II. The Unexpected Scream

The first week at the Staten Island base went smoothly; Ivory would admit that time passed quickly. It was Friday, and a majority of the members spoke about their weekend plans. Earlier, Hawks asked Ivory if she wanted to watch a movie, and she told him yes. Ivory was happy that the whole Viper situation had ended, but she sensed that Blue held anger toward her. Ivory noticed that Blue's demeanor had changed and wondered if Blue partly blamed her. Ivory remained in the living room as she finished her break, eating the last of her sandwich. As Ivory had begun working again, Red appeared.

"Ivory," Red said, and she felt odd because she had never heard Red say her name before, "I need help with the room thirteen tools. Blue said when you finish with me, your shift will be over."

"Okay," Ivory said and helped Red carry boxes to the new room thirteen.

Right away, the two gang leaders began putting the deranged looking tools away.

Red then asked Ivory a rather personal question. "Blue never told me how you and Viper ended up in foster care," he began, "Did you run away from home?"

Ivory shook her head, "I'm not sure about Viper, but my dad gave me up; apparently, my family had a lot of issues, and my parents couldn't raise me."

"That's terrible, kid," Red said, but Ivory wasn't too sure if Red cared.

"Isn't that how most people end up in gangs?" Ivory asked.

Red laughed. "Some people, yes, but most are bad; others join to survive; the rest like running around and doing bad things because they think that life's a joke. A few grow up around gangs and join. You got unlucky."

"Okay, could you give me examples?"

Red stared at her and began to think; his tanned skin was glowing. "Hawks and Lucky's parents somehow died, so they're in the gang so that they can have a roof over their heads; to them, the gang life is about survival; Rover is the same. Harley's something else, and unfortunately, Lily suffered the consequences for Harley's actions; Spike's a terrible person, and well, Roxie thought that everything was a joke; look where it got her."

"She's dead now," Ivory took a deep breath.

Red nodded.

"How about Blue?"

"His father ran the gang until around a decade ago; Blue was born into the gang life."

"Do you think that Blue's a bad person?"

Red chuckled, "You have to have more bad qualities than good ones to be a gang leader."

"Would he ever torture an innocent person?"

"Never; Blue's never tortured you, has he?"

Ivory shook her head, knowing that Red was referring to Viper somehow.

"Did you work for Blue's father?"

"No, after Blue had taken over, he and I met at a bar in Brooklyn. We had begun talking, and well, I fit specific criteria, so he hired me. I've been working for him ever since."

"I know that you're the second-in-command, but what does that mean?"

"If Blue isn't around when something happens, I take charge; I also complete the tasks that he can't when he's busy or if the task doesn't fit his criteria."

Ivory nodded, and figured that Red's job was tons of business calls and meeting and monitoring people of some kind. When she asked, he confirmed her answer, and that was pretty much it. Ivory and Red then worked in silence, and when they were done, they parted.

Ivory made her way to Hawks' room, and she was greeted with a big hug. Hawks invited her into his room, and the two began searching for a movie to watch. So far, nothing sparked their interest. Searching for a film quickly became boring, so the two eventually started talking about true love.

"I think it exists," Hawks said as he leaned against his bed frame, "However, I believe that only certain people are worthy of it."

"I do, too, but I'm not too sure why," Ivory said, finishing her pack of chocolate candy.

Hawks motioned for her to come closer, and she did. Ivory wasn't too sure why, but she felt that someone was watching them.

Hawks gently picked Ivory up and placed her in his lap, and she smiled. "Most people date and have friends because they look at those around them as commodities; they only care how people will benefit them. When they're finished sucking people dry, they ditch them and find other people. The misused people develop voids after being mistreated, so they start taking advantage of others. The topic is complicated, but only good people are worthy of true love; you should do what's right, even if you don't want to do it. Good people always carry love and would never look at people as commodities."

"I agree," Ivory smiled, her heart pounded. "Imagine bad people having a soul mate; that would be terrible."

"I honestly can't imagine them having a soul mate because they don't care about true love; most people only worry about what people can give them rather than the connection, the passion, and the growth. Those people will always suffer, so they become attached to others to fill their voids, but they never reciprocate."

"What you're saying is bad people only like those that can give them what they want and validate their fake reality?"

Hawks nodded.

Ivory then realized something, "Viper, Viper was a lot like that."

Hawks nodded and pulled Ivory over, hugging her. "You see, there you go." Ivory pulled away, and Hawks frowned. "Ivory, I wasn't referring to her — "

" — I know, but it sounds like her."

"Viper snitched at everyone else's expense because she hated the gang; if she hated it, she could have just run off or lived elsewhere. She didn't need to drag everyone into her schemes; some people are in gangs because they need to be, not because they want to be."

Ivory's heart fluttered, remembering what Red had told her.

Ivory and Hawks stared at one another silently. It felt like time had stopped. Hawks then slowly leaned in —

A loud screech was heard, and the two jumped in fright. The two felt frightened at the unexpected scream.