prick, a blond African American, and a very emo looking pale white girl with brown hair and a white streak in said hair.

Looking at them I ignore them for the most part, but the red head just keeps talking. "My name is Jean Gray, and I was wondering if we could have a moment of your time."