Angel's Authority

Part Two, Chapter Thirty-Eight: Phillips Building

Based on the Volition Inc.™ game: Saints Row 2™

JOHNNY

I don' know how she did that but that woman has changed. I remember when she first came to us, all shy an' insecure in this new environment. She had really been outta another world.

The way she cleared out the cans just to put on a show, the way she was tremblin' behind the steerin' wheel and the way she was always determined never to kill. And the lack of pain she showed when I relocated her nose just had me speechless.

But if you go through hell, twice and thrice over that aspect changin' is no surprise. Knowin' that Playa died without sayin' goodbye, seeing Carlos die in her arms and of course, Eesh. Her loss still pains me like hell and I knew that the Boss was sufferin' too.

Her life by itself had already been hard. I remember when she told us how she was locked up by her family all her life because her mother couldn' speak up to her asshole of a father before she grabbed his gun and shot 'em all down, runnin' to Stilwater. I can only imagine the scars this makes.

We were now right in front o' the Philips Building. We had walked so long that my feet hurt. The only thin' that had not changed with her at all was her determination. Just lookin' at her made me laugh and admire her for her strength. She was trottin' around the world like its queen, slammin' the glass door open with her foot as she loaded new clips into her pistols.

She was a beast. The first soldier she saw: dead. The next thirty that tried to stop her: dead. I didn' even have to do anythin'. Basically. Of course, I gave her backup and shot down everyone that she missed. We worked so beautifully as a team, not even Dex and Troy were that good back in the day.

It didn' even take her another five minutes until the piles of bodies were too large to count the people within. She just shook her guns, probably heated up extremely after that much use and changed her clips again. The precision she had with them really saved us some bullets but she was also usin' the expensive ones so that kinda leveled it out.

"Johnny, you go save Shaundi and Pierce and I'll deal with Vogel."

She was outta breath and was already headin' for the elevator that would take her up to the CEO's office, not even waitin' for me to agree or disagree.

"Hey, Boss...!"

I shouted after her, forcin' her to turn her head as she waited for the cabin to arrive.

"...Please be careful. I cannot lose you too..."

She was smilin' at me in a way that I knew it was her true self shinin' thru. It felt like a mother's love and kindness that she was radiatin' although I doubted that she was any much older than I was. Ten years at the max.

"I will, Johnny. You too..."

The elevator dinged and she entered, spammin' the button for the topmost floor. That glimpse of her old self was gone faster than it had appeared. Now, she was the cold-blooded killer again and I didn' know whom I liked more...

I walked up to the reception, where a slim woman was cowerin' behind the counter, afraid for her life. I raised my SMG so she could see it and leaned onto the counter behind which she was disappearin' even more.

"I'm lookin' for prisoners. Girl with dreads and four boys with her. Know where I can find 'em?"

She was shakin' to the bones, afraid that I don' shoot her.

"B-b-basement..."

She squeaked as I nodded an' left her alone, only seein' how she collapsed as I made for the door to the stairs. It would be a waste o' time to wait for an elevator. On my way to the door, I dropped my gun and picked up two heavy rifles which I locked an' loaded. Time to make a splash...

I kicked open the door and ran down the stairs, meetin' the new wave o' soldiers with bullets. Different from the Boss, I didn' care about precision, I had bullets instead. Unfortunately, the rifles were empty as soon as I reached the basement. Nevermind...

The last ten remainin' soldiers I just took on headfirst, slammin' the rifles into their heads and crotches, knockin' 'em unconscious. The prison highly reminded me of the Pyramid; the cells were the same glass pods and Pierce, Shaundi, Samu, Davey and Scotty were held in one each.

I took another rifle from the floor and released a salvo of bullets to free the others from their pods. The glass was shattered into million pieces immediately and they had to cover their skin by turning away from the breakin' pods. Once I was finished, they stepped out of the small space and picked up a weapon of their own.

"Where's the Boss?"

Shaundi asked as she checked how many bullets were in the magazine of the rifle that was way too heavy for her.

"Up and killin' Vogel."

All their eyes grew big but there was nothin' we could do about it. Only help her reach him in time.

"That's why we'll have to buy her as much time as possible and kill every MASAKO who tries to get to her. So, let's go people!"

I swapped out my rifle again and picked up a second one along with it. They all did the same and this time, we had to pay attention to the bullets. We had enough bullets for only 150-300 people. I just hoped that the Boss won't be long...