Saints Row: Decker Ascension

by SaintOfAllSaints01

Directly after the defeat of Matt Miller, the cyber hacker of the Syndicate and leader of the Deckers has officially left Steelport and went for a new city instead of returning back to Britain. With his girlfriend Kirsten by his side, Matt will rise to power once again and and bring the Deckers to a higher place as a gang and get pushed into tough and tragic situations.

4. Secret Of The Syndicate & Nightmares

Chapter 4: Secret Of The Syndicate/Nightmares

Crystal City 2:00PM:

It had been a few hours since Matt and Kristen had finished eating at Déjà vu Parlor. Since their leave from the place, Kristen had been very edgy about walking with Matt in public like this while holding the case with 'special goods' in it. If she had complete control, she would've been able to drag Matt back to their loft in a swift pounce. But she didn't. While begging to draw themselves back to their apartment, Kristen had spotted what looked like to be a clothing store. It had appeared to be something very similar to Nobody Loves Me back in Steelport. The place however appeared to be more gothic than the one back there. This place had steam punk written all over the place and not just the inside, but the outside as well.

The thing that was a funny combination for the crew of Matt's was the fact that they were mixed between two notable interests and fascinations. The technological and the gothic styles of theirs. Matt had never carried any regret for that choice, but there were times when it seemed as if it confused him greatly. Now the culture followed by the gang appeared to have formulated onto Kristen's mind tight as well.

Matt, being the stubborn one of the two kept regretting the actions he did when he denied to return to the loft just yet. Because now he and Kristen had been here for five hours! Matt had lost interest of patience and decided to use his phone to look up information about new hacking methods that he wanted to try out and maybe put them to good use while being residents of Crystal City and not being close to broke when the remaining members of the crew were to settle in.

Matt smiled to himself as he read on and on about one method in particular. This one allowed hackers like Matt to just walk near the place and choose a bug of his own he desired by choice. And if bypassed into the system effectively, the funds from the systems would start to pour into the hacker's account in mere seconds. However, Matt's grin turned into a frown as he considered more possibilities by this method: Was there a chance that this was a planned hacking method to draw people like Matt out and catch them off guard from being over confident with their abilities and apprehend the thief with maximum force? And what were the chances that this hack could be tracked on his device without him suspecting it? So many possibilities all rained into his head and cluttered his every thought up, it almost pained him greatly.

Meanwhile inside of the changing room Kristen was in, the Elite Specialist was putting on some heavily darkened leggings and a whole mixture of clothes that resembled those attracted to Goth styles. Compared to her Decker outfit, this clothing was just as dark, almost like it was midnight darker. She checked the back mirror and overlooked her fashion style, nodding to herself too as she watched her body when she moved it. She did possess that models would do, and almost gave flirty looks to the mirror too. See then looked down to her feet and looked at a pair of boots she had picked out before. She admired the shape and texture given to make the boots complete. They were clearly reliable just by staring at them and were rainproof like steel cap boots. Kristen proceeded to put both on one after the other, first being the right and then the left. It was a slight challenge for her to put them on, but she enjoyed that part most since she liked a nice tight fit when it came to footwear. Who couldn't complain about it when your feet were placed in right at the end?

Once they were on completely, the look of her posture with the new clothes implied that she had gotten good picks. When looking back to the mirror once again, she noted that she looked at least three or four inches taller. The boots she had included heels at the back of them, proving to make her look taller.

"Yes. This is just what I want." Kristen concluded satisfied from her looks. "Why couldn't Steelport have nice clothes like this?"

"Hey, Kristen?" Matt called from outside. "You alright in there?"

"Yeah, I am. Wanna go and see how I look?" Kristen asked.

On the outside, Matt sighed and put his phone in his pants pocket before heading to the door. He might as well see her dressed up. After all, he was paying for everything see got here and waiting patiently was also a generous gift for her. (Ladies, men are not cash machines!)

"Sure, I would love to see what you've picked out."

"Oh Matt, you're so sweet." Kristen said on the other side in a cute voice. The door to the changing room then opened up and Matt decided to give peaks to all of her fashion, hoping this was all worth it.

When Kristen had walked out on both heeled boots, Matt could no longer breathe. While he had to admit that this all would be annoyingly costly for his account, he also had to admit that her fashion sense wasn't out of style. Not in this generation today at least. Her current gothic features mixed with her new clothes made her look as if she was a beauty queen. In a Goth's sense at least. Kristen's current style had her dark leggings, a black mini-skirt like her first one, but cleaner and made from some special leather. The upper part of her body had a tank top that looked dark like her leggings. The top part of her red Decker bra at least remained in sight, though it was at least two centimeters of viewing range. She had twin leather arm bands that wrapped around her arms as tight as a snake's silky body. There was a vest that went around her body, so she wasn't just wearing the tank top above. Her arms remained as naked bare skin though. Around her neck a rubber belt was worn there and made one whole lap around. For some reason she wanted it there.

"K-K-Kristen… you look… just… wow…" Matt attempted, but remained speechless after his short compliment. His speechless reaction was enough for Kristen however. She smiled at him with glee in her eyes, knowing that being close to Matt was nearly as simple as ABC.

"Thanks, Matty." Kristen replied. She then turned back into the changing room and looked at her Decker Specialist clothes with some thoughts. She didn't want to cripple her new clothes just yet. So she went back into the changing room to get back into her uniform, leaving Matt outside with a disappointed expression that wanted to her come back in that clothing. He was dying on the inside, yet appeared merely teased on the outside.

In about ten minutes, Kristen popped back out wearing her standard uniform, minus her rollerblades, considering her own awkwardness walking in public with wheel underneath her two shoes. Satisfied with her clothes, she looked into Matt's face and gave a sweet smile, indicating she wanted something. Matt didn't like the impression she was aiming for, the cursed smile. It maimed his heart and pulled out his feelings for her.

