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Shaundi stepped out into the night air, and breathed in deeply. She smelled an array of things, the most pungent was the smell of a hobo that was camped out about five feet from the mission house entrance, but apart from that she could smell Chinese food in the distance, and some gunpowder. Aah, the eau de Stillwater. Even when Ultor stepped in and changed the city around, they couldn’t kill that good ol’ scent. Boss drove up relatively soon, in her black and purple accented temptress. It had a big fleur-de-lis on the hood, and a smaller one on the trunk. Boss’s hair was blown back a bit, a sign of driving fast no doubt, and Shaundi hopped over the door into the soft leather passenger seat. 

 

“Hang on Shaundi.” boss said as she cut the engine. “I need to ask you something.” Shaundi nodded as she buckled her seatbelt. “Shoot.” Boss looked at Shaundi and asked, “Do you think we have a shot at taking down these gangs?” Shaundi nodded and said, “Hell yeah boss, we’re growing by like, 20 people a day, pretty soon we’ll have so many people that we’ll have to send people out to our other hideouts around the city, pepper the streets with ‘em too. We can do this boss, we’ve come so far, and we’re not gonna give up or let up now.” 

Boss nodded once more, a piece of her bangs fell in front of one of her eyes. Boss brushed it away, and said, “Thanks Shaundi, I just wanted to see if you believed in us, Pierce has been wavering back and forth, Gat’s hell bent on revenge, and Carlos doesn’t know what to do, we’ve got a meeting with Maero tomorrow, and the kid’s nervous as fuck.”  Shaundi shook her head  “Poor Kid, doesn’t know what he got himself into.” Boss replied, “I know, I wish there was a way around it,  but there isn’t. He helped me get out of prison, he said he’d join and help with anything we needed, and we need him to be in charge of the brotherhood.” Shaundi felt really bad for Carlos, he wasn’t old enough or strong enough to be in a gang like the saints, he didn’t have the experience for this, for taking back a city. 

 

 

                                                                                       Two hours later

 

Shaundi walked back into the hideout beside boss. Shaundi said, “Ok, so we get some sleep and Laura will be here tomorrow around ten.” Boss nodded, “Alright Shaundi, I’ll see you then.” Boss said goodnight and walked into her room, Shaundi heard the deadbolt click behind her. Shaundi walked into her own room and shut the door, locking it behind her. Shaundi undressed, and got into bed. Her dreams on this night where much more pleasant than those of the night before, Her dream started on the beach, Veteran Child was next to her. This, Shaundi didn’t understand, she hated him. But in the dream, he was caressing her arm, a pair of brown swim trunks the only thing he was wearing. Shaundi seemed to be liking him back, when a familiar female figure stepped in. It was boss.

 

She was wearing a bikini, with a floral sarong around her waist. Her skin had a glow about it, and her brown hair blew slightly in the wind. She had a desert eagle in one hand, and a bottle of beer in the other. She told veteran child to go away, but he didn’t listen, so boss blew his brains out and tossed him into the ocean. Boss then took veteran child’s place next to Shaundi, and boss began to caress Shaundi’s face, soon she lifted Shaundi’s chin and leaned closer to her. Shaundi’s heart was racing, for a moment she hoped it was real, then her eyes flew open. No beach, no sun, she was in her soft bed in the hideout. Shaundi sat up, and began laughing at herself. 

 

She could not keep having these feelings and dreams about boss, it would get her killed. Shaundi then proceeded to get up and get dressed, putting on her standard Camisole and jeans. Shaundi put her bandanna over her head as she usually did, and slipped her rings and bracelets on. Shaundi felt… different since joining the saints. She felt more powerful, like she meant something to someone.  She was sure she was important to boss, seeing as she had but Shaundi in charge of the Sons of Samedi, instead of just being some gang banger. 

 

Shaundi unlatched her door, and walked out into the main hallway. Someone had swept or something, the whole place looked a lot better. Shaundi walked downstairs, and had to do a double take. There was nice furnature in here, all centered around a stripper pole. Shaundi saw boss sitting in a plush looking chair, watching the dancer as she spun around the pole. “what the fuck?” Shaundi asked as she came down the main set of stairs, looking around in awe. The whole place looked brighter, white stone and neon purple signs that read, “purgatory” there where also several couches, hell even the strippers and the other gang members looked cleaner. “we did a little cleaning up while you slept.” Shaundi was speechless. “Why?” Shaundi asked, was this all for her? She was so confused. She wasn’t the only one who hated the way it looked before, apparently. 

 

“Well, we’ve all been talking about how badly this place needed some cleaning up, so I figured you’d like it to be done before you got up, you don’t strike me as the clean-up-the-hideout type.” Shaundi walked over to a plush looking chair and plopped down over the arm of the chair. “well, I appreciate it.” boss smiled, and held up a beer, gesturing to Shaundi. Shaundi held up her hands in a, “no thanks” gesture, and boss took a drink of her beer. "so, how'd the meeting with Maero go?" shuandi asked, and boss' expression changed. "It went like I expected, Maero is a complete douche bag, he thought we could divide stillwater, a 20/80 offer." Shaundi was stunned, "20/80? that's bullshit!" Boss almost began to laugh, and said, "Yeah, that's what I said, needless to say, Maero and I are not on friendly terms as of now." That didn't sound good, shaundi wondered if carlos should be running around the city without any backup. "you think carlos will be ok?" Boss nodded, "oh yeah, if maero gets anywhere near him, i'll kill that mother fucker. Carlos doesn't need to be in that situation, but if I tell him that it's too dangerous, he'll get all pissy." Boss took another sip of her beer, when Laura's cheery voice reverberated through the wide hotel room lobby. 

