Honestly, when Innu had joined the Howlers, he had done so mostly on a whim. Kai’s approach to recruiting him had intrigued the teenager and unlike the other recruiters, the blond teenager had exuded a very confident aura. On top of that, they had made a deal, and Innu wasn’t one to break his own word.
Still, he could leave at any point he wished if need be. It wasn't like they were forcing him to stay, nor did he owe any of them a debt. However, for some reason, he had chosen to stay.
His partner, Green Fang’s performance, had also done its job to intrigue him. As long as he could make money, then he would have been happy. Originally he had planned to join one of the other smaller gangs to earn some money while using his fists, legs, knees, and elbows. It was the only thing he was good at.
At the same time, he wasn’t really old enough to earn money legally, yet he required the money to help those he cared about now. Perhaps the reason was due to the amount of money he could earn compared to others that he stayed, but when he thought about it more, that wasn’t the reason.
What he had never expected, was to feel so closely connected to his fellow gang members. Gary had come to his old school and fought off Billy, which was the point in time he had really earned his respect. From that day onwards, events had kept happening around the gang leader that had only elevated his position in Innu's head.
He didn't know what had happened, but Innu had decided that not only was Gary the right leader for him to follow, but he was truly part of the gang and loyal. This was also the reason he had called him first, over Kai.
Gary was a person who he could trust, and who would return him the same level of trust.
When in trouble, the first person he thought about was not only Gary as his leader, but more so his friend. However, he was in for another surprise, the green haired teenager didn’t even need to hear what exactly he needed help with, already agreeing.
‘I knew… Gary, and this whole gang was the right gang to follow.’ Innu thought.
He quickly gave him a brief summary over the phone, everything that Innu himself had been told from Kevin. Gary hung up the call, even more determined than before to help his friend out.
It was also the first time Innu had told Gary that he used to be an orphan. Innu felt like he needed to give a reason why he wanted to help them so much, so he couldn't be shy about his background or past. Now it made sense why he and Blake had seen him in front of the orphanage that day.
Fortunately for him, the duo had been there and defeated the Omega Werewolf, otherwise… Gary didn’t even want to finish that thought.
‘Those Grey Elephant gang members are scum…they were the ones that were part of that colour gang attack that put Mum in the hospital. They kidnapped Amy, and won’t stop harassing her, and now they are even doing things like this… hurting those that are close to Innu.
‘Maybe this is a sign… that they need to be dealt with.’ Gary thought.
Heading into his wardrobe, Gary grabbed a bag and started unpacking. It was the new uniform he had received from Kai. It looked similar to his old one, nearly identical, but there was one drastic change.
Where the sleeves of the blazer would be, they were stretched more and had a slit going down to one's elbows. It wasn't the best for keeping one warm because of this design, but Gary figured out why Kai had done this.
‘Probably doesn't want me breaking any more of the gang's clothes.’ Gary chuckled to himself.
Getting on his phone, Gary had asked everyone to meet at the Wolf’s Pool Club and to do so quickly. Meanwhile, Innu would update everyone on the way there of what was going on. The message was also sent out to Olivia as well.
The main aim was to get the kids back from Innu’s orphanage, but doing so would mean they were going up against the Grey Elephants. If this was an important operation for the gang, then they would do anything to stop others from intervening, meaning they needed all the help they could get.
“Amy!” Gary shouted as he was about to open the door. “I'm going out, one of my friends…they require some help. Can you do me a favour? … make sure to stay inside today, no matter what.”
Gary didn’t stay to listen to Amy’s answer and had closed the door, before she could ask any more questions. His sister hardly ever went out on her own at night, especially after what had happened to her so far.
She hadn't talked about the mysterious man who had been following her, for some reason she had kept that a secret from Gary, even though he knew who it was. Perhaps she thought it was all in her head, but Gary knew that it wasn’t. For now, though, he would keep it to himself; there was no need for him to worry his sister.
——
A short while altar and the car had picked up Gary with Tyler inside, it had made a round trip and also picked up a few of the others while the rest had made their way to the pool club, but in the end, currently all main members of the Howlers, Olivia, along with Suzan and Kevin were in the Wolf’s Pool Club that now had a closed for business sign. What Gary also noticed was that White was also present. From what he had heard, Marie and her mother had somewhat taken her in and were looking after her for the time being.
“Innu, who are all these people?” Kevin whispered. Who was sitting next to Suzan, but they were close to Innu who was standing.
Looking at the others talking with concerned looks on their faces, taking the issue seriously, Innu couldn't help but smile. He was so happy that he had people that he could rely on and would go this far for him.
“They're my friends, and people who are going to help us in all of this.” Innu replied.
“What could the Grey Elephants want with a bunch of orphans?” Marie asked, as she couldn't quite believe that even a gang would go that low.
“There are plenty of reasons. Harvesting them for organs, trafficking, making certain types of videos. The world isn't as sweet as you think it is. As long as their people need and want certain things, there will be those that deliver.” Olivia casually answered, which just reminded all of them that while they had just dipped their toes into the underworld. She was one who was fully in it.
“Alright, at the moment, we have Austin and his followers on their motorbikes searching around town looking to see if they can spot any of those trucks.” Kai started to explain. “Olivia, you have your people also searching around the place, seeing if they can spot any of the vehicles anywhere. Once we get information, we will move out and try to stop them.”
“Stop them?!” Suzan exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. “Don't you mean to call the police? How will you stop them? Kevin said there were multiple large men, who weren't scared to use their fists, and not even the police sounded like they wanted to deal with them!”
“Exactly.” Kai scoffed. “The police don't want to get involved in any of this, so what would calling them accomplish? We just have to take matters into our own hands.”
Suzan and Kevin didn't understand. Where was the group’s confidence coming from? Neither one of them had heard Innu mention anything about them, so why were they so willing to help him? Looking at Innu as well, it looked like he was doing up the wraps that would cover his hands, he also looked like he was ready to personally get involved.
While waiting, Austin was the first to get a call from his side. It sounded like one of his follower’s spotted one of the trucks and was following it.
“How many trucks are there?” Austin asked.
“We spotted two, but they split up, and now we're following both of them!” The boy shouted on the other side, since the sound of his motorbike was heard through the phone.
“Ask him what area they are heading to?” Kai asked, as he had a bad feeling about this.
At the same time, it looked like Olivia got a call as well, stating that they too had found two trucks that had matched the description, yet they were both going in different areas, yet the same area.
“Gary, did you hear?” Kai asked.
Gary nodded, he had heard the names of the four areas but was wondering why Kai looked so panicked, but then it hit him.
“All the areas…are owned by the Underdogs.” Gary gulped down hard.
It was then that a smile appeared on Olivia’s face.
“I don't know what they're going to use those orphans for, but whatever it is, this has to be their way of declaring the start of the war…”