The handmade alarm clock startled Syndicate awake, a small figure of a man with a hammer was whacking away at the bells continuously enough to wake even the heaviest of sleepers. Springing from his bed he lifted the alarm clock off the night stand and began to turn it over, then upright, then sideways. Seeing no way to turn the damn thing off he tossed it onto his bed and placed his pillow over top of it. He stood back, and the frustrated look was quickly replaced by one of amusement as he watched the pillow moving ever so slightly as the small figure continued to beat the bells underneath. It was good enough, he thought as he sighed and made his way for his closet door. He got dressed and made his way to his brand new mirror that HenriDucard had invented, it was a two way mirror, whatever that meant. 

He pulled both ends of his bow tie to tighten the knot and stepped up to the mirror but was surprised to not see himself in it. Instead he was able to see straight through to the other side, like a damn window. The look of frustration returned on Syndicate's face as he strolled out of his room and into the sitting room that his new window looked into. "There I am! Why is it a mirror now?" Syndicate said outloud to himself in a baffled expression. He double checked his bow tie and made his way to his Left Hand Man's room. The room was full of half finished research as well as beakers and jars full of colored liquids. The knotty pine paneling was a nice homey touch in an otherwise chemist laboratory. 

HenriDucard was nowhere to be seen, so of course he picked up a small vial of electric green liquid and began to swirl it around, "What are you doing?" Syndicate heard a voice say coming from the wall. He placed the vial down and spun on his heel but there was no one there. He examined the wall more closely until it spoke again, "Can you see me?" The wall  said once more. "I'm going to have to go with no on this one..." Syndicate responded to the wall which began to move. A pair of eyes opened and a cutout figure of the wall seemed to step into the room. HenriDucard was wearing some sort of woodgrain stealthy suit, no doubt one of his newer inventions. "What do you think?" Henri asked Syndicate. "You look like a walking door" Syndicate responded to him, his eyebrow raised. "Sure sure, but its camouflage wall paneling. It looks like the wall. You can stand against it and no one will know you are there!" He said with excitement. 

Syndicate walked around to the back of him to hopefully understand it better, he did not. "Interesting. What about that window-mirror you put in my room, I can't see myself." Henri chuckled, "It's so you can see whats going on but the switch next to it will turn it back into a mirror. I've already got orders from people that want them, I just don't have the space to do my research and my development." Syndicate threw his arm up in the air, "Orders? You are going to sell people broken mirrors and make money?" Syndicate asked. Henri quickly corrected him, "They aren't broken, but yes, Could be making a 40% profit margin on this as well as the camouflage but I'm tripping over my work in this room."

Syndicate placed his hands in his pockets and began to pace back and forth for a moment. He murmured quietly letting partial words out here and there. "Thats it! Goliath National Bank will purchase a lab in Bella Vista, You'll be able to spread yourself out, hire a staff and make work on your research and developments. Make your camouflage wall suits and your magic mirrors and pour your liquids from one beaker to another. I have clients of my own that are interested in poisons, this could work, no... Scratch that. This will work. Are you up for this? Will you venture out to Bella Vista and lead an operation of your own?"

Henri thought of the possibilities as his eyes darted around the room. The space he had been developing his new stealth gadgets was beyond a doubt too small for them to reach their full potential. And the chemistry projects? Or what was it Syndicate had said... "Pouring liquid from one beaker to another" - Henri smirked. He had barely scratched the surface in that field. 

Henri nodded occasionally, his mind racing. It took him a moment before he realized that he had yet to respond to Syndicate. He had been so focused on thinking what he could manage to accomplish with a larger space in regards to his research that he didn't stop to consider the other ends of that.

Bella Vista? Henri had already been organizing and running many day-to-day operations throughout Philadelphia since their move there. He thought of the occasional assistance he had been giving Sho_Nuff with the security at a few of his properties, and the other assorted things he had been responsible for recently. Perhaps if he delegated properly and got the right systems in place, this venture could be quite profitable. 

Syndicate coughed, startling Henri - something that was quite difficult to do - out of his daze. 

