THE FORGOTTEN CHARACTER

CHAPTER 3

Alan chuckled. "Funny deal I see," replied the garage owner, "You need to know this, I don't own Babe. And Babe isn't a commodity to be traded. He has been a part of X-Hunter since the beginning, and unless he wants it himself, he's not going anywhere. Please tell your master, whatever he's trying to do, it's not going to work. And keep your dirty money to yourself, we're not beggars. Good day."

Without looking back, Alan went inside.

"What was it Uncle?" Babe questioned. At first, Alan didn't want to say anything about it, but due to the continuous pestering, he finally blurted out the truth.

"That fucker," Babe growled, "I'll show him what-"

"Babe no," Alan immediately got up from his seat to calm the other one down.

"That guy deserves-"

"Babe," Alan spoke loudly, his deep voice of anger and authority calming Babe down and putting him back on his seat, "You won't go there. Let them do whatever they want. You aren't going back to that shithole after whatever you went through."

Babe didn't reply, even though he was fuming with visible anger.

"But Uncle, how will we manage the price?" Dean spoke up, his voice showing concern, "Red Racing has already been sponsored by Tony and half of our guys have joined them. What about us?"

"Don't worry about that Dean," Alan quickly responded, "I'll-I'll find a way."

Despite reassuring the younger, the constant fear was still throbbing within his chest. He was still clueless. At this point, he needed that one person beside him, without whom he was feeling helpless. It was as if a part of him was completely missing.

Way, where are you?

* * *

The ambience at the bar was the same and saw no specific change. The lad was lost in his own world of piled up worries and woes, the number of cups he had already gulped down was more than usual. Sitting at his usual seat and getting himself drunk, the only thing he could think of was the next horrendous experience that might be waiting for him.

"There you are shitface!"

Before he could realize something, a hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him into a suffocating hug. Way slapped it off and looked beside him, only to see Babe giggling like an idiot.

"Wh-What is it now?" he mumbled, his voice not being stable due to all those alcoholic beverages.

"What's up with you, Way?" Babe questioned, chugging down a drink that was already half drunk by Way, "Why didn't you come to the garage? Uncle was loosing his shit."

"Why?" Way chuckled lightly, "What happened to him?"

Babe gave a very quick description of the event that transpired and by the time it concluded, it was more like a paragraph with 95% cuss words and 5% the actual incident.

"You cussed more than saying what actually happened," Way remarked, "Whatever. So now what the deal? Why's Uncle loosing his shit over this?"

"Money," Babe replied, "We don't have enough money to invest on our garage. The minimal amount we own isn't one fourth of what those assholes have right now."

"I know," Way whispered, "But what else can we do?"

"I'll invest whatever I have. I- Ouch! What happened?"

"Are you crazy Babe?" Way cried, hitting his friend twice on his head, "How the fuck will you invest? Do you even know how much you have? Your extravagant lifestyle will eat all that up. And even if you do, it won't make any difference."