My Terms

"A member of the Dark Raven, I want you and Mr. Johnson here to become a part of my organization." Paul reiterated while maintaining his calm demeanor.

"And what makes you believe that Mako and I want anything to do with you or the Dark Raven, we almost died during your initiation tournament, and your son attempted to stab my friend in the face!" Bill exclaimed as he couldn't hold back his fury anymore.

He had been traumatized from the experience of being a gang member already and he never wanted to be in acquaintance with such a thing ever again. All the people he had hurt and trampled over just to please his boss who turned his back on him after one lost the fight. The mark on his hand reminds him daily of Albert and all the other prisoners who helped him escape from that hellhole.

"I can understand your emotions, Mr. Johnson. Believe me, I have lost a lot of good people in this line of work too, but please just hear me out. Once you have gotten the chance to understand my reasoning, maybe you will reconsider." Paul replied in a comforting tone.

It was pretty weird for the two boys to be sitting face to face with a gang boss who was showing such a calm demeanor toward them.

There were a couple of seconds of silence before Mako placed his right hand on Bill's shoulder and said," let's at least hear him out."

Mako's reasoning for this was quite simple if this Paul guy really wanted to harm them in any way, he would have done so already when they were both in a vulnerable stage, but instead, he just wanted to talk. For someone who gave them a place to recover, the least they could do was to hear him out.

"Thank you, Mr. Grey" Paul thanked as he stood up and walked over to the small table that was beside the fireplace. On the table was a very elegant-looking bottle that Mako believed to be some kind of alcohol. He poured some into a glass and then proceeded to gulp down in one sip.

Paul took a small sigh before snapping his fingers again. On the table, many things were laid out neatly and one of them was a photo frame. The photo frame lifted off the table slowly and floated towards Mako's hands. The frame had a picture of three people, first was Paul, the second was a woman who was standing beside him, and the third was a little boy hardly 4-5 years of age.

The woman beside Paul was a beautiful middle age woman with the same jet-black hair as Paul and was around the same height as him as well. Paul and the woman each had one of their hands placed on each of the little boy's shoulders and all of them were wearing beautiful black garments.

"The person in this photo is Elina Czolgosz, my late wife and Leon's mother," Paul stated as he poured himself another drink.

"She was taken from me 4 years ago when one of the old big-time gangs called Venom launched a surprise attack on us during our vacation out of town. It was all so well coordinated and sudden that even I couldn't control the situation in time during which time my wife was killed," Paul narrated the story as he gulped down his second glass of alcohol.

"I later figured out who was behind all of this and took my revenge by wiping them out from existence but even that couldn't fill the void that had formed in my heart, but the loss of Elina had hit Leon the hardest." Paul continued.

"He was very closely attached to his mother and her loss took a massive toll on him. He turned from a kind and loving young man who loved his mother to a brutal and angry person who always wanted to fight someone. He blamed me for her death and has resented me ever since. I could not always stop him from getting involved nor could I always protect him, and just the thought of this keeps me up at night." Paul finished as he gulped down his third glass.

He returned back to his seat that was opposite the two boys and he looked at Mako and Bill, both of them had their eyes slightly watery. Mako and Bill could both relate to Leon's story as each of them had already experienced a similar situation already.

"The reason I want you both to become members of the Dark Raven is that I want to assign you both with only one and most important mission of all. I want you to look after Leon, be his friend, and have his back in tough situations." Paul finally spilled beans as he revealed the main reason why he wanted them to join the gang.

Mako and Bill were confused at this, how could two teenagers protect his son better than himself or the dozen guards that he already had in his gang?

"Why would you need us to protect your son? Secondly, Why would you think he would ever accept us as his friends?" Mako voiced his skepticism to which Paul just smiled.

"I have been able to protect him for so long because he was under the protection of the Dark Raven, but once he applies for military school like you too, I won't be able to protect him anymore. You boys have shown me exceptional talent during your battle against Rhino, especially Mr. Grey's special move, I heard that you lit yourself up in flames and became a lot stronger." Paul gave a valid reason and this was something that the two boys had totally forgotten about, they were meant to apply for a military school in two weeks' time.

Another thing that surprised Mako was that his rage skill was misinterpreted by everyone as some kind of Fire ability skill since when he activated rage mode, he was engulfed in red energy that resembled being lit up in flames.

"As for your second concern, you won't have to worry too much about that. Even though Leon had adopted this threatening and brutal demeanor, he is still the kind and loving boy inside that I once knew. I only request that you don't give up on him, he will open up to you faster than you think." Paul concluded his story and was now waiting patiently for an answer from them.

Bill suddenly took on a stern expression as he said," Your story is indeed tragic, and I am sorry for your loss, but that doesn't ignore the fact that you are still a gang boss that has also done a lot of terrible things, we don't want to be a part of that."

"I am not asking you to," Paul replied instantly." I only want you to do this and nothing else, you won't be affiliated with the Dark Raven in anything, plus if you accept, then you will also be compensated for your efforts."

Mako and Bill looked at each other and then excused themselves to discuss this in private to which Paul complied. Paul stood up and left the room, leaving Mako and Bill alone to talk over things.

************

Ten minutes later, Paul returned to the room and was greeted by the confident gazes of Mako and Bill which obviously indicated that they had come to a decision.

Paul took a seat on his leather chair as Mako spoke," Sir Czolgosz, we have considered your offer and we are willing to accept, but we would like to make a few adjustments to the offer.

Paul paused for a few seconds before nodding and saying," What are your demands?"

"Firstly, since we would be becoming members of the Dark Raven, we want to make sure that we are given access to the Dark Raven's resources, under your supervision of course," Mako said.

"and the second thing is not more a demand but rather think of it as helping each other out. We want you to help us in taking out the prisoner warehouses that El-Diablo has in Emerald City. If you can help us with these things then we will accept your offer." Mako concluded.

Paul kept a straight face throughout Mako's demands and after he had finished stating them, Paul still didn't say anything. There were a couple of seconds of awkward silence between the three of them where each of them kept a straight face and maintained eye contact. Bill had taught Mako this as this was a way for people to see if the other person who was stating the demands was even sure of himself.

Paul finally broke the ice by sighing as a smile appeared on his face."I had been meaning to take down those warehouses for quite some time since some of my men are also imprisoned there. If those are your only demands then we have a deal."

A smile appeared on Mako and Bill's face, as well as they both, shook his hand and cemented the deal.

From this day forth, Mako was now part of the Dark Raven.