'God, it's like watching NyteBlade and seeing Marian die! This beautiful face just makes me want to cry!'

Unknowingly, Matt had handed her a card that belonged him. He would've given it to her, but her face just made every action seemed unnoticeable by him. Giving her the plastic card full of money seemed like something he couldn't resist either. (We are not cash machines, once again.)

At the cash register, Kristen had a grin on her face while being served. She knew that all this stuff was going to make her happy, since even she knew she looked good in it all. Even reading Matt's almost breathless expressions had confirmed this for her.

Matt watched as the transaction took place. Knowing his importance for this matter, he awaited for the moment where he had to bring in his account details in order to successfully get her what she wanted. The cashier gave Matt looks as the male Goth put in his details. It was becoming a lot more common in this city to be watched as a newcomer here. This was really starting to piss Matt off, but it also was serving as an unsettling thing for him. If Matt was to be seen in public with people watching him like this, then everyone would know of him a lot easier. A simple hack would change who he is by name and claims, but that is only a small part of the deal that would erase the evidence of his location. He would always be noticeable, whether he is or is not Matt Miller.

Outside of the store, Kristen held everything as best as she could. She had at least three bags worth of merchandise in her one hand while keeping the case secure in the right. She had noticed that she and Matt had spent quite a few hours in the store, which she was suddenly feeling guilty for making the hacker wait.

"Well, I guess this'll all come in handy." Kristen said eyeing her new products before facing the cyber hacker. "Thank you for the new clothes, Matt. You're so sweat." Kristen then gave him a peck on the check in gratitude.

"It… was no problem." Matt says with both a humble feeling for making her happy and a small nerve that remained about his loss of cash. However, he could gain a lot more than what he had spent soon enough.

"Let's head back to the apartments." Kristen says. "I don't think we should be out much longer."

"Why do you say that? It's only…" Matt started before he grabbed his phone out again and looked at the screen, reading the time with his mind. "…fifteen past two. There's still going to be enough daylight for at least five more hours."

"I know, but I've been really anxious to show you what I need you to understand. Because it is highly top secret information and if we were to be discovered with all this, we just might be killed." Kristen says in a mere whisper, which intrigued Matt further. Kristen's indicated fear of their inputted situation meant that something was defiantly wrong.

"Jesus, what have you got to show me?" Matt asks in a serious tone.

Kristen remained silent for a moment and she walked towards the apartment Matt and her were staying in. Matt just followed expecting her to answer, since the look in her eyes and movement on her lips implied that part. "Plans."

"Plans? What kind of plans?" Matt asked.

"I don't wish to reveal more out here." Kristen says. "So just please leave it back at the loft. I'll show you there."

"Alright, but don't keep me in anymore suspense when we get there." Matt says.

"Don't think I wanted to do this. It is the only way to be assured that we're safe and nothing leaks out." Kristen replied.

"If you say so, then I'll take your work for it." Matt replied.

Then the two Goths went back to their apartment, unaware that someone was watching them. The same man who wore the military armor and high class suit stood at the window of one tall building with his shades scanning the two. He didn't understand why the female had a lot of bags with her. He wasn't watching them when they were in the store. Instead he had been busy with other needs. Spotting them here just now was a convenient moment. His STAG helmet head covered his emotions, but even he was he had spotted them.

"So, you have found them." A voice echoed behind the spy. He turned back and noted a plasma TV with a camera attached to it on. A black tall shadow of a many figure stood there, watching the window watcher. There were literally no other features to see of this man, other than his body shape. Even his voice was edited to keep anyone from hearing what it really sounded like.

"Yes. They appear to be acting like tourists, shopping around like they did have a major role. Should I take them out to make sure they don't case any trouble?"

The darkened figure stood there in silence like a black statue for a few moments, as if questioning his choice of actions. "Not yet. We'll see if they're worth killing. They could prove to be promising allies."

"Very well, sir." The spy replied.

Zimos' Pad:

The Boss and Zimos were both sitting on kitchen stools while watching Pierce work out his final parts of his plan. The creation of the plan left the leader of the Saint yarning over three dozen times. Normally he would've cut in about over four hours ago, but instead he just listened to the celebrity blabber on about his plan and how 'good' it was. Oddly enough, the liquor in his system had seemed to jack up his patience by a skyrocketing amount, which broke all sense of logic since it was The Boss who sat there, silently watching Pierce. Zimos did the same, with the exact amount of boredom like The Boss had.

Pierce had got a drawing board that had had what looked like to be the Luchadore turf that Killbane resided in. Pierce had the businesses marked in on the map with a red marker. The rest of the map was in black and white so it was easy to define the locations easily. His right hand continued to hold the marker as he watched and spoke about the map.

"Alright, so the Luchadores have these businesses that work for selling' goods that happen to appear at the barge just on the opposite side of the Three Count Casino." Pierce explained and put the red marker on one of the roads and marked it to where the ships were. He then continued to speak. "While we're all trashing up their companies, one of us will have to head to the ship and destroy everything they have stolen before they can even get a chance to do deals someplace else."

"Alright, so how will this work? Should we go into separate groups of two and blow the shit up?" The Boss finally spoke up.

"Yeah. We'll have one group go after the companies and a group of the boys will go and destroy their shit before they can even react. It's perfect." Pierce says.

"Alright, but if we're going to do this right, we're gonna have to take some big guns." The Boss says.

"I already came up with the idea of the attack chopper, remember? That'll be even better than shitting in their faces." Pierce says.

"Dropping led in they faces does seem like an even better idea. But the chance that their RPGs will shoot me down is very high." The Boss says.

"Sounds like you want to use the chopper then?" Pierce asked.

"Fuck right." The Boss replied.

"Well I think you should use that thing to destroy the shipment first and then you can cover us from above." Pierce explained.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." The Boss responded.

"So, the plans are done. What do ya wanna do now?" Pierce asked.

"Eh, things are just pretty slow today. We ain't dealing with anyone else yet, so I assume we won't have to worry about attacks from Luchadores or STAG for a bit. Wanna go to Technically Legal?" The Boss asked.

"Hell yeah. Let's get back to my rid-" Pierce started before he remembered the tragic doom that had been inflicted on his vehicle. Since it was gone, they didn't have a ride to drive in. "Awwwh… man…"

The Boss laughed at Pierce's reaction and patted his second-in-command on the shoulder. "Don't worry Pierce; I'll get us a ride." He then turned to Zimos who sat in the same spot in silence while watching the two. "Hey Zimos, wanna join us as well?"

"Nah, baby. Why would I go to strippers when I can stay home and tap ass?" Zimos asked.

"Good point, I guess." The Boss replied. "See you soon, Z."

The duo then left the 'Palace Of Zimos and went outside. Pierce looked towards his car wreckage and saw the rising smoke still coming from it. His heart broke when he looked at it. Judging the style it was before he got attacked by STAG, it would be easy to guess that he had only bought it new not too long ago.

"Man, that thing cost me a lot to keep in condition and now here it is, trashed and blown the fuck up." Pierce whined.

"Don't sweat it, Pierce. Cars aren't hard to come by, and they are easy to grab." The Boss says.

"Easy for you to say. You seem to be lucky when it comes to cars. You see a car on the street and the motherfucker is with its own set of balls. I grab one and the piece of shit blows us after a few hits!" Pierce argued.

"You're just pissed because you lost your car." The Boss retorted back.

"That's the point though, it was brand new and it blew up after one attack! You drive a car and it lasts for minutes of bullets flanking at it!" Pierce says. "That's fuckin' bullshit right there."

"Pierce, I said to fucking relax!" The Boss says back and then looked at a car at a parking space. It, like Pierce's car… or whatever it was, was also a Bootlegger. The Boss grinned at the chances of finding one right now. "See Pierce, which can be your new car. All we have to do is steal it."

"It isn't new though. Someone else must already own it." Pierce complained.

"Jesus Pierce, I never pictured you acting like a bitch like this. I'm pretty sure you were used to driving some other person's wheels a few years back. Has the celebrity bullshit made you think you're better?"

"That's not what I'm saying…" Pierce started.

"Pierce. A car is a car. I steal them all the time and make them newer. I don't have to buy cars just to get a good one." The Boss says.

"Forget it." Pierce says.

"Now, let's take this fucker for a spin." The Boss says before he went running at the car and did a 'BO-DUKE-EN!' through the window… only to smash the passenger window, hit his head at the top of the roof of the car and land in the front seat with glass on himself.

"AH, FUCK!" The Boss shouted in agony.

Pierce couldn't hold it in. Despite all his madness for losing his car after STAG has severely damaged it, he enjoyed sudden laugh he had let out from his body. The laughing was so loud that the entire neighborhood had looked towards Pierce. Apparently his laughter was a lot louder than the smash of the window to the car. While Pierce enjoyed the laughing, The Boss saw things from a… different perspective. His eyes were in rage from a moment while looking at the car's ceiling. The pain was so intense and unexpected that he just suddenly wanted to grab his 45 Shepherd and shoot at everyone to make himself feel better. Then the anger had gotten so intense that he had gone full circle. He slowly got up and turned to Pierce with a frown of annoyance instead.

"Alright, Pierce. You enjoyed seeing that. Now can we just hurry up and go to Technically Legal?" The Boss asked.

"Ah, sure, alright then, Boss." Pierce says shooting the last bits of laughter from his mouth and then popped inside the car along with his leader.

"Hopefully their girls can be enough entertainment for the next few hours… and keep my mind off of this head pain… and the glass…" The Boss says with a sigh.

"You sure you want to drive? I could always take the wheel again." Pierce suggests.

"Nah, fuck that. I'm a better driver, Pierce." The Boss says before starting up the car with the keys that just happened to be inside of it. Whoever owned this wasn't smart, and they would soon realize their mistake when their car isn't there anymore.

Matt's And Kristen's Loft:

The two Goths had arrived back to their room safely without a hitch. Their day was smooth and relatively quiet, aside from the streets being filled with thousands of people. At least in rooms like theirs, solitude was an appreciated leverage when not demanding to be disturbed.

Matt and Kristen sat at a small table that sat in the lounge room near the couches. The two teens were next to each other while looking at the outside of the case. Kristen had both her hands on it and looked at Matt directly in the face, demanding for him to look back. He did, with eyes of curiosity into her ocean blue eyes.

"Alright. I'm going to have to be sure you're ready for this." Kristen stated. "The contents of this case must not leave this room, EVER, until the others have arrived and we have a good spot to set up in. Is that something you understand?" Kristen asked with her first lines being with an American accent attached with it.

"Alright. I understand. I just don't get why you would be so stuck up about this though." Matt admits.

"I'm not being 'stuck up' about it, Matt. But everything here is literally as valuable as anything the rest of the Syndicate had ever seen. Only Mister Loren and Killbane ever knew of these plans." Kristen says. "Now, take a breath. What I'm about to show you is something you will not believe."

The two hands of Kristen then slipped off of the top of the case slowly and reached down to the lock, which she opened with a key she must've found. The sudden click from the case implied that it was exposed to anyone who had their hands on it. The case then was released from Kristen's bare hands and proceeded to open itself, like a mobile station. Matt stared in awe as he watched it bend into a small work station like desk. There were many sheets of paper and a small laptop inside, which Matt found very intriguing to the eye. There were at least fifty in the estimation of Matt's.

"Wow, this is amazing. Why would you consider this stuff you have here to be life threatening for us to reveal in public?" Matt asked.

