"Uh, the hell are you doing, doll?"
Right before Eileen could enter the chapel, Shades gave her a strange look and stopped her hand as it reached for the handle.
"Giving myself over to Ricky for the sake of the Irish community?" Eileen smiled, speaking as if there was nothing wrong with her words in the first place.
"What?" Shades said, a weird expression eclipsing the earlier sadness as he stared at her for a long time.
"You're the one who stole our drugs?" Shades asked, assuming this was the Irish community's scapegoat, disbelief etched across his face at them.
He couldn't fathom that this woman could steal a single dollar from their operation, let alone an entire truck.
"No."
However, before that train of thought could fully take root, Eileen tilted her head, a sweet smile spreading across her face, accompanied by a small shake of her head.
"Wha-"
"I was sent here to occupy Ricky while the community looks for your drugs," Eileen said warmly, a toothy smile lighting up her face
his shades immediately flicked to her busty, revealing attire, widening in surprise.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh~" Shades murmured, his gaze dropping to her cleavage as he nodded to himself, understanding instantly.
"So they pimped you out-AYE!" Shades blurted, his voice shooting up as Eileen suddenly slipped through the doors.
In her green eyes, she half-expected Ricky to turn his head, to drink in every curve that Mother Nature had blessed her with.
Instead, she found him locked in a heated argument, with a gerbil.
"You lacked conviction, you should have manifested your will to seer the raw power you possessed into their minds before refining it into the words you uttered-"
"No, that's fcking bullsht." Ricky scoffed, waving a dismissive hand at Alexander's critique of his earlier speech with Fogwell.
"It is not the sh*t of a bull-"
"Yes it is, you told me to use a real reference to make my point clear and I delivered!" Ricky said, almost flabbergasted, convinced he had nailed every effect to the very letter.
Especially after it all ended and he telekinetically pushed Fogwell out of the chapel, leaving himself with that deliberate glow in his eyes at the end.
Added purely for dramatic flair.
"IF YOU DO NOT PHYSICALLY EXERT YOUR POWER, IF THOSE WHO WRONG YOU DO NOT KNOW YOUR LENGTHS, THEY WILL THINK YOU ARE POWERLESS-"
"WHO ELSE IN THIS F*CKING CITY CAN MAKE A GODDAMN GREEN PILLAR SHOOT INTO THE SKY-"
"ANY RANDOM WARLOCK WITH AN IMAGINATION!" Alexander screamed, as Ricky's face twisted in pure offense at the thought that his will-manifest could actually be copied.
"HA!" Ricky laughed, nodding his head as he rubbed his face, while Alexander immediately realized he might have gone too far.
"Y'know what?" Ricky suddenly said, rummaging through his suit as the gerbil's eyes widened.
"What are you doing-DO NOT!" Alexander screamed, watching Ricky pat his pocket before pulling out his entire stash of sunflower seeds.
"I'm gonna eat your f*cking sunflowers seeds-"
"YOU BASTARD!" Alexander screeched, scurrying after Ricky, who was darting around the chapel while munching on sunflower seeds.
"Boss-"
"I ACQUIRED THOSE SUNFLOWER SEEDS WITH-"
"WITH MY MONEY!" Ricky yelled back, deliberately chewing the shells louder just to piss Alexander off, knowing it was the gerbil's biggest pet peeve.
"Uh, boss-"
"STOP THAT, IT DESECRATES THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE SEED-"
"OH MAN, THESE SHELLS ARE SO GOOD I DON'T EVEN THINK I WANNA EAT THE INSIDE-"
"YOU BASTARD, DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT THE KERNEL!" Alexander screeched, dawning his armor as he gave chase as Ricky only laughed, easily darting out of reach.
"BOSS-"
"WHAT!" Ricky and Alexander roared, whipping their gazes to the entrance—only to freeze at the sight of the busty redhead standing there.
"Who's the girl?" Ricky asked, frowning as he pointed at her, while Alexander hurriedly scurried up his suit.
"Don't tell me she's the one who stole my-"
"No boss, she's, uh, how do I say this-"
"I was sent to offer myself to you, sexually," Eileen interrupted, cutting Shades off with a warm smile as she pressed her hands together, deliberately accentuating her cleavage.
"Oh." Ricky muttered, his eyes immediately dropping to the generous swell of her breasts threatening to spill from her white dress.
"Oh~" Ricky chuckled, tossing the sunflower seeds and Alexander aside before slicking his hair back while striding towards her.
"You already know who I am, but it almost feels wrong that I don't know who you are." Ricky said, his sleazy smile glinting almost as brightly as Alexander's armor.
"I'm-"
DING
However, as the words trailed out of Eileen's mouth, a mission window flickered into being, hovering in front of her beautiful face like some cruel interruption.
