Noel Harrison's Story

Chapter 1: BROTHERS, BANDITS AND BEGINNINGS.

There was a loud noise as a large oval table was dragged into the room by three prospects with the screech of wood on metal. The table was magnificent black wood, polished and inscribed with the words 'Saol. Bás. Nglacadóir de Souls. Bráithre Till An Deireadh' Benjamin stood to the side, watching the proceedings.

The bikers begun to clear out, and the visitors were either forced out by the numerous bartenders. The magnificent table stood in the middle of the pub, the inscription shining in the light. Chairs were brought in, and calls were made to the members of the Gae Ceann to come urgently, and those who came late would have their club pay docked.

Benjamin took his seat at the head of the table, sliding into a seat and pouring a bottle of Irish whiskey down his gullet. The president waited his club, as there were many things to discuss.

Outside an infernal gurgle cued Rayan's arrival. The bike droned on like a sea siren in the night, engine burbling down as the thing was shut off. Moments later, the front door would swing open with a kick from a muddy boot. Slicking what water was left in Rayan's 'do out with a flick the biker squelched over to the table.

Kicking a chair backwards Rayan descended, grinning. Wonder what this's all about? Rayan rested his chin on folded arms over the back of the chair, eyeballing the bottle of whiskey.

"'Sup?"

Having been already inside the banshee stood up and yawned, cracking her knuckles, grinning toothily and replying, "Wait for it lads an' lasses 'e's gonna tell us, 'is deck fallen aff an' we 'av ter go fend it. or maybe yer man 'ill send us lookin' for 'is cat, aka sum pussy. or maybe even better more violence, Renny love sum ol' violence." taking a whisky glass, she downed the remaining concoction before smashing it down roughly, "Let's jist 'ope 'tis somethin' new, scon are bored an' actually foun' meself bein' nice lately, whaich is pure unbecomin' av oi."

Walking over over to the table, she sat herself, placing her feet on top, and leaning back, as she closed her eyes and listened to everyone 'dramatic entrances, this oughta be cute.

The door would simply open as the ghoul walked in. That's all. No kicking in doors, no holes in the wall, no breaking through the roof on a motorcycle while fucking a chick, simple walking through the door. The only odd thing would be the black fedora on his head.

"Knock Knock, Jimmy's home."

As the ghoul spoke a slight chuckle could be heard coming from him. He would move towards the table before taking a chair and moving it towards the back, resulting in it standing in the shadows, but still a pretty small distance away from the table. A distance they would most likely not complain about. He then jumped onto it with feet and claws and simply waited for the meeting to start.

The door would simply be opened once more a little bit after the ghoul made his way in, the use of hands not being necessary by Yojimbo as he simply had walked forward towards the door, his nose being long enough to open it as he walked ahead. The burly yet slightly older man spoke up in his gruff voice.

"I have no witty entrance, but...I'm here, Yojimbo, the tengu with the big nose.."

Saying this, he'd shuffle his way over towards the table as well, sitting down on the wood as he folded his hands together, simply listening for the time being, like some of the others, waiting for the meeting to start....If it will even start. Who knows? Not Yojimbo, that's for sure.

Rayan raised a hand signalling that a drink would be much enjoyed. Patiently the gang member waited, smiling graciously at Ub in thanks. Rayan drummed lithe fingers on the table, taking note of everyone who had entered with a single glance. The Gae Ceann had assembled, alright. A cig was lit, so Rayan lit another.

"Soooooooo," Ashes on the ground, exhale on the air.

The Handsome Hacker stepped into the establishment that the gang called home only to smirk like the devil himself and not a single soul could compare to the ego that he held. "Whats up guys?" Was all he could say as he sauntered on towards the bar and placed in an order for a beer while he took a seat just to look at the others present.

"Not all," Responded Strangest Danger, tapping at the table one last time.

"Wha' brew's that?" Rayan chin jerked in the direction of The Handsome Hacker's beer.

Noel simply smirked and looked over at at Rayan only to shrug a bit and take a sip of his beverage. 'Budweiser is what it tastes like Rayan." Was all Noel said as he took his time drinking his beer while he waited for something a bit more interesting to happen. It was not like he was expecting fiery explosions or interesting new little nooks to get himself into but Hell life was sure boring as of late. "What has been going on? I feel like I have missed a couple of things as of late."

Benjamin nodded to all the newcomers as they came in, the shutters were drawn and the room was plunged in mellow darkness, a few errant rays of sunshine bringing out the whites of their eyes. The lights flickered on and there was a loud crack of an axe hitting the middle of the table, bloodstained and a few hair strands clinging onto the wicked edge.

"Attention!" Benjamin yelled at the top of his voice, leaning forward in his chair and letting go of the axe. "Welcome to the first official meeting of the Gae Ceann. I'd go though all your names and welcome you all, but I figured you'd do that with yourselves, you're all brothers and sisters now. I fully expect you to act it." The President continued, taking another swig of whiskey.

Benjamin paused. Ub was not part of the club, and one of the prospects must've forgotten to tell him to leave. The leader rose and wrenched the axe free of the table and hung it on his belt. The dullahan walked over to the dealer and eyed him up and down. "We're closed, you're leaving. Come back later, you look like you could cut it in the club." The leader pulled a card out of his pocket that had the residence of the club and his contact number on it and passed it to the stranger and gave him a shove to the door, and gesturing to the prospects nearby with a throat-cutting gesture that simply said; "Get him out of here. But don't kill him."

Benjamin turned back to the table, smiling.

"You're all here because the club has been busy and I wasn't there to lay down the groundwork. The crimes that have been committed have been done badly, we've gained from it, but done badly. I apologize to start our first ever meeting like this, but it's something I have to get across. I have the power to strip you of your patch, jacket and rank within this club." The leader droned on, cracking his knuckles and sitting back in his chair.

"Treat me as such, and we'll have no problems." The President continued. "The prospects at this table and new members of the club. You're all going to be major players in this club one day, but right now you have to prove that you have something to contribute to the club. Mud, blood and money have their place, but you must all have skills. Brewing a good beer is one of them. As our resident drinkers know." Benjamin winked at Rayan and Noel.

The motorbike above them swung loudly as the leader grinned. "Now to the subject at hand. I want you all to introduce yourselves to me, tell me what your good at, why you're with us." The leader took a swig and fully expected their replies to be worthwhile.

Jack pulled in a greasy mechanic, dripping in motoroil behind them from the back exit that usually led to the garage. "Sorry we're late, Ben, found your son elbow-deep in that god damn tron bike in the garage." Jack rolled his eyes and let go of the president's beloved adopted son. "Aye, an' I'd be finished figurin' out how the damned thing was put together if this flea-bag hadn't shown up..." The mechanic said, and the president of the club laughed and shook his head, leaning back and nodding for the others to continue.

Kevyn took a seat between Jack and his adoptive father, pulling out a rolled cigarette and lighting it with a Zippo bearing the club crest. The scent that wafted from the cherry-end was certainly much more pleasant than tobacco, and he offered it to Ben or Jack after taking another drag. Benjamin reached out to swipe the smoke before Jack could get his furry mitts and gave his adopted son a thankful wink over the sighs of his figurative uncle. Jack winked to the mechanic and leaned to the side to whisper to his old friend. "These are the prospects I was talkin' bout."

"I guess I'll take a mo' to introduce meself to those of yeh that don' know me. The names Kevyn, an' I'm the only mechanic here that's worthy of the title. Yeh got a problem with yer ride, yeh come to me. Yeh got a problem with yer bitch, yeh come to me. Hell, yeh got any problem at all, yeh come to me. An' if you try to start shit here, yeh'll be answering to me an' my welding torch, yeh got that?" The mechanic growled, snatching back his joint and taking a drag before handing it off to Jack. Then he leaned back, put his boots up on the table and fell silent, casually blowing smoke rings toward the ceiling.

Noel smirked at the comment from the big boss only to shake his head and wave the words right off as if they were nothing more than smoke in the air. Sure the Handsome Hacker loved his drink every now and then but he needed to be sober if he wanted to get shit done right the first time. Hell it wasn't even two minutes into the meeting before more of the gang showed up and Noel simply turned himself in his stool to face everyone only to smile like the devil he was and glance over to Rayan just to smirk when he heard the mechanic make his intro. Sure If Noel needed to he would introduce himself to the newbies but what fun would that provide when he had already done his own background checks to make sure he would not get stabbed later in life.

Evianna was feeling content after a quickly feasting on a young human female. She seemed around fifteen or seventeen, didn't matter now that she was dead and all. Nothing was wasted (not that it made the act any less worse).
Her lovely Harley Davidson bike cooed as she parked it out the front of the Clubhouse, taking the keys out of ignition. One leg slid off onto the other side with her other and so she made her way to the entrance, heeled boots clacking against the hard ground bellow her. The human eating shapeshifter hadn't realised a bit of blood was smeared on her cheek along with a mixture of her light pink lipstick. Although she felt something was a tad out of place somewhere on herself; she didn't really care though. So the feeling was ignored.

Entering the building, she saw the other Members seated around a table. "Oh. I'm late?" She questioned puzzled, a mature and rather elegant tone to her voice would be heard. She would come across as 'nice' just by how she spoke, but she could get quite nasty. More than others would expect. Checking a cheap watch around her wrist, she saw the time seemed to show she was not late. "Stupid thing." She cursed softly to herself, tapping it with her index finger's long nail. Evianna then realised it wasn't ticking, obviously broken or out of battery. How annoying she thought.

Letting out a long and irritated sigh she joined the others at the table, seating herself, her right leg move over her left, adjusting herself until she was comfortable, folding her arms. "Agh, sorry I'm late. Stupid watch broke." Evianna said with a shrug, she had obviously missed a bit of information, but hopefully not too much. Many new faces were scene; her eyes shifted, studying them individually out of curiosity.

"Right on time and I thought I was going to get old or something." Noel simply continued to smile and enjoy his beer while he waited for the meeting to continue like it was.

Taking a hearty swig from her whisky glass, she stood up the alcohol hardly effecting her, possibly due to her nature and kind, as she stood up, she began to speak, "Gran' so, is mise Renny 'iggins scon are an Oirish banshee as auld as most av yer before yer were de twinkle in de milkmans mince pie, aye so scon are de vice president an' yer got any issues unless 'tis serious, oi don't care. nigh, if yer got anyone who needs taught a lesson, send dem ter me, oi 'ill gladly cleave de ties." as she grabbed the glass once more, she smirked, "Most who already met me, nu oi don't play fair, if yer want ter learn, yer nade ter be willin' ter play de games. me brutality is known throughoyt de chapter an' aye once or twice oi 'av accidently killed wan av de prospects."

With that she sat back down saying, "An' dat is Renny, got a problem oi don't gie a feck, oi 'ill in me rin' 'av limp-wristed cowards in dis chapter."

(Alright, my name is Renny Higgins I am an Irish Banshee as old as most of you before you were the twinkle in the Milkmans eye, aye so I am the Vice President and you got any issues unless it's serious, I don't care. Now, if you got anyone who needs taught a lesson, send them to me, I will gladly cut the ties.)

(Most who already met me, know I don't play fair, if you want to learn, you need to be willing to play the games. My brutality is known throughout the chapter and yes once or twice I have accidently killed one of the prospects.)

(And that is Renny, got a problem I don't give a fuck, I will not have limp-wristed cowards in this chapter.)

The Hound stood up afterwards, though he didn't see the point in introducing himself to a bunch of newbs that wouldn't make it 2 months. In comparison to the brogue before, his voice and words were crisp and clipped and it was evident that he didn't like to speak much in public. He pinched his cigarette between his fingers and exhaled the smoke and lowered his mask.

"I have many titles, but for the sake of the club, I answer to Perro. In the simplest terms, I'm a hellhound. In more complex terms, I'm a hunting dog for a god from another dimension but there's no need to get into semantics here. I'm a recently appointed VP. The Gae Ceann originally started as a an organization that punished criminals who otherwise eluded justice. I'm a strong proponent of this cause, despite the clubs obvious 'evolution' over the years into something that appears to be no more than a bunch of no-good scoundrels in some fancy leather jackets. In THIS chapter, we aim to uphold the original design, and if you aren't going to play to our book,"

Here he glanced at certain recent appointees, but with his face obscured, nobody could tell.

"Then it's my job to rectify this by any means necessary. Like darling Renny here, I've killed prospects and even a few fresh faces, but not by accident. Sometimes examples must be made. Dog's gotta eat."

He sat back down and replaced his cigarette.

"A dog's gotta eat but we all know for a fact that with the rules of this group I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to cross with the likes of either of you two." Noel spoke up only to keep on smiling just to then down the rest of his beer. For those who knew this particular enforcer of the group it was not just a mean meal he could come up with on the spot but a rather devastating combination of brains and brawn along with a few picked up skills and abilities from here and there. With a single hand raised a bit Noel stood up only to snicker a little as he looked at the new guys only to shake his head. "The names Noel and if you are in a jam and need some help don't be afraid to come and find me. I might be your best bet within this little family of ours and I know I am more forgiving than the others."

Larry gulped. Good thing he had picked an out of the way portion of the biker bar, because it looked like the cows had indeed come home. He spoke in hushed whispers, trying not to get too much attention. He had the brawn to scrap one-on-one, but taking on these odds was for a person that WANTED to become roadkill. The clock was ticking. He needed an exit, and fast.

"Hey, Belesandra, think you can get the two of us outside? I don't wanna end up on the menu."

However, he wasn't quick enough asking for a favor, as he was rudely thrown out onto the street. Belesandra being what she was, however, she might have been able to avoid the same fate. "Geez, I'm going, you don't have to..." He was rudely cut off by a kick to the groin by one of the bouncers, leaving him rolling on the cobblestones of East Lanterna Way in fetal-position agony, uttering only the occasional moan of pain.

As the Bouncer's came closer to her, Belesandra simply drew a Red pistol from her back and clicked the safety off "You touch me...you get a nice new hole in your eye..." She said and then pulled the trigger to sound a click as she simply vanished into the floor via a magical portal and departed the Clubhouse

Evianna glanced curiously at the ruckus being made between unwanted guests and the bouncer. Then everyone seemed to be introducing themselves. So that's what they were told to do huh? She liked the idea of introductions, getting to know people more and letting people know her less.
Evianna liked discipline and the rather brutal way those superior to her treated everyone including herself. It showed there was some sort of order in the gang. Once the room fell a bit silent for a moment, no one else seemed to stand up and introduce themselves, so she took it upon herself to go forth. The shapeshifter stood up.
"You all can call me Evianna. I'm a shapeshifter and an Enforcer. If you need a corpse to get rid of, don't throw it away that would be such a waste. Come to me and i'll clear it up for you." A rather sadistic smile shifted across her face for a moment as she spoke clearly and elegantly. "Don't underestimate me." She finished bluntly then seated herself once again, eyeing the different people who were yet to introduce themselves with her one blue eye and the other red. The female found it a good enough intro in her opinion. As long they know your place, name and what not, should be enough information.

Benjamin leaned back, folding his arms and basking in the knowledge that the introductions were going well, that bouncer was going to get a raise after this. Anybody who got a gun shoved in their faces deserved a little money on the side anyway. The biker leaned forward, stroking his stubble before pointing at Rayan. "Spit out your introduction spin, handsome. I know you're just waiting to blow our minds." The president said, unfolding his arms and taking a swig of his whiskey, holding out an unlit cigette to one of the prospects; one Aidan Blar, tapping it to signal it needed a light.

Alright Rayan stood in one fluid movement, winking at Benjamin despite the smile slipping from the features of the angelic ungendered thing. He, or she, finished the brew and slammed it down, looking to everyone once, basking. Almost casually Rayan reached into the neck of the leather coat, from which was drawn a leather chord reminiscient of dried gore. Unearthed next was a shining key. It was endlessly entwined in the red strands. With the faintest hiss, the necklace let go of the key and let it rest in Rayan's palm. It was held up for all to see.

"Call me whatche' will. See this?" It caught the light, "Y'ever hear o' the Dead Current?

A tide unlocked in all the ever seas,
Into which flow long dead and gone souls
To the shining void of Purgatory?"

With a grin Rayan tossed the key back down his shirt, where the chord caught it. "Ghost's. The unsettled. An' I can waterproof 'yer shit, an' brew a brew as good as any, so there's that."

The cellular communications device on the persona of Benjamin Dullahan would begin to sound in alarm. The caller display showed none other than the name of Zosimos, along with his image technology permitting. It would continue to ring until answered. All day if it had to, no matter what it disrupted. The man on the other end of the line had naught better to do at this moment. Even if he did, this was important.

Too important to simply leave in some voice mail or another.

Benjamin looked at his phone, sighed, put it on the table and opened his mouth to say something before swallowing his ire and picking up the phone and answering it. Zosimos? Now? In the middle of a club meet? That was terrible timing but it was going to happen sooner or later.

"Benjamin." answered the president, holding out a finger to silence the meeting.

"Zosimos, yes, ah," The man sounded on edge, but only slightly.

"How are your eyes, faring well? Yes?" A strange question, coming from anyone really.