WnW 4.13

The next day we met just outside of Old Town in a rarely used parking lot. The uneven asphalt now had cars parked haphazardly on it, seemingly with utter disregard for the faded lines. The group of people around the cars eyed us distrustfully as we approached. They were prepared for a fight. Some had their weapons tucked away while others didn’t seem to care about showing them openly. There weren’t any guns that I could see, but of course those were easier to hide.

Graham stopped talking with a woman wearing camo pants and walked up to us. “Good afternoon. How are you two feeling about today?”

Nell eyed the barriers. “It looks different in the daytime.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Less shadows to hide the shuffling horrors.”

“Hopefully we will not run into any of those,” Graham said, wincing. “The Red Ring is trouble enough. Now, do you see the person with the wide sleeves behind me?”

I leaned past Graham’s wide frame to see a figure sitting on the hood of a sports car. Spiky metal piercings adorned the skin around his mouth and nose. He wore a jacket that looked handcrafted, with various fabrics of muted colours stitched together without much care put into hiding the stitches. The sleeves were especially odd, as they had some sort of structure to them that held the fabric away from his actual arms, so that his hands looked like they were poking out of tubes. 

“His name is Spike,” Graham said. “You met him the same time you first met me.”

I noted the bandaged pinky and ring finger on one hand. My handiwork.

“He’s told me he doesn’t hold any hard feelings for what happened, but it wouldn’t hurt to go apologize now that you will be working with him.”

“Right…”

I approached Spike, trying not to feel the stares of all the Gambler’s Ring members around him. Spike’s narrowed eyes flitted around, only briefly meeting mine before they moved on. Are you sure he doesn’t have hard feelings, Graham?

“Hey, I’m Nick,” I said.

“Mhm.”

I glanced at the woman in camo pants who was shooting me a death glare. “I’m sorry about your fingers. I know I was hostile that night, but it was truly an accident.”

“No problem.” His response was monotone and he didn’t stop frowning. I noticed that his arms were shaking.

“Okay,” I said weakly as Spike stood up and walked over to Graham to discuss something.

“‘Sup maggot. I was wondering if you were gonna show.” The camo pants woman had come close. She leaned in and her dreadlocks fell forward, revealing the machete sheathed on her back. “I was hoping that big pink fuck was going to gut you. Imagine my surprise when you started slurping it up like it was some good fuckin soup.”

I leaned away like I could feel her radiate disdain.

“Just like how you tried to slurp up Spike, eh?” she asked with a dangerous glint in her eye.

“Th- that was an accident.”

She turned her head and spat. “Was it? Or was Sullivan so desperate for some fire power that he wanted to sweep it under the rug?”

“There you go again, Jessie,” one of the other men called out, “Getting your hackles all up in a bunch over your boyfriend.”

Jessie rounded angrily on him, flipping him off. “Ger, if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna make you a new hole to eat shit from.”

Ger and the others just laughed.

I retreated back over to the others. Nell gave me a concerned look but I just shook my head. 

Spike was speaking emphatically with Graham, “I don’t like it. They chose the spot on purpose.”

Graham spread his hands. “Maybe. We can’t know for sure. It’s a good neutral territory to meet on. Maybe that’s all it is.”

“Can’t we change it?”

“If they don’t know, asking the Red Ring to change meeting places will just make them curious. We need to talk with them. If they don’t bring it up, we won’t.”

Spike didn’t seem satisfied with that answer and walked off back towards the group.

“Alright!” Graham called out. “Form up. Remember, we are here to have a discussion. Intimidation is fine but we don’t fight unless they do. No, Jessie, provocations, verbal or otherwise, do not count as picking a fight. Keep your distance from them.”

Jessie rolled her eyes.

The group moved out with Graham in the lead, entering Old Town and moving down the middle of the street. One of the men stopped at the barricade and acted like he was holding the door open for us. He gave Nell a bow with a flourish and a mocking smile. Nell took it in stride, moving past with a lifted chin.

I listened to the group bicker with one another as we went deeper into the Old Town. It was easier to get an idea of the overall layout of the place in the daylight. Streets weren’t placed nicely in a grid, instead we often had to turn as we hit dead ends. This wasn’t like the suburbs where I grew up. Houses were spaced further apart, while businesses tended to be only a story or two tall. I could see the mall and parkade in the distance where Chase and I had encountered Squish. That part of the Old Town was probably the newest while the part we were in was filled with old brick buildings with vines creeping up the sides like they were trying to find a way in.

Up ahead was a large parking lot in front of a building with a huge sign on the front. A smiling cartoon giraffe took up most of the sign with its neck bending over the top like a rainbow. “Jerry’s Playful Palace” it read.

“Cute,” Nell said, pointing with her cast. “Jerry the Giraffe.”

“Nah, Jerry Simons was the owner,” Jessie said from where she walked alongside Spike, a few paces ahead of us. “Pretty sure he was a kid toucher. Still, they had good food.”

“Spike,” I ventured, “you were worried about the meetup spot. Why?”

He just shrugged, seeming tense.

Jessie glared at me. “Don’t worry about it. Just be ready to let loose. You better pull your weight.”

“You sure it’s going to turn into a fight?” I asked. “Are Graham and Louis on bad terms?”

“That’s the Red Ring’s reputation. It’s not like they have a monopoly on violence in the Old Town, but they’ve got an impressive record against the bigger Rings. They’re good at it. Graham seems to have Sullivan convinced that he can change his brother,” Jessie pulled out her machete, “but I know better.”

There were still a surprising number of cars in the parking lot to maneuver around. Not all of them looked old. Most were heavily damaged in some way, bent bumpers and smashed windows, some with rims that looked like they’d been driven on. It seemed like this was a popular spot to ditch stolen cars after a joyride, although I wasn’t sure how they’d gotten them past the barricades.

