Program File #4 - The Slashers

FrozenFyre reporting in

First of all let me apologise for my absence, the end of the Unlimit threat should have given me time to study more of the exile gangs around. However, I’ve had trouble locating reliable sources concerning my next gang of choice, the Slashers and this has held me back more than I would have liked. Also Sati’s abduction, the General’s rampage, Seraph’s return, Cryptos being overwritten and of course the Smith Virus were no help to my concentration at all!! But I have finally managed to get together enough information to give a viable account of the Slashers gang.

Henceforth, quotations shall be italicised and supposition shall be in bold.

The gang

This small but fierce gang is composed of disaffected girls who have a lot to be angry at the world for. The Slashers and the Bricks have a truce agreement.

The gang have outwardly many similarities to the Bells, they both wear black and they both look great in it. The Slashers however let their militaristic tendencies rule their fashion choices, wearing berets and heavy military boots with an assortment of black protective clothing.
The gang have adopted a family ethic, they are kindred spirits who have nowhere to go so have bonded together for survival. All the girls, and it is a girls-only club, view each other as sisters and place a high value on their new family. Girls, that is, female programmed exiles, that are lost and angry at the world come together for protection and have found something more. This gives the gang an admirable quality that is hard to see behind their aggression and disappointment with the world. Despite this inward focus and anger at outside elements the gang have forged a truce with the neighbouring Brick gang and have avoided costly conflicts with other gangs.

The Token

The Slashers carry small razorblades as pendants around their necks to fit in with their gang name and also showing that they are never defenceless.

The Turf

Located on the east side of the slums, Camon Heights may be the Neighbourhood that has persevered the best. Though there are taller and older Apartment Complexes near to the Zia Industrial area, as you move east the neighbourhood improves. Camon Heights includes nicer condos and apartments than the Moriah Projects to the north, and the housing density is lowered by the presence of grocery stores, churches and storefront businesses.

Camon Heights is perhaps the nicest neighbourhood I’ve visited so far, though it doesn’t have as much character as places like Moriah. The neighbourhood has managed to avoid being an overcrowded housing project and also keeping industrial development down to a minimum, making it a nice place to live, despite the ruthless gang patrolling the streets. It has tower blocks, but also rows of smaller, more eye-pleasing condos with space in between an even greenery. Space is a key factor in a pleasing environment and what makes Camon advantageous is that it has large amounts of housing space without cramming people in. Camon Heights Park also gives a pleasant place for residents to exercise and enjoy the fresh air.
The neighbourhood also attracts others to it; it boasts one of the few churches in the city and has its share of shops and bars and also the Cormorant Casino which features a bar with darts and TV, pool and table football, a video games room and of course card tables. It is a place where residents can congregate for fun and company, whether they enjoy gambling or not. The area below the casino is closed off because an exile gang dwells there. The only real eyesore in the area is a construction site, which happens to be a favourite spot of Jane the Ripper. All in all Camon had plenty to offer, both to residents and to the exiles that control it.

Rank and File

The gang name their groupings on different kinds of knives as befits their gang name. The different knives may reflect the different functions in the gang, functional knives, knives that subtly stab opponents in the back and large knives that cut through opposition.

The Ooloo are the most idealistic of the gang, loyal to a fault and ever bettering their combat abilities.

The Machetes make up the majority of the gang, acting as the dirty jobs cadre that goes out and takes care of business.

Shanks are the most dangerous of the girls, being more brutally vicious than the Machetes.

Leadership

Jane is the leader of the gang, which has been her family from a young age. She speaks of the Slashers as if they’re sisters in fact, and commands their complete loyalty in the neighbourhood.

Jane is a powerful and respected leader in the gang. She is perhaps one of the few gang leaders that genuinely have the welfare of the gang as the highest priority. While others do actively look out for their gang members, they are motivated by power or greed and want to keep the gang strong for war or expansion. Jane’s gang is her family, it’s all she’s known, so preservation and protection of her gang is her highest priority. Since Jane has been with the gang a long time she has obviously been able to prove to her fellow sisters that she is worthy to lead all of them, this naturally makes hear a competent leader, and a deadly fighter. She doesn’t seem to have a desire for greater power as long as her gang remain safe and secure so when she bought the key to the cheat code case from the Bells she knew she could turn it into profit so quickly lined up a buyer so she could benefit her gang rather than take the powers for herself and risk a greater conflict. All in all Jane seems to be loved, wise and yet above all a dangerous leader.

