It had only been a few days since Gary had last visited the Wolf’s Pool Club, but so much had changed since then that it felt surreal. Slough’s underground world had already been pretty shaken up with the Grey Elephants gone, but now the Underdogs had also been taken care of, the Howlers had effectively become the top-gang in town.
Truth be told, the green haired teenager had expected Kai to contact him far sooner, most likely to send him out on some sort of special assignment to force the small-time gangs to accept the new status quo. However, as it turned out, there had been no need for that. The rumours about Damion’s defeat at their hands had proven effective enough for the other gangs to keep to themselves so far.
The only thing left to do had been to take care of legal things, and Gary had been well-aware that he would have been of no help with that, so he had wisely left all of it to Kai.
As the teenager approached the door, he noticed that there was a sign on the front of the door which showed that the establishment was closed for today. ‘Is this because of the meeting? I guess with how much we own now, it doesn't matter if the pool club is closed for a few days or not.’ Gary thought.
It was a very strange feeling for him. For most of his life, the Dems had lived close to the poverty line, at least after his father had disappeared. Now, he indirectly owned multiple establishments. Even with just the bits and pieces Kai had scrounged up from his father’s old gang, it had been more than enough for Gary to pay off all their debts, including the one for his mother’s stay in the hospital.
It made him wonder, just how many families were out there, stricken with poverty, unable to get a good night's sleep like he had in the past, while gangs were seemingly throwing around the type of cash that could solve all of their problems?
Most importantly, what was that money being used on? Purchasing weapons, so they could kill each other, take over the territory of the loser, enrich themselves and start that process all over again? It just didn't make any sense, and it was one of the main things that Gary wanted to change.
‘I still need to come up with something that I can tell Amy at some point. She already knows something is up, and even if she really doesn’t ask about it, Mum will surely start questioning how we can afford to suddenly move into a nicer apartment. Where should we move, though? Burnham Food Street maybe, or perhaps somewhere more central, so she can be protected just in case?’ Gary worried.
It was unlikely that somebody would try to harm his sister, but he didn’t want to take any chances. After all, people like Gil were out there. Unfortunately, it had proven impossible to find his former bully’s Mark. He had moved somewhere far enough that Gary couldn’t see the red scent. However, the fact that he was listed in his Marks was proof enough that he was still alive somewhere…
The high schooler shook his head as he entered the Wolf’s Pool Club. He was happy to find Miss Degrace and White behind the bar. The younger woman certainly looked a lot happier now that she had settled in. Both appeared to be doing some refurbishments to add more things to the bar.
“The others are waiting for you downstairs.” Miss Degrace informed Gary once she noticed his arrival with a smile on her face. White also shyly waved at him, before resuming the work.
Having learned the tragic past of Marie’s mother made Gary want to help them out even more, but he was sure that Kai had everything under control. After all, the upperclassman was the one in charge of the gang’s finances, so Gary was sure that Kai would make sure that the two would be provided with everything to lead a decent life.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Gary stopped abruptly, his mouth opened wide at the drastic change that had taken place. The storage room with a desk in the corner had turned into a full-fledged office. There were bookshelves at the very back, with a large wooden desk in front. Two large three seater sofas, with a table in the middle, added to the picture. What’s more, the room was filled with little trinkets, most of them in the shape of wolves.
It looked like the office of some eccentric fellow with a wolf fetish, rather than a gang office. The only clues that this was actually the latter were the Howlers sitting on the sofas. Only Olivia was standing next to Kai who was sitting behind the wooden desk, looking over some paperwork.
“Holy shit, when did you manage to redecorate this whole place?” Gary couldn’t help but ask out loud.
“We told you we dropped out of school, remember? What did you think we’ve been doing all that time?” Innu replied with a satisfied grin on his face.
“Yes, and all of you did a great job, but that’s not why we’ve called Gary over, now is it? Let’s go over the official business first, and then you can go toot your own horn, alright?” Kai interrupted, which rained a bit on Innu’s parade, who had obviously been about to list all their accomplishments.
Truth be told, seeing their interaction made Gary feel a bit left out. He hadn't seen the others much due to his school life, and when he had wanted to drop by after that, all of them had been busy with other tasks. Funnily, this just strengthened his resolve to drop out of school and focus on the gang business.
“We Howlers might be a big gang now, but that only holds true within Slough. Once news about Damion’s defeat at our hands spread, it will just be a matter of time until other gangs appear and try their luck to get a piece of the pie or the whole thing. There are also the small-time gangs we have to worry about. As such, it is best to keep the main base of operations as our little secret… and what better place than the one that started it all.” Kai explained.
Although the big threat was seemingly over, the blonde haired was already thinking several steps ahead. It brought a smile to Gary's face, as his friend looked better than he had done on that day.
“It's good to see everyone again, and I'm glad that no one is hurt.” Gary said, smiling. “In fact, since you’re all here, there’s something I wanted to share with you. I have made the decision to quit school, so I can spend more time helping out with the gang.”
The teenager didn’t know what he was expecting, but a room filled with silence certainly wasn’t it. The look on his friends’ faces were a mix of concern and worry.
“What is it? Why does it feel like I said something terrible and wrong.” He asked in confusion.
Innu and Austin were both looking in the air, seemingly wishing they could be somewhere else. Kai just let out a deep sigh, while Olivia shook her head. Ultimately, Marie was the one who after fiddling with her hair decided to answer his question.
“Well… you see, that’s actually part of the reason we wanted you to come over to talk with you. Please don’t be angry about this, and just listen to us before you react, alright? We’ve been talking the last few days… and we all agreed that it might be for the best if you don’t stay in the gang.”
Gary took a step back out of pure shock. Sure, in the past he would have hated the idea of being in a gang, and he had never planned to be in one forever, but with everything that had happened it didn’t seem as if he had much of a choice. What’s more, this gang was something he and Kai had created together and they both had agreed to do their best to make it rise to the top, to improve people's lives.
The Howlers could become a gang that would be different from the others, one that could act as a modern day Robin Hood. In the middle of his daze, Gary saw something from the corner of his eye fly towards it, and he instinctively caught it.
“Stop freaking out and just read it.” Kai instructed him. “Hear us out, so that you don’t get the wrong idea this time.”
Looking at the card that he had just caught, there was a logo that Gary recognised well, consisting of the initial AFA.
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