Bison

Bison (バイソン, Baison) was a legendary gang in the slums of Ceres. The five original members, Riki, Guy, Sid, Luke and Norris, formed the gang straight out of Guardian and under the leadership of their charismatic leader Riki, took over Hot Crack at breakneck speed and established themselves as the top dog.

Eventually they disbanded and their leader disappeared, but their name still held sway in the slums and attracted attention. The only member to join after the fact was Kirie.

## **History**

Bison was created for self-defense by newcomers straight out of Guardian who had no connections or patronage in the slums. Initially formed by Riki and Guy, a couple that paired up right after leaving Guardian, they were joined by Sid and then Luke, who brought Norris in.

Riki arose as their *de facto* leader naturally, with his charisma, passion and assertiveness making it easy for the others to follow. The fact that Guy, who was his pairing partner, was always there to back him up and be his second in command, meant that their leadership was stable and not subject to sexual fallouts. But Riki had no particular desire for the position of a leader nor any attachment to it.

The gaze of those who were devoted to Riki was burning hot, and even though Riki only ever felt the same kind of devotion to Guy, they saw in him the pillar around which they could build their dreams of becoming top dogs of the slums.

> "Lying low and playing it safe guarantees nothing."
>
>

That had been Riki's ironclad policy since his days at the Guardian foster center and so with him at the hem, Bison fearlessly conquered Hot Crack.

By the age of 15, all of Ceres knew their names, each of the 5 establishing themselves as the legends of the slums.

## Rise to Fame

> He couldn't have done it alone. Where he was lacking, Guy filled in the gaps. Luke backed him up. Sid tied up the loose ends and Norris smoothed out the edges. That, Riki believed, is what made Bison into what it became.
>
>

Riki and Guy created Bison out of nothing, and from its inception till the end, Bison played by its own rules. Its small and selective membership, recruited from the very best, gave no quarter to the vultures who'd settle for easy pickings.

Unlike the other gangs, they didn't let themselves get tied down by all the rules, though the bottom line was that no one was to be tied down by anybody else and nobody would be under another's thumb. Everybody was free to govern himself. Which sounded high and mighty enough when talking about a hand-picked elite. But what it came down to was: *If you haven't got the guts to pick up your own mess, they don't need you.*

That Riki and his second in command were pairing partners lent stability to the group, and at the same time, took them out of the pool of available men, meaning that no matter the feelings of other members toward either of them, they always knew where they stood.

All 3 other members were devoted to Riki and were people their leader could always count on. Bison under his leadership was unstoppable. The sight of their charismatic leader alone was enough. His words intoxicated them and they shared equally in every moment of his burning zeal.  The tremendous sense of exuberance that came from being around him was more than enough for them. They could placate their hot-blooded emotions and calculate when and where to blow off steam.

Riki himself never said he was meant for greatness, but he lived it. He was the driving force that made Bison what it was. He didn't attract people with the power of words, but through his attitude, and he didn't want praise or anything in return.

Their skill, ferocity independence and synergy all contributed to them becoming the kings of the mountain.

But then, having built the reputation of Bison to what it was, the last thing his members expected was for Riki to suddenly quit, and then outright disappear.

## Disbandment

In every respect, the term "early bloomer" applied to Bison. At the top of their game, while they were still undisputed kings of Hot Crack, Riki abdicated as their leader and left Bison. This sudden turn of events shocked the whole colony, as well as his own members. But unbeknownst to them Riki had become a Black Market courier, and simply didn’t see a way to stay in Bison.

All it took was for the gang's leader to throw in the towel and the rest of them opted for early retirement. Or rather it could be said that, to the extent that they showed no regrets, they had completely burned themselves out.

And because none of them, not even Guy, were up for taking the wheel, Bison disbanded. A few months later, Riki suddenly disappeared from the slums, not even his members, including Guy knew how or why. This added another layer of mystery to an already legendary gang. The fact that all of this happened so suddenly, while they were on their unbroken winning streak, only solidified their legendary status.

As years went by, the legend remained, casting a shadow on all other gangs who tried to take back the crown.

The remaining members themselves still remained tight and hung out with each other constantly. This bond was unusual, and everyone expected that without the gang, the members would scatter and either join new, active ones, or go their own ways. With their reputation and strength of character, there was no shortage of options for any of them. But without paying any attention to expectations, the members remained a close family.

> Why? Why were they still hanging together? With their reason for existence, their foundation, having vanished?
>
>

In addition to hanging out at their main safehouse, Herma, they were regulars at Roget’s bar too. There they had a booth reserved only for them.

It wasn't like anybody had ever formally proposed the arrangement. But if nothing particularly pressing was at hand, that was where they went to eat and hang out. The only predetermined rule was that when the party began, there was no backing out or cancelling. These became the unspoken rules that had evolved since Riki left the slums.

## Kirie's Addition

With the ghost of Bison still firmly entrenched in the psyche of the slums, there was no end to kids trying to join them. But only one succeeded, an odd-eyed kid 3 years their junior – Kirie.

