A/N: I'm sorry. I'm a terrible author, I write a few chapters and then I disappear. But, since I've been playing Saints Row IV, I want to finish this story before going onto the next part of this saga. I'm gonna try and finish this in 5 chapters or less. Don't worry, I won't skimp on anything either. So yeah. Thank you to those who faved this and left reviews, it's highly appreciated. Anyway, let's continue without further interruption.

This takes place after the "Save Shaundi" ending of Saints Row: The Third.

All the characters you recognize from the series do not belong to me. I own The Protagonist, Erebia and the plot line. Everything else is copyrighted to Volition and THQ.

Refuse Thy Name
Chapter 2

The boss sat across from her child, her lost bundle of joy, fresh faced and newly arrived from Stilwater. A small smile crept onto her face. Her earthy eyes reflected the smaller one's pair. The air was still in the office, just the boss, and her child.

"It's been so long, Erebia." She uttered. Titanic glass windows kept the atmosphere quiet, though outside were flocks of birds fluttering about. The boss angled herself forward to inspect Erebia's face. "You've grown... So much."

Soft. Her child's face was always soft, with cheeks that would puff with adorable aggravation when she's called half-pint, or fill with laughter when she's tickled. There was always a glow to Erebia's features, even while her eyes are sated with a deep sadness. Like they were right then.

"Mom..." Erebia started, "Couldn't you have just come back home?" The small teenager curled her form up in the luxurious seat presented for her. Spacious office area became filled with tension. Erebia never wanted to question her mom, she knew she always did what she needed to for Erebia's sake, so she wouldn't deal with the hardships she did in her younger days. But, even though Stilwater was a lion's den, and Erebia the lamb for the hunt, it was home. The only place she ever knew.

A deep, sullen sigh is released, before Erebia's mother stood. Primmed fingers, nails carefully painted in a dark cerise clasp behind her. Her stride was slow, and careful, bringing her to one of the grand windows that overlook her Steelport... Her and Erebia's Steelport.

"You know... One day I'm going to be too tired to do this any longer. I won't be able to manage all these people, keep up with this city. I've done so much to take this city from the Syndicate. It's mine now. Ours, now." The leader of the Saints turned to her daughter. "Stilwater is our home, yeah... But this is our new home. And Erebia, soon you're going to have to take all of this over for me. Run this empire I made, for you."

"I don't want it, Mom."

The boss exhaled again. She was afraid of that. She knows her daughter isn't the same as her, she doesn't take a thrill in stealing money, jacking cars, running a gang. But she's her only one. Someone has to take over. "Erebia. Stilwater is just, too dangerous. You'll be safer here. No one is going to bother you here. You have everything in Steelport."

"But I don't want to be here, Mom! I just want to go back home!" Erebia squalled out. The bite of heated tears tore at her eyes, but she wasn't going to let her mom see her cry.

The boss simply shakes her head. "You'll see, darling. It's better here." She knew what this was; she's just a teenager. Hormones and all. This is best for her.

Erebia stood up from her seat, fists clenched. "Where's Uncle Gat, Mom? I just wanna get something to eat right now."

Her heart leapt into her throat with that name. Gat. Johnny Gat. Who didn't survive the trip to Steelport. "Honey..." The leader's voice grew low. "Your Uncle Gat... He... He wasn't so lucky."

Still. Everything in the world, in that moment, suddenly was still. Erebia couldn't find the beat in her heart. Did it stop? She can see her mother mouthing two words. Just two.

"He's gone."

The doors slammed open, the smaller of the two crashing out of the room. The boss settled into her desk again, elbows to the cherry oak, her hands cradling her hidden face. Was that the way to tell her? Should she have even said anything to her? She had to know eventually, Gat was her uncle! To not tell her would be worse. But now Erebia's even more broken up, and it was her fault.

Her own tears sunk into her palms. So much she had to do and deal with, as a mother, and the leader of the Saints.

Shaundi and Pierce had it set up so Erebia has her own room, with a queen size bed, a desk, a 120-inch plasma flatscreen TV, all of the latest consoles and video games, drawers filled with the essentials and a pile of gift cards from the various clothing stores in Steelport. They argued over if she liked the fashions of Nobody Loves Me more instead of Let's Pretend, Shaundi siding with the later and Pierce for the former, so they just gave her a few thousands worth of both gift cards, respectively. Under the bed's canopy, laid a quiet Erebia. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, gazing beyond it.

She'd been crying for two hours now, almost. She just, couldn't believe it. Her Uncle Gat, gone? She couldn't believe it for anything, even if it came from her own mother's mouth. Erebia knows what her uncle is like; wild, almost unstoppable. The honey-skinned teenager flipped herself face-down onto the bed, tears stinging at her eyes again. She didn't want to think about it any longer. She just wanted to forget. Forget, and just have time stop.

A rapping at the door sounded. Erebia leaned up to look, before replying, her voice hushed. "Come in."

Kinzie enters, with two laptops. "Hey, your mom told me you're kinda into tech like me? She told me to get you a laptop you can tinker with... So, yeah."

