At first, Raven thought that this might be a friendly visit between two of the kings. To the general public who knew about the gang world, none of them were on good terms, but then why meet?
Perhaps the two gangs were working secretly together, giving them a chance to overthrow the others. At the same time, it would allow them to do a large-scale operation such as taking out one of the other kings.
If one of the kings had their back while doing so, then they would have an advantage over all of the others, and it would change the scope of everything! But now that they were here, Raven could see it clear as day: the two weren't on friendly terms whatsoever, and the tensions were high.
It was no wonder that Sin had brought his top men with him.
"Does that mean he considers us his top men by his side as well?" Raven thought. "When he gave us those strange Altered serums, I thought he was using us as an experiment, but to think that both of them were mythical types.
"It still makes no sense for him to bring us to something like this, right?" He started to think.
The man referred to as Lupis just gave a small growl in response to Sin's shenanigans.
"Do you think I don't have information on what you've been doing?" Lupis asked. "This is the second time that a job I have given you hasn't been completed."
Raven made sure to note the word "second" time. Judging from their meeting now, he didn't assume this was the first time.
"Hey, you know, I was the one that offered to deal with the Howlers," Sin explained. "I already have a grudge against that whole city for what they had done."
Sin spit on the ground, and his spit started to evaporate into the air.
"I had the Underdogs and that city under my control, and then they went and messed it up! Right now, both of our wants line up, but if you really want to, then go ahead and deal with them yourselves."
Lupis didn't seem to like that comment. From underneath his hood, Raven caught a glimpse of his upper lip raising, and his sharp teeth being revealed underneath it.
"You owe us one," Lupis snarled. "The whole reason why the Howlers have been able to rise to the position they are in now is because you allowed someone to get that package!"
His voice shook the ground, and even the rubble beneath started to move. Instinctively, Sin and all of the others took a step back. The only ones that didn't move were the ones with Lupis.
"I see," Sin said, his voice a little shaky. It was the first time he felt like this in a long time; his entire body was shaking. He couldn't even remember the last time he had felt such a thing, and Lupis seemed to be in a worse mood than he was previously.
"As I said, that is part of the reason why we are dealing with this mess."
Raven, who was listening in on everything, was trying to put the pieces together based on what he had known about the Phoenix gang. Because it was strange to him, what did another King need from Sin that he couldn't do himself?
That's when he remembered how the Phoenix group had gotten their solutions themselves. Compared to other kings, the Phoenix gang were well-connected in areas outside their city. They had several ins at NIRV. Using this, they had managed to steal the Altered solutions they had obtained.
'Did they ask Sin to steal something from NIRV that they couldn't get their hands on, and that it had to have been shipped using the Underdog group? Was it more Altered solutions? Is that what changed Gary and the others that came from the Howlers?'
Raven was slowly piecing all of it together. Now it made sense what the failed mission was and why Sin was getting involved in this. So far, though, it was just a small problem that they had to deal with.
"The situation for us is a bit tense ourselves," Lupis explained. "It seems that the Altered Hunters have chosen to target our cities more than any others, and we are dealing with unique problems. We don't have the capacity to deal with something like this, and since you owe us one, this will be down to you.
"Use everything you have at your disposal to get rid of them, and if you fail, then I will have to take the time myself to get rid of you first, not them."
Lupis had raised his hand, where a long, dangling sharp fingernail pointed out.
Sin had gained some of his confidence back as he rolled his shoulders a few times.
"Hey, there's a reason why I have remained a king myself. Remember what I said before; I'm doing this because I owe you one for that failure from before. I will use everything I can to get rid of them, don't worry about that."
Sin then turned around and started to walk away.
"You guys just worry about the Altered Hunters; I hear they are quite strong and growing these days. Who knows, if you get too weak, the next thing you know, it might be your city and you guys who are gone."
The others turned around, and all headed back to the bus, leaving their conversation there. While leaving, Raven did wonder something, though: why were the Altered Hunters concentrating on the Lupis gang compared to the other gangs?
Was there something about them that no one else knew about? Surely they wouldn't be the easiest group to go after?
'There are too many things surrounding the kings that we don't know about. I should just focus on getting Gary,' Raven thought.
*****