Sadie and Frank were back in the office, along with the others in their squad, but both of them were acting stranger than usual. Sadie was pacing back and forth while biting her fingernails, while Frank was just blankly staring at his screen, which wasn't even on."Will you two calm down!" Sam shouted. "You're making us all worry.""Sorry," Sadie said, sitting down. "But you don't understand, this is serious. Kanu got called up to go see the superintendent... for killing another White Rose member!"The news had already spread around most of the squads and offices. It wasn't something that could be hidden, especially since there was more to the case than they first realized.For one, the engineers that were in the interrogation room at the time weren't even White Rose members, so no one knew how they got in. They had been captured and were being dealt with by another team. As for Tomas, he had been escorted straight to an Altered holding cell, and they would decide what to do with him
Hearing his name being called out, Jayden gave a glance at the White Rose agent and then went back to looking at the grave as he had done before. His hands were slightly wet from having just placed down the flowers in his hands.Kanu had walked up to the same gravestone and looked at it for a while. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before kneeling and placing his own flowers that he had brought in front of the grave.After wiping his hands on his uniform, he went into his inner jacket and pulled out a cigarette, and started to light it."You're still smoking those?" Jayden said. "You know those are bad for you.""They're bad for humans." Kanu let out a large puff of smoke, and a smile appeared on his face. "For us Altered, they do next to nothing. Our bodies will repair any damage these things can do. Unlike you, I don't have to keep up a clean image."A light chuckle came out from Jayden. "Could anyone imagine a White Rose agent saying that?" Jayden replied. "What are you doing h
In the country, there were several cities that if one were to look from the outside, were nearly impossible to see. This was due to the thick smog that covered most of them; these were the cities known as Tier 4.The thing was, with places that were regarded as Tier 4, all of them were cities. Tier 3 places could be a mixture of towns and cities, but all of the places classified as Tier 4 were large cities.The simple reason for this was because they were the country's factories. Although there were factories in the Tier 3 cities, they weren't enough to pump out large amounts of smog in their cities.Most of them, as well, weren't those types of factories that would produce so much pollution in the first place.However, all of the Tier 4 cities were essentially factories. They made parts for the bigger corporations' businesses, the Tier 2 and the Tier 1s. Most of it was hard gruelling labour, and they were paid next to nothing.There were schools in Tier 4 cities, just like any other
The two continued to aimlessly walk around the city, heading towards one of the factories on the street. What they didn't know was that someone had spotted the two strangers a while ago.Sitting opposite the bus stop, in a black t-shirt and jeans, was a young middle-aged man named Elijah. He brushed his hair to the side, making sure it was intact, before grabbing his pencil and continuing to write notes.It was his regular spot since he had entered the city, and he had been jotting down notes on many people who walked past. But these two caught his eye. For one, Austin was a large individual, with a strong build and a good set of muscles.Then there was the green-haired kid he could see. He couldn't see the mask, but based on their clothes, he assumed they were young, with an athletic build. But it wasn't that which stood out to him.It was the fact that they were walking through the streets so comfortably. They looked quite out of place."They should watch their back... In a place li
Elijah brought out his little notebook and pulled the pencil from his ear. He started to write down notes immediately."Green-haired, possibly an Altered. Too confident. What are they doing in a Tier-4 area? Are they from another gang?"These notes were added to what he had previously written down."From the looks of things, it's clear that he's not from this city. But then, why would a higher city Altered come down here? There is only one answer for that: he must be part of a gang!" Elijah smiled to himself, grinning from ear to ear.But if he wanted to get more information, he would have to try another approach. So he started to walk up to the green-haired teenager. He quickly crossed the road and, to act natural, made his way as if nothing had happened. The teenager was far too focused on the phone in his hand anyway."Hey, is everything all right? It looks like you've got a problem there," Elijah asked.Gary took one look at the stranger approaching him. Unlike the others he had s
Austin had always been considered a pretty wild child. His parents didn't mind what he did, nor did they care about his grades, as long as he was healthy. They saw other kids getting into fights and thought it was normal, so they didn't worry too much. Austin rarely returned badly beaten because most of the time, he was the one doing the beating.Given his disposition, it was no surprise that at some point he would join a gang to make some income. When the opportunity came up with Gary, everything fell into place for him. The excitement he felt was similar to when he rose to the top of his school, becoming the best among his peers. Now, as part of the Howlers, they were rising up, striving to be the best gang compared to all the others.However, Austin was only seventeen years old. Although he looked older due to his frame and face, he would still be in school if he hadn't dropped out to join the Howlers. As he stood outside the gates of a school, he couldn't help but feel a strange m
