Saints Row: The Next Chapter

Chapter One: The Boss and His Lieutenant

It's been six months. Six long and annoying months of searching for Dex. And during those six long and annoying months, The Boss has been distant. More so than normal. Nobody's really seen the mysterious leader during this period. Not even his lieutenants: Johnny Gat, Pierce, and Shaundi. Gat was the closest to The Boss, since he and Gat knew each other since they were in the original Saints. Since The Boss trusted Gat more than anyone, he appointed him to run the Saints in his absence. Gat wasn't normally a leader, but with most of the Saints' business already taken care of, Gat had to do nothing more than watch over the gang and keep them in line. Pierce enjoyed his temporary position as Second in Command at first, but soon realized that now that he's acquired this position, there was basically nothing for him to do or to be trusted with. To compensate, he'd spend his time throwing parties with his fellow Saints, finding enjoyment instead in the success of being at the top. Unlike the other two, Shaundi didn't receive much of a promotion in position, which didn't bother her in the slightest. What concerned her was The Boss. And he concerned her a lot. Ever since that day he went out to take care of "something personal", he hasn't been the same. Shaundi initially tried to take her mind off of it in the usual fashion. Drinking, drugs, partying, and sex with any guy that wanted it. But quickly, these distractions lost their effects of momentary bliss, and she found herself suddenly losing interest in them. She also found that she was beginning not to like the image she built up for herself amongst her peers. For the longest, she was seen as a burnt out hippie, with a body count that was too long to keep up with. At the time, it didn't bother her what people thought of her. Hell, it didn't matter now.  But there was one person she wanted to view her differently, and that was The Boss. During her time with the Saints, she found herself admiring her leader. He saw something in her that nobody else ever did, not even herself. She saw him as a friend, but also a valued leader. One who she desperately wanted to prove herself to. After The Boss had to save her from Veteran Child, she felt that he saw her as a weak link. A liability. He'd do his best not to include her on any of his missions, due to the fact that he was worried she might get killed. She hated that more than anything. Well, she did at first. But now, she hates this situation even worse. Out of the 6 months he's been gone, Shaundi has caught a glimpse of him twice at a distance in Purgatory. He'd only visit his room briefly before leaving again. She'd never get the chance to speak to him nor even got his attention. When she caught glances of him, all she could read was that he looked indifferent to the world. She'd hoped that whatever was the reason for this would end soon. 

"Hey, Shaundi! You comin' or what?" Pierce yelled over to the young woman who was preoccupied with her thoughts to have noticed that Pierce and Gat were heading out with the rest of the Saints for another weekly party. She shook her head and waved them away. "Nah, I'm good. You guys go ahead, I think I'll hang back here."  Pierce shrugged his shoulders and headed with everyone else towards the exits. As she heard everyone leave, she sighed to herself as she laid back down on the sofa. She simply stared at the ceiling above her, thinking to herself. She didn't really have a chance to savor a moment of peace like this. If it wasn't one of Pierce's parties, then it was the police they were constantly evading. But now, she could sit there in silence for once, without interruption. Until she heard the sound of the elevator ding upstairs. She figured it was another Saint who'd just forgotten something here and came retrieve it, before heading out with the rest of the crew. Regardless, she went to check it out, just to be sure. The last time she was left alone at the crib, she was kidnapped by her ex and nearly killed. She wouldn't be surprised if she had any other exes that have an axe to grind with her. 