We were walking around a bus that was plastered in graffiti when I heard someone whistle.

People tensed and readied their weapons. Nell was staring at the top of the bus and as I watched it, there was a blur of brief motion from the top.

“Gambler’s Ring?” A voice called out.

“Yes,” Graham responded. “Are you with Louis?”

“Sí,” the voice responded. A moment later a pair of legs kicked over the side and a man sat down on the edge. He grinned and held up his middle finger. I realized that it was tattooed. Something flicked over his right shoulder. Then a moment later it flicked over his left. It was black and white striped and the tip curled side to side. A tail. He was a Cast.

“He’s just up ahead,” the man said. He looked unarmed and he had a charming smile.

Spike kept his eyes on the man as we moved forward. His hands jittered.

We came to a spot where the cars had been arranged to form a loose square. On the far side, there was one car that was facing the center. Through the cracked windshield I spotted someone wearing sunglasses in the driver’s seat, their hand laid casually over the steering wheel.

They honked the horn and waved out the window. Gold rings flashed on their knuckles. Then they climbed out of the car and leaned on the door, smiling at us. It was a muscular man in a tank top and heavy-looking gold chains around his neck.

“Graham!” he shouted. “Long time no see brother!”

Graham shaded his eyes from the sun. “It has been. Good to see you, Louis.”

Louis walked towards us casually. He didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. In fact, something about the group seemed to amuse him. “Quite the crew you’ve brought.”

The group stood behind Graham, displaying their weapons openly.

“I’m here representing Sullivan. He thought it was appropriate.”

Louis lowered his sunglasses to examine us. “Ah, I suppose this kind of meeting is beneath him? The leader of the Red Ring isn’t quite up to his standards, eh?”

“Don’t try to start something, Louis,” Graham said warningly. “We agreed to do this in the Old Town. It isn’t his preferred place of business, but he wanted to show his good will by agreeing to it.”

Louis scratched his chin. “So you speak for Sullivan?”

“He trusts me enough to represent the interests of his group. He wants to gauge your interest in an alliance.”

“There’s people in the area around us,” Nell murmured. “Hiding.”

I suspected as much. Louis wasn’t as alone as he appeared.

Louis snorted. “Listen to yourself, Graham. You’re making this sound like a board meeting. You weren’t like this when we were young. Remember when we used to be pirates?”

Graham’s expression softened. “None of our boats could make it more than a few feet in the water.”

“You were wilder back then. You had courage. Now, what? You’re just a mouthpiece for some mook in a suit that’s too chicken to meet me face to face?”

Some of the Gambler’s bristled at that and Graham settled them with a stern look.

Louis shook his head in disappointment. “You should have never followed me into this mess. You’re not cut out for it. You should have stuck to being a professor.”

Graham’s fingers clenched at his side. “There is a reason for that. You were there. You know why I couldn’t keep being a professor.”

“And as I told you before, you don’t need to keep pretending to be responsible for them. They’re not your students anymore.”

“How is Rami?”

“Eating enough for two,” Louis said, yawning.

“We both know why that is. Has his speech improved? Does he still rely on it for everything?”

Louis rolled his shoulders. “Listen, we can talk like brothers, but then I’m not gonna pretend Sullivan is in the picture. So which is it?”

Graham rubbed his neck. “Why do you have to make everything so difficult, Louis? Can’t we just talk without all this posturing?”

“I’m afraid not,” Louis said, shrugging. “I have to keep the family entertained after all.”

Graham’s expression darkened. “These are people’s lives, Louis. Not your entertainment. Christ! You want to speak of the past, when did you get so cold-hearted?”

Louis laughed. “You’ll never get it. You’re too soft. I wish that you had learned that lesson when your student fucking offed themselves after getting powers.”

“You have no right to speak!” Graham roared. I flinched, shocked at seeing him like this. “When you’re the reason they lost their lives!”

Louis grinned but the tendons in his neck were taught. He raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled sharply. 

The sound rang out over the parking lot. Voices began to shout from our surroundings and there was the sound of slamming car doors and honking horns. People began to emerge, climbing over the hoods of cars to get closer, smashing side mirrors with metal pipes and banging hubcaps like drums.

Louis raised his hands like he was going to conduct an orchestra. “Things are moving in this city, Graham. You should really just stay out of this. You aren’t built for it, your heart’s too soft.”

Graham’s eyes darted to the approaching gang. Our group started to ready their weapons, eyes going wide, trying to take in the scale of the threat. 

“You don’t have to do this, Louis,” Graham said.

“Let me prove it!” Louis continued loudly, talking over him. “Why don’t we play a little game to get the blood moving?” His eyes slid over to Spike. “I know about your friend’s little project in the building behind me.”

Spike swore and pulled out his phone. Only for his arm to jerk upwards and something came shooting out of it, puncturing a hole in his sleeve. A knife clattered to the pavement alongside something colourless and see-through, like glass. The man with the tail clucked his tongue and wagged a finger. His tail was curled around another knife.

The Red Ring members were poised around us, weapons raised, eyes gleaming with excitement. Louis kept his hands frozen in the air.

“I promise, I haven’t done anything yet,” he said slyly. “So let’s have a race. See who gets their first. And we’ll toughen up that heart of yours, Graham…”

He dropped his hands.

There was a whistling noise and a heavy thunk.

Nell’s eyes slid over to see a quivering piece of rebar had embedded itself into the man next to her. He gaped, pierced through the chest by spiralled metal, red already staining his shirt.

“We’ll see how you feel once your people start dropping like flies.”