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nHowever, even after a few minutes, that teenager continued to look exactly like his upperclassman. It took some time, but he eventually started to wake up.

n“Gary…” Kai mumbled, seeing his friend in the cell. Trying to stand up, he flinched since his entire body was still hurting, especially his chest.

n“How long have I been out for?” The blonde teenager asked weakly, slowly looking around the cell. The two gang members who had dragged him in had already left, so only the two teenagers were present.

n“Not too long, less than half an hour.” Gary answered. On one hand, he was happy to no longer be alone in his cell, on the other hand, he was now worried about Kai. Unlike him, his upperclassman was a normal human, meaning it would take him some time to heal from a beating that had left him unconscious.

nNevertheless, even in his injured state, Kai started checking out the room, seemingly looking for some way out. He was pulling on the bars, inspecting the lock, checking his pockets for something useful, examining the bricks for any loose ones.

n“Please don’t come too close to me!” Gary immediately backed off when the blonde teenager came in his direction, some slight fear in his voice. “I… I haven’t eaten in a while.”

nFortunately, despite his hunger pains, he could still think rationally. If it had been another member of the Underdogs, he might have lunged at him and taken a bite, but at least for now, Gary was managing to keep himself in check. Still, he had no idea how long that would be the case, and it should be safer if his upperclassman didn’t tempt him, especially in his current state.

nThe high schooler was hoping that given Kai’s intellect, he would understand why he wanted to keep a certain distance without having to go too much into detail. Kai just nodded, took one step back and with a big sigh, he sat down on the floor… where he fell into deep contemplation.

n‘What the f*ck, Kai, do you have nerves of steel?!’ Gary was left speechless. ‘Shouldn’t you at least explain why you were beaten up? Why did they throw you in here? Did they find out that you’re a Howlers member as well? Is all of this part of some plan to get me out?’

nThe Werewolf stared at his new inmate, but all he could see was Kai biting on his nail, looking around occasionally, all while continuing to stay silent. Unable to take it any longer, Gary straight up asked him the obvious: “What happened to you, Kai? How did you know that I was here? What about the others?”

nFor a moment, Kai stopped what he was doing and turned to Gary. For the first time, he saw him with a very deep frown on his face, and even more surprising was that the blonde teenager directed some animosity at him. “I came here, because a certain someone seems to be dead set on proving that he’s incapable of sitting still and apparently gets a kick out of ignoring the most basic orders!”

n“I… I’m sorry.” Gary stuttered, clearly not prepared to be the target of this kind of aggression. “I know it was stupid of me, b-but I didn’t want any of you to get hurt.”

n“That’s great and all, but I had a plan! We were so close to getting rid of the Underdogs once and for all, while reducing the risk to ourselves to a minimum! All I asked for was some time to make sure everything would be perfect! Honestly, I’m not sure whether becoming what you are has made you think of yourself as invincible, or you just had a death wish coming after him on your own.”

nKai’s words hurt Gary, because he had already blamed himself every which way ever since he had woken up, cursing himself for his impulsiveness. Getting chided further by his friend, especially when both of them were in this cell, didn’t sit well with him, especially since he felt that he wasn’t the only one to blame.

n“I’m not a freaking mind reader, ok?!” Gary snapped back. “How was I supposed to know what your ‘brilliant’ plan was if you never told me anything concrete?! I thought that we were supposed to be in this whole thing together, but lately I feel like I’m just your discarded pawn who you have no use for right now!

n“I’m not some dog who waits for you to order me to jump and just do it! I know that might have been how our relationship had started, but I believed that we had actually become friends over time. … that’s why I didn’t want you guys to do dangerous things any more.”

nNow, Kai was silent for another reason. He knew that there was some truth to Gary’s accusation. He had been afraid that the Howlers’ leader might do something irrational due to being left out after the night of the gang war, yet he had vastly underestimated just how crazy Gary was willing to act in regard to fighting the Underdogs.

nFurthermore, Kai also couldn’t refute that at times he did treat others like pawns, yet unlike what his underclassman seemed to believe, the blonde teenager wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of his pieces… which was also the reason he had come here on his own.

n“Look, you know my reason for wanting to get rid of the Underdogs. You know I’m committed to this entire thing, but what about the other way around?” Gary continued. “I practically know nothing about you. I was worried that you might hesitate too long or think that we had achieved enough already. What if Damion had escaped while you were still planning things and waiting for the ‘perfect’ moment?”

n“As I said, I’m sorry for ruining your plans. You should know that I’m not exactly the best when it comes to using my head… which is why I usually do what I feel is right. I’ve seen how much harm the Underdogs do, especially now that they feel threatened, so I wanted to stop them before it got even worse. I knew it was risky, which is why I didn’t want to get you guys involved.”

n“I’ve never regarded you as a dog nor some pawn.” Kai spoke up after having let out a deep sigh. “I don’t want anyone helping me to feel like that. I don’t want to be anything like him, so if I ever give you that feeling in the future, I want you to tell me immediately, ok? Can you promise me to do that, instead of running head-first into a certain death trap?”

nGary kept silent, continuing to listen to Kai, who, judging by his change in tone, was being sincere. He didn’t know how serious he was when asking him to make this kind of promise, but the Werewolf had a premonition that it wouldn’t be something he could abide by.

n“I hope I haven’t given the others the same feeling. Speaking of them, they have no idea about this place. I only knew of it, since I am… well, I guess WAS an Underdogs member. Knowing those fools, once they find out what happened to us, they would just end up risking their lives to bail us out… and probably end up in the same state as me, if not worse.

n“Now that I think about it, our entire groups seem to consist of suicidal teenagers,” Kai mentioned with a chuckle, and Gary joined in, since he couldn’t really refute that possibility.

n“Olivia is the only one who’s aware of it all, since she was the one to inform me, but I told her to let me deal with things on my own. That’s right, sometimes I can be just as much of a fool like my dear leader.

n“However, I want you to know that I haven’t come here to fetch you as if you were my dog, Gary. Our relationship might have certainly started off a little strange, but I truly see you as someone who would get my back, and in turn I will always have your back as well.

n“I wanted to tell all of you once this was over, but you’re right, I should have probably informed all of you earlier. You deserve to know the entire truth of why I hate the Underdogs so much, and why I’ve spent years making plans to do everything in my power to take down Damion Hawk, the bastard who calls himself my father.”

n****

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