Most of the Howler members had no clue what was going on, even though they had seen Gary Dem turn himself in. To them, he was somewhat of an outsider of the gang who was treated really well.
He was close with the core members and supported them with his money and investments. Gary Dem, the business tycoon, also happened to be a strong Altered.
If he was coming along for this fight, they had assumed it was because the real leader had taken him. They had witnessed him giving himself up, but then what?
So they lost an ally, but they were still ready to attack the Phoenix Gang; they needed to, after all. Otherwise, the Phoenix Gang would continue to attack the Howlers as well as the citizens of Slough. If they didn't act now, they were doomed.
At least, this was all of which they had been told. Which was why, although they had quite the shock that the White Rose and the Police force had appeared out of the blue, with them gone, they could continue on with the attack.
So then why did Kai order a retreat and for all of them to head back to Slough? The Howler gang was left confused, conflicted, and somewhat felt like they were disorganized.
All they had been told was to stay on high alert for anything to happen back in the now city of Slough at any time. After everyone had returned, the core members, including Midwak, had returned to the Wolf's pool club.
Kai was frantic in his office as he was sorting through a number of papers while making a large amount of calls. He had contacted the regular Howlers’ lawyer that was used to dealing with the gang's troublesome situations.
After that, he went on to contact all the other contacts they had within the different cities, and he even contacted Ben Clove, the mayor, to see if he could do anything, but all of them said the same thing.
That there was nothing they could do, none of them had power within the White Rose to influence the situation.
"Kai," Marie said, as she could see him gripping the phone tightly in his hand; any harder, and the thing would just snap apart. "You did the right thing; we couldn't attack the tier 1 gang without Gary.
"I know the members don't understand what's going on, but the best thing we can do is wait and solve the situation. Didn't you say you had someone in the White Rose on the inside that could help as well?"
That they did, which was Kai's next call to action. The phone rang for a while, and on the other end, Elijah had picked up. A connection they had made with White Rose around a year ago.
They didn't talk much since there weren't any problems between White Rose and other organizations. From time to time, they would just inform each other what they knew about the Dark Altered substance, and if anything, it was Tom and Elijah who would talk more often together.
"I know why you're calling," Elijah said immediately. "I'll tell you what I do know. This is a real investigation looking into Gary Dem at the moment. He's wanted for Altered cases that started in Slough a while ago. Apparently, they have some strong evidence against him.
"Why it was brought out now after all this time I can't be so sure. The other strange thing is how many of the White Rose are involved in this case. Even if Gary Dem is a rookie Altered, there are far too many high-level White Rose members that are being brought in on this case... it seems like someone is pulling a few strings behind the scenes in that department.
"However, because it's an official case, there isn't much I can do, other than to keep you updated."
"Alright, thanks; thanks for nothing!" Kai shouted down the phone and hung up, his breathing heavy.
The room was silent. They had never seen Kai act like that. He didn't even try to converse with Elijah or get more information. Instead, his rage had taken over, and he was the one who hung up.
After pacing back and forth, Kai sat back down in his office chair, with his fingertips crossing through his blonde hair.
"If we can't do anything, then are we just going to sit here?" Kai said. "Are we meant to just let Gary get taken away? It's clear that this is the Phoenix Gang's doing, but what I'm worried about more than anything is what they're going to do next."
At that moment, several messages and alerts started to ping on Kai's phone. He took one glance at it, and they were coming from squad leaders as well as Tom, telling him to turn on the TV and switch to the channel 1 news channel.
Kai did as they said, taking the remote out from his drawer, and went straight to the news channel. There were large letters underneath stating the words "Gary Dem, Taken in by White Rose."
There was a woman dressed up in a suit, with images of Gary Dem on screen in handcuffs while two White Rose members stood by his side.
"Gary Dem from the town of Slough has been taken in for questioning by White Rose. The group that deals with cases involving Altered. As you may remember, over a year ago, Gary Dem had his debut match in the AFC, where he showed great strength, yet he also decided to retire on the same day.
"No news yet has come out as to what exactly the White Rose wants with him, however, many have gone to take their guesses since the involvement of the White Rose."
"It's being covered on the news!" Marie shouted. "Gary's face is being shown everywhere, and they're already treating him like a criminal."
"It's the power... the power of one of the kings," Olivia commented.
At the same time, the news channel was being viewed far and wide, as several people were all learning at the same time what was happening to Gary. Numba, Izzy, Apollo, all of those at the Altered Academy.
There were those that had spent time with Gary at AJ entertainment, and there were also those that lived in Slough.
Soon they could see opinion being split on Gary Dem as the comments rolled in.
"I can't believe it. I'm starting to lose faith in the Altered community; I thought Gary was one of the good ones."
"He is one of the good ones; we can't slander him yet until he's been charged. I'm sure there's some type of mistake."
"Yet for him to be involved in a mistake in the first place isn't that strange; the whole him quitting the AFC was weird in the first place."
"Screw Altereds!"
"If he's being taken in, then he had to have done something bad. He was just one of those guys that were hiding it, faking a good side to the public."
At the same time, Xin had seen the news report as well. She was staying at a hotel, and when she rushed and looked right in front of the TV, she wasn't the only Clove family member who had seen this.
In a dimly lit room, on his mobile phone, Jayden clicked his tongue.
"Sh*t, did they manage to get to you, Gary."
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