The summer break had been an eventful time for Gary. It was not just because he had chosen to dye his hair and get a new look, but because he had decided to join a gang. He had kept it hidden from his friend Tom, his mother, and even his sister.

“Had you been late, I was thinking of chopping one of your toes off so you wouldn’t forget,” the seated man told him.

It was only five thirty, so the nightclub had a few hours before it would officially open. The club itself was actually just a front, run and used by the gang known as the Underdogs. The smoking man talking to Gary was the leader of the Underdogs, Damion Hawk.

The gang members mostly wore suits, making each one look like an average businessman or someone who worked for the Secret Service. This included their leader, although even a student could tell he wasn’t a businessman. He had a look about him that was just too wild for someone who supposedly sat in a cubicle all day. He had a black Mohawk and a hoop earring in his right ear.

But the man’s most prominent feature was his eyes. They were the eyes of a madman. Usually, Gary was fearless for someone his age. If he hadn’t been, he would never have gathered the courage to join a gang in the first place… But these people scared him.

Gary gulped a little, not saying a word. The palms of his hands were starting to sweat a little.

“Hey, I’m just kidding.” Damion laughed. “Why don’t you head to the back while the grown-ups do a bit of talking? I’ll get someone to fetch you when we need you.”

As Gary went back, he was shaking a little. It was hard to tell whether Damion had actually been joking about that sort of punishment. There had been times when he had been forced to watch the leader actually cut off one of his own men’s limbs.

Before joining this gang, Gary had decided to do some research into gangs. Unfortunately, he had only ended up reading a few comics and manga here and there, and to be honest, this had led him to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be too much trouble. Even his internet searches and movies had romanticized gangs.

Alas, being in a real gang had turned out to be nothing like in those comics and manga. The members of the Underdogs did anything to make a profit. They didn’t shy away from selling drugs, killing, stealing, or extorting others.

There were many times Gary had wished he could just leave, but two things were keeping him there. One of them was the fear of leaving the place. Would they even let him? After everything he had seen and heard? It was a question he didn’t dare ask out loud.

Come on, Gary, you can do this! Just think of the money, man, come on!

And that was the second reason: money.

Pushing the door open, Gary entered the back of the nightclub, where there was a large staff room. Inside were some other teens, who were not too far apart in age from him, sitting on a sofa. He sat down beside them, but not a single one spoke a word.

Gary had seen them a few times before, but from what he could tell, none of them went to his school. He wondered about their reasons for being here. Not why they were here today—he knew that—but why they had decided to join a gang. Most people his age only joined out of necessity.

The world was a tough place to live in at the moment. The economy had been greatly affected ever since the introduction of autonomous machinery. It had created new jobs but at the same time gotten rid of many old jobs. Gary’s own family had suffered in the aftermath.

His mother had lost her job as a factory worker sorting parts, but she wasn’t the only one. Mass unemployment had ruined many families.

The government’s solution to all of this had been to offer retraining in the new skills and departments that the world now required: cybersecurity, programming, engineering, mechanics, and so on. But it had proven to be too hard for her to go through any type of training with the little time she had, since she was stuck doing odd jobs.

All of this had created a tiering system within the towns and cities, making the divide between the rich and poor even more evident. Tier 5 was the lowest, while Tier 1 was the highest. These tiers were based on how high their monthly productivity was. Quality of life, technology, medical care—all of these things were better the more cash a town or city generated.

However, one sector had started to boom because of this, and that was organized crime. It was highly profitable for them, as they fed on the truly desperate, those who were clinging to anything they could in the Tier 5 cities while also serving the very top people in the higher tiers. Gangs existed in all of the tiered cities and often worked together as middlemen.

The Underdogs were one such group. They weren’t a huge gang, being in a small town, but they were widely known and feared there. Gary was aware of the bad things they had done, but he had chosen to ignore them.

The town was a Tier 3, so the quality of life was okay, but Gary’s family had to make sacrifices to stay there, forced to live in a small, run-down place with little room. Still, they were barely hanging on, and both Gary and his sister knew that, despite their mother’s best attempts at hiding it from them.

Gary had seen the bills that came in the mail. If this carried on, it would just be a matter of time until they would have to move to a lower-tier city. The education would be worse, and crime rates would be higher.

He wasn’t going to let this happen. Their life had already turned to crap as it was, and he didn’t want it to deteriorate. No, he wanted a better future for his mother and his little sister… even if he had to pay the price for it.

He was the older sibling, the only man of the house, and he wished to return the favor to his mother, who had been looking after them even when times had been tough. He did not wish to run like that man!