"Of course I will... I'm not even really sure how to thank you properly other than to continue developing these projects and ensuring that they make a profit for Goliath National Bank. It's been an absolute delight to help with our transition into Philly, and then to continue on building and churning a profit after you took on your role as Godfather Chairman. The Goliath National Bank will always be a home to me, I assure you of that! In fact... I'd like to title my newfound operation the 'Goliath Research & Development Division' - quite a mouthful, I know."

Henri went to stick out his hand, but thought better of it immediately. He embraced the Godfather Chairman quickly and as they parted, Syndicate knocked over a vile of bright purple liquid. Henri stuck out his foot with the reflexes of a well-trained ninja and popped the bottle back into the air, catching it smoothly before it smashed. He exhaled deeply, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"That could have been bad! If it weren't for this bottle being so well sealed, and that incredible save, it's quite likely that a decent sized hole would have just burned down to the buildings foundation..." 

Syndicate looked over all the vials and thought, this was a good decision. People live here, developing deadly poisons and toxins would be much better in a laboratory. Syndicate patted HenriDucard on the shoulder, "Start loading stuff up, I'll go buy some property in Bella Vista. I'll have an address for you in an hour." 

Syndicate took the vial of purple liquid from Henri's hand, turned and left the room with it. He returned to his room and picked up the still ringing alarm clock and proceeded to go out into the gardens in the rear of the mansion. He tossed the alarm clock on the ground where it began jumping up and down. Uncorking the vial Syndicate dumped a few drops of the liquid onto the alarm clock until it began to sizzle and finally stop ringing. The clock was clearly bubbling and changing shape looking like something out of Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory. He waited for it to finally stop sizzling before picking it up, there was a clean hole where the liquid passed through it, Henri was right, the house would not have been alright had that bottle dropped. Looking down at the ground Syndicate admired the deep hole in the ground where the liquid had dropped, he glanced around the gardens and made his way over to a small flat rock, he kicked it over a few times until it sat on top of the hole then with a nod he turned and proceeded back into the house where he would make some phone calls. 

Syndicate's right hand Mazikeen opened the sliding door into the kitchen and greeted him with a mug of coffee. He handed her the vial of purple liquid and showed her the melted clock, "Wasn't turning off". Her eyebrows raised and she set the vial down carefully on the counter. "Interesting morning already Syndicate?" Mazikeen inquired as she picked up her own coffee and took a few sips. "Interesting indeed, Henri has a full product line of wooden suits that people want to buy for who knows why, but profit is profit. I need to make a few calls, we are upgrading him to his own laboratory in Bella Vista." Syndicate said as Mazikeen's eyes grew wider, "That is fantastic! We need to throw a party for him! And for us! He made stink bombs last week that drove us all out of the house." She shuttered at the memory of it and made her way over to the kitchen rolodex where she began to flip through her contacts, "Get me an address as soon as you have it, I'll take care of the party."

Syndicate gave her a nod and took a sip from his own coffee before heading over to the kitchen phone, he pressed a few buttons and waited a few moments before speaking, "It's Syndicate, put the mayor on." He tapped his foot a few times. "Hey it's me, I'm ready to call in that favor. I need a large warehouse in Bella Vista and I need it off the books." He waited for the Mayor to collect his thoughts and look over his paperwork. "When you ask?" Syndicate picked up the melted clock "Immediately". He tapped his foot some more as he waited. "Yes that will be perfect, send someone to my place with the paperwork." Syndicate hung up the phone, wrote down an address on a piece of paper, folded it and turned to Mazikeen. 

"So as it turns out the City Government has a shipping and receiving warehouse in Bella Vista they aren't using. He's hiring HenriDucards company as a contractor for Research and Development, comes with city sanctioning and 24/7 gate security. As long as he's in office and I keep letting him beat me at golf on Thursdays we are set." He handed the address to Mazikeen and returned to his coffee while he waited for one of the Mayor's aids to show up with the licenses and paperwork. 

Mazikeen finished lacing up her boots so she could walk down to her favourite little party shop. As she walked through the door the tiniest little bell sounded. Pete who was a small plump balding man appeared from behind the counter.

“My dear old Mazikeen! Your usual order?”

Mazikeen gave a small chuckle as she shook her head

“Not today. I need something a little extra…a little dark…maybe twisted.”

She tilted her head to one side as she walked towards him. Pete gave a little nod of his head before ducking under the counter. When he reappeared he had a solid block of rainbow powder. Carefully placing it in front of her he watched as she flicked open her pen knife and raked it along the green slice. Lifting the blade she snorted the powder from the blade.

