Opening his eyes, Innu found himself staring at a dark ceiling. He could feel the spongy seating underneath his body and slowly lifted himself up. Looking around he recognised this to be the back seats of the Wolf’s Pool Club.
The place was quiet, and devoid of customers now, though he could see Miss Degrace and White were busy cleaning the bar area. As for the others, Innu at least didn’t see them. Moving his body slightly he winced as he could feel the pain from his injuries.
‘My body and my sides are killing me. Just what the hell has that big oaf been eating to have such power?’
Looking down, Innu saw some bandages, but overall nothing too serious. Still, his current condition made him aware of one important fact.
‘The fight… I lost. Damn it, I lost, which means that damned meat head got the Altered solution.’ With his head held down, Innu kept replaying the fight, pondering whether there was anything he could have done differently.
Even when kicking the thigh of Austin, he shouldn’t have rushed it that much, though he had mostly done so because of the pain. Innu had been in enough fights to have recognised that his ribs and breathing would slow him down if the fight were to drag on.
‘I can’t just make up excuses for myself. At the end of the day, he won and I lost. If it had been a real fight against a rival gang, I would be dead right now. If that happened, then who would look after Kevin and Suzan?’
Being in a gang was a dangerous business. Alas, it came with corresponding high rewards, meaning he couldn't just quit.
“Looks like the doctor was right about you only needing a couple hours. You're not too bad after all.” Kai smiled, having come from downstairs along with the others.
“Doctor?” Innu questioned.
“Yeah, we had a doctor come out and check on you. Why, who did you think bandaged you? Fortunately, in his medical opinion, you should be in top condition in a couple days. Perk of being a big gang is having an oncall doctor for these types of situations now. Hospitals are busy places and we don’t exactly want to endanger others due to our identity.”
Innu understood but he was a bit distracted because he could see that Austin had something in his hand, the syringe.
“I wanted to wait for you.” Austin explained. “Knowing you, you would have made a fuss about missing out on such a moment.”
The comment annoyed Innu, making him tense up his whole body, which unfortunately just caused him more pain. Closing his eyes, he was surprised by what he saw the moment he opened them.
“These are… but these are yours.”
“And now they’re yours.” Kai stated, as he held out the two red axes that had originally belonged to his father. “I had always planned for them to be a consolation prize for the loser.
“These axes were what gave Damion his power, and now they will do the same for you as well. Don’t feel bad about taking them either. Everytime I see those things, I’m tempted to throw them away because they remind me of him. The only reason I don’t is because it would be a huge waste.
“If you’ll learn how to utilise them properly, it will boost your powers immensely. Given your fighting style, it might even be a good fit.”
Innu didn't know what to say, but he could tell that the blonde teenager was serious so he grabbed onto both of the axes. For a second, he had a strange feeling of being energised. The pain on his body even lessened a bit, and he felt more powerful.
‘All this from just holding some weapons? Just what are they made of?’ Innu wondered. The feeling did quickly fade though, but he had a glimpse of what they could do. Now he was starting to understand how Damion had been able to face Altereds as a normal human.
“The shop is closed up, so now that we’re all conscious, let’s see what this solution brings to the table for our group.” Kai said.
The solution was handed over to Marie. There were no instructions but from what Kai had gathered online, it was pretty self-explanatory, one jab to the shoulder would do it.
“Alright, three… two…”
“I don’t need a countdown, just jab it in!” Austin rushed her, closing his eyes as he looked away. Apparently, the big teenager was afraid of nothing… but needles?
Marie didn’t take it to heart and just did as she was told. Once the needle was inside, she started to push the solution in. The teenage girl did it as quickly as she could, making made sure all of the liquid was used up before pulling it out again.
The next second. Austin fell to his knees, as he could feel a burning and itching sensation all over his body.
“No one told me this sh*it was going to hurt!” Austin wanted to claw at his skin as it felt like ants were inside his body, crawling and changing everything inside.
Kai didn't say anything while looking at Austin because he was sure he would be able to endure. He doubted the pain could be any worse than what he had gone through back in the cell, or before Gary had left.
Quite frankly there were other things on his mind. When he had gone back to the office, the vice-leader had checked the letters that their lawyer had left behind. It had been one rejection after the other. No matter what approach the Howlers had taken, be it direct, indirectly through a proxy, or even in the appearance of an investment, the answer had stayed the same.
With the way the mayor was acting, it was going to be hard for the Howlers to expand. Who would want to work together with a gang who was unable to get their own yard in order?
‘How would the Underdogs have dealt with this situation? As far as I’m aware, Ben Clove had avoided getting in the way of Damion and his plans, yet now that our influence has undoubtedly overtaken theirs, he somehow has the confidence to take us on? Is it because we haven’t retaliated?’
Now looking at Austin recovering, standing up there was a smile on Kai’s face.
‘Well, if he doesn’t want the carrot, perhaps we’ll have to pay him a visit and convince him that he won’t like the stick… let's see how you deal with a full frontal attack.'
****
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