Erebia sits up, and looks at the two laptops. One was stock, factory parts with probably 2gbs of RAM from what she knows about that particular model. The other, was a true beauty. An ET-Mind 2300x Chrome Edition with Shutters 8, or at least that's what is usually loaded onto that machine. But this one had a fingerprint scanner installed on the side. Considering that, Shutters 8 might not be the only OS on this machine. Erebia looks at the technogeek, "I'm hoping that machine-" She points at the one in her right arm, "-Is mine."

"Hah! You wish, this is mine, I customized the inner workings myself. New fan, more RAM, more hard drive space, you name it." Kinzie boasted, before relenting. "Of course, the one I got for you is nice too, I guess. I wouldn't use it."

Erebia gestured the FBI agent into her barely humble abode. "Come sit! And let me use your laptop! I'm hoping you have encryptions set on your hard drive." Kinzie closed the door behind her, kicking off her sneakers. She plopped both laptops onto the plum bedsheets, beside Erebia. "So, I'm guessing that's a ET-Mind 2300x Chrome..."

"Edition with Bivouac, loaded with Shutters, Zac and Ooobootwo. I'm amazed you know the model!" Kinzie nodded, she appeared impressed. "Know anything about the Crypto-Web?"

"Is the sky blue?" Quipped the younger nerd.

The ginger geek gave a nod with a smirk, "I think I may have some extra parts to spare for your laptop..."

"Then let's get to it!" Erebia's spark returned to her face. Although the thought of her Uncle Gat rests in the back of her head, she was going to try and make the best of this move. She can see that possibility in her mother's subsidiary, especially since Kinzie seems to know about computers and technology.

Six hours later, Kinzie and Erebia are spread about on the boss' daughter's bed. Flash drives, external drives, two wireless keyboards, some CDs, and some boxes of pizza surround the two, feverishly typing their lives away. Erebia's laptop, with some help from Kinzie, was updated up to par. The duo slammed fingertips into alphanumerical keys, that blue glow seeping into their skin. Communication between the two went from speaking in person, and slowly devolved into sending messages between each other over the internet. Despite the two being right next to each other.

The Crypto-Web is the darker side of the internet, the deep underlayers of the cyber world that most people don't know about beyond Stroodle and LifeDiary. Various things can be found here, from midget race horse porn to beheadings. Kinzie and Erebia were logged into a chatroom on the network Ethernet Relay Dialog or nERD.

***boot32 has entered the chatroom.
boot32: sorry guys, d/c
kinzIsGenius: wb
AdminDeezNuts: wb boot
boot32: right so i just need to find more things to do, i just moved and everything here just looks boring
sourkiss: where'd u move boot
boot32: steelport
***R4gn0r0k has entered the chatroom.
kinzIsGenius: nope, gtg
***kinzIsGenius has quit. (Not going to be in the same chat as you, lameass.)

Erebia peered up from her screen, after hours of staring at it. "Why'd you leave?"

"That's Matt Miller," Kinzie said, tapping her finger on her screen, right on the name R4gn0r0k. "He used to be the leader of the Deckers in Steelport before the boss ran him out of here. He's such a little bitch." Fzzt! The fizzle of a freshly popped can of Saints Flow sounded into the stale atmosphere. "Rather than die with some honor, he fled the country." The ginger geek gulped down some of the energy drink. Erebia turned her attention back to the chat.

AdminDeezNuts: sup r4g
R4gn0r0k: nothing, glad that bitch is gone
R4gn0r0k: always in my bloody chats
boot32: hello!
R4gn0r0k: when did we allow n00bs in here?
boot32: n00b? I'm not a noob, punk bitch
AdminDeezNuts: hey cut the bullshit before i off both of you
sourkiss: boot there's an arcade party there in steelport on saturday if ur game
boot32: sounds boss, pm me the details

Kinzie stole a glance at Erebia's laptop screen while another window popped up with a private message from sourkiss, disclosed were the details of the arcade party. 13+, free play on the machines and dubstep, house and drum'n'bass.

"Sounds good... But I'm not the outside type." Kinzie took another long slurp of her energy drink, closing her laptop. "I'm going to my inner sanctum, I'll send you the coordinates if you ever wanna stop by and plug in again."

The fluffy haired daughter of the Patron Saint waved, "Sounds good!" Another private message window popped up, this one from R4gn0r0k.

PM – R4gn0r0k: You'll do well to know that I own Steelport, if that's where you reign from. You've been warned!

Erebia scoffed, and typed back.

PM – boot32: kiss my ass, dude, you don't got shit on me

***boot32 has quit. (Night everyone, ttyl)

Dainty hands come to close her laptop. She pushed the items collected on her bed to the side, and flops backward under the bed's canopy. "Arcade party... I love arcades..." The prodigal daughter allowed her tired eyes to slide close, and she was soon fast asleep. Dreams of a terpsichore beat and colors, and happy memories of her Uncle Gat fill her mind through the night.

A/N: Let me explain the names for the items and things, and what they're spoofing.

ET-Mind - AlienWare
Shutters - Windows
Zap - Mac
Ooobootwo - Ubuntu
Crypto-Web - Deep Web/Net
Bivouac - Boot Camp
nERD - mIRC
Stroodle - Google
LifeDiary - Facebook

Anyway, I'm gonna continue writing the next chapter. This might span a little farther than 5 chapters, but they'll definitely be long, to help you guys cope. Thank you for reading, please read and review, and maybe fave.