Once outside, Gary found it easier to distinguish between the two different Forced Bond Markings. Although both of them were red in colour, each one gave off a slightly different scent.

The closer he got to one of those that were marked, the darker the colour of the mist would get. It made Gary wonder if there was a limit to his Marking. Perhaps once he was far enough away the red mist would completely disappear, but even in his own home he could still see all three Marks.

His dark hood was covering his head, but he had no time to replenish the Energy he had lost so far from using Charging Heart twice and the general Energy he had used up rushing home and trying to catch up to Gil in the first place.

[88/110 Energy]

‘The grey colour gang shouldn’t stray too far from their territory, but they’ll probably want to head into a more residential area.’

Thinking about this, Gary realised that the grey colour gang area also happened to cover where he had been on Sunday, the residential area where Billy’s apartment block was located.

‘One problem at a time.’ Gary thought to himself. ‘Besides, given how many reporters there were just yesterday, they would be stupid to go anywhere near it.’

While the Underdogs covered most of the town’s nightclubs and profited from selling drugs among other things, the Grey Elephants specialised in protection of the several factories and warehouses that were located in Slough.

The organisations needed protection from the other gangs that might look to profit by stealing their equipment, products or might generally come over to harass their employees. It wasn’t exactly uncommon in the business to hire some gangs to use those kinds of means to make life more difficult for their competitors.

As such, the Grey Elephants would send out their members as bodyguards and would spread the news who was under their protection. They would usually get a percentage of profits, but it was far better to the alternative, making it an arrangement that ultimately profited both sides.

As for companies that wanted to rent, or set up a factory without relying on the gang... well, they naturally had their ways of ‘convincing’ how much their ‘service’ was needed.

The air was filled with a grey smoke that covered everything including the lamp posts that were out, and it was messing with Gary’s nose a little. If it wasn’t for the red mist he had followed on his way here, he would have struggled a lot more to find them.

‘From what I have heard, the Grey Elephants and their colour gang have quite the fighting strength given their job scope. If I see one of their main members, I'm going to have to get out of there. News about my little trick must have already spread in their circles, so I doubt they will follow me, not that there are any nearby areas that I could lead them to..’

Continuing to stalk them, the colour gang eventually stopped in front of a small workshop that looked to be a shoe and key making service. Gil was there with four other members, but there was no sign of any other members in the nearby vicinity.

The problem was, they were on a pretty open street, so there was a chance that other members could come along quite easily, so Gary needed to wait for the perfect opportunity.

“Break it, new boy!” A member with a grey bandana tied around the top of his head yelled out the order. The next second, Gil picked up a large brick on the side of the road and hurled it into the window, which immediately bounced off, nearly hitting him in the head.

The other members seeing this laughed straight away.

“Haha, that’s reinforced glass, you idiot. All the shops in this area have it, otherwise they would have to buy a replacement every day.” The grey colour member that had ordered Gil around, seemed to be the leader of the small group they were in.

Gil did not look too pleased at this little joke they had set up. A few seconds later, an old frail man came running out. He held a broom stick in his hand, and pointed it out towards the gang.

“What are you hooligans doing? This is my shop! How many times do I have to tell you that I have no money? My shop has been here for over thirty years! I won’t give it to you, you’ll have to take it off my dead body!” The old man shouted as he swung the broomstick widely, but all of the members, including Gil, were easily able to evade it. He tried to do it again and again, but he never managed to hit any of them, making them laugh at his antics, until he was tired out, huffing and panting loudly.

“Okay, new boy, here’s your first task of the day. We need new business in this town and this geezer hasn’t been willing to play ball, so it's time we let someone else in who will be more willing to cooperate. You’ve heard the old coot, apparently we’ll have to get it over his dead body, so let's put his conviction to the test!”

Gil understood what the leader was implying. When he went up to the old man, a smile appeared on his face. Seeing this, the other members stopped their laughter, interested in whether Gil could actually follow through.

There were many reasons why people chose to join a gang. Some, like Innu, did it because they were unable to find a place for themselves in the world, their only talent being that they were decent with their fists. Others, like Gary, did it because in the current times, gangs were one of the easiest ways to earn money.

However, those like Gil, did it for a completely different reason. His type was the most dangerous. The sadistic smile on his face said it all. He enjoyed the feeling of dominance, making others submit to him by using violence.

The old man tried to muster all his stealth, grabbing the broom, and swung it towards Gil, but the large high schooler managed to grab it quite easily.

“Old man, your strength is nothing for a member of the Rugby club.” Gil said, pulling on the stick and yanking it out of the old man’s hand, who almost fell over tumbling to the ground.

“You know, although these things are made from wood, they're pretty strong. You just tried hitting me with it, so all of this is just self-defense. Let's see how much it hurts!” Gil shouted, as he lifted up the stick, and slammed it against the old man's side.

The pain was so great the old man instantly fell to the ground. The others watching could see that Gil showed no hesitation. It was one thing for someone to fight their way into a gang by beating up another gang member, but new members would usually still have some hesitation to fight civilians.

“Ahh!” The old man screamed rolling on the ground. “It hurts! How could you do this? Imagine if I was your Gran-”

“Shut up!” Gil shouted, whacking the broomstick on the old man’s legs again. “Shut up! Shut up!” Each time the high schooler used his full strength and the old man’s moans only got stronger.

“Hey, shouldn’t we stop him? We were only supposed to scare him, but if he kills the old man, the Grey Elephants might tell us off.” One of the members asked their leader.

“Humans aren’t as weak as you think. He hasn’t even really started to beg us to stop. The old coot still has some fight left in him. Oi, is that all you got, new boy?!” The leader shouted, trying to spur on Gil even more. “How long does it take you to convince one frail old man to do the right thing?”

Up until this point, Gil had been holding the broom stick with one hand, worried that if he were to use both hands that it would end up breaking. Getting the OK from the leader, he lifted it above his head and used his full strength and weight to swing it down on the old man.

Suddenly, a hooded person appeared almost out of nowhere and grabbed the stick, before it could reach its intended victim.

“Screw waiting for the perfect time! I can’t just watch you torment an innocent old man!” Gary yelled out.

’System, put both points into Strength!’

[2 Points have been allocated into Strength]

[Your base Strength is now at 7]

[Current Strength: 14 (+1)]

With Charging Heart and the power of the moon, Gary pulled the stick out of Gil’s hands. While the bully was still confused about the situation, the newcomer used both his hands to swing it out from the side like a baseball bat, hitting Gil across the face, flinging his head back and causing him to fly through the air for a few meters until he hit the ground..

Looking on the floor, there was a single tooth that had fallen out.

‘That's a start!’” Gary thought about Tom’s missing tooth, but it still wasn’t enough.

*****

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