Walking onto the school grounds, Austin certainly did feel like there was a strange atmosphere. For one, there were no teachers, usually there would be teachers out front or walking around as they prepared for their lessons but he could see none. Instead, a few times already, Austin had seen a group of kids wearing a black blazer. They would be smoking, or just chatting but when he looked at them, they would stare back at him, eyeing him up and rolling their eyes up and down. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to walk into the school so easily… actually with the way things are around here maybe I could, even without a school uniform.’ Austin thought. Walking up by the side of the school, Austin was taking a deeper look into the graffiti at the side, just above was a window into one of the school’s classes, and he could see a shadow getting larger by the second. “What the…” A whole body smashed right through the class window. Just doing what was natural to him, Austin had caught the pers
After recalling the memories of what his teacher said, Austin truly thought he was going to have a tough time, but to find out he had just knocked out the top fighter of a school in a tier-4 city with a single blow, it was starting to seem extremely disappointing."Am I too strong... since I became an Altered? Can I really now just go against other Altereds if I want to challenge myself? If I'm having a problem trying to find someone worthwhile to fight, then I wonder how Gary is going to be doing in this place."Shaking his head, he could see the others starting to whisper, wondering who Austin was."Is it a new student, or a student from another school?""Since he took out Carvey, no doubt there are going to be others looking for him. What do we tell them? Some big guy with a mask took him out.""Yeah, we'll just have to say Big Mask took him out. Sh*t, Carvey's going to kill us for not going after this guy when he wakes up, but I don't want to go up against Big Mask."Austin, tryin
Xin had already expended a lot of energy in her Altered form, and holding her breath during her combat had worn her out quite a bit. Her single wing sticking out from her back was still there, but the lightning power that sparked from it was dwindling.“Big guy, be careful; this one’s tough,” Xin commented.Austin stood strong, looking at Gil getting up on his feet. As he did, Gil’s body muscles were flexing in and out. The smoke that was lingering from his body was starting to grow as well.“I know. I hit him with a pretty big shot, and I know I’m not weak,” Austin replied.After just getting back out from the hospital and recovering, the first thing Austin didn’t expect was that he was going to have to get into a fight, but from a single look, he could tell this person was strong.Not wasting any time, he had jumped out of the window and knew what he needed to do.“You're a bigger hitter than me, so I’m going to have to support you!” Xin said.As soon as she finished her sentence, G
With Xin being who she was, she had faced many different types of Altered, but going up against Gil was the most unique one yet. For one, he was a rare Mythical type. These had great power and a chance of great elemental ability as well.Not only that, but she had seen something somewhat unique to an Altered which she hadn’t seen before. The fact that Gil was able to transform his body, and in doing so, it affected his powers.Being large in size, he was strong and durable, while being smaller in size he had incredible speed. It was because of these transformations that Xin had felt like she had already seen it all.They had been fighting for a while now, so he had to have used either his partial or full transformation. There was nothing left for him to show, with no surprises, it was time for her to finish off the fight herself.The one wing that extended out from her back, the same size as a hand, was covered in yellow sparks that continually went off. They were condensed in size, g
Sparks from Xin’s Altered form couldn't stop flying off from her body. The strange hardened feathers constantly were shooting off small bolts of energy from one to the other. Even just standing still, her elemental power was activating.“You think things are going to change just because your appearance is now a little different!” Gil shouted as he lifted both of his hands up, locking them together. He was in his large form, having shifted from the smaller one.Doing so allowed him to pick up more strength than he usually would. The attack was going to be a big one. Gil’s hands smashed against the ground, and the whole building started to shake again.The people from above fell from their seats. Shelves tumbled down from the vibration, and it looked like the building was warping from within itself. However, the shaking had eventually stopped.With it stopping, the people on the second floor could see that they were now okay, and it was the same for Amy and White, who were close to the
