This was an auspicious day for Nipper. He dressed as carefully as ever, layering on incredible quantities of blue face paint and savage black eyeliner. After carefully adjusting hair curlers and thick back hair, the favorite gold Kimono was taken from the wardrobe and wrapped carefully around the body it was never meant for. Nipper smiled a smoke-wince grin into the mirror and headed out.

Grin-07 was standing outside the new headquarters in The Loop. Holding the tiny Grin-07-Jr in his arms. He smiled. Nipper tried with no success to smile back. It would have been uncomfortable if they hadn't spent years communicating in this mostly dysfunctional way. 

"Well Nipper, this is it. Big day for you. Are you ready?"

"Of course I ready. Born ready. Just grad you finary see sense and no ronger keep me underground."

"Charming."

Nipper thought for a second. Somewhere inside, a semblance of realistic reflection took hold. Dark rimmed eyes looked at Grin-07's sincere expression and the blue tainted mind acknowledged the evidence before him. Maybe now was a time to be grateful and show appreciation for the opportunity being presented. 

"You know. I sorry. Maybe this time you not massive asshore. Maybe you give honest chance at rear rife. I shourd say fankyou."

"Go on then..."

Nipper's eyes wandered across the sky. Reflecting on life past and future.

"I am stirr very proud of heritage. I fink I carr crew 'Red Army'. Because I from China and buird army for Chicago. But this new army, angry army, that do horribre fing to many peopre."

Grin had given up on getting thanked. He handed over the various documents he'd been 'keeping' for Nipper and headed off. Nipper beamed with great delight as his long lost passport. He let out a little excited squeak before suppressing any external display of happiness. This really was it, he really was free. He flicked open the passport to the photo. There looking back at him was a man with thick black hair and a very big beard. It was a different person entirely than the person heshe was now. Looking at that photo struck a chord in Nipper and suddenly, all his years of plotted rebellion and the eventually triumphant metal-winged murder of Grin, none of it mattered any more. He wanted to be here, he wanted to live. In Chicago, with Misser Grin. To enjoy the liberation of being able to wear and look however he wanted in a world that accepted him or her for whatever they were.

Chest puffed out, Nipper strode into the streets to make the announcement. He walked into a large group and make himself a space with reliable elbows and fowl language.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!"

Their attention was already undivided.

"I here today to announce the wonderfur occasion of me becoming a crew reader! Misser Grin has given me permission to estabrish franchise of Grin Gang, here in Roop. This new famiry wirr be a very speciar prace. We take arr kinds, rich and poor. Herp rearn and raise up to be estabrished mobster with respectabre position. Arr ask is honesty and hard work. I am from difficurt rife and overcome many obstacre to get here. Hard rife in China and hard rife here, where I more-or-ress srave for Misser Grin, so now I free I carr this opperation 'Red Army' for my history and my future!

Nipper allowed a moment for awe and applause. There was none. 

"Ok fankyou."

.

Goldust had waited for this moment for a long, long time. Finally he was moving up in the world, riding the coat tails of the good and the great. Vim_Fuego had been a calculated risk. Farage had been a certainty, Grin-07 seemed like a backwards step, but it had put him into a position where he could get to know a certain angry, cross-dressing little Asian guy. Most hadn't known Nipper was a Guy when he first appeared, but Goldust had, he knew a good Drag Act when he saw it, and not many real women had that kind of style. So finally, after a lot of abuse and intimidation and bullying as well as having to endure Sao and Zapata, he'd politely refused Grin opening the books for him and moved to the Loop to assist Nipper.

Boss Nipper. There isn't really much I can say to make this day any more special for you, other than it has been a dream of mine to work along side you for a long time. I wish us wealth, happiness and a long life, but we all know how likely that is with me by your side, so instead I offer you this:

Wǒ gànle, nǐ suíyì

Goldust bows deeply to his new boss and hands him a bottle of Hennessy bottle in 1783, wrapped in Red Paper with a Gold ribbon. Bowing deeply again he takes a couple of  steps back, before taking his position at Nipper's left hand.

Jezza jumps into his flashy custom Ford V8 and makes his way down to Nipper who has just opened up a flashy new establishment here in the windy city, finally the poor downtrodden lass has a chance to rise up and take what is rightfully hers, somebody else will be doing the laundry from now on.

"Congratulations Nipper I wish you all the best with you new venture, I am sure you will do that nasty Grin-07 fella and the city of Chicago proud, if there is ever anything I can do give me a shout"

Looking around the crown Jezza see's his boss "Hey boss hope you got a good replacement lined up, these shirts won't wash themselves,and as you well know I don't do manual work"

Chuckling to himself Jezza jumps back in his car and screams off at speed down the road.

Sao had heard the commotion from the near by alley in which he was trying to shakedown some hobos. It didn’t earn much money, but that was really what he was after. The way they sometimes wet themselves simply amused him. He peeked around the corner and saw what the commotion was. Nipper, the strange Asian woman (or was it a man? Sao could never tell) had set up a new crew in Chicago. He took a few steps and began to shout. 
 

“Congratulations Nipper, glad you’re getting out of the HQ. I don’t know how much longer I could stand that accent. And thanks for taking Goldust with you. He’s been a little careless with his make up and it was hard to look at. Not to mention the streaks of gold he’d leave down the hallways.”

With his peace said, he returned to the alley in search of more hobos. 

Nipper had just finished her speech. It had everything. Aggression, emotion, history, completely perfect diction. Everything.

She was now pausing. Presumably for awe and applause or something like that. She was a showman that was for sure. Or certainly a show person of some description. What were those little ones that got in to tiny boxes and things?

Contortionists?

Yeah that was it.

She was a contortionist that was for sure.

BonJonBovi waited the polite amount of time for the awe and applause to wane. As there was none. Like at all. People were actually looking pretty cross about the whole thing. Presumably Nipper had interrupted someone making a self-congratulatory speech somewhere. Probably.

“Ok fankyou.” Nipper said. Promptly turned and tried to leave.

Goldust, Clarkson and Sao- all flew out of the, until then, silent crowd. They offered their, mostly, polite congratulations to Nipper.

Once they had said their goodbyes, bowed deeply, stepped back, bowed again/laughed to themselves, jumped back in their car and sped off/returned to an alleyway to look for hobos, BonJonBovi approached Nipper. Carefully. You should NEVER approach Nipper hastily. She’s like a horse. Am easily spooked horse. Really she should be wearing blinders but BonJonBovi wasn’t going to be the one to tell her.

Anyway, BonJonBovi approached Nipper carefully.

“Cogratulations, Nipper!” BonJonBovi said.

“Don’t you mean congraturations?” Nipper said, attempting to point out a mistake with BonJonBovi’s pronunciation.

“…er…kind of yeah.” BonJonBovi said diplomatically. “I just wanted to take this opportunity to explain my affiliation with UKIP in Detroit and what the meant for my potential future with The Red Army.”

“It fine.” Nipper said. “I hate foreigners too. Lazy.”

“Oh right… so… well OK then right. So there are no issues with my past?”

“None. You fine. You come be my hand. I sick of using my own.”

“I’m not sure that’s precisely what that mea…”

“Forrow me.”

Nipper took BonJonBovi by his arm and they walked off together, dramatically, towards the The Red Army’s HQ.

Zapata arrived just too late to see Nipper in action, finding himself alone outside the new Red Army HQ. The space looked like the victim of some cataclysmic event. Was that an elbow mark on the wall? The new Chicago crewleader was nothing if not a formidable presence. He was built like a sentient foot stool, pure mass on a set of short legs. They said he could run clean through a set of shins with a three-step start. The expansion was good news for The Grin Gang, both as a means of strengthening their position and also as Goldust went with him, relieving the crew of long nights spent listening to his Buffalo Latin (which, no matter how much he insisted was a 'sister language' of Pig Latin, was definitely not a real thing). 

The sombreroed hero decided to offer his personal congratulations to Nipper at a later date, feeling satisfied at the knowledge that the rackets were now in the hands of someone capable of both gruesome violence and a spotless clean-up.