Kristen sighed and put her hands to her forehead in annoyance. "Matt. Read the papers."

"Alright, but I don't see why you are making me do this." Matt replied.

There were at least fifty sheets of white paper laid flat down, so it appeared blank at the top, but really was filled with text and images at the bottom. Matt flipped over one sheet and examined the writing on it. He also read it out carefully.

Stage One: The Syndicate Welfare Of Stilwater

Notes by Phillipe Loren:

It was at this point that Matt was reading this out loud and in Phillipe's voice in his head. He was curious about these pieces of paper and now wanted to know what the plans were.

Upon the economic takeover of Stilwater, the beginning of dictatorship will commence after the elimination of the street gang known as 'The Third Street Saints'. The bribery of the Stilwater Police Department will settle our beginning operations of the city until we can be assured full assets are acquirable from the company titled 'Ultor Media Group'. Upon gaining the right funds from Ultor, the Morningstar will move in and advance over to low rate businesses and take them over. Either by spending a substantial amount of funds, or driving the managers out with demands or their untimely deaths. Upon taking over the city, The Morningstar and Luchadores will split up turf. Seventy percent under Morningstar's control and the remaining thirty is under Mister Killbane's desire.

Upon taking most businesses, Stilwater Police Department will start to eye the Syndicate off and start demanding answers, along with occasional bribery from stores. This act of the Police will not be welcomed into Syndicate Stilwater and we'll be forced to drive them out, leaving the city with the organization running things. The Syndicate will no longer bow to no one in Stilwater. That is the future.

Matt stopped reading after he had finished the first of man pages. The pieces weren't fully sized, which made going through them seem less annoying. "Well, this would appear to be a theory Mister Loren had when he was making plans years ago, before the Deckers were joined into the circle."

"You may want to check the date on that bit of paper, Matt." Kristen says.

"Alright, but I don't see why this has to do with anything. After all, this was clearly made…" Matt said while looking at the date of the bit of paper, his face turning into a confused glance while taking in on the date. April 18, 2013. "This was done two years ago?"

"Exactly. If this is only confusing you, read onwards and you'll understand what I mean.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it, love." Matt says while getting to page two.

Stage Two: Zoning Issues

Notes By Phillipe Loren:

The alliance with Mister Killbane has proven to be a welcoming factor into the Syndicate. Since joining up with him to make the great change in Steelport, everything has been running successfully. No amount of Police would be able to take anyone of us out since out numbers kept on increasing with every hour passing. More members join into our ranks and less people are resisting the might of our organization. We are the apex of Steelport. We are second to no one. Due to recent changes involving who owns which turf, Steelport had to be divided by each of the four sections. The Morningstar, being that it is the brains and head of the Syndicate, it would have the two island sections, between the east and everything connected to the neighboring island. The downtown area and the section to the north will also serve as a purpose for the Morningstar.

Mister Killbane will see this as in insult of our friendship. I assured him it's just to keep everything from looking suspicious to the neighboring community to the north. He also got the bigger half compared to the northwest section of the city.

"Well, that seems… unfair." Matt says.

"You might also want to skip past all of the next few pages. Most of it is about Mister Loren letting out his internal monologue, and trust me it doesn't say much about the Deckers until the last few pages." Kristen says.

Matt quickly read each of the next sections of the papers. Each containing business contracts that worked between the Morningstar and Luchadores, yet the Deckers had been left without any of the percentages to have invested into themselves.

He flicked through each of the pages quickly, not seeing any words like 'Decker', 'hack', 'hacking' or anything relating to the Deckers in them. Kristen watched him act frantic about it for at least a minute, until…

"Ah, here it is. Finally, some information about the Deckers." Matt says before he had begun to read it.

Stage Forty Seven: Laying Down The Obsolete

Notes By Phillipe Loren:

The third audition to Steelport, the Deckers have proven to be quite effective when it comes down to demanding funds from businesses we've never even been introduced to. But their place isn't going to be as useful any longer. Since the recent worldwide business trips we've been doing, we have made huge amounts of funding from our contacts and are about to initiate our move into Stilwater by moving into a bank there. Since our money flow is just as high as the hackers, we may not need their services anymore. As much as I have seen their dedication and skills as a high point to the Syndicate, they're just not what we need here anymore. When the time is right, they will be taken care of quickly. Too keep these notes from being discovered, I have made specific choices to keep these paper based until the storm is clear and the Syndicate is with only two factions remaining. The Morningstar and Luchadores will be those remaining in the end. The influence of the Syndicate will then be done much more openly and less behind a computer.

After Matt had finished reading the bit of paper, his was stuck there, speechless as of what he had just read. He had just visualized out loud the most unexpected thing he had ever heard about. His group of hackers would've been killed off.

"I… I… I can't believe this is the Syndicate's TRUE plans." Matt says, freaking out heavily. He then turned to Kristen and put both hands on her shoulders. "Kristen, is this what Loren's true plans were?"

"I'm sorry, Matt." Kristen said turning away and looking at the table. "Yes. This was what Mister Loren had wanted. He had seen a group of teenage hackers as a street gang as an effective choice, but only as a temporary candidate."

"How did you know of this?" Matt asked.

"It's on the hard drive of the computer. If you look into Mister Loren's files you'll see more into the reasons he had decided to choose to get ride if you." Kristen explained.

"Then let's take a look at it then. I don't want to be kept in suspense after all I've just read." Matt says.

"I wouldn't want you to leave your comfort zone, Matty." Kristen says and then pulled out the small laptop and sat it in front of Matt, opening it up and pressing the power button. The first part of the screen appeared to have the Morningstar logo, indicating that the product was of Syndicate ownership.

"I don't ever recall the Syndicate making computers like this." Matt says.

"It could be because of Loren not wanting you to hack into them, or perhaps because you already had ownership of technology similar." Kristen explained.