Suddenly the double doors opened again. When Gary saw who it was, his eyes lit up with excitement.

“Hey, kiddo, you’re here again.” The man greeted him with a smirk.

“Kirk, I just saw your fight this morning! Congratulations,” Gary said, jumping up from the sofa.

Most Altered worked for some type of organization, and Kirk was no different. He worked for the Underdogs as well. They were his sponsor, or at least they owned the corporation that Kirk was part of. Gary didn’t know many details about the relationship between them. Still, he couldn’t imagine how much money the Underdogs must have put into Kirk for him to become the Altered semisuperstar he was today.

“When the frog man jumped up like that, and you used your raw power to smash him to the ground, it all seemed too easy for you,” Gary said excitedly.

“It might have looked easy, but most of the things I did today, I only managed because I was an Altered. Don’t go around trying to do things like that yourself. Otherwise, you will just end up hurting yourself,” Kirk cautioned his overeager fanboy.

“I know,” Gary replied, a little depressed as he thought about how different his life would be if he could be an Altered himself.

As Kirk saw the strange look on Gary’s face and noticed something else about him, it was like a lightbulb lit up above Kirk’s head.

“You should have some time before you have to do your thing, right? Come with me,” Kirk ordered. “And don’t worry, if Damion calls for you, I’ll say you were with me.”

Gary didn’t know what was going on, but he trusted Kirk and decided to follow him. Ever since he had joined the gang, everyone had seemed a bit scary to him, rough around the edges, all but Kirk. With the Altered, everything just seemed to click.

The good thing was, Kirk was treated as a valuable asset to the group, so he could get away with things the others couldn’t. If Kirk said he wouldn’t get in trouble, then he should be safe.

The two of them left the staff room and went over to one of the empty clubrooms. It was quite a large club, with three rooms that featured different types of music. Right now, they were in what was known as the “cheese room.” It usually featured favorite hits from when Gary’s mother had been his age.

Still, during the day, it looked completely different. The lights were on, so there were no fancy colored lights, and the disco ball above looked less than special.

“What are we doing here?” Gary asked. “You’re not going to ask me to dance, are you?”

Kirk started to laugh. Gary seemed to have a talent for making him laugh.

“No, you idiot. I’m going to teach you how to fight.”

“How to fight? Why would I need to learn that?”

Kirk pointed to his own nose, and that was when Gary remembered that his nose was broken from rugby practice.

Huh, wait, I think he has the wrong idea. Does he think I’m getting bullied or something?

“No, wait, this is—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m sure the other guy looks even worse. Anyway, it will be good just to show you a few basic things. With the line of work you’re doing, who knows when it will come in handy,” Kirk said.

Gary didn’t say anything else. He decided it would be stupid to try to clear up this misunderstanding. Besides, since one of his idols had offered to give him a personal lesson, he would be silly to try to get out of it.

Kirk started by showing him a basic punch, a jab in boxing. Punching the air, he demonstrated it a few times. The major point that Gary took from this was that Kirk’s right hand was always covering the side of his face, even when throwing a punch.

His left foot would twist slightly while he was throwing the punch outward. At the same time, his hip would move in as well. Rather than a push, the punch was more of a snap.

Next, it was Gary’s turn, and he repeated all the steps in his head. He punched a few times, and it looked good and felt right.

“It looks like I have a talent for this. Maybe I should join a boxing club instead. What do you think?” Gary asked, but turning his head he saw the look of disappointment on Kirk’s face.

“Sorry,” Kirk said, rubbing the back of his head. “Your punch is good, the movements are perfect, and you did everything right…”

Gary had a feeling a huge but was coming.

“But… your punch is so slow. Is that as fast and hard as you can go?” Kirk asked.

Gary would have loved to tell him it wasn’t, but unfortunately, that would be a lie. He had been trying his hardest without holding back. Things always seemed to end up this way for him. He understood the theory, understood how things worked, yet for some reason, it was impossible to perform the way he pictured in his head.

The doors to the cheese room opened, interrupting their training session. One of the men in suits walked in. “There you are. The boss has been looking for you.”

When Gary returned to the first clubroom, he saw Damion still sitting on the sofa. Opposite him were five kids, including Gary, all standing up straight and waiting for orders. On the table were five metal briefcases, each one locked with a unique combination.

“Time for you guys to get to work,” Damion said.

This was Gary’s job in the organization. He worked as a transporter, and tonight his job would be to deliver whatever was in one of these briefcases.

While Damion explained the job details, something caught Gary’s eye. It was just for a brief moment, so he was unsure if his eyes might have played a trick on him, but he felt he had seen something very odd…

Did that briefcase just move?