As she made her way to the hallway upstairs, she immediately noticed that the door to The Boss' room was slightly ajar. Seeing as how he hasn't been around in months, it's quite obvious that sirens were blaring in Shaundi's head right now. Exercising caution, she pulls a pistol out and slowly inches her way towards the door, in order to not alert the intruder. Finally as she's right at the door, she quickly bursts in, with her gun targeted at the first figure she saw. "What the fuck do you think... Boss?" Shaundi quickly realized that the figure was in fact her leader, and she immediately lowered her weapon. The Boss was sitting on his bed with a bunch of files around him and a manilla folder in hand. He looked at her with his eyebrow raised, before lowering his head back to study the papers in his hands. "Don't worry, Shaundi. Veteran Child didn't come back from the dead to get you.'' He casually joked, as Shaundi scoffed at his jab. "Ugh, you're an asshole, Boss" She walked over to him and cleared an area on his bed for her to sit. "So what brings you back to Purgatory, Boss? It's been so long since anybody's seen you." Shaundi questioned. She tried to make out what he was reading, but he quickly switched the paper out for something else in the stack.  "Kinda missed this place. Plus, I needed to grab some stuff from here. Was hoping I'd have the crib all to myself... " He looked at her from the side of his eyes from behind his shades, before continuing. "Speaking of which, why didn't you go with everybody else? Sounded like Pierce was throwing another party. Thought you liked those?'' He asked, sifting through his handful of papers. She simply shrugged. "I guess I'm just not that into them anymore." The Boss turned to her and gave her a confused, yet amused look. "You're not into parties anymore? Somehow I find that hard to believe." He shook his head. She would've felt offended by that statement, but truth be told, she surprised herself as well. She was always known for being the party girl. You had drugs and booze, and she'd be there. Didn't matter if she was invited or not. "Yeah, well, can't be the party girl forever, ya know?" The Boss slowly nodded in agreement, leaving the two in silence for a second. Shaundi pondered whether she should ask her question or not, but she found no good reason not to. "Boss, I've been thinking. Do you remember a couple of months ago, after you killed Vogel, when you told me and Pierce that you had something personal to take care of?" The Boss simply nodded. "Well, it's got me wondering, what exactly happened that day? Cause ever since then, we haven't seen you around much and none of us knows why or when you'll even come back. The only thing I remember you telling us was that the Masako tried to kill you." She felt some relief after finally being able to ask that question. Now she just hopes she'll receive an answer. The Boss finally put the papers in his hands down beside him, before turning to her. "I'm sure you heard about what happened to me before I rebuilt the Saints?" She nodded. "Who hasn't? I heard you got blown up on a boat and that it put you in a coma. That alone is why half of the guys decided to join the Saints in the first place." The Boss grinned. "And here I was thinking it was because of my charm." He joked, before his demeanor reverted back to a more serious one. "Ever since I woke up, I wondered who was the motherfucker that blew my ass up. At the time, I was too busy rebuilding the Saints and reclaiming Stilwater to really focus on that. It wasn't until I killed Vogal, did I finally have time to look into it." Shaundi quickly understood where this was going. "So, you went looking for the guy that did it?" The Boss nodded. "Did you ever find him?" The Boss nodded again. "Who was it?" She asked one more time, with her leader staring ahead, rather than looking at her. Almost like he was staring at the memory right at that moment. "Before I rebuilt the Saints, I was there with the original. I was young, and I was a follower. And the man I followed was Julius Little. He was the original founder of the Saints, and he had saved my ass before recruiting me. I had felt indebted to him, so I did everything he wanted and needed without question and without fail, until I was eventually his number 2. For a while. Soon after knocking off all the opposing gangs, Julius gets arrested, and the Chief of Police wanted the Saints to jump through hoops for the Alderman if we wanted Julius alive. Needless to say, we did it until we killed the Chief ourselves, saving Julius from potential death." The Boss paused for a second before continuing. "Then, I get blown up on a boat with the Alderman. Five years later, I wake up to find out that one of the original members of the Saints was really five-o in disguise, and he'd now been promoted to Chief of Police. So I paid him a visit that day, and do you know what he told me?" Shaundi replied with a simple "What?" before The Boss answered. "He tells me that the man who put me in a coma was Julius all along." He turned to her to see her surprised reaction. "Long story short: I found the bastard, and I put a bullet in his head for what he did to me. Now, you're wondering why this leads to me being so busy and distant from the Saints lately." He says, as if he had been reading her mind. She nods and he proceeds. "There's one more person important to this story, who was a part of the original crew. His name is Dex. And after the Saints fell apart, little ol' Dexter here got an offer to come work for Ultor if he dropped his flags. Now he's head of security for these people, making millions every year. But, he was also the one person who knew where Julius had been hiding for all these years. He had offered to meet up at our old hideout so he could tell me where he was. Imagine my surprise when I saw Julius himself walking in the church instead of Dex. Before I could kill that old bastard, we got ambushed by the Masako. Needless to say, Dex had set us up. Before I could find that weasel, he fled Stilwater." It was all making sense to Shaundi now. "So all this time, you're still looking for him, aren't you?" The Boss nodded his head. Shaundi felt a sense of relief to know that The Boss wasn't just done with the Saints, but now she felt bad for him. Being betrayed by someone who you were loyal and devoted to. Even being betrayed by another member from the same gang. No wonder this was all so personal and important to him. She looked up at him with concern. "Boss, I'm really sorry to hear all this shit happened to you. But, you know, i-if you ever need any help or anything, you can count on me. I'm your girl." He smiled at her before standing up and stretching. "Well right now, I could use a drinking buddy."