"Well I'm assuming there is a lot more to see, yeah?" Matt asks.

"I cannot promise you that you'll like what you find, Matt. But if you need help with certain blockages, I'll assist you in any way I can." Kristen replied.

"Thank you, dear." Matt says with a grin appearing on his face.

The two looked through Loren's computer, knowing that whatever it was that they were looking for, Phillipe's ghost would most likely be shouting about it in hell. This wasn't the way he had expected it to end for the Morningstar no doubt.

"I'm sure our old boss is most displeased with our recently gained knowledge." Kristen says. "I could just imagine his face."

"Well, he couldn't possibly be alive either. He was crushed by a damn metal ball from his tower." Matt says.

"How do you know that? It's not like you were there watching him." Kristen says.

"No my dear, but I did happen to hack and gather the security feed from the tower, right at the exact moment he was killed." Matt says. "I could show you right now if I wanted to."

"I believe you, Matt." Kristen said. "After all, his death wasn't actually officially seen, aside from hearing him being dead and not returning to us."

"Well if you wish to see it, I can show it to you still." Matt says.

"I guess we could view it. I feel as if I need to see what actually happened when he died. The city was also affected by that ball, so I would like to see how it was effective in taking down Loren.

"Of course. I only need a moment." Matt says. The cyber hacker then reached into his pocket and fished out his phone. He looked around the video section of the device until he had discovered what he was looking for and presented the screen to his girl, giving her the view she deserved.

Upon watching the screen, an image of the dock lobby of Syndicate Tower was presented and appeared to look very intact. Kristen didn't know what to expect. The room looked as if it was empty without anything out of the ordinary. Then suddenly, the elevator near the other side had opened and Phillipe had stepped out, looking very unconcerned and didn't expect his own demise. Phillipe then stopped in the middle of the floor and proceeded to take a breath of his smoke. Before he could however, he looked as if he felt something rapidly approaching him. Loren only managed to share a brief glimpse up before…

BOOM!

The ball smashed onto the ground and crushed Phillipe, destroying his body and leaving it in violent bloody pieces until the destroyed ground had pretty much covered his remains. The ball then began to roll down the dock lobby into the city streets. After the ball had moved far enough, Kristen had spotted the leader of the Saints lying on the ground, slowly getting back up. Then his three allies, Shaundi, Pierce and Oleg in the nude came along to support their leader.

The clip had ended there and the screen to Matt's phone went blank and back to a video list. The cyber hacker then put in back in the pants pocket of his and waited for Kristen's react. The female Decker sort of in shock and felt gladness too. It would've been because of Phillipe that the Deckers would've been destroyed. Now that he and Morningstar were dead, the Deckers weren't as held down by their plans as before. Now they had a chance to start off more seriously and not under pressure of being used by Belgian and wrestler leaders.

Kristen gave a few thoughts about the video she had just watched and then pressed her leather covered arms on the table. Phillipe was a treat to the Deckers and herself. Due to him being gone, this seemed to have changed things and not caused their downfall.

"I never thought Loren would go out like that." Kristen says.

"Are you surprised?" Matt asks.

"No." Kristen replied before giving her answer. "I'm glad."

"Oh… well good." Matt replied. "So do you want to see what else is on Loren's laptop? We might find out more stuff that could prove useful for the crew in the future."

"Of course. I have a feeling we'll find something that'll give us an edge over what resistance we might face in this city." Kristen replied with a small smile forming on her Goth lips.

"And perhaps make a few changes to the city of our own." Matt says.

Technically Legal:

The Boss and Pierce had arrived to the local stripper joint in their new Saints turf. Since gaining the Deckers original hoods, the path way to Technically Legal was open for them. They had parked in the back alleyway behind Technically Legal to avoid getting investigated by STAG. While they were mainly infested in the downtown area, they were also doing patrols around the areas outside of that zone, which meant finding the leader of the Saints wasn't going to be too hard for them to do.

The Boss and Pierce then exited their vehicle and proceeded to enter through the back entrance to the club. The two had made it to the door, but with a few bashes into the door, it had busted open. It was a pretty weak door and Pierce just walked up further to the main room where the strippers were located. The Boss proceeded to do the same and watched as he looked at the doors he had walked by. His thoughts drove back to the time when he had to bust in here with Oleg and Viola. It had seemed that since that day, the door had some minor repairs and didn't carry as much force to keep vandalism to a minimum.

Inside the interior of the club, there were many strippers doing dances on stage with polls and pulling their tricks to earn extra cash worth more than one dollar and five dollar notes. These girls wanted to get a lot of money from the suckers in the club. Sadly enough, The Boss might end up like one of them, as well as Pierce who found this action awesome. His face had an expression that read 'wow'. Apparently he had discovered some very attractive strippers instead. This wasn't like those times when he would watch a stripper dance, only to admire her boots more than her body.

Pierce took a seat right in front of the center stage and watched the girl perform for him. Out of all the women to be presented here, she looked like the staring model. She looked down in front of her and noted the celebrity of the Saints sitting there, chilled and smiling at her, enjoying her performance.

The stripper smiled back, knowing that pleasing a Saint, including Pierce Washington, was an honor. Even with her high class looks, being someone who could impress a well-known Saint was actually pretty impressive.

"Hey girl, how you doin'?" Pierce asked.

"Wow, if it isn't Pierce Washington himself!" The stripper says with happiness and moved closer to the face of the Saints. Pierce grew ever so more surprised when she had apparently gotten an attraction to him. Out of all the well-known Saints, Pierce was known as the less appreciated one of the lot.

"Really, you actually like me?!" Pierce asked with shock. "I-I-I don't know what to say…"

"Me too!" The stripper says before coming in a bit closer to the celebrity and brought her lips right up to his left ear. "So… how about we take this conversation somewhere else?" She asked in a flirty tone, expecting Pierce to get the hint.

