Author's Note

I should mention that this chapter ends with the opening scene of the first Saints Row game. As a result, it will be mostly similar. It should go without saying, but I don't own the Saints Row franchise. Just saying that to be safe.

Early Years: The Saints

"That's right, keep that control," Johnny said as he watched over Starlight. It had been eight years since her telekinesis manifested, and by now she had learned a great deal of control, enough to be able to lift heavy vehicles. As she put down the semi she had been lifting, she asked, "Why have me learn to control my powers when you stress the importance of not relying on it?" "Better to have it and not need it," Johnny said simply, "This isn't like a gun or blade. It takes a great deal of concentration to pull off, which could work against you in a fight."

Starlight nodded, understanding what her dad was saying. If she was busy lifting someone or something to use as a projectile, someone else could put a bullet in her while she was too busy to notice. "Always remember," Johnny said, "This power is a tool, not a weapon. There is a difference. Speaking of which, I think we're ready for real weapons testing." Starlight smiled. Part of her learning how to fight involved a lot of small arms training. Already her muscles were hardening against varying levels of recoil from the different firearms.

"So this is your daughter," came a new voice. Starlight and Johnny turned to see Julius walking up to them. Julius had approached Johnny a few weeks ago regarding joining the Saints, a new street gang that being formed to combat the three others. Johnny had agreed, as long as Starlight was allowed to join once her training was finished. Julius seemed reluctant, but accepted once he learned about her special talents.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hand't seen it firsthand," Julius noted, "I thought that sort of power was only in science fiction." "Don't get too excited," Starlight said, "I made Dad a promise that I'd only use this power in emergency situations." "Fair enough," Julius agreed, "Even without it we've almost got enough muscle to take back the Row. We can start your canonizing tomorrow, but for now I thought you might want to meet some of the other Saints." He led the father and daughter to the old church.

"Place looks like a dump," Starlight noted, "Maybe we should consider getting it renovated." "Sadly we don't have the money for that," Julius replied, "And even if we did, it'd only cause us to lose sight of our goals. We want to make sure the streets are safe for us and others to walk." The sound of a lighter could be heard, and Starlight turned to see an oddly clean-cut looking gang member sitting on one of the pews, lighting a cigarette.

"I wasn't aware we were recruiting anyone under twenty," the man said. "Starlight, this is Troy," Julius explained, "And don't worry about her none Troy. She's Johnny's daughter, so she knows how to survive on the streets." Troy shrugged. "If you say so." Another man, this one wearing a large denim jacket, came up and offered his hand. "Don't mind Troy. He's uptight. I'm Dex. Nice to meetcha." "Same," Starlight said as she shook Dex's hand.

"This mean we're finally getting another female lieutenant?," asked an Asian-looking woman. "Possibly, Lin," Julius said, "It all depends on how well Starlight does after her canonizing, which will take place tomorrow. First we need to make one final sweep of the city, make sure we know what's where and who we can turn to, to spread news about the Saints. So Starlight, any questions?"

"Just one," Starlight offered, "Why do you call the recruitment process 'canonizing'?" "It's what the Catholic Church calls it whenever someone is officially recognized as a saint," Julius explained, "As our gang is called the Saints, I thought it thematically appropriate." Starlight nodded. "I get it." Julius nodded in return. "Okay, me and Troy will head out and be back later this evening."

That evening, a young Caucasian man, only known on the street as "Playa", was walking down the Row. As he walked, he passed a street hustler calling out, "Watches! I got watches here!" Seeing Playa, he called, "Yo man, this shit'd cost you six-hundred dollars at the store." Seeing Playa ignore him, the hustler just said, "Aw whatever man... Watches! I got watches here!"

Playa soon stopped when he came across a scantily-clad street hooker. Seeing he was interested, the hooker said, "Hey baby. I can show you a good time." Before Playa could respond, he heard someone call out, "Oh hell no!" He turned to see three Vice Kings staring at a Rollerz tag. "Man!," Vice One said, "Fuck the Rollerz!" Vice Two turned to Vice Three and said, "Levar! You gonna let those bitches disrespect us?!"

Vice Three, Levar apparently, took a spray can he was holding, started shaking it, and responded, "Shit, what you think?" As he got to work spraying the tag over, a trio of Rollerz, wearing blue, walked up to them. Rollerz One brandished the bat in his hand as he said, "The fuck you think you're doin'?" "Just being civic minded, is all," Vice One snarked. "That so?," Rollerz Two retorted.

"Yeah," Vice Two said, grinning smugly, "Some dumb ass cracka went and shit on this wall. We just cleaning it up." Rollerz One responded by cracking Vice Two's head with his bat. Levar retaliated with a quick punch, and the two gangs were suddenly brawling. Before long, a group of Carnales, dressed in red, drove up. One aimed a sub-machine gun at the two other gangs. "Hector says beunas noches." He immediately opened fire.

One of the Vice Kings and one of the Rollerz got out their own semi-auto pistols in response, but only managed to squeeze off a few shots before being cut down. Several more rounds were exchange as another Carnales got out an automatic rifle. One of the Rollerz responded with his own rifle, causing the Carnales to swerve out of control and ram into a nearby building, clipping Playa on the way.

The Roller saw one of the Carnales still alive and trying to crawl out of the wreckage. He was soon finished off, only for Vice Two to cap the Roller before turning his attention to Playa. Pointing his gun, he said, "Wrong time, wrong place." However, the shot that rang out came from Troy's gun. He and Julius had stumbled onto the scene. "You okay, Playa?," Julius asked. Playa just weakly nodded.

As Julius helped him to his feet, Troy called out, "Julius let's move." He kept his gun out as Julius helped Playa walk away from the scene. A few blocks away, Playa had to sit down due to his bum leg. Looking him over, Julius said, "That don't look so bad, you should fine." He jerked his thumb back to Troy. "That's Troy, you can thank him later." Playa nodded to Troy. "The Row ain't safe no more, son," Julius said, "We got gangs fighting over shit that ain't theirs, and you're in they way. They don't care if you're representing or not."

Seeing what was going on, Troy objected, "Julius, this is no time to recruit. We already got our hands full with Starlight's canonizing tomorrow." Julius looked at him. "We need all the help we can get!" "What we need is to get our asses outta here!," Troy retorted. "In a minute," Julius replied. He turned back to Playa. "Look, the Row's got a problem. Come to the church when you wanna be a part of the solution." And with that, he and Troy, leaving Playa with a lot to think about.