“Oh Pete, this is good. What happens if you mix them all?”

Pete scratched his chin for a moment

“Hallucinations, psychotic paranoia, diarrhoea, the occasional moo’ing and if you add too much pink there is a high chance of permeant anal itching. It’s a good high though.”

Mazikeen chucked down a stack of $100 bills and placed the block in her purse.

“Gimme a call when you have finished baking the next thing”

Leaving Pete’s, Mazikeen checked her watch and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the town car she had expected to be waiting here to arrive. A moment later it came around the corner and pulled up next to her. The driver jumped out and opened the door for her. Inside the car was a hog tied clown, his nose was rolling around on the floor and his wig was on wonky.

“Umm Clive, why is he like this?”

Mazikeen poked him with the toe of her boot.

“You asked me to grab him ma'am” Clive said a little nervously

“Not what I meant”

Mazikeen flicked open the knife from her boot and sliced the gag and ropes so they fell away from the clown. Clive let out a little squeak and ran back around to the driver side. Sighing Mazikeen took her seat and checked out the contents of the brown bag next to her - vodka, tequila, rum, gin and two large bottles of everclear. She knew the champagne and dry ice would be waiting for her. HenriDucard being little weirdo he was would get a kick out of the dry ice. The effects of the ice would make him feel at home with his experimental ways and wouldn’t be killing any of the guests this time.

After collecting the bright pink balloons and hand selecting the dancing waiters Mazikeen headed to the warehouse to finish setting up. Not long after she finished Syndicate walked into the building. Greeted by the clown at the door he took in the witches brew themed room. Strippers wearing open long laboratory coats and not much under them. They walked among the dry ice clouds while carrying silver trays with champagne, shot glasses and small rainbow blocks. Mazikeen turned to Syndicate and waited before finally saying

“Well?”

Syndicate, still stunned by the sight knew immediately he picked the right person for the planning. "This is perfect! I don't even care what it costs!" He paused. "How much did it cost? No wait, I don't want to know, we can't take it back now! And the place, wow it is just what he needs, hope he doesn't mind we are going to break it in like this. He should be arriving any moment. Oh and, I invited... Everyone. So I'm glad you planned appropriately." Syndicate laughed and began to give himself a self guided tour. 

It wasn't too long before HenriDucard was spotted pulling into the parking lot. Syndicate and Mazikeen met him outside. "This place is going to be great, can't wait to see the inside. Help me grab some stuff." HenriDucard motioned to the car packed to the brim with his boxes, one of them was ringing, it sounded just like another alarm clock. Syndicate winced and stared at it for a moment.  "Actually Henri, you need to see the inside first". Syndicate placed his arm around HenriDucard and escorted him inside, looking back once more at the box. Mazikeen held the door just to see the jaw drop when he figured out what was going on. 

"Welcome home man, We are kicking things off and breaking it in first. Everyone will arrive shortly, ENJOY!"

ShoNuff entered the new Goliath Research & Development Division Headquarters.  The place looked dope.  I had to talk to the new Crew Leader HenriDucard about his security though, those guys look too obvious.  But I knew it was a special occasion and was necessary.

As I was walking in Big Moe stopped and whispered “Stay away from the pink” and walked off.

I yelled at him “What the fuck do you mean stay away from the pink?  He just kept walking.

As I turned back and walked further in the room a Stripper wearing an open long laboratory coat and not much under them walked among what seemed to be dry ice clouds while carrying a silver tray with champagne, shot glasses and small rainbow blocks approached me.

Care for some Champagne Sir she said as she lifted a glass off the tray.

Thank you very much

And Sir I hope you will indulge in a little extra fun, she pointed to the solid block of rainbow powder, a sharp blade, and brass straw.

 Well damn it’s a party for a very special man Hell Yeah some rainbow coke.

I started to break some off the sides I remember what Big Moe said and just avoided the pink altogether.

I chopped it up fine and made two nice lines.  I snorted the first one just to test it out and it felt nice, so I did the other one. Took a sip of the champagne.

One more Sir, she said.

Nah maybe a little later.  I was already feeling it and knew I had to congratulate @ HenriDucard.

