Every time Damion was showing off that he was the one in control of a situation and that your life was in his hands, he would do so with a happy face… yet the initial grin had quickly disappeared, making place for a deep frown. It was clear that the gang leader was beyond annoyed at his prisoner, and that his threat was anything but empty.

This was bad for the teenager, very bad. There was no doubt in his mind that Damion would give the Underdogs the order to starve him out and while a normal human might last for more than a week without food, and an Altered probably even longer than that, Gary’s time was far more limited due to his system.

“I didn’t take anything from the package!” The high schooler cried, although it wasn't very loud due to lack of power in his voice. “There was another gang, someone who knew about the package. They attacked me, and they took whatever was inside! Someone else betrayed you!”

As usual, Gary tried to hide his lie by mixing it with part of the truth. At least the first part was all true. He didn’t know who they belonged to, but it didn’t exactly matter now anyway.

“You really don't want to live any longer, do you?” Damion asked as he placed one hand on the metal bar and gripped it tightly. “Do you seriously want me to believe that a lowly Transporter like you just happened to turn into Altered out of nowhere? There’s nobody in the world who would have sponsored a scrawny high schooler like you, who was a dime a dozen! Do you think I was born under a rock?!” Damion screamed as he pulled at the bars.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you opened the package which must have contained that new type of Altered DNA, which turned you into this! You had your chance, Greeny, if you had come forward and admitted your mistake, I might have even made you my second Kirk, but what did you do instead?!

“You created your own gang, made trouble throughout Slough, subdued the Pincers to gather men in an attempt to take me out when the Grey Elephants attacked us! If anything, I have to hand it to you, Greeny, I never believed you would have had the balls, much less the power, to kill Kirk!

“However, that wasn’t enough for you, no, you still needed to take me down to get rid of the Underdogs! Unfortunately for you, we were prepared! Your actions have caused far worse consequences than you can imagine, and you will pay the price for it!”

Clenching his teeth, Gary was thinking about how to come back from that one. He knew that he wasn't an Altered, but anything he said right now would just be treated as a lie he made up to save his butt. It looked like even the Underdogs didn’t really know about what was in that package.

“Kirk… he should never have worked for the likes of you.” Gary mumbled under his breath, but it was too quiet for Damion to hear. ‘It should have been you who died that night, not him.’

“Why are you keeping me alive, then? Since you clearly believe that I took your precious package?” Gary asked, loud enough so that the gang leader could hear him. If Damion wasn’t there to find out information about what had happened that day, was his only reason to gloat at the teenager?

Damion's shoulders started to move up and down as he chuckled to himself.

“You got rid of Kirk, an Altered who happened to be one of my most trusted men. What would I gain from simply killing you? No, you’ll have to replace him. Of course, after everything you did there is no way to trust you, and since the Altered DNA is already in your body we have to get it out first.

“I’ve called in a favour, so once those guys are here, the fun can begin. I don't care what we have to do to make it happen, whether it be to take out your brain and replace it with another, stitch two bodies together, drain you of your blood, or place your organs into another!

“Don’t worry, they’ve assured me that even in the case of a failure, they’ll reimburse me with another Altered. Those guys seem to be overly happy to experiment with your body and get the rights to your corpse! No matter the outcome, I’ll be the one to have that last laugh.”

“Wait…there was more in that package, there is another item that I hid!” Gary shouted, as he watched Damion leave with his warden in tow. “I'm not an Altered, I swear! You saw it yourself, I’m a Werewolf! Whatever you're planning on doing won't work!” Gary insisted, trying to buy himself some more time to figure a way out of here. Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears.

——

For some reason, talking to Gary had gotten Damion really riled up. So much so that his hands were shaking with anger, few of the gang members had ever seen him in such a state.

Currently, the group seemed to be in what looked like an abandoned police station. There were no police whatsoever inside. Eventually, getting to a desk, Damion lit up a cigar and started to smoke it, allowing him to calm down a little, even if it was by a tiny fraction.

Alas, it wasn't long until he heard a knock at the door. “If you come in, I swear on my life, you better have a good reason to, otherwise I’ll let you keep that traitor company!”

The man on the other side of the door didn't dare to come in, so instead he decided to talk from the other side. “Sir, I’m terribly sorry, but it's your son. He has arrived, and asked to talk to you, claiming that it was very urgent.”

“Tell that damn brat to screw off!” Damion instructed.

Surprisingly, the doorknob could be seen twisting, before the door eventually opened. The adult man immediately got up from his seat ready to pound the man before throwing him into a cell, yet he held back when he saw that the one that had entered the room was Kai.

“What is it with this blasted night?! Does EVERYONE want to get a rise out of me? How is it not clear that I’m not in the mood for any of your damn issues?!” Damion screeched, and the door was immediately shut behind by the Underdog member.

“I heard… I heard that you managed to capture the Wolf Altered, the one that was working with the Howlers.” Kai spoke. Damion just puffed out of his nose. Before saying anything on the matter, he went back to his seat, opened the desk drawer and pulled out an old bottle of liquor, hoping it would allow him to avoid another outburst.

“What you heard is correct, but I don’t see how this concerns you in any way. Unless you want to help me find the rat that ambushed him in the first place! It didn't seem like he was lying about that one.” Damion said, pouring himself a shot and downing it at once.

Standing in front of his father, who returned to his cigar, Kai's heart was thumping incredibly loud. He put his hand in his pocket, grabbing his trusty knife. In his head, he had gone through the worst scenarios he had accounted for, Gary getting captured was among the top of the list. The problem was, with Gary being captured there were only a few ways he could see himself getting out of it, and in the end this was the best one.

“I... I am the one that created the Howlers, to get rid of the Underdogs, and get rid of you!”

*****

Instagram: jksmanga

Support the making of MWS webtoon P.a.t.r.e.o.n: jksmanga

Devils_Advocate here, thank you to everyone who donated to one of the organisations supporting the refugees from Ukraine. If you still have some extra money, perhaps consider donating to ‘Stand with Ukraine’ Humble Bundle, since 100% of the donations will go to humanitarian relief efforts and you can receive dozens of games.