The Matters of Power

Chapter 29- The Eastside Gang [4]

I put off on the note that Alicia gave me until I sit down during lunch. Despite the shroud of mystery, the folded paper gives I don't see much of a purpose to go through all that. Opening the note, I see that the handwriting is neat and has a bit of cursive in some parts. I start to read from the beginning:

"Hey, Marcus. If ya got this then that means that Alicia actually didn't do anything stupid to forget about giving you this. After school, come to the side of the band building, near the bus stop area. You and I got some things to talk about. -Y"

So, this person wants to meet with me, huh? I don't know what I did wrong, but I hope it isn't related to what happened yesterday. "Yo, did you finally get a love letter, Marcus?" I hear Carl trying to pry about the note. "...Something like that." He gives me a thumbs up, kind of oblivious to my horrible lying. "You know, I'm surprised you actually got one for the first time since all year," Fernando says, "but I guess it isn't hard to begin with, Carl had to deal with Payton." She gives a glaring look at Carl while she works on homework but stays quiet otherwise. We joke about it for a while until the lunch bell rings and I go through the rest of the school day, anxious to know who sent me that note.

*After school...*

I use Sixth-Sense View to see if they are waiting for me like they said and I can confirm a person waiting patiently, leaning on the wall. I turn the corner and approach them, "Hey, are you the one who sent me that note?" I look closer and see that it's Yan of all people who calls me here, Quarter's right-hand man! "Good, good. Thanks for coming here at such short notice, I was afraid that you wouldn't go here since it was shady to begin with." I don't know what Yan wants but I can't help but indulge a bit since he went out of his way for this. "So, uh, what is it that you wanted to talk about? The note said that we had things to talk about?" "You still have it? Can I have it back?" I pull out the note from my pocket and hand it to Yan, who proceeds to rip it into multiple pieces to the point of irreversible damage.

"Alright, now that's out of the way. Sorry, can't have any solid evidence tracing back to us. Anyway," he clears his throat and straightens up, "let me start off with this: have you ever heard of a gang out near the eastern area of San Anton?" I nod, having some idea of where this is going. He continues, "Good. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you fight a few of them with Carl yesterday at an arcade?" That took me by surprise, "How did you about that?" "One of our guys was in that area and witnessed the commotion, taking a picture of you and the poor bastards who got a beating." He pulls out his phone and shows the picture, no doubt it's when the police finally arrived and questioned all of us. "Look, I'm gonna keep it clear, Marcus: I respect you for what you have done to help the school and break the norm, regardless of how much Quarter seems to despise you for whatever reason. However," he sighs deeply, "I need your help, as that gang I mentioned earlier seems to be making moves in our territory and has caused plenty of trouble for other people here and our members get plenty bruise if they meet them."

If that gang is as troublesome as Yan makes them out to be, then I can't really ignore his request for my request. Yet I can't see myself using my psychic powers as a vigilante tool to solve every problem for those around me if everyone else had ignored my own. I'm about to give my response to Yan when I suddenly sense other people behind me. An ambush?! I quickly turn around to defend myself and see Quarter along with two of his gang members beside him. They don't look like they were going to attack me from behind, but I look back towards Yan, ready to bombard him with questions. Instead, he walks to my side and talks to Quarter, "C'mon friend, surely you understand why we need Marcus's help with this, more than anything." He doesn't say anything for what feels an eternity, until he finally opens his mouth. "...Sure. I trust your judgement, Yan." I feel relieved by that but isn't done and puts his face dangerously close to mine. "Just to be clear, I'm a guy who offers second-chances when it is there. But if I see you deviate from the moral path again, I'll make you taste the consequences of your actions, alright?"

With a slight chill on my spine, I nod intensely, and he relaxes. "Alright, now that we are buddies now," Yan claps his hands together, "we need to figure out what the 'Eastside Gang' are doing in this area and stop them before they do any more damage. The Mara's Place?" "The Mara's Place." We all say in unison, agreeing to go there to figure out a plan.

*At The Mara's Place...*

I drop the cookies that we all ordered on the table, everyone grabbing their own share as we pull out our backpacks. I pitched in the idea that we should act as a study group near the corner tables so that we don't draw attention to ourselves and have plans leaked to the gang, which Yan agreed along with the others. "So far," Yan opens a notebook with plenty of red circles and marks, "the Eastside Gang have increased their presence in our territory for a few days now, and what was the occasional jerk playing with one of us now turned whole squads of them trying to extort local shops and ambushing us at any chance." He goes through other details about the recent problems for a while until he has no more material left to share. Quarter is silent the whole time, occasionally grunting something that I can't understand, much less translate through his head. "Have you seen any of them near The Mara's Place? Just mulling about or hiding in some alleyway?" Yan's sighs, "Nah, it seems that they know it's a crowded and popular spot for San Anton High students, so it's probably too risky for them to make any moves. I swear, even though it seems that every one of them wear an orange beanie or some accessory of that color to show off their allegiance, they are such a pain to-"

"Hey, isn't that one of them over there, by the street bench?" One of Swift Cross's members points out someone outside, and sure enough, they have an orange beanie and an orange plastic watch that displays them as part of the Eastside Gang. "Holy Jeezus, your right, buddy." Yan starts to get up and opens his backpack, "Come on, pack yer stuff up and get going, that's the best lead we got." Surprisingly, I manage to store everything in my backpack first than everyone else and wait near the door entrance for them to finish. We quickly walked towards the Eastside Gang member who then finally notices us and starts to walk away from us, then speed-walk, then go at a full sprint that we have to run to catch up to him, going through several streets. He starts to think something about 'his other comrades in wait' and I have yet to understand until my Sixth Sense View instinctively kicks in that I see a few other gang members hiding in the alley that he went through. Before I can warn the others of the ambush, we finally catch up to the running gang member and we find ourselves surrounded and in a dire state.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't that pesky insect nest, Swift Cross." One of the muscular-looking thugs says. "And to think we got their leader and his right-hand man in a bundle package."

They start closing in on us and we take defensive postures, ready to fight back against them.