Man, I was feeling good.  I finally spotted @ HenriDucard, Syndicate, and @Mazikeen.

Shook Syndicate's hand, gave @Mazikeen.a hug and kiss on the cheek, then turned to @ HenriDucard,

@HenriDucard you are a good friend.  Not like my homies,  but a friend that has a good influence on me. who I respect and admire. 

All of a sudden I started laughing, almost out of control.   Everyone started laughing also. As   I was gaining my composure the stripper was passing with her tray of goodies.  I took 2 glasses off the tray gave Syndicate one and the other to @Mazikeen.  Then grabbed 2 more for Henri and me.

I lifted my glass

Congrats my man on your new journey and thank you for asking me to take the ride with you. Much success.

I kind of ease away when the stripper started offering her goodies.

Aidan slipped through the door... He knew he wasn't that well known, but for -some- reason that only God knew, HenriDucard himself had hand picked him from the rubble of Bella Vista's old crews to step in and help rebuild the district. He remained quiet, merely watching everyone interact and seeing if he could learn the ins and outs of the people within the Goliath Family network.

He gave a simple nod of respect, lowering his head as he and Syndicate made eye contact. His gaze quickly shifted to his new boss and...partner? That was still strange, what did a scientist...inventor?..."chemical mad man" really need with a middleweight boxer and fisticuffs fighter? Who knew, but Aidan knew a golden chance when he saw it. He was more than happy to help the Goliath family reach their goals. The returns were too nice to NOT want to be part of this family.

Taking a deep breath, he bounced on his heels a bit while he struck up the courage, and finally approached his new boss to offer the congratulatory hand shake; and to shake hands with the chairman of the city, if he could...

"Pleasant evenin', hi, Mr. Ducard? An' ta you too, Mr. Syndicate." He looked over his shoulder, studying the gathered crowd before looking back to Henri. "I suppose congratulations be in order. So, as we say in Ireland... May yeh live as long as yeh want, an' na'er want as long as yeh live! Sláinte!" He'd raise a drink if he -had- one, but instead, offered his hand to both Henri and Syndicate.

Shaking Aidan_OConnor's hand he noticed his other was without a celebratory glass of champagne. Syndicate waved over one of the ladies in a labcoat who brought over a silver tray of champagne and offered the powdered dust. Aidan and Syndicate both shrugged their shoulders and sampled a few of the colors.

It wasn't long before they were both found shirts un-tucked, ties untied, and sharing all kinds of heist stories while doing their various versions of white boy wiggles. "This champagne is so fucking good" Aidan told Syndicate. "It was on sale" Syndicate laughed as he spoke. Mazikeen made her way over to Syndicate and whispered something into his ear and then disappeared back into the crowd. "Everything alright?" Aidan asked Syndicate as his face expressed a look of confusion. "Oh yeah, no. Everything is great, she said something about the pink dust. I think... Maybe we should try it? I can't remember. That dust was good though, lets go get some more!" Aidan and Syndicate looked around for a lab coat and made their way to the nearest one. 

Henri shook hands with everyone and hugged Mazikeen and Syndicate. He leaned in and thanked the pair of them once again before really soaking in the scene. Henri was quite thrown back at how quickly Mazikeen managed to throw this all together. There were strippers in lab-coats walking around everywhere, carrying platters of alcoholic beverages. A clown - who looked petrified - sat making balloon animals in the corner.

Henri tilted his head to the side, a smile creeping onto his face as he noticed the smokey cloud looming over their feet. He was an enormous fan of dry ice, and indeed anything 'mystical' appearing...  Mazikeen had truly outdone herself.

Henri took one of the glasses of champagne that were making their way around and sipped it slowly before throwing it at a wall abruptly. Everyone's head snapped in his direction. 

"Sorry! It was the quickest way to get everyone's attention. An enormous thank you again to Syndicate and the Goliath Family as a whole for this opportunity. A special shout-out to Mazikeen for this kick-ass party! Not sure why the clown keeps bursting into tears, but hey, everything else is stellar. Feel free to stick around as long as you'd like, and half a million to whoever stays awake the longest!"

Henri finished the rest of his champagne and walked around the room, stopping here and there to speak with various people. Stepping back into one of the corners of the room, one that was covered in shadows, Henri scanned the entirety of the party. He couldn't help but to laugh - the effects of the alcohol and drugs combined were making his peers act ludicrous. 

