The video being played from Harvor had ended with a chilling laugh as he looked toward the screen, and a belly of loud "Ha's" came out from his mouth, while in the background there was just Xin, lying there on the ground tied up by her ankles and wrists.
The laugh continued until the projector screen finally ended. The video had been watched by everyone there, and there was silence, but the silence only lasted for a moment.
"DAMN HIM!" Gary shouted as he leapt from his seat.
Immediately both Ice and Austin jumped up as well and grabbed Gary by his wrists, attempting to pull him back. As they did, both of them were being dragged forward as Gary took a step at a time on the flooring, pulling them along with him.
'Was Gary always this strong?' Austin thought as he tensed and was using all the muscles in his body. 'Even though I haven’t transformed, Gary hasn’t either. How can I not even pull him back in this situation?'
Ice, in the end, while holding onto Gary, had to use his powers.
"You need to chill," Ice said, and then he chuckled to himself slightly. The others hadn't caught the subtle chuckle Ice had done, due to them being far too focused on Gary.
Feeling that his hand was cooling over, it did allow Gary to stop moving ahead. It wasn't like he could punch Harvor through the projector screen even if he wanted to, but the worry kept going through his head.
"Xin... Xin, they have Xin!" Gary exclaimed. "We know what happened to Jayden, what if they do the same to her? We have to go get her as quick as possible!"
"Gary," Kai said, raising his hands. "We received this video, and I analyzed it. We tried to match it up with when Xin was last seen, and you might not like my answer, so let me explain. My guess is Xin has already been captured for several days."
"Several days!" Gary said, trying to push forward and his ice-covered hand breaking. The moment Kai raised his hands though to remind him to calm down, he had done so.
"Yes, which is a good thing. Harvor is keeping Xin alive, and the reason is probably to force us into an attack, just like you wanted. I feel that Xin will stay alive; otherwise, he would have killed her when he had the chance.
"Now you can go and command the Howlers to attack Harvor right now if you want to. It's your right to do so as leader of the Howlers, go off on your own if you want to not get anyone hurt, but either of those options won't result in saving Xin.
"And it will ruin everything that we have built up so far to get ourselves in our current situation."
It was hard, extremely hard for Gary after knowing what had happened to Jayden, to see Xin on the screen. He was so focused on getting revenge for Jayden that he had messed up. Of course Xin was upset, of course she would be trying to do something to the One Gang on her own.
Yet during this entire time, he didn’t even go look for her, just thinking that at some point she would get better, and now he felt like a fool for thinking that way.
Kai then reached out and slammed a thick piece of paper on the ground.
"I'm guessing you're going to go with the second option then. This is the contract that Harvor proposed to us for the AFC fight. It's quite standard business practice, and he seems to be a good businessman.
"Everything split 50/50 from sponsors to pay-per-view, and more. He even included details of the grand prize that he stated in the video in the contract."
It was silly since the last part couldn't even be enforced by court, not that the courts had any power over Harvor anyway, but it made Kai believe he understood Harvor's character, and in these circumstances he would be a very fair man.
"I'll fight," Gary answered. "I'll fight, and I'll win."
A large smile appeared on Kai's face.
"I'll talk with White Rose. We need to work out the finer details for all of this, and I promise that we will use this chance that you give us, this distraction, to do everything we can to make sure we help her, and save her."
Gary’s eyes looked at Kai as he was pleading with him. Gary still didn’t know if he could beat Harvor, but if he was to fight against him, and allow for White Rose and the others to save Xin, then that would be enough.
He would push Harvor as far as he could, so he didn’t have to lose another person and not one that was so close to him as well.
The meeting was practically over and everyone needed to make preparations, including Kai calling White Rose to inform them of the news; little did he know he wouldn’t have to do anything.
Several pings started to be heard throughout the room. It was quite clear it was coming from their phones. Pulling them out of their pockets they all looked down at the notifications, and their hearts started to beat faster and louder.
"Are you seeing this!" Park said.
"Yeah, we're all watching the same thing," Marie answered.
Gary looked at it, and a video had been released online, live streaming to everyone. In the video, Harvor was on his own. It was filmed in the same set as before, only Xin wasn’t in the background.
The video was simple as it was shared to the world.
"Alright Gary, I accept your challenge. Meet me in the ring."
****