"Awh, hell yeah! Lead the way girl!" Pierce says standing up from his spot. The stripper then grabbed Pierce's hand quickly and snatched him on stage, planning to take him to one of the private rooms out the back.

Meanwhile in the background, The Boss just stood there watching Pierce being led to the back rooms of the club. He couldn't believe Pierce's sudden luck. First his second-in-command gets his car toasted and hours later, he was suddenly getting laid by a stripper. In the shoes of the leader of the Saints however, his position was either better or worse. His vehicles weren't destroyed, but he had been under a lot of stress recently, even if it wasn't detectable by his loyal followers who have served with him since taking down the last three gangs of Stilwater.

The Boss felt like crap and that was a heavy understatement. His feelings were generating from his war of life and the back luck he had faced. He recalled them all in the specific order too. First he was forced to join The Third Street Saints after almost getting laid out during a fight in Saint's Row, then he had started battling gangs and got injured quite a lot. Back then when Lin had died, he didn't reflect upon her death as much of a tragedy. Even after taking down the three gangs, he still didn't even get a chance to think, because the Saints were being ripped apart from the inside. Then almost being killed in a yacht explosion had sent him into a coma.

After waking up and discovering that he been out for five years, his initial reaction was hidden rage that involved mutating into adrenaline that helped him bust out of prison. Though he couldn't have done it without his friend Carlos. The Mexican had risked getting killed in order to help the Saint go free instead of walking around the island for many years. It was a shame that when the next three gangs had appeared, Carlos was not someone who could've walked away from the mess, since the Brotherhood had taken him for a spin.

The Boss just sighed for a moment and took a seat at the bar considering his thoughts. What the hell was going on? Where were these sudden new thoughts coming from? All this stuff he was remembering was just shit memories to him now. Reflecting to the past just seemed like a crap point in his life. The last ten years was nothing but hell and pointless skirmishes for turf that would end up with the Saints as the result at the top.

A bartender who was a stripper walked up to the leader of the Saints, but said nothing. The Boss looked at her and checked her body out. Man, did she look good. She almost looked as good as who Pierce was having fun with. The Boss quiet put up his finger to indicate he wanted constant shot glass. It was a certain sign that he and learned passed around Steelport. The Boss may not be knowledgeable at times, but he was quick for remembering small things. Though if it looked like he didn't care, other would assume that information would go into one of his ears and past out the other. The Boss then had the shot and waited for more to come. But his thoughts kept on reflecting to his past.

He saw flashes of Lin suddenly in the trunk of her own car. She appeared to be dead; since it was clear water had settled in the trunk, and her body floated hitting the top, until it popped open and the body went towards the surface of the ocean. Her body looked like it had seen better days too. From what The Boss could tell, this was after he had managed to get out, but he didn't remember the trunk being closed again.

Suddenly the flashes had stopped and the leader of the Saints pushed back on the stool he sat on and startled some of the local patrons to the club, making them react quietly. They all watched the Saint leader from a distance, expecting him to just suddenly pull out a gun and shoot up the place. Instead he just sat back down and put his hands to his head, not understanding what was going on.

"What the fuck…" The Boss says quietly. He then looked to the shot glass

Of his and saw it still empty. Near it, he could see the stripper standing there, shaking in her revealing clothes. Of course it wasn't due to being cold, since the place was warm enough and it was still early in the afternoon.

"Gimme another." The Boss demanded and the stripper complied quickly and poured another one. He quickly took the glass again and swallowed the contents of the drink. He then brought the glass back to the table again.

Suddenly, more flashes appeared, each reacting with white and getting stronger, until the final flash, which reacted by taking everything around him away and replacing it with…

The Boss looked around and saw a street. It was raining and there was a red Compensator sitting in the middle of the road. On the back, The Boss saw a man strapped to the back by one of his legs. Then it hit him, this man was-

"What the fuck?"

The image of The Boss' old friend Carlos appeared to be strapped to the back and he appeared to be limp on the spot. The Boss then noticed the view of his was approaching closer, as if he was walking closer to the loyal bother Saint. But this wasn't The Boss' action. Instead something else was moving his view a lot closer. All he had control of was his head and where it looked.

Suddenly, he was over the top of Carlos and noticed that he body was starting to get more delicate by the second. Clearly this was after he had shot Carlos in the head, and that answered his friend's fate. Suddenly, the view of The Boss had gotten down closer to the dead body and two hands went for his head. The Boss noted these hands were his, since they were shaped and colored like his were. They then were used to turn Carlos' turned head to face the leader of the Saints, and The Boss watched in horror.

The face of Carlos appeared to have suffered a big fatality since he had shot his head. The Vice9 bullet had literally taken its damage by impacting his skull and heading out the back.

"Oh shit…" The Boss says with a horrid expression. What was even more agonizing for the leader of the Saints was how long this moment lasted, looking at Carlos' face without being able to move. This was true pain, to experience seeing his friend with a badly damaged dead body. The bullet in the head only made it look worse, and The Boss was to blame.

Everything then flashed back to reality and the Steelport Technically Legal was back again. Everything was like how it was before: Everyone watched him unpredictably as he looked around. He then went back to look at the glass again, which remained empty.

"I didn't say to stop, girl." The Boss says.

Another glass was poured and the leader of the Saints drank it quickly again. The shot glass was then put back on the table again. Suddenly more flashes had started to appear, but this time more frantically.

"Oh, fuck me…" The Boss says before heading into the next world. 'What will I see next?'The Boss asked himself, both curious and tired of this bullshit.

The Boss woke up. This time, it was on some flat carpet that felt as if it was high in the air. When looking around the area he was in, the memory of this place snapped into his head instantly.

"What the fuck?!" The Boss questioned out loud.

Suddenly a door had open from behind him only two feet away and a Morningstar male had started to spring into action against The Boss. Unfortunately for him, the leader of the Saints was a superior fighter compared to basic goons he would fight. It was like training for him, except the fact that he was actually killing his targets.

The Boss had killed the Morningstar soldier just by hitting him in the head a few times and caused a great deal of brain damage to him to rupture his entire body and kill him. The suited body of the Morningstar soldier appeared to have been carrying a 45 Shepherd and The Boss quickly took it, expecting to possibly find more of them on his path. The area he had spawned in appeared to be where he had faced the first enemy with a gun when he and Shaundi were escaping the plane. So The Boss had taken the route on the opposite side of the room instead, to where the front of the plane was. He had to see what had actually happened, even if it was just a mere vision triggered by his intake of alcohol.

"I'm sorry, Johnny." The Boss says knowing that he wouldn't be able to help his friend in the real world. But would he alter this just to see whether or not things could've gone differently? Or would letting this play out the way it was show The Boss how it truly went down?

Upon heading past the first door, The Boss had expected to see only three goons with no guns drawn, but apparently in this case, it was different. All three carried 45 Shepherds and fired at The Boss while he went for cover. Two of them were males and one was a female.

'Three assholes with guns? Shit, no problem here.' The Boss says mentally and fired at the three. The first one that went down was one of the two males. The other two Morningstar soldiers then went for cover of their own, expecting this to be a hard fight for them, now that the leader of the Saints was with a weapon. The two Morningstar soldiers had thought that they were in good cover, but apparently the Saint had learned a few things about cover. It was often exposable if it wasn't strong.

The Boss jumped from his cover and shot at a foam seat that kept the two Morningstar soldiers cover. His bullets worked like a charm and the two goons in red were shouting in agony from their pain.

The Boss used this to his advantage and charged up the walkway. He then spotted the two Morningstar soldiers and shot them both in the heads.

The Boss took a moment to look at the two and holster his weapon. His disgust for the Morningstar is still so high till this day that someone could've written a book about it. "I hate these assholes…"

Without further delay, The Boss charged to the front without stopping to look around for the enemies. While the events were altered enough slightly than what had actually played out, everything was still shaped similarly like before.

Finally, The Boss had made it to the door and heard a lot of shouting and submachine gun shots flying from the inside. Knowing what all the sounds were meaning, The Boss had to smirk, knowing Johnny was having a good time fighting the enemy and crippling Phillipe. But then it turned into a frown, knowing that this was Gat's final battleground for the Saints.

The Boss went to the door and attempted to open it, but it wasn't budging, knowing that Gat had locked it from the inside after The Boss had exited with Shaundi. The fastest step he could take to getting in would be to shoot the lock. So he stood back and fired three shots into it, which forced the door to automatically open.

Upon the doors opening, a whole warzone of bullets was flying from one side of the room to the other. It was chaotic. The Morningstar were all grouped up into a group of six heading to Gat with TEK-Z 10 submachine guns. Gat just sat behind some desk and fired away with his, dropping each body one by one, with a grin on his face that implied that he was enjoying this fight. The Morningstar however weren't. Their aim was horribly off and kept on hitting around Gat rather than directly hitting him. He didn't even need the cover and The Boss was sure of that.

As all but one of the Morningstar soldiers were down, the final one made a daring move and jumped at Gat. Johnny was admittedly tough, but he didn't expect to see one of these guys to jump at him.

Suddenly, Shaundi's voice was heard one the speaker behind Gat. It was loud enough for everyone to hear inside the room, even if the bullets were raining around the room. "Johnny, we're about to jump!"

Johnny managed to hold the button in with his back and he hit the Morningstar goon with his bare hands and submachine gun before slamming the guy's face into the wall and making him fall to his death. Gat then held down the button with his hand and said his next few words. His final… few words.

"Right on, I'll see you in Stil-" Gat's words were replaced with bullets as his back was filled in with TEK-Z 10 shots. The Boss watched Gat in horror as he saw his ally, his best friend go down. Just from taking his guard down for a short moment. There was blood, a lot of blood coming from Gat. He might've survived terrible attacks before, most proving to be fatal, but this one was where the limits were reached. The amount of blood spilt from Gat implied his demise quickly.

The Boss was aggravated by being the sudden witness of the attack and wanted to know who had fired the fatal shots at his friend. When looking, he saw a heated barrel of a gun smoking being held by-

"LOREN, YOU MOTHERFUCKING-" The Boss started while leaping towards to Belgian man, only to fall right through him, like a hologram, or a vision, which to the irony of The Boss was.

The Boss then pulled out the 45 Shepherd he had holstered and fired several shots into the back of the Syndicate leader, only for them to go beyond his body and out at the wall on the other end. It was like he wasn't even there and all he could do was watch all this play out.

"FUCK!" The Boss shouted while firing off his bullets until the clip was dead and he was out. Then he threw the pistol at Loren, only for it to go past him as well.

Phillipe then walked up to Johnny and eyed the dead body for a moment, and then he crouched down to it and took a breath of a new cigarette. He flicked the ashes on Johnny and then said a few final words to him.

"Pleasure doing business… Mister Gat."

Then everyone in the room had suddenly disappeared and The Boss was left there sitting in one spot confused about the situation and the sudden rage he felt for Loren. He really wanted to put a bullet in him this time and not crush him with a giant ball. But that was too late, since there wasn't any option left that said he could reverse time and kill him the right way.

Now the only thing that worried The Boss after seeing that was how he was still in here. What was he supposed to do when he didn't return to his body? The only sounds that could be heard was the plane flying in the air and the sounds of his own breathing, which was still too silent for him.

"What the fuck do I do now? Man this is bullshit!" The Boss shouts.

After many moments in silence, the doors he had gone through to enter here had opened again. Apparently they had closed while he had been angered by seeing Phillipe kill his best friend.

