The two of them followed Maz into the restaurant and as somewhat expected, it was completely empty. According to Izzy, the restaurant wasn't owned by her family, so the most likely case was that they had booked the whole thing out.
There was no staff, no other customers, only tables, but at one table there were two people sitting down. In an instant, Gary could recognize them as Izzy's parents. Maz continued to walk towards them and eventually stopped.
"Gary, please introduce yourself, this is Mrs. and Mr. Shamone, from the Shamone group." Maz said with a hand gesture.
Gary bowed to both of them, he never really cared for respecting elders and such. He thought it was quite a silly rule. Was he meant to respect someone like Damion just because he was older? In a lot of cases, it was the older generation that allowed for the situation to get to what it had become. Which was why he didn't usually just bow his head in front of those older than him.
However, in this situation, he was just a young person from a gang, while the other was the head of an entire restaurant group.
"It's a pleasure to meet both of you, as Maz stated I am Gary Dem, from the Howlers of Slough."
Lifting his head, Izzy sat down and tugged on Gary's shirt showing that he could sit down as well. The strange thing was, not even for a second did they glance at Izzy, and instead were just staring at Gary.
'This is a bit awkward.' Gary thought. 'The reason why the others went in before me, it was probbly to tell them what they thought of me. I can tell Izzy's cousins don't have a good opinion of me… still, either way it was a good thing I listened to Kai.'
Remembering back, Gary being the boy he was growing up, he never would have carried that amount around in his pocket. Kai had suggested it to him, stating he never knew when he would be in a situation where he might need the cash.
Sure, he had his trusty card on him, but it wasn't as if criminals went around carrying a card reader and in the end it had helped them.
"I will start first." Mrs. Shamone stated. "Frist, thank you for coming to see us on such short notice. I am aware that both of you will be busy with things in the AFA, and from what Izzy has told us you are quite the talented student."
Izzy was fidgeting next to Gary and hearing those words she was tilting her head away from him.
"However, Izzy is our only daughter. We didn't give her an Altered solution because we wanted her to become a fighter, but for her to better her own life, and to run the business for a very long time without getting harmed.
"Yet, she then goes ahead and tells us that she had formed an alliance, with a gang at that, and not just any gang. You Howlers have been wild, obtaining a tier 2 city, and have been growing at a fast rate.
"I am worried you see, worried that your gang will contiue to get attention from the eyes of others. You will be invovled in more things, and in the end it will put my daughter in harms way even more. She has already been injured due to the last expedition you did, which is why I wish to break the alliance that my daughter has formed with you."
Turning her head, Izzy slammed her hand on the table.
"That was out of my own choice, I already told you that!" Izzy complained. "Gary didn't ask me to come. I decided to help out Numba and Gary. In the first place, it's because of him that I have been able to get so far in the AFA."
"A deal and agreement isn't made lightly." Izzy's father said. "Which is why we have decided to do the right thing, and have asked for you to break the agreement on your end. Our daughter is young and doesn't know what she is agreeing to."
"Are you listening to me!" Izzy shouted, as she felt like she was being completely ignored, and was invisible.
Gary thought about what the two were saying for a while. It was true Izzy was hurt, but he tried to imagine how she felt in her situation rather than her parents, after all he could relate more to her than the others.
He remembered the times when they came together to help him, it was a good feeling to have.
"Do you have the power to protect Izzy?" Gary asked.
The two were a bit taken back by the question.
"We are not a gang." Mrs. Shamone answered. "But we do have influence in our city."
"A tier-3 city, where your only influence is money?" Gary replied. "Then I would say you have no influence at all. If the Howlers gang wanted to, we could come in and take over your city by force, and then wouldn't you have to comply with us?"
The two were getting annoyed at Gary's words. Although he was speaking about his gang, the way he was speaking about the situation was too light.
"I'm not saying the Howlers would do such a thing, but my point is, at any point and time that could happen. An internal fight, a war, one of the kings, or one of the other gangs and even Altered Hunters.
"We live in a world where at any point and time this could happen, and it makes me wonder how far your good relations with the current gang of your city would take you.
"My alliance is with Izzy, I will do everything in my power to help if she needs the help. If she wishes for me to extend that to her family then I will do so, but the decision is up to her. I think she knows that I would never do something or ask her for something that would intentionally put her in harm's way.
"The fact is, this alliance is made between us two, two people who have their own lives, and it is something that you can't break. What? You want to stop me, stop me from protecting your daughter, then go ahead and try."
The room was stunned into silence, all of Izzy's cousins were on the side, watching. How could such a simple student say such powerful words, what gave him this confidence to talk to them like so.
'Where was this Gary at the border?' Shanesea thought.
"I guess there is nothing left for us to talk about." Mrs. Shamone said.
After those words, Gary stood up from his seat and bowed toward the two of them.
"Wait, Gary where are you going?" Izzy asked.
"You should spend the rest of the day with your family. I'm sure you miss them and they miss you. You never know what might happen, so treasure this time." Gary smiled, thinking about his own mother and started to walk off leaving the resturant.
"What do you think?" Izzy's mother asked.
"I think our daughter certainly has her eye on an impressive boy." Her father said.
Izzy was now the one left confused, she thought her father and mother would be filled with anger but instead they had large smiles on their faces, but she was left wondering, looking out the door, why did Gary leave just like that, why did he sound as if he was in pain with that last sentence?
——
After leaving the restaurant, Gary felt like there was something he needed to see, with his speed he didn't waste any time as he headed in a certain direction, and soon he was back, back at the border.
"Do you think we were joking!" the man shouted, as he swung his baseball bat and started to hit the car over and over making large dents on it.
There was a group of four people, it looked to be a family trying to make their way back into their town.
"But… we have lived here all our life, and have never had to pay a fee. If we pay you, we won't even have enough money to pay our bills!" The man pleaded on his knees grabbing the attacker.
His family were watching on the side with two young children.
"Get off me!" The man shouted, lifting the baseball bat in the air.
Swinging it down, the baseball bat snapped in half, and a fist was seen coming right through it, hitting him solidly in the face, sending him in the air and landing on the cold hard ground.
The other gang members were looking at what happened and could just see a young man standing there.
"I want you to take me to your leader, and tell them the Howlers are going to take over this town from now on." Gary said, strong and proud. "Oh, and where the hell is my money."
*****
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