Normally, Ricky would've ignored it, brushed it off as just another annoyance in a world filled with them.
But that was in the past.
Now, his eyes lingered on the text, scanning it in a single practiced sweep.
But as his eyes tried to dismiss the words, their meaning sank in, and the sleazy smile tugging at his lips faltered for the first time as realization set in.
At who this woman really was.
[Mission Received: Éilín 'Eileen' Thornweaver]
Difficulty: Very Easy
Character Sheet: B+
Description: Éilín is one of Gaea's chosen vessels, a maiden molded by divine hands to carry out the goddess's hidden designs. Pure, delicate, and unworldly, her very existence radiates innocence. Yet behind that façade lies the subtle grip of Gaea's will, who intends to bind the user through Éilín's untouched body and the seed that will root within her womb. The user's lust is not only foreseen, but orchestrated as her body is both the trap and the offering.
Objective: Give it to her.
Reward: 10,000 IP
Main Mission:
Impregnante Once:
Rewards: 3 Legendary Coupons, 15 Epic coupons, and 10 random gacha or Eileen's Powers
Impregnate Twice:
Rewards: ?????????
Additional Missions:
Deflower Her in Gaea's Name (Incomplete):
Reward: Epic Coupon
Make Her Cry Out Beneath the Moonlight (Incomplete):
Reward: Epic Coupon
Bend Her Innocence to Your Will (Incomplete):
Reward: Legendary Coupon
Bonus Missions:
???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????
[Do you wish to accept Yes/No?]
"Ricky?" Eileen asked softly, her voice warm as she purposely clasped his outstretched hand with both of hers, holding it tight and pressing it into her embrace.
Honestly, Eileen was gorgeous.
Too gorgeous.
She was the kind of woman men tripped over themselves for, the kind who could stop conversations mid-sentence just by walking into a room.
Eileen was the living embodiment of a boner.
And if this had been the old Ricky, the Ricky who never thought twice, he would've latched onto her in an instant, and only thought about the consequences after he filled her to the brim.
But then his gaze flicked back, just for a moment, to the glowing words still lingering in the mission window.
Gaea.
In that moment, when his eyes dropped to his hand buried in her bosom, it didn't feel like pleasure anymore.
It felt like a leash trying to coil around his neck.
"Why is this broad here?" Ricky suddenly asked, the charm draining from his face and before she could squeeze tighter, he pulled his hand away.
But he kept the sleazy smile, as if nothing was wrong, even when both Shades and Alexander widened their eyes.
"Uh, the Irish evidently whored her out," Shades muttered, his shades actually catching the moment Ricky pulled away from a beautiful girl's tits instead of latching onto them.
"But I came here of my own will, to give my body to you in hopes of peace," Eileen said with a smile, placing her hand over her bosom and lowering her cleavage to give him a better view.
"Uh huh." Ricky muttered, biting his lip as his eyes stayed glued to her chest.
"Shall I disrobe now, or would you rather rip them off yourself?" Eileen asked, gesturing toward the white dress that clung to her frame, the fabric emphasizing her untouched pussy.
"H-H-How about you just keep it on," Ricky said, straining himself as the veins in his neck bulged from the effort of refusing a woman's advance.
"Huh?" Alexander and Shades muttered in unison, their eyes widening in disbelief.
"I don't understand, did I do something wrong-"
HUFF
"Yeah, I'm just not in the mood," Ricky heaved, his breath rising as he struggled to tear his gaze away from the nipples perking through her white dress.
"WHAT!" Alexander and Shades screamed, unable to believe their ears or even process the sight of Ricky actually turning down a beautiful woman's advances.
"I'm not that big of a horndog-"
"You most certainly are." Alexander said, shaking his head as he caressed a sunflower seed before cracking it open.
"Shut the f*ck up." Ricky whispered, turning his gaze back and shooting the gerbil a glare as the little creature just shrugged.
"You good boss, like you need a doctor-"
"I don't need a f*cking doctor, Shades." Ricky snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose and raising a hand to stop Shades from forming that worried expression.
Sigh
"Take the broad outta here so I can think." Ricky muttered, gesturing her away as now it was Eileen's turn to become shocked.
'B-But Mother Gaea said he would easily accept my advances?' Eileen thought, completely unprepared for the scenario where Ricky actually rejected her.
"You heard'em, c'mon-"
"I'll let you use my body however you wish! I'll do anything to please you!" Eileen blurted, making Ricky shudder as he turned away, grabbing a nearby chair to prop himself up.
"Jesus-" Ricky whispered, feeling the air leave his lungs as his pants tightened at the words pouring from her full, red lips.
"Every part of my body is untouched and is yours for training!" Eileen practically begged, struggling against Shades' grