The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. Who: Bishop Coldiron, Vic Scherbatsky, TJ Greenling and NPC Pikachu Garcia. Where: Hellhounds Council Chambers What: Bishop has some news to deliver to his trusted officers. When: August 5th, 2019 - Late evening.
But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not
Another Rat. That news had hit Bishop hard, harder than he would have liked to admit. His Chaplain was a rat, had been a rat this whole time and they had been completely unaware. A man Bishop had promoted himself had turned against him, against them all. This whole time they had been speaking freely, believing that every man at the table was loyal and on board with the club’s new direction. Bishop couldn’t help the feeling he had that this was on him, that some of the attacks or their inability to stop the rogues sooner was now in fact very much on him -- on them all. None of them had had any suspicions, or at least not until it was too late.
Still, he couldn't focus on that fact for long. Not when he had information he needed to pass onto those he trusted. A quick series of text messages were exchanged, plans to meet in the council chambers were quickly laid in place and now Bishop sat at the head of the table survey those he knew without a doubt were loyal and trustworthy.
“Now, I’m real damn sure you’re all wondering why I had you come here,” Bishop began, his gaze moving around the table. “I ain’t going to waste anyone’s time with dragging it out. First things first, Art ain’t a turncoat. He's been undercover to see if he could sniff out where our information leak was coming from and it turns out we’ve got another rat in our midst.” Bishop stopped there to let that information sink in, knowing it was a lot to take in -- especially for those that had sat at this table with their previous rat as well.
"You gotta be fucking with me." Despite his words, though, Vic knew this was legit -- it was too serious for Bishop to joke about. It wasn't like Art hadn't been undercover for them before, either. It was the reason why he held the position he did.
Just like that, the weight of the future of this club settled heavily onto Vic's shoulders and he sighed, gripping the table's edge with his fists. If he felt like this already, how did Bishop feel? "God damn. All right." They had to get to work and figure this shit out, after all. "I'm guessing it ain't one of us if we're in here with you." And it wasn't hard to figure out who the possible suspects were, either.
“Shiiiiiiiiiit.” Pikachu rubbed a hand across the top of his head, taking in the news Bishop was sharing with them. Being lied to smarted a little, but given the circumstances it had probably been the only call their president could make. His gaze swept around the men gathered at the table, and he wondered could the rat be here with them, right now? It was a tactic, right, to gather everybody together before calling out the culprit? They did it all the time on the detective shows.
“I hear what you're saying.” This with a nod at Vic, then his hands went up like he was trying to fend off accusations. “But, dude -- not it. Just in case anyone was thinking it might be the Road Captain again.”
TJ let out a slow breath with the information that Art had been undercover. He hadn't felt right about him turning against them, and was glad it hadn't been for real. That being said, it didn't change the fact that someone among them was a rat. His gaze flickered around the table at the people he'd grown close with over the months since he'd gotten there, the people he considered his family. “Well shit.”
“That ‘bout sums it up,” Bishop remarked with a sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face before addressing the matter of who the rat was. “And I know it ain’t any of you. Seems when we voted in a new Chaplain we voted in our rat.” It stung, the fact that they not only had another rat, but that they had essentially been the people who had put him at the table with them. That Bishop had been the one to name him to the position, had thought him just as loyal as the men looking back at him now. He didn’t like being wrong, especially not when judgment came into play -- even the most discerning could make a mistake though, it seemed.
Leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table, Bishop studied the men he trusted most. “Look, I’m sorry ‘bout lying to y’all on the whole Art thing,” he began. “And I appreciate ain’t a one of you climbing down my throat or aiming a gun at my head for that lie. Didn’t like doing it, but I’m sure you understand it was strategic and our only option,” another sigh, because he knew his men would likely be just as amped up to act as he was.
Vic nodded, looking over as he clasped one hand on Bishop's shoulder. "Yeah," he said, knowing it wasn't the first time a plan had been withheld from the rest of the officers. That had never seemed to be their way, but over the last year it had happened more often than he wanted. Vic's faith in their bond had been tried and tested way too many fucking times, but he wanted to hope that after this, they could come out of it a stronger gang. "So what're we gonna do about it?"
“Now, the mayor and government types, along with the APD want to piece together a proper plan to take this fucker and the rest of the rogues down. Which means we gotta sit on our hands here, least until they’re ready to act.” Bishop tapped his fingers against the wood of the table, even while they couldn’t get rid of their problem -- they had things to discuss.
“That ain’t going to mean we sit idle though,” he began. “There’s going to be an opening in our council once this is all wrapped the fuck up, so now is as good a time as any to talk about who we promote to Chaplain, any thoughts?” Bishop knew who he wanted to recommend, but he wanted to open the floor for other opinions before he put his out there -- and it could very well be they were all already on the same page.
"Hmm." Vic looked around the room, taking in the faces of the men Bishop still trusted. They were missing one, of course, somewhere wherever those outlaw motherfuckers were burning up the streets, but all in all, these were still Vic's guys. "Yeah, I got an idea. The one who's been hazing my wife."
“Hazing is a strong word,” TJ mumbled. He wouldn't qualify anything he'd done to Marina as that. He always tried to be fair, not stepping over any lines, not just because Vic had been his sponsor and that was Marina, but also because he didn't roll like that. But that was all beside the point, because they weren't actually talking about that. It hadn't been an accusation, it had been a nomination. His gaze flickered over to Vic before moving around the table at everyone else sitting there to gauge their reactions, landing on Bishop in the end.
With a crack of laughter, Pikachu reached a long arm around the table to whack TJ on the shoulder. The Tail Gunner and the Road Captain always worked closely together, and for his money, there wasn’t anyone in the club better suited to the position that had just come open. Besides, it was well known that, among their number, TJ was usually the only one who gave a damn about things like decorum and good behavior. “Yo, Mr Manners over here sounds like a great choice for Chaplain. He can appeal to our better natures and shit.”
Bishop couldn’t suppress the smirk that appeared when his officers began voicing their opinions, an opinion he had held since the moment he had found out he would need to replace his Chaplain. “I agree wholeheartedly with everything that’s been said here,” he began, his gaze fixed on TJ now as he spoke. “Pikachu’s right, you can appeal to our better natures and you’ve got the sort of thoughtful way about you that lends itself to being Chaplain.” Bishop knew just what it took to hold that position and just how hard it could be sometimes to play devil’s advocate to a group of men whose tempers ran hotter than most. “I ain’t going to force the promotion on you, but it’s yours if you want it.”
“I also ain’t going to lie to you,TJ, being Chaplain to this lot can be downright trying at times,” said with a half-smirk and a note of fondness in his voice. “It’s like trying to herd cats.” Bishop finished with a laugh. In truth none of the positions that any of them held were easy, but he could speak to having been Chaplain because it was only five months ago that he had still occupied that very place in the club.
It was nice for them to say such good things about him, and TJ did appreciate it. He was fairly good natured, which maybe stood out more when he was in the middle of a group such as theirs. Rubbing his hand over his face, he took a moment to think about the offer being made. Sure, it could be trying, but what wasn't? It wasn't like his current job wasn't trying sometimes. “Yeah, alright.” He nodded, glancing around the table at all of them before his gaze landed on Bishop again. “Hard not to say yes when y'all are being nice and shit about me.”
"I gotta feeling that if you had your way we'd be even nicer." It was a joke, of course, since Vic was helping to lead the charge of Hellhound niceness as far as public perception went, but no one doubted that out of all of them, TJ was the least rough around the edges. "Shit, I don't even want to know what you'd think of us if you'd known us before you joined up." That joke was a little less funny, though; despite the fact that TJ had been with them for the shortest amount of time, Vic considered him indispensable.
“Nothing good, probably. He’d’ve just had to start making his mark on us that much earlier.” Pikachu leaned back in his chair again, stretching his legs out under the table and accidentally bumping at least one pair of feet in the process. Then a new thought occurred to him, and it drew a slight frown across his features.“So who's going to fill the empty slot now, if TJ’s moving up? You guys got a new Tail Gunner in mind?”
“We’re damn lucky he hasn't decided we’re a hopeless cause,” Bishop remarked with a laugh. “Since TJ’s saying yes to a promotion, I was thinking it’s ‘bout time we vote on Marina earning her patch,” He paused, looking at each of the guys sitting at the table with him. “And unless someone's got an objection to it, I'd like to make her the new Tail Gunner.” Of course all of this would go up to a vote, though he had a feeling nobody would object to the things Bishop had just proposed.
"Damn." Vic glanced over at Bishop, an amused, impressed smile on his face. As much as he was trying to stay impartial about Marina's patching, attempting to keep that out of their marriage and vice versa, he couldn't not be proud of the fact that she'd be promoted so quick. "Well, I think y'all know how I feel about that."
“S’fine with me,” Pikachu agreed, with a nod. It might be unusual, jumping Marina from prospect straight to officer, but what the hell. There were men who already wore the patch who didn’t have half the balls she did, and who hadn’t done half as much to benefit the club. “In fact, now that her name’s been put up for consideration, I think it’d be almost insulting to settle for anyone else.”
“I'm in,” TJ offered, giving a nod to the others. Considering the amount of time he'd spent with her over the past few months, he knew she'd do well and be fine. She'd put in a lot of hard work to get to where she was, so she'd more than earned it. Plus since she'd been with him, she'd essentially been his partner in Tail Gunner for a while. The transition would be easy. “She might be sad about losing the sparkly helmet, though.”
With the vote of confidence in his decision to promote Marina straight away and TJ’s acceptance of the Chaplain position, the last little bit of club business Bishop had was covered. They couldn't do anything about their rat at the moment, but he knew in time that would be handled as well. “Then it's decided,” Bishop began, grin in place. “Once this rat stuff is handled we’ll put all these pieces in their rightful place.” Leaning forward, elbows on the table Bishop called for an official vote and once they had traveled around the table and the vote was unanimous, he struck the gavel on the table and said. “Alright, you lot are free to go,” a pause. “And it goes without saying none of this leaves this room, well, except you can tell Marina she’ll be joining the boys club soon.” And with that the meeting was ended and each man now had more to think about than he had had hours prior.