DUKE'S DEAL II (Ch. 74)
Duke gasps for a breath, struggling futilely, he surveys his surroundings as best he could quickly finding the other's in similar positions as him with only he being conscious, at the corners of the small warehouse are men in black suits looking over them stoically, Duke continues his survey trying to glean any information that alludes to their current location,
(We need to get ourselves out if this shit asap, there isn't much hope of help) he ponders turning his eyes to the two huge doors that slowly open with a long grating sound, through the open doors comes the short middle aged man seen previously, he stares at Duke who mirrors it for several seconds before speaking up,
"Sebastian Corinth, help me find him and i'll let you kids go",
"I don't know who that is, we only said we're apart of Dealers cause of our pride" Duke replies thinking of the safety of hus comrades,
"Pride?" The man inquires, "It seems that's what'll get you killed, i know who you are, Duke Wade, the only child and son of the legendary Gray Wade, it makes sense that that man child would seek to recruit you" the man states unmoved by Dukes fuming expression,
"I turned him down, i'm not interested in being a thug" he sneers,
"Why?, You're already half way there, and if that is truly what you believe of your father then that is truly saddening, though i never met him or knew him personally i can very well say he was a much better man than i" the man concludes,
"Forgive me if that doesn't mean too much to me" he mocks,
"It really is a shame, it seems you really don't know anything then at least you can serve another purpose",
"Which is?"
"Bait" the man replies with a thing mirthless smile,
"Do you think that'll actually work?, Like i said i turned them down!",
"Your distaste for your father has blinded you, knowing that man child, once the news is leaked he'll be here in a flash, be a good boy and sit tight till then" the man concludes before making his exit.
Several hours pass and by now even with the absence of windows Duke is sure it's well into the night, the rest of the boys where well awake by now and despite all being Shifters the multiple pound chains bind them tight, the familiar grating sound re-emerges, and in similar fashion the man steps through the doors, only this time with more men,
"A shame, it seems the child didn't bite, i've sent word that i'd kill you all one by one every ten minutes till he gets here" the man states, minutes later Corinth remains absent, sighing the man nods towards one of his subordinates who walks up to Daniel,
"I'll go first" Duke states,
"DUKE!!" Tobi Daniel and Bradley shout
"It seems you do have your fathers blood in you" the man replies, "very well i'll honour your wish" the man replies before stepping up himself, "at the very least i'll do you this honour" he states, Tobi struggles against his confines ignoring the pain of rusted metal digging into his skin, Darwin sneers before speaking up,
"You think your some kind of movie MC?, Get your head blown out if you want to" he states apathetically, The gun is raised to his skull the man's face poised, only the sound of Tobi and Co's shouts present, the distinct sound of clicking shoes draws the attention of the calmer ones at the scene, the the familar face of Corinth still sporting his usual miscellaneous smile steps into the warehouse and is quickly surrounded by armed men,
"Sorry for the tardiness, i had to grab a bagel" he states while munchin on his bagel,
"A second later he'd have been dead" the man replies,
"If you had killed him, i'd have to slaughter you all" he replies nonchalantly before turning to bite into his bagel,
"You come alone and still talk so big" the man responds, "boys!",
In a flash the immediate surroundings men are down, steam bellows out his pharynx as attacks seem to 'miss' and his body seems to be pushed around by contorting space, he saunters his way to the tree before a casual wave of his hand contorts the area arounf the chain crumpling them like paper, the boys shrug then off before following guardedly behind him, a gun shot goes off but to their astonishment even as the middle aged man comes in close still unloading his clip at Corinth the bullets distort like a reflection on flowing water and miss, now out of the warehouse and inside the car Duke can't help but ask his minds nagging questions,
"Was that a 'Force' art?" He inquires,
"What? You want to learn it?, I can teach you if you want" Corinth grins,
"I still won't join you, thank you, but i didn't ask to be saved" he replies,
"Sophistry" he replies, "you lot identified yourselves as DEALERS before fleeing, basically forcing me to save you either way, i'm sure you very well knew that, afterall how would it look if i as the head let some of my kids get lynched" he state. Eventually they get to the Dealers HQ where a path of teens in white shirts and black coats are lined on either sides of a path greetings in tandum upon Corinths arrival,
"WELCOME BACK BOSS!" They shout, Corinth leads them into the HQ where an impossibly long table is set center of what was originally a hall,
"We eat together" Corinth states smiling as a girl comes out from one of the passages with a large tray of food, he takes off his shades showing a scar that run's diagonally across his bad left eye, he chuckles at Dukes expression before speaking,
"Don't ask".
"Why do you protect this street" Duke inquires,
"Of course because the ladies here are pretty" he responds with a widened grin, Duke sneers dumbing his food on the floor before heading out of the HQ, he takes a seat infront of the complex's entrance stair, a girl fron one of the nerby shops sees him walking up to him and taking a seat,
"What's wrong?" She inquires,
"Nothing" he responds,
"It's Seb isn't it?",
"Seb?" Duke questions,
"Corinth" the girl re-phrases, Duke remains silent, turning his gaze to the sky,
"You know he used to be a strert rat, an orphan, over a decade ago my mom and the ladies who ran the stores used to help him out, back then Dealers was a gang that extorted us, but he made us a promise, 'that he'd always protect us' then he joined them, got stronger, then beat the boss, after doing that he changed Dealers from a gang to a family", Duke sneers far from convinced,
"He still collects the protection fee",
"He actually doesn't ask us to, we, the shop owners pay Dealers because we want to, because we feel it's right" she replies,
(Just another pretentious prick pretending to be a scion of justice), Duke picks his blazer heading up towards the feast, he arrives to find Corinth missing,
"Where is he" he inquires,
"Restroom" Tobi replies, Duke wastes no time heading into the restroom, he finds Corinth before a wall toilet zipping his fly,
"Do you think people will look up to you for being some kind of saviour?" He mocks,
"Saviour?, It's romance you little twat, fucking romance" Corinth grins while winking with his bad eye,
"Yeah, fucking romance" Duke replies shaking his head, he turns around exiting the restroom,
"I'm getting old, i'm going to be twenty one soon, i need to find a successor" he murmurs.
A few days later Duke is left exhasperated by Corinths triumphant grin,
"Haha!, Welcome to Dealers you little twats!" He exclaims,
(With this, the future is secure, even when i'm long gone) he mules, little did he know the future he sought, was far from what he would get, a little boy runs up to his position seated at tge gead of tge eating table with a cellphone, picking it up he hears startling news,
"We've all been wiped out!, Every gang in the north side is gone!"
"What!, How?",
"I....t wa...s a p....air of teens in tracks, the....y ca....me in mumbling ab....out something called a t...est" the man on the line croaks with great effort,
"For what",
"F....our...ma..j..."
"Hey! No cheating!" A voice exclaims from the other side of the line, "your one of the examinies right, don't worry, you're next" the voice states with manaically cheer.