Allies and enemies

As gangs are defined by their enemies, so others are defined by their alliances. The Slashers are a fierce family who violently defend what is theirs, yet for some time they have had a truce agreement with the Bricks gang in nearby Midian Park. The nature of this truce is not wholly clear, whether it is a full alliance or merely a ceasefire. Whatever the case both parties have willingly avoided conflict and aggression to the benefit of both gangs. It is certainly beneficial to the Slashers who are bordered by the Bricks on their south side. With the Crossbones to the north and the Furies to the west both engaged in conflict with other gangs it means that there is no one pressing in on the territory of the Slashers. How this truce came to be is unknown, maybe they used to be at war and negotiated a lasting peace, or maybe they found a…social advantage to a truce between an all male and an all female gang, but I have nothing definite to offer other than the fact that in present times the truce seems to be holding and working well.

The Slashers are not entirely without enemies however. Their violent tendencies have made them an unwanted presence to some in the neighbourhood. A man known as JohnQ has taken it upon himself to rid the neighbourhood of the Slashers, or at least to thin their ranks. He lacks the resources to do it himself, so he hires others to do it for him rewarding them for their efforts. From what he has divulged his motivation seems to be simply to make Camon a safer place, for the streets to be safe for anyone to walk through them. What brought on this desire he has declined to say, but he sees a problem in Camon and believes that ridding the neighbourhood of the Slashers is the best solution.

There is another powerful entity that dwells in Camon - the exile Silver. Silver is a member of the Elements group that control most of what goes on in Richland. He is, with the possible exception of Argon, the most powerful and influential member of the group. His power base is Downtown, but he declines to stay there, having a loathing of humans and wanting to keep a respectful distance from the Machines no doubt. Despite his hate of humans his research company is run by a redpill, Danielle Wright, and even bears her name in its title - “Wright Research.” So Silver leaves her to deal with the humans while keeping a secluded hideaway in Camon where he can develop the inventions that give him power. His researches are often dangerous, especially to bluepills who he loathes. He has managed to hold his own in the larger political stage, he has worked for the Machines and successfully kept the key to the cheat codes from all three organizations without recrimination, though he did eventually lose it to Zion. His biggest rival is Mercury because they are both inventors, though many others try and disrupt his work, some out of envy, and others to protect those he would experiment on.

From his headquarters in Camon Heights, the Exile known as Silver hatches plots designed to increase his power and torment the human “meatbags” he so despises.

Silver’s connection to the gang is a curious one and difficult to pin down. Some sources would suggest he is their employer and others that he is their enemy. The most bewildering reports are of operatives meeting with Silver, being attacked by Slashers, and then finding that they were there not as defence, but for Silver to conduct research on as payment for whatever information he might be asked to divulge. This may make him an uncaring and scheming leader, of which there are plenty, but since I’ve seen no direct accounts of Silver using the Slashers as foot soldiers or anything else I can only assume that they act independently of each other with Silver occasionally hiring or coercing members of the Slashers into his service and using them in his experiments. The most definitive event I can come up with to define their relationship is again found in the cheat code incident. As Jane went to sell the key her group was attacked, with her barely escaping – the fact that the key soon wound up with Silver is very telling.

Some sources have disclosed that the Merovingian had an operative within the Slashers, though it can be assumed that he and others have spies within many of the gangs.

Conclusion

“Small but Fierce” is a very adequate description of this gang. These girls have found nowhere to go, banded together and found a family. They are aggressive and dangerous because they don’t see much that they can trust other than themselves, so they quickly lash out at anything that they perceive as an outside threat, which makes life difficult for those who dwell in Camon. Despite this attitude the gang have maintained a hold on Camon and have kept themselves together and kept themselves strong. This militant band of women should be both respected and feared.