The message sent out by Kai was heard loud and clear by everyone in the Howlers, and some of them took it to heart. Instead of trying to win their fights, they now were trying to last as long as possible.Raven had transformed his body; large heads had appeared and were in the air. Numba had been picked up by one of the Hydra Altered’s heads, its teeth biting down on his stomach and flinging him to the side until he hit a wall.“This Altered’s strength is crazy; does he have the same strength in each head?” Numba thought as he tried to get back up.Charging in were both Marie and Olivia at the same time. They struck from two sides, trying to hit the heads, but weren’t fully committing. They were carefully waiting for a strike and moved from side to side.Marie had avoided attacks from one of the Hydra’s long winding heads, while Olivia, as she jumped back, swung her hands and used her whip. It was effective in hitting the Hydra, but she didn’t dare try to wrap it around its head due t
There were a lot of decisions to make with the new stats and pawn points that Gary had managed to achieve, and it was best if he used them now because at any moment, he felt like something was coming.The fight against Ice was far tougher than the fight against the North and the South leader, but all of this was for more to come.‘First, I will allocate the stat points,’ Gary thought as he tapped his system, giving himself a few points in two areas.The first was his endurance.[Endurance 88 >>> 90]‘The strength difference at every ten is increased, but as the numbers get higher, the difference isn’t felt as much. Either way, as I’m fighting tougher enemies like that of Ice, Endurance seems to be a big factor in getting hurt less.’[Dexterity 82 >>> 85]‘With that, rather than being able to hit harder, I need to be able to hit more and get my attacks in, so I’ll increase my dexterity.’As for the pawn points, Gary then went ahead and used two of them on his health. Each pawn point at
---The final plan that Carter had, to try and turn those who had allied up against each other, had failed. Carter already knew about Ice’s past; there wasn’t much he could do with that.He was one of the few prisoners who knew what they had done. Through the extent of his own powers in a clash, he had killed those around him that had no involvement. He wanted to stay in the prison, but he suddenly had a change of heart.Then, there was Blackjack, the first man Carter was unable to get any information about, so he only had Gary, and now even that hadn’t worked.“What were you going to do?” Gary asked as he moved forward. “I bet if I was in here, and the Phoenix Gang wasn’t already targeting me, you would threaten my friends, my family, that are on the outside.”“You are a cruel person in this place; those that are already trapped, you force them to do your bidding by trapping them even more in this place. I can safely say that you are a person that I don’t mind getting rid of.”Gary n
---In the center of the prison, many had backed away from Ice standing in the middle. He felt like an unstoppable giant. No matter what attacks landed on him, they barely left a mark; if they did, it was almost as if it didn't affect him at all.His giant club was hitting the physical-type Altereds and overpowering them with his strength. Even those that were fast and could get closer were affected by his strong ice powers.He could block attacks with his ice, freeze those who came close to him, and create a number of unique attacks of his own. When a group of prisoners approached him, he slammed his foot on the ground. Ice grew from the floor in several sharp spikes, piercing those who took a step too far."What are we meant to do, Stinger? This guy is too strong!" one of the prisoners exclaimed.They looked around, waiting for an answer, but the prisoners themselves were struggling to even see Stinger. That was because he had hidden himself among the crowd of prisoners, waiting for
Blackjack was on the move to the North side. He was quickly going past the Altereds that were trying to attack him, ducking and weaving through them all at a fast speed. At one point, he leaned back, and one of the prisoners accidentally attacked another.‘It’s a good lucky day today, I knew it would all go well today.’ Blackjack smiled as he progressed further and deeper inside. As he finally got near the end, he threw out the last of his cards.They came out sharp, hitting four of his opponents on the head, causing them to fall to the floor, and that’s when he could see Calvin sitting on the floor, healing one of the prisoners.“Calvin, it has been a while, right?” Blackjack asked. “I’m surprised to see that you teamed up with the South Group. After going against them for so long, it resorted to this.” “I had invited you several times to join my side,” Calvin stated. “I had even healed your body after the fight with the Warden, and yet you still refused. So what else was I supposed
The fight continued with all three of them continuing to fight against the Altereds coming their way. Although most of them were relatively easy to deal with, there were a few tough ones.Those that knew how to fight either waited for the right time to strike and got a good hit in or were harder than just a single hit or two to take out. When this was the case, Gary would use one of his skills.He would use his Lethal Pounce, Claw Drain, and even once in a while, he even used his Claw Strike to attack them from surprise. When this was used, it seemed like next to no one could stop it.Blackjack had been keeping an eye on things that were happening around him, and when this happened, he would focus on just avoiding blows that he was able to do with ease.‘Is he conserving his strength?’ Blackjack thought. ‘That’s surprising. I don’t see many Werewolves fight like that. Is it because he’s worried about when he has to go up against the Warden? No, that can’t be it.’With a keener eye, Bl