In Slough, the attacks continued. They were constant from the other cities and surrounding gangs, but now that the Howlers members had huddled up closer together, they were doing well at defending themselves.
They were suffering from fewer losses, focusing on only protecting two places: Cipen and Burnham food street. When areas would be attacked outside of these two, from time to time, Kai would go out with a team to try to deal with the unruly ones.
Sometimes they could get there in time, others the whole buildings had been burnt before they even arrived. It was frustrating; everything Slough had built up over the last two years was crumbling right in front of them.
And for what reason? For money? The rebuilding of the city would cost far more than what these guys were being paid, and out of frustration, if they were unable to get their bounty, they would just destroy the city instead.
As temporary relief, there was one area that didn't stand out as much as the others, where Kai and his team could somewhat meet, and that was the Wolf's pool club. He had just finished getting off the phone.
"I will just have to hope they can do what's needed with the information I gave," Kai said, holding his hand like it was a ray of hope. "About the bounties that are on the Black Market, is there any way we can take them off, use funds of our own?"
It was something Kai didn't want to do, knowing already how much it would cost to rebuild the city, but he needed to stop the damage.
"I doubt it... unless you want even more people to go after us," Olivia replied. "You can get rid of the bounty by just paying the amount off, but the Phoenix Gang would then just raise the amount, and in turn, the amount we would need to pay would rise.”
"Do you think we have more funds than the Phoenix Gang?"
That solution was out of the question for now, so Kai just needed to keep doing what he had been doing.
"I need to get in contact with the hospital, make sure Amy, White, and Xin are all okay. Austin is staying there for now as well; I don't know how long it will take him to recover, but if he comes back, then that will add more firepower because the one thing I'm worried about is that the Phoenix Gang themselves haven't made a move yet."
Amy had originally entered the room on her own. She wanted to pay a visit to her mother, and Xin and White had decided to give her some space. That was until Amy had let out a loud gasp that almost sounded like a scream.
"What are you doing here?" Amy almost shouted, but it wasn't quite a shout. Her voice crumbled towards the end, slightly cracking.
Right after, Xin and White had entered the room, and they could see the tall man standing there. He was dressed in a fairly thick black trenchcoat, wearing black trousers, and his eyes; they looked quite aged, tired, as if he hadn't had any sleep for a while.
His scruffy beard wasn't shaven or kept tidy, looking like a person who would live on the streets.
If it wasn't for his tired looks, perhaps one might even think he was handsome and well-built.
"Amy, is everything okay? Do you need help?" Xin skidded across the floor and stood in front of Amy, getting ready to fight; she got into a stance quickly. Yet, the man didn't react.
"You seem to have good people looking after you. I'm happy to know that," the man said.
Hearing those words, Amy just went into a full sob, falling to her knees. She didn't remember much about her father. She only had one or two memories since he had left around the time she was 4 years old.
For Gary, he was a little older, but they were both young. Gary had just started school, and the timing couldn't have been worse. The thing they both remembered most was the amount of pressure that was placed on their mother at the time.
She had to work, feed, and try to get two kids through school, and what about their father? For a while, their mother had stated he was dead, but she later told them the truth.
Knowing that he was out there and had done nothing, Neither Gary nor Amy ever went looking for him. Why would they go looking for someone who didn't care about them or the struggles they were going through?
"Where have you been?" Amy managed to ask as she wiped away her tears. This was an important time, and she needed to know why now of all times had he decided to return.
"Do you even know what's going on, with Gary... and with mom, and this whole town? Why would you come back now, and just make things even harder?" Amy said, trying not to break down into tears.
Her father looked at her for a few moments and took a step back to show he was not a threat to the two girls that were staring him down.
"I know what's happening. I know more than you think. I know Gary's currently stuck at the White Rose Prison. I know the trouble he has been going through with his new Altered Self as well.
"What I didn't know about... was what happened to your mother, at least not until recently. There are a lot of reasons why I couldn't come back, or why I was away, but right now, what you need to know is I came back because of everything that is going on, and I came back to help you."
****
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