 

“Hello!” Laura was  decending the staircase. “Glad you could make it, Laura.” Boss replied, she had actually jumped at Laura’s piercing tone echoing through the vast hotel lobby. “You know, A nice robin egg blue would really spruce this place up!” Shaundi sat up in her chair, and said, “I was thinking more of an avocado.” Laura made a sound of approval at Shaundi’s suggestion, then boss cleared her throat and said, “Hey, can we talk about this Loa dust shit already?” 

 

Laura reached into the pocket of her Cardigan, and said, “right, sorry.” as she tossed a small bag full of white powder at boss. She caught it, and opened the bag, taking a bit between her fingers and wiping it against her gums to check for quality. She nodded, and sealed the bag once more. As Laura walked around the hotel lobby, she said, “That stuff is very sophisticated, I won’t bore you with the details like acetone and dichloromethane, but there is definitely some very good pot in there.” Boss smirked, “As long as we can make this shit, it could have embalming fluid in it for all I care.”  At this, laura smiled a bit more, and said, “Making it won’t be a problem, I’ll give the recipe to Shaundi.” Shaundi looked at boss, and boss gave her a confident smile. She then stood, and said, “now all we’ve gotta do is stop these fuckers from producing any more.” 

 

Shaundi took the small bag of the loa dust, and was tossing it up and down. “well, since they’re turning out so much product, they’d need a- oh my god I’m an idiot.” Shaundi remembered one time when veteran child had gotten stoned, and he was telling her all these things about the samedi. They had a drug farm off campus, and they used it as their main drug center, thus their massive amounts of product. Shaundi silently thanked veteran child for being stupid enough to get stoned and tell her these trade secrets of the sons of samedi. 

 

“what is it?” boss asked, looking at Shaundi curiously. “I…” Shaundi didn’t know where to start. Should she tell boss about how they met, or just the borderline story? “In college, I dated this guy who would sell for the sons, and he mentioned that they grew all their shit on a farm off campus.” That was easier than expected, but she hadn’t seen boss’s reaction yet. “and this is coming up for the first time… why?” boss asked, holding her arms up in a slight, “WTF???” Gesture. Shaundi put it to her plain and simple. “I forgot.” Boss rolled her eyes, “You’re right, you are an idiot.”  Shaundi protested, “Hey!” but boss had already turned and was thanking Laura for her work on the dust. Boss then turned back towards the main staircase and Shaundi was in her way. “where are you going?” 

 

“Fuck you say?” Boss had a semi-annoyed look on her face as she looked Shaundi in the eye. “we can’t just charge into that place guns blazing!” As if Laura was listening to every word, she turned back towards them, and said, “You don’t have to!” Boss looked intrigued, “What do you mean, Laura?”  “well Tobias is out in the car, he’s got a pilot’s license, you can have him fly you over the farm!” 

 

Boss almost laughed, “I’m sorry, you gotta be shitting me woman.” Then, boss was interrupted by the slow draw of Tobias. “does it look like I’m shitting you?” He said as he flipped down the visor of his pilot’s helmet. Boss rolled her eyes, and said, “alright, let’s go.” Shaundi hopped up to walk after boss, but she held out her hand and said, “Shaundi, why don’t you start working on our science project? Once we take out the Samedi’s resources, we’re gonna have to start shelling this shit out by the pound.” Shaundi had to admit, it was a good idea. “Ok boss, I’ll hang out with Laura till you’re done.” with that, boss nodded, and said, “catch you later Shaundi, and thanks for your help laura!” Laura smiled, “oh any time dear!” Boss was already in the upper levels of the hotel by the time Shaundi had reached her drug table, and Laura pulled up a chair next to Shaundi.

 

“ok, so what all do we need to make this stuff?” Laura pulled out a piece of paper from her cardigan, and it read across the top, “Saints Loa Dust, New and improved!” with a little heart next to it. “what do you mean by new and improved?” Laura laughed, and said, “Well honey, we’re pouring lots of love into ours, the samedi don’t give a rat’s ass about their clients! They had some kind of toxic waste in it, which can cause cancer later in life, I did some research and found something that will achieve the same effect in the drug, but without the harmful effects later.” Shaundi had to admit, this lady was funny, it’s a drug with acetone in it, and she’s throwing out all the things that would have cancer causing effects later, you’ve gotta love it.” 

 

“ok, so we’ll need acetone, lots of pot, and what’s this really fucking big and scary word?” Laura laughed, “trichlorothene, it’s the main ingredient, really.” “ok, so we’ll need that… and… ok so how do we combine all this shit without it blowing up in our faces?” Laura then went into a long explination on how to combine things in a certain order so that the drug didn’t become volatile and blow Shaundi to hell as she tried to make it. Laura then helped Shaundi make her first batch, then she watched over on her second, and told her that she had it down, and by then, boss and tobias where back. “Hey Shaundi, you got this dust shit made yet?” Asked boss as she came up to inspect Shaundi’s progress. 

 

“Yeah, I’ve got two batches done already, it goes pretty fast actually, I’m gonna need more stuff to work with soon, I’ll get john over there to run and get some more.” Boss nodded, “good deal Shaundi, want me to bring you back some food? I’m starving.” Shaundi nodded, “Yeah, what are you in the mood for?” “I don’t know, what about some Charred hard burgers?” Shaundi hated that place’s burgers, but they had great chicken. “sure, I’ll take some chicken and a coke.” Boss nodded and said, “ok, I’ll be back in a few, you’re doing great!” with that, boss trotted back up the stairs and out the door. Shaundi was proud of herself for making boss go get her food, well, not really proud, but whatever, she had respect from the boss, that’s all she could ask for, right?” 

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 I hope you enjoyed that bit, Veteran Child is next, and that one is gonna be long as hell, just to let you know! XD