The Pit's hangout also served as the place where they slept. For most of the mbers, including Wolf himself, it was their ho. They didn't have anywhere else to go, and the only way they knew how to make money, the only place that would accept them, was here.
Inside the shop, Wolf had a makeshift office where he spent most of his ti working, either adjusting his motorbike or rebuilding car parts. They were ongoing projects, like most things in his life, with no real tiline to finish them.
After having a surprisingly good night's sleep, Wolf woke up earlier than usual. The other mbers were still fast asleep, scattered throughout the shop in different sections, mostly upstairs, while Wolf was already busy with another one of his projects: leveling up his character in his favorite RPG ga.
"Hmm… I still can't figure it out. That wasn't just so regular high school brawl," Wolf said aloud. "It felt like there was sothing more serious behind it. And I'll admit, I was wrong about one thing. Max might be an E-class fighter, but his experience… it feels like S-class. Just who is that kid?"
"Why are you wasting so much ti thinking about a high schooler?" Sandra asked, standing behind him, her own phone in hand.
Thanks to Wolf, she had beco quite addicted to the RPG ga too, and right now, the two of them were in the middle of running a dungeon together, fighting side by side.
"Do you really think a kid could do that? Not even the best street gangs could pull off what he did," Wolf said, not even glancing back as he continued tapping away on his phone.
"Do what, beat up that student?" Sandra asked.
"No... control the police," Wolf replied. "If a street gang had that kind of power, I wouldn't even call them a street gang anymore. To have influence over the police in a particular city? Didn't you notice what happened? Dipter thought those officers were in his back pocket, he was sure of it. And then soone else showed up with even more pull? I'm excited to see what the White Tiger digs up."
Right on cue, Wolf spotted Lee walking quickly through the maze of abandoned cars, heading straight toward them. Each of his steps was heavy, urgent, sothing was clearly wrong.
Lee burst through the door, startling both of them.
"What is wrong with you?" Lee snapped.
"Hey, calm down," Sandra said, lowering her phone. "We know you're part of the White Tiger, but rember, you're the one who owes Wolf a favor."
"Yeah, well, there are limits to the kind of favors you can ask for," Lee shot back.
"What do you an?" Wolf asked, his tone sharpening. "Is this about what I asked you last night?"
"Of course it is!" Lee shouted. "I did what you asked, I started looking into the kid from that school. Went through our connections. Everything seed normal… but then things started to get weird."
"I was getting berated by my own group!" Lee said, his voice rising. "They started asking why I was digging into that matter! Interrogating , and I've been a mber for three years! I had to lie and say one of our clients just wanted so basic info. You're lucky I didn't rat you out."
"But they told to drop it. Said to tell the client it's sothing we can't do. And if I ever got a request like that again, I was supposed to pretend I was never even asked. Wolf, I seriously felt like I was going to get killed."
Sandra's mouth hung open in disbelief. A White Tiger mber, afraid for his life? Just because of a simple request to look into soone?
"Haha!" Wolf let out a loud laugh, leaning his head back with amusent. "What an interesting man. If that's the reaction from the mighty White Tiger… then don't you think there's a real chance? A chance that this kid, Max might be connected to soone even bigger than them?"
****
When Max woke up in his small apartnt, the first thing that greeted him was the dull, familiar ceiling, and the room itself, which served as a reminder that this new life of his was now a reality.
He didn't know why, but so part of him had believed… that maybe, just maybe, once he dealt with Dipter, once things at school settled down, whatever had placed him in this body would finally let him go.
But he was still in it. He was still Max Stern. And Max Stern still had enemies.
As Max got up from his bed, he began pacing around the room, sothing he usually did when he was deep in thought.
"With Dipter no longer in school, I won't have any more trouble there. They can't use Abby against anymore, and I'll finally be able to move freely. But the real question is… can I use the money freely?"
He paused, staring at the floor.
"I found out the one pulling Dipter's strings was Chad, but I still don't know why he was trying to suppress . Was it just because he thought I was an easy target? That it would be simple to pay off a bunch of high schoolers?"
Max let out a slow breath.
"And if I had to guess… I think they were telling the truth. They weren't behind the original incident. The one that put Max in this condition in the first place."
If Max couldn't use the money freely, then he couldn't use it to gather more information, especially not about the White Tiger Gang. And what he didn't want was to bring even more targets onto his back.
It would be best… if he could get rid of anyone who was still troubling him.
In the middle of his thoughts, a knock suddenly echoed from the door.
"Ah, right… it's still Sunday. So I guess that's Stalker here for his usual routine," Max muttered as he walked to the door. When he opened it wide, he wasn't surprised, Aron was standing right there.
"Sir… are you not dressed?" Aron asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Do I have to be dressed in my own apartnt? Isn't that one of the freedoms of having your own place?" Max replied, stepping aside from the door.
"Master, did you not get the ssage I sent you this morning?" Aron asked as he walked in.
Max had been too busy thinking about his next move to bother checking. He had taken care of one small pebble in the bigger problem. Sure, he would've liked to deal with Chad, but how could he do that without upsetting the rest of the Stern family? And what would Chad's reaction be once he realized Dipter was gone?
"Well, you're here now, so you can just tell ," Max said, walking over to his closet and pulling out a hoodie.
"Sir, you'll need to be dressed in sothing more formal than that," Aron said. "There's an event you're required to attend today. It's a fundraiser being hosted by the Curts family."
"The Curts family…"
Only one na rang in Max's mind, Sheri Curts. His ex-fiance.
"And sir," Aron added, adjusting his cuffs slightly, "so of your family mbers will be attending the event as well."
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