The party had lasted the entire weekend, as could only be expected. Henri had managed to stay away from the multi-colored powder that seemed to make its way around the room multiple times. Well, that is to say, he managed to stay away from putting it up his nose. Instead, he broke off a good sized chunk of each color when nobody was looking, shoving them into all into a vial and then into one of the many pockets of his vest. He had some excellent ideas as to some concoctions he could brew at the lab with the drugs. 

Henri loosened up a little bit after a few drinks and even had been seen dancing with a group of the strippers. They disappeared for a couple hours, and when Henri returned nobody seemed any-the-wiser. The search for Aidan and Syndicate took longer than it normally would have due to the passed out strippers and the clown, who all seemed to fall to the ground from exhastion - or an overdose - wherever they had been standing.

Henri saw two hunched over figures at a table nearby, neither of which appeared to be wearing a shirt. Blinking a few times, Henri sighed and walked up to Syndicate and Aidan. The process of waking up the two men was one that Henri would have rather not gone through, however they did run a bank, and now a research and development lab, and there was work to be done. After many cups of coffee(and tea) the group began clearing out the strippers and in less time than Henri thought possible, his journey as a Crewleader had begun. 

Syndicate held his own head up as it throbbed a few times. It was one hell of a night but it was time to leave. Most people had gone home already and there was only one thing left to do. He made his way over to the passed out clown and pulled off his red novelty nose and made his way towards the door and out to HenriDucard's car.

He picked the lock and pulled the still-ringing box that held the last alarm clock prototype. He gently tossed the box to the ground and pulled a knife from his pocket, slicing the packing tape down the middle. It did not take long to dig through the box and pull out the alarm clock. Syndicate tugged at the small bell with intent to break for a few tugs before it snapped from it's framework. 

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the clown nose and fit it over the bell's framework, causing the loud constant ringing to be replaced with a gentle and joyful 'Boop Boop Boop' as the little man with the hammer wacked away at the clown nose. Syndicate placed it on the ground and bounced his head back and forth gleefully each time the clown nose rang.

He then snapped back and reached for his gun. He placed a single bullet through the face of the clock, traveling straight through the gears. The figure stopped, the clock wobbled, then fell flat on its face. It was dead. Syndicate rooted through the box in front of him and found a small hazmat bag. He placed the alarm clock inside and flung it into the trunk of his car. He was last seen humming taps and walking solemnly to his drivers side door, entering and then driving off towards the lake. 

It had in deed been a long night, and Aidan had Syndicate to thank for that. It was fun! It was once in a lifetime! But now, today, sucked... His head throbbed, and the bright Sun made it worse. The heat burned his uncovered torso and everything inside of him ached. What the fuck had they gotten in to? He watched Syndicate leave the rooftop lounge area through squinted eyes before making his way to the edge of the building.

Leaning over the edge, he lit a cigarette and began to puff on it... However, the scene a few stories down had him trying not to laugh (mostly because laughing hurt). Syndicate, with an alarm clock, and then a red novelty nose... Then everything swirled as Syn's gun went off. The concussive force from the blast shot waves through Aidan's already pounding head and he hissed in pain.

After a few moments, and the whistling of taps that was heard, he brought himself to open his eyes again and stare angrily at Syndicate from above. It was funny, but DAMN if that didn't fucking hurt! Syn got in his car, and drove off in the direction of the lake...

Aidan flipped him off and laughed as the man drove away. "ARSEHOLLLEEE! Leavin' me up 'ere alone!" He didn't remember much from the night before, but he knew it was Syndicate that had started it. With a flick the half finished cigarette went flying over the edge and to the streets below, followed by a glob of spit that landed safely on the sidewalk. He chuckled a bit and turned away from the edge, hunting down his shirt...

"Fockin' Syndicate can really part'y... Nae sure I wanna try an' keep up nex' time." A smile remained... "Now where teh fock did me shirt go?" He combed the rooftop until he saw his shirt hanging on an antennae. "T'ere yeh are..." With a shake of his head, and a laugh, he grabbed his shirt and put it on, making his way down through the building, his hands running through his messy ginger hair as he continued to wake from his medicated haze.