"Shaundi!" The Boss exclaimed while turning around, hoping to see a friendly face that he knew of. But that wasn't the case when he had turned around. He didn't see any Saints, or any Morningstar members. Instead it was something he least expected to see standing there. "Oh… fuck…"

Professor Genki, the man cat of 'Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax' was here in The Boss' vision and looked somewhat threatening. Perhaps it was just the Boss' gut feeling or maybe it was because of the BIG ASS FUCKINGANNIHILATOR RPG IN THE BOSS' FACE!

"Oh, no, no, no…" The Boss started.

A rocket then fired from the RPG and went straight for The Boss, apparently with a laser-guide upgrade attached to it. It was too late to make plans to counter this rocket.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!" The Boss shouted until the rocket hit his chest and exploded.

The plane wasn't an exception either, because the entire front of the jet had been taken out. The remains then started to cease advancing through the sky went down.

Suddenly The Boss was back at Technically Legal in Steelport again. When the flashes had stopped, he had noticed that he wasn't on a stool anyone. Instead he was on the ground with a whole bunch of people over him. He noticed Pierce with a worried expression carried and the now surprising appearance of Shaundi here as well. She looked more disgusted than worried.

"Boss!" Pierce shouted as he saw his leader waking up and rubbing his head. He groaned out loud as he had awoken. There were a few patrons to the club looking in the distance as well, wondering what was happening.

"Un-fucking believable…" Shaundi says while watching The Boss get up. "You only had three shots and you passed out. THREE."

"Relax, Shaundi." The Boss says. "I've seen a lot of fucked up shit the past few minutes I've been out and I don't need this right now."

"Few minutes?" Shaundi asked. "Boss, you've been out for over four hours."

"What?! Are you fucking serious?!" The Boss asked with widened eyes. "That can't be right…"

"She's right, Boss. We've been trying to get you to wake up for a while now and we thought you wouldn't." Pierce says.

"And you didn't take me back to the crib, why?" The Boss asked.

"We're under close observation from masked gangs and a military organization with laser guns. Do you really think taking you out of the club like that is a smart idea?" Shaundi asked.

"Yeah, you're right. Now, can we just leave? I think I need to have a rest." The Boss asked. Either way, he was going to get what he wanted.

"Sure, let's go." Pierce says.

As the three Saints went outside, The Boss noticed the sky was darkened and the city nightlife was active. He didn't need a clock to tell him that it was late.

"Shit, I have been out long…" The Boss says.

"See, told you." Shaundi says.

"Man, whatever." The Boss replied.

Matt's And Kristen's Apartment:

Kristen had awoken on the sofa couch after watching some more NyteBlade with Matt. Since she had revealed the plots of the Syndicate to Matt, the two of them had decided to watch their favorite fictional vampire hunter character.

While Kristen looked around, she didn't find Matt anywhere. He should've been sitting in the room like she had been. She was wondering where he had gone. Being alone in an apartment like this wasn't something she wanted to do, especially being in a city she didn't stay in all the time.

Suddenly she had noticed a message on her phone that she owned. It was on the glass table that was right in front of the couch, flashing neon blue with the alert. She quickly looked at it and noted it as a message from Matt. She quickly read it.

Kristen

Heading to the roof of the complex for a bit. Might be back in half an hour.

Love Matt xx

Kristen smiled as she saw the 'xx' on the message. Matt was only getting more romantic for her, and she loved it.

Meanwhile on the roof…

Matt stood at the top at the edge of a rail looking into the night of the city and his neon blue Decker leader outfit glowing in the night. He was thinking about his whole life leading up to this point. The Syndicate was the first place where he had actually felt true comfort. It was where he felt as if he could walk on many people. Now seeing Loren's true plans made him see things from a different perspective. He was literally very vulnerable in the Syndicate too, because he relied so much no technology that he didn't consider non-computer based items of choice. Now he realized that mistake and came close to death. But there was one thing that changed that. The people who he didn't expect to be his savors.

The Saints.

Behind him, he didn't see Kristen walking up to him, watching him closely as he hung over the metal rail at the edge and stayed in deep thought. Everything was leveled strangely to him and Kristen saw it too well.

"Matt?"

The cyber hacker didn't hear her and just kept on watching the city. She then walked closer to Matt and got a view of Matt's eyes. They were easy for her to read and appeared to show a lot of confusion in them, and fear.

"Matt, are you alright?" Kristen asked more clearly and in her American accent again. "You can tell me anything at all."

Matt caught her this time and stopped looking at the city. He saw her looking at him with concern, knowing that he was in a silent point of feeling trapped, yet not under that pressure at all. It seemed to reflect upon how he realized how trouble he was in when he was in the Syndicate.

"Yes. It's just that everything I've learned from those files proves my foolishness. I don't know how to feel." Matt says.

"Matt, I know this is hard, but I'm here for you. This also affects me as well as you." Kristen says. "If we're still alive, we can learn from our mistakes. It is only natural that we make them and learn from them. It may not be helpful at all tight now, but in the future, you'll see. I promise you that."

"Kristen. Thank you, for being there. I cannot thank you enough." Matt says.

Matt and Kristen then engaged with a passionate kiss and then both gave each other a smile. Their kisses always made each other feel good. They're bodies warmed up after their passion had risen. Their time with each other was the best for them.

Matt looked at her clothes and noted the lack of neon blue. It had appeared that Kristen had changed into her new Goth clothes again. He enjoyed seeing her in it.

"You look beautiful, babe." Matt says.

"Thanks, Matt." Kristen replied. "Now, come with me. We should turn in for the night." Kristen says softly.

Matt nods in acceptance and took her hand. "Alright, Kristen, after you."

The two Goth teens then went back to their apartment room, knowing that they'll be happy for a bit. Hopefully it'll all be good from now on. They had a week to spend with each other and what would be any better?

To Be Continued. . .