For most of the fight, Gil had been out of his depth. This was nothing like the colour gang war he had participated in. The gang members here were using deadly weapons, and Gil had seen several people get chopped down in front of him by the Underdog leader.
The dropout had thought he was tough enough to handle it, especially after Damion had killed off those who had refused to swear their allegiance to him, he thought he would never see a day bloodier than that, yet it turned out that it might just have been wishful thinking on his part. Gil realised that today when he saw how easily the adults by his sides were losing their lives against the crazed Altered.
‘I don't really care who wins this stupid war. If the Grey Elephants win, I’m just gonna tell them that I was captured during the colour war and was forced to join the Underdogs. If they should somehow win this, nothing changes much. So it's better if I just do nothing anyway.’ Gil thought, happy that the Underdogs’ leader had told him to stay out of the fights, something he had intended to do since the beginning.
The fight between the two apparent Altered was catching the attention of everyone who wasn’t busy fighting, and even some who were. While the two of them seemed somewhat evenly matched, the fight between the two gangs seemed to be lessening as more and more gang members became unable to continue to fight on.
One could only take so much betaings.
In some ways it felt like a type of truce had reached between the lower ranked gang members. They had exchanged fists, exchanged wounds and blood, but all of them understood that their fighting was pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Whichever’s side Altered won, would have the power to punish the weaker side.
Still there were those that were fighting hard, those that knew they could make a difference such as the newly arrived chatah squad and Olivia Pearl.
As for the rest, even if they were lying on the ground, hurt, they were looking towards the direction of the Altered fight, and that's when the mask had dropped right in front of Gil’s feet. He didn' think much of it, but when he picked it up, he looked towards the Wolf type Altered, though it was the last person he would have suspected to see here.
‘Gary? … What is that dweeb doing in a place like this? Why is he in the middle of a gang war, and since when was he an Altered?’ Gil’s mouth was left wide open, as nothing seemed to make sense any more.
However, the next moment things were starting to click in his head. Gil had no idea that the Transporter the Underdogs had been looking for had been Gary. He had just bluffed that to be the case, seeing it as nothing but a means to get some revenge against the guy. After all, their descriptions did match.
There was no way someone like Gary would get sponsored by a corporation and turned into Altered DNA. However, what if whatever was inside that package had turned Gary into what he was seeing right now? What if his shot in the dark actually hit the bullseye?
A smile appeared on Gil's face, but that smile just as quickly disappeared. The next second, and Gary's face started to change before anyone else could see it. Fur started to grow out from his face, his nose elongated, while parts of his skin started to peel off, getting replaced with hard hide.
The Werewolf’s skin became thicker, his teeth became sharper, and his whole body became larger. The ends of his blazer didn't rip this time, thanks to the adjustments that Kai had made, but the same couldn’t be said for the bottom of his trouser legs. The same could not be said about his shoes as well.
Now everyone could see Gary having fully transformed into a full wolf like Altered and his darting red eyes staring at them all.
For a second, Gary’s eyes met with Gil’s and flashbacks started to appear in his head.
’No… no… it can’t be! I remember, that day. The day I got attacked on my first gang run with the grey colour gang…it was him. It was this piece of sh*t! He was the one who attacked me!’
Gil had never understood why he had been attacked that day. The best explanation he could come up with was that it had been some vigilante who had seen one too many super hero movie. However, now that he knew who it was, he understood why Gary had come after him.
He remembered what he had done. Gil had attacked Gary’s scrawny little boyfriend. Of course, with this new-found power it was only natural that he would come after him for revenge.
It was at that moment, that everything told Gil to run, and that's exactly what he did as he headed back into the Basement’s nightclub.
At the same time, Gil wasn’t the only one that could see what Gary had become. No one else had seen his face without the mask. However, due to the uniform on his body and the only person in that direction even the most ignorant of the Howlers now knew for certain that Gary was an Altered.
Looking at Gary’s full form, something that Marie hadn't even seen before, a memory had come in each of their heads and one for Innu that he would never forget.
“Was he the one that was trying to kill us that time?!” Innu blurted out. “We were in the woods looking for him!”
The others understood Innu’s concern, and it also answered a lot of the questions they had, how Gary was able to do such things and on top of that how he was able to defeat the twins from last time. He wasn't just an Altered, he was a menacing, vicious one.
“You’re wrong!” Kai corrected him. “Look at him. There were two of them that day. We were attacked by a black one, while a brown one saved us.” Although Kai spoke these words, this was merely his own conclusion on that matter. Gary had admitted being one, but Kai hadn’t asked him too much about it. However, given his fur colour it was a good bet, and it would coincide with Tom’s actions.
Seeing this new larger form, Kirk had to still be fearless, he knew that if he hesitated just because of this that it would only hamper him and his skills. Once again, he got into a sprinting stance, his hands touching the ground.
“A full transformation isn't necessarily a good thing. I’ve taken down those that are bigger than you!” Kirk shouted as he sprung off the ground. He seemed to be even slightly faster than last time, seemingly pushing himself further.
Aware that Gary would expect him to do the same thing again, the Cheetah Altered ran across the ground, and at the last second he started spinning his body to add extra power to his a fist. With his whole body’s weight and momentum, Kirk crashed into Gary’s stomach, pushing the Werewolf away… but merely by a few inches.
Gary's toes had dug into the solid ground, breaking it open, while the solid wall of muscle and weight was able to withstand the blow a lot more this time. The next second, Gary lifted Kirk by his arms and slammed his body into the concrete ground.
The next moment, Gary looked up at the moon and felt an instinct inside him take over. Following it, he let out a loud howl.
*Ahh-wooo!!!*
The Alpha Werewolf felt it reverberate at the top of his lungs. It didn't sound like a normal wolf's howl, this one was far deeper, and those around him could feel the vibrations in their body.
At the same time, not too far away, Olivia could feel it as well, getting a slight desire to join in.
The Beta Werewolf’s eyes started to glow blue as she felt her strength rising.
‘I'm really starting to like this feeling.’ She smiled, getting her whip ready for more action.