Chapter 32: Chapter 32
"Hey!" A man on a motorcycle said as he tapped the one driving the motorcycle on the shoulder.
"What?" The man replied as he glanced back at his passenger.
"Look!" He pointed at a man across the street from them talking to a girl with long black hair.
The driver looked at the direction he was pointing at and widened his eyes. "Isn't that...?"
"Exactly!"
The two men smiled menacingly as they looked at each other.
"Let's follow him."
These two were the ones that tried to take Matt McGinnis' trophy by force at the parking lot after the karate tournament.
They continued to watch Terry after he finished talking with another girl and followed him when he left on his motorbike.
"!!"
"This is..."
They followed Terry until he entered a restaurant.
The two smiled and almost wanted to laugh at the current situation. The place that the man entered into was a place that their gang protected. The mutant gang.
"Stay here. I'll call the whole team." The driver said. He left his partner there and went straight to call their other members.
The man that was left to keep watch of Terry was so excited that they'll finally get to have their revenge upon the fool who beat them up.
"!! He's leaving! Where the hell are they?" He said as he fidgeted with his smart watch to send a message.
Vrroom vroom
The man smiled. He looked in the direction where the sound of motor engines came from. His group has arrived.
"You're just in time! He's leaving." He said.
"Let's go." Their division leader said as he led the way towards the entrance.
But all of a sudden, he widened his eyes and stopped in front of them.
The man they were after got out of the restaurant and did the same before narrowing his eyes and uttering their division leader's name. "Don..."
"Gary...If that's even your real name."
"You know him?" One of the two men that brought them there said.
"Of course, we do....He's the previous leader of this division."
The two men widened their eyes. The previous division leader made their team so strong and it prospered under his leadership before he became a traitor and was forced to leave. Or at least, that's what they heard from their seniors in the gang.
Terry smiled as he recognized the two men. He figured they were probably the ones that brought the gang here.
"What do you want?" Terry stood there casually without showing any fear.
"These two said you took something from them."
"Ha!" Terry scoffed. "They were the ones that tried to steal from me."
Don looked at the two behind him. "Is that true?"
The two men looked at each other before one of them started to speak.
"We-"
"Before you lie," But Terry cut him off before he could. "I want you to think about the outcome first...If you lie and all of you end up fighting me, it won't end well for you....I'll make sure you two are the last ones to fall. I'll beat the truth out of you both before I finish you off." Terry smiled at them menacingly.
Both men shook. It seems they still have ptsd from the incident.
"It's true." Don said calmly while glancing at his two juniors. "He'll make it happen one way or another once he says it. That's just how he is."
The two were forced to tell the truth that they were in the wrong. The other members of the team glared at them and Terry smiled proudly.
"Haaah." Don heaved out a sigh. " I apologize in behalf of these two idiots. Their part of the new recruits that was handed to my division."
"You'll leave me alone just like that? What about what I did before?"
"...The mutant leader said to let it be bygones as long as you stay away from our affairs. That's just how much he respected you." Don said with a hint of anger and regret.
Terry just made a wistful smile.
"Let's go." Don said as he turned his heel.
All of them turned around and began to leave. The two were ashamed for what they done and was readying themselves for punishment.
"Don, wait." Terry called his attention.
"What?" Don faced Terry again and so did the other mutants.
Terry gave Don a serious look that only they can understand the meaning of.
Don turned towards his division and said "Go ahead without me. Don't wait up."
As the whole division started to leave one by one, Terry walked closer towards Don. The look that Terry gave him meant that he wanted to talk to him alone. It was non-verbal communication formed from being together as leader and vice-leader when Terry was in the mutant gang for over a year.
"What's up?" Terry said.
"What do you want?" Don replied.
"Nothing. I just want to catch up with you." Terry thinly smiled but Don didn't receive it very well.
"Us being friends never happened. You were just a rat trying to get information from us for the police."
"You know that's not true. And that's why you're still here. Because you want to listen to what I have to say." Terry said.
"Then, what do you have to say?"
Terry smiled "Do you want some coffee? My treat."
"...Sure." Don hesitated but he could never resist free coffee. Terry knew this.
They rode their bikes together like in the old days and went to a nearby coffee shop.
Once they went inside, Don was surveying the place out with suspicion. They made their orders and chose a table to sit on.
"This place is filled with cops." Don said.
"Relax. The coffee here is great despite the suffocating atmosphere. Besides, the old gang has a better reputation from the police from what I've heard."
"....so, why did you want to talk to me?"
"I told you. I just wanted to catch up. You were the person I trusted the most back then. I considered you as a real friend."
"But you were a fake friend, weren't you?" Don still felt betrayed for what happened. "We tried to search every record for anyone named Gary but none of them matched your face."
"That's because my real name is Terry. I'm sorry for lying to you. I just have a lot of things I needed to protect."
"Is that why you betrayed us?" Don said as he searched for answers in Terry's eyes.
"Two coffees for Terry!" the barista broke the tension between the two.
Terry got up to get their coffee and when he came back he started telling Don about what happened. How he had no choice back then. How he chose the welfare of his family first. He didn't want to bring shame to his mother. But he only agreed to do it because he saw no harm will be done to the mutants.
"... I understand. I think I would have done the same thing if I had a mother." Don was an orphan who grew up in the orphanage. Most of the original members of the mutant gang were orphans.
"Thanks...It's great that you understand. What about you guys? I've heard great things about the gang. You're all clean now." This information came from none other than the police commissioner herself.
"That's just on the surface. Because of the new recruits and the fast increase in numbers, The whole organization is getting harder to control. We might help the police and keep our territories peaceful, that's how we changed our reputation, but inside, we're crumbling. Most of the new recruits always take advantage of the power they have. Like those two earlier. "
"I see."
Both of them took a sip if their coffee in silence.
"... Come back."
"What?" Terry furrowed his brows in confusion to what Don said.
"You should come back to the mutants. We need someone like you to help us lead, Terry."
Terry's face was downcast. "I...have a job now. It's something that gives me purpose. So, I can't come back." He said with a serious face.
Don made a wistful smile. "...when you have that look in your eyes, no one can change your mind about it."
Riiing ring ring. The bell at the door rang as the door opened.
Step step step...step step step
A man walked up to their table.
"Don. Gary." Both of them looked up to see who it was.
The man had long white hair up to his shoulders, even his eyebrows and eyelashes were white. He had red eyes that seemed ominous. He's wearing his signature three-piece suit under his trench coat. It was the mutant leader.
Terry made a complicated face when he saw who it was. Because he already got used to seeing him as Batman, he needed to adjust to how he should act as an exile of the gang.
The mutant leader smiled at them.
"Mutant lead-"
"Shhhh" He covered Don's mouth before he finished. "Just call me leader when we're outside." He said with a smile. "Hi there, Gary." He said as he faced Terry.
"H-hi." Terry made an awkward smile. He always didn't know how to act around him because he was eccentric. It was probably a side effect of the mutation...or probably not.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone