Chapter 218: Going down a tier

The drunken man looked the teenager up and down. Given his new appearance, the teenager seemed to be someone who would often visit the local gym, yet it wasn’t to a point the drunk man feared him yet.

“Haha, this is brilliant now even kids these days are acting like gangsters.” The man said as he got a big one ready in his throat and spat it out, hitting Gary right in the cheek. He let it drop on his face for a few seconds, and smiled back at the drunk man.

“I'm not acting like one.” Gary said as he clenched his fist.

The next second, Gary shoved his hand that was initially soaked in the man’s spit back in his face, rubbing it in. When the man stepped back startled about what happened, Gary whacked him in the face, and he fell to the floor. The teenager’s hotheadedness had taken over from him, and he just couldn't deal with it any more.

Tyler was so amazed that he leaned over the counter to look at the old man.

“Sorry… I couldn’t control myself.” Gary apologised to the university student.

“Nah, he definitely deserved it. I would have done the same if I didn’t really need this job.” Tyler tensed his bicep, but there was nothing to see there.

A few seconds later, and the man came to, rubbing his face. Gary had held back a little, but the man was clearly startled, and his legs were wobbly as he fell backwards.

“You…you! You will pay for this. I’ll remember you green haired kid!” The next second, the man was wobbly rushing out the door.

Before leaving, still a little annoyed at the man’s attitude, Gary picked up a chocolate bar from the counter, and aiming carefully threw it, hitting the man at the back of the head.

“Have a Bickers! If you're annoyed!” Gary shouted and soon paid for the chocolate bar. Although Tyler refused payment, as a way of saying thanks. Perhaps before Gary would have been worried that the man would remember his face and hair colour especially with those looking for him.

However, Gary couldn't care less… for after today, he would no longer have green hair.

Leaving the shop, Tyler had given Gary his thanks and promised him that he wouldn’t mention what had happened to anyone. Given the slip of his tongue in anger, he had actually expected Tyler to ask a few questions, but the university student didn’t mention it. Either he chose to keep it to himself… or he simply mistook the truth for a bluff. Either scenario worked for the teenager.

With his hood now up, Gary entered the Chavley area, where members of the Underdogs would still be keeping up their patrols. Using his enhanced senses, as well as his personal route, the high schooler successfully managed to avoid all gang members on the way to his apartment block.

Now entering the area where his apartment block and others were located, Gary could see that many of the residents had gathered outside, near the bulletin board. However, they didn’t seem interested in the stuff that was posted there, instead they were talking to an old man whose face resembled a nut sack. It was a crude image, sure, but Gary couldn’t deny the resemblance.

The man himself, was the landlord of the apartment building, Mr Morten. Getting closer, Gary was interested to hear what all the commotion was about. He remained at the back of the crowd which was filled with families, students and all sorts.

“This is crazy, you have to say something to them, Morten!” An older woman yelled. “If this continues, then soon we won’t even be able to afford to live here! And then we’ll…have to... ”

She didn’t dare to finish the sentence, but everyone was aware that if she couldn’t stay here, her only choice would be to move to a Tier-4 town. Living in a Tier-3 town like Slough was already bad enough, but at least the Underdogs and Grey Elephants ensured a certain level of peace.

A Tier-4 town, on the other hand, had no such thing. Multiple small-time gangs were constantly vying for a piece of the already small cake. There was next to no order in a place like that, and no one wanted to end up there.

At times, progression from a Tier-4 town would spiral down worse than others. In the first place, there weren’t many jobs in such an area. Moving from a Tier-3 town probably meant you didn’t have sufficient skills in the first place and in the end, it was a slippery slope that might see one end up moving to a Tier-5 town.

The crime rate was similar to that of a Tier-4 town, yet the living conditions were far worse. In a way, it was similar to one living in a rubbish tip. A junkyard with scraps here and there. No jobs, just people searching through junk and living in self-made houses. Honestly, all this information though was based on the information Gary had just seen on TV.

“It isn’t his fault. You really think Old Morten can stand up to them? He’s just one man. A wrinkly old man.” Another tried to calm down the bitter woman.

“Still, he should at least try to talk to them? That's all we ask... that's all.”

Eventually, after listening for a while, Gary understood the gist of what had happened. As it turned out everyone’s rent had gone up. The letter didn’t have the concrete reason, but the residents wouldn’t care, in their eyes it was a sudden and quite the sharp increase. All those who lived here were like the Dems, families that barely lived from paycheck to paycheck.

Honestly, with the way Gary was now, he didn't think he needed to worry too much about an increase, but he knew how the other people felt, because he had been there not too long ago. Eventually, when everyone left, Morten was left there nearly collapsing from tiredness and eventually sat down on a bench that was nearby.

“Is it the Underdogs?” Gary asked as he sat down next to the landlord.

The old man sighed, which only confirmed Gary’s suspicions.

******

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