The restaurant was a relatively large space that could seat around five hundred diners, and the venue was fully booked up. Scattered around the area, there appeared to be around fifteen different people who were standing up at different tables.
One of the men immediately noticed one of the guests trying to get up and leave, a woman. He promptly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back, slamming the back of her head right through the table. It was clear that the strength of a human hadn't been used; it was something much more than that.
"Get rid of everyone that's in here!" The half-dyed red-haired man shouted.
The man was known as Stunker, and he was one of the upper members of the Phoenix gang.
"Everyone will soon know that the Howlers gang isn't even strong enough to protect the people inside it!"
Listening to Stunker's orders, all of them started to act, and not just that, nearly all fifteen of them began to transform into their Altered forms. One of the members had grown a thick tail like that of a monkey's, but at the very end of it, there was a flame that would constantly be alight.
Using the tail, he hit one of the men who were dining at the restaurant, and the fire had started to burn his clothes. It wasn't just him; another gang member's hair had burst into flames and spread right down his back.
Swinging it, he was hitting guests and setting the whole place ablaze.
As for another gang member, he had jumped up on the bar counter and started to shoot out small flames of fire. As they hit the floor and other areas, the damage was quickly spreading all over the place.
"Don't mess with my restaurant!" Izzy shouted. Her hair had extended out and wrapped around the man on the counter. She soon pulled him, causing his body and back to slam on the edge of the counter. Then, picking him up, she threw him right into the corner of the room.
People continued to run, and the Phoenix members continued to try to harm them in any way possible. However, there were more who were stepping up to the table. Members in the room dressed in black and gold stood in the way of the attacks. Some of them pulled out anti-Altered weapons and struck away the limbs of the other gang's members.
"A useless effort," Stunker said to himself. "The whole place will become nothing but flames soon."
Austin's fist was shaking as he saw everything that was happening. It was clear to him that it was a gang's doing, and they had decided to attack the Howlers in their very own territory, and on such an important day.
"I'll kill them!" Austin shouted. "I'll kill them all!"
Not holding back, his body started to transform as well. His nose flared up and grew in size, while two large horns were coming out from the top of his head. His legs were beginning to change, and his nicely worn shirt was starting to rip.
"Damn it, I forgot I wasn't wearing the Howler's uniform. I spent so much time and effort picking out this shirt!" The anger was building up, and even through his bull-like face, red could be seen, especially in his eyes.
"Wait!" Vere shouted. "The fire, it's spreading everywhere. Forget about them; we need to do something about this. It's going to reach the exit soon, and then no one will have a way to get out."
Turning her head, she had come up with a solution, and it was a relatively easy one.
"Break the glass!" Vere shouted. "Break the glass and get rid of the fire."
"But... won't that then drown everyone?" Austin replied back.
"There's not enough water for that; the volume of the tank as well as the floor here will be added either way. Just break the tank!"
Austin didn't need to be told twice; he trusted Vere, who was far smarter than him. With a kick of his feet, he charged forward and smashed right into the glass. Cracks had started to appear, giving it a shattered appearance, but the glass itself hadn't broken. It was reinforced so it wouldn't be easily broken in the first place.
"I need to charge up again!" Austin said as he decided to run a bit further back, giving him more momentum for the next attack.
"Stop him!" Stunker shouted, noticing what was going on.
Two of the closest members with flaming metal claws coming out from their hands jumped forward and rushed right after Austin.
"Just keep going and ignore them; I'll deal with it!" Stretching out her arm, it too started to grow in size. Her dress already revealed her arms, so it didn't break any part of it, but it did allow for a change in her skin color, as it turned quite white, with patches of black spots.
The man struck with his fiery claw; moving her head, she avoided it and threw out a strong fist, hitting him right in the face. The man spun twice before landing on the ground.
As for the next one, she turned and realized it was already dealt with; the person was being constantly smacked by several tentacles.
The man was being hit constantly again and again, then pulled in by the tentacles to be hit in the face once more.
"Vlad, that's enough!" Vere shouted.
Vlad had soon stopped. He was always nearby, as he had been ordered, to protect and act at a moment's notice when Vere needed. He was in a strange transformed Altered state, looking somewhat like a bug with his sharp wings but having four strange tentacles that were thick on his back. On top of that, he was still infected, but he would always listen to the voice of Vere and Austin no matter what they said.
Finishing his charge, Austin crashed into the window, breaking it apart, and a gush of water came flowing out in waves.
"You guys made a big mistake!" Austin said as he stood there, not moving from his spot as the water tried to push him. "We aren't just a simple gang like we used to be; there are plenty of us who are strong!"
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