This wasn’t an accident. In fact, Kirie was a sly and capable kid from the get go who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. Aware of Bison’s reputation, and wanting only the best for himself, he carefully weighed his options. Although Bison was now more legend than reality, the name commanded considerable respect in the slums simply as a status symbol. In fact, they could call on so many favors that they could get by on the daily freebies alone if the inclination so struck them.

And so, he seduced Sid, and through his good word managed to get Guy’s approval. He finally joined them a year after Riki disappeared. Kirie was there for his own reasons and tried to get what he could out of the members. The only member that never fully took to him was Guy, despite Kirie's numerous advances.

In Kirie’s eyes, the former leader was a legend, and he extended this status to his pairing partner too. But naively, when he met Guy, he mistook his levelheadedness for weakness. However he soon realised that Guy’s mild façade hid the strength of spirit that didn’t lack compared to Riki’s.

For his part, Sid was interested in Kirie because of his stark resemblance to Riki. The other members saw this resemblance too, and it seems that they kept him around as a sort of replacement, but the results were mixed. Kirie’s fiery spirit and determination, although still immature, filled in at least a part of the gaping hole Riki’s departure left.

Aware of his flaws, members simply viewed him as their young mascot with affection and didn’t take his antics seriously. At least not at first.

## Riki's Return

Three years to the day of his disappearance, Riki returned to Bison. The slums were abuzz with rumors of their reunion. Pretty quickly it became apparent that Riki had changed and wasn’t interested in regrouping Bison as a gang and was quite content just hanging out with his former members. This resulted in the disillusioned slums dubbing him a beaten dog.

The members, as happy as they were to have him back, couldn’t hide their disappointment with the state of things. Kirie especially was not having it, although that mostly had to do with the way Riki treated him. The former leader couldn’t stand the newcomer and made no secret of it. The animosity between the two kept growing, until eventually Kirie found other things to occupy him and barely showed his face at the Bison hideout. That Kirie’s side activities involved selling off his mates to the elite (or at least, such were the rumors), made Bison not want to have anything to do with him.

But Kirie wasn’t their only problem. Other gangs, sensing weakness, figured that now was the good time to take Bison off their throne. The pressure from them kept mounting, and to the members’ chagrin, Riki let it wash off of him like water off a duck’s back. The power of Riki's charisma had been extinguished and this defanged Varja had no direction to point them in. The members must have been coming to this realization for a long time, but the mortification of seeing it displayed right before their eyes lay far beyond logic and reason.

All the members were frustrated with Riki, but they showed it differently. Perhaps rather than frustrated, Guy was especially hurt and confused, but had a hard time pushing Riki for answers. Luke was pissed off and didn’t hold back on calling Riki out. He believed that just letting things be as they are is the worst outcome and kept pushing the limits of Riki’s patience hoping to reach some sort of a breakthrough. Norris, mellow as usual, didn’t stir the pot and attempted to keep the peace, but in truth, he too was getting tired of Riki’s schtick. Sid’s loyalty to Riki didn’t waver despite the disappointment, and he let his frustrations build up deep under the surface.

## Rivalries

With Bison disbanding so suddenly while at the pinnacle of their success and popularity, they left shoes that proved to be too big to fill. Having had such a charismatic leader and then having him disappear so mysteriously, it left things unresolved, as if all the slums were left holding their breath.

Despite being inactive, the bond the other members still clearly had left the door open, at least in the eyes of onlookers, for a potential reunion, even without Riki and so all these factors combined into a thick, black cloud over the heads of other gangs.

There were many pretenders to the vacant throne, but mongrels weren’t convinced by any of them. Eventually two gangs crystallised as main candidates – Maddox and Jeeks. Touted as the old guard vs the new, these two gangs vied for supremacy on Hot Crack. But one thing they had in common was their frustration with the shadow of Bison which they would need to overcome even if they come out on top. And so, they had it in for anyone that was in any way connected to the name of Bison.

With Riki’s unexpected return, and subsequent lack of interest in picking up where he left off, Jeeks especially felt emboldened. Lacking a charismatic leader typical of Ceres Gangs, but compensating for that with sheer numbers, the so called Jeeks hyper kids saw their chance and started nipping at Bison’s heels.

Emboldened by Bison’s inaction, Jeeks kept upping the ante, which eventually culminated in them blowing up Bison’s main hangout in broad daylight. This was seen by everyone as a direct challenge, but Riki still decided to ignore it. At this point, the other members were getting quite tired of Riki’s attitude, or lack thereof, but ultimately they weren’t going to do anything without him.

It wasn’t until Kirie, who by this point was no longer a member, decided to do them a “favour” and hit the Jeeks’s safehouse, blowing it up.

The slums took this to mean that Bison is back and that Riki is looking to get even, despite the members themselves having nothing to do with the incident. Excited voices spread the rumors. From one ear to the next, they became all the more heated and distorted with each retelling. Once the rumors had gained a life of their own, they couldn't be expected to reflect the will or wishes of the concerned parties. Neither Riki nor the rest of Bison wanted to get stirred up by all the chatter, but, unfortunately, the fall out of the talk was beyond their control.

With that one incident, the members of Jeeks found their reputations ruined and their lives taking a turn for the worse. Their safe house lost, they turned all the more feral, striking out against anyone. And this wasn't just a problem for Bison. The trouble Jeeks was causing affected the daily routine everywhere in the slums.

Settling the score with Jeeks was the inevitable burden Riki and the other members had taken on. Everybody was holding their breath in anticipation of the battle. With all of this attention, Bison's reputation was growing by the day, and its members were getting as anxious as the spectators.

> "They're going down, all of them. If we do it, we do it big. We have to pay them back with interest."
>
>

Taking this as seriously as possible, Riki even went as far as to contact Robby for the information he needed to put Jeeks down for good. And put them down they did. Proving that it’s best to let the sleeping dogs lie, Bison took care of Jeeks and once again proved that even after all these years, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

Though the name of Bison was more legend than reality, its reach was now greater than ever before. Such that its original members, who still had some skin left in the game, from time to time got sick and tired of nothing ever happening. Riki's return only spurred those feelings on. And the pounding they delivered to Jeeks very much lit the fire anew.

The so-called second coming of Bison was a fool's dream. But in a different sense, Guy and the others had reasons to believe it could happen. Just having Riki back by their sides was enough to strengthen that belief.

## Ceres Raid

Despite Kirie being wholly unwelcome in Bison after the Jeeks incident, the day of which was the last time they even saw him, Bison was still treated by everyone as Kirie’s home. Every one of them got beaten and interrogated by the Darkmen, because their intel pointed to Kirie being a member and Riki was even dragged to the Police Center. As far as all of them were concerned, Kirie has more than proved to be a jinx whose shit they were made to clean up over and over again, and none of them even considered covering for him, not that the Darkmen cared.

Not only did the members suffer these heavy beatings, but that the raid even happened was blamed on them. Regardless of how members of Bison felt, in the slums, the perception of Kirie as part of Bison was rooted deeply. After crushing Jeeks, the members of Bison were reluctant heroes in Ceres for a time, but after the raid, people's regard of them had undeniably plummeted. Because no one knew the truth of what Kirie had done to be chased into Ceres by the Midas Police, there was no end to those who held Bison responsible. Not like anyone had the guts to confront and pick a fight with them though.

At this point, the members no longer cared about what was being said. Going out of their way to deny the rumors loud would only add fuel to the fire, and turning a deaf ear to the speculations only added more conjecture; the swelled-up rumors would never come to a stop. Sooner or later, they were bound to become urban legends of some sort; dominated only by theories that nobody could get the truth out of.

## Riki’s Second Disappearance and Side Job at Maxi’s

When Riki disappeared for the second time, the members took a more active role in trying to figure out what happened. After Guy witnessed Kirie’s state for himself and saw Katze take him away, all the members realised that there was much more at stake than what they’d been aware of. Determined to get to the bottom of things, they all chipped in and went from informer to informer, even ending up in Neal Darts, trying to get as much info as possible.

They didn’t find out anything about Riki, but they were fed some information about Guardian which, while false, correctly brought to their attention that Guardian is a much more sinister place than an Eden where kids were born and raised.

This burdened the members with forbidden knowledge which, in addition to their current reputation in the slums, limited what they could do and where they could go. No longer feeling safe getting drunk in front of others for fear of blurting out something they shouldn’t, more than ever, they became a tight-knit group.

Norris’s pairing partner Maxi, who was a skilled mechanic with good capital, set them up with a side-job in his garage. Instead of wasting away and getting high and drunk on stout, the members spent their days customising bikes at the repair shop.

The rumors about Riki and Kirie abounded in the slums and naturally most of them were complete fiction, but Bison still kept their ears open to anything that might check out. It was Norris who checked one such rumor about Riki, and brought it up to the others. Hearing that Riki now lived in Apatia, a high-class, restricted residential area in Lhassa, without hesitation they got to work trying to confirm it.

All the members took 3 hour shifts surveilling Apatia’s main gate for days, until finally, they spotted their former leader. All of next month, the members stopped working at the garage and focused on tracking Riki’s every move.

Eventually, they confronted him thinking he was there of his own volition. But finding out that he is being kept as a Blondy pet, and seeing the humiliation he had to endure was a massive blow to every one of them.

Shocked by this new reality, the members had a hard time coping. While they all wanted to do something to help Riki, they were aware of the fact that their opponent is too powerful, they were way out of their depths. Everyone except for Guy, who immediately started planning how to get Riki out of there. He outright refused to get the others involved and kept them in the dark about his plans and schemes.

After the destruction of Dana-Burn, while Riki's and Guy’s fate is known, it is uncertain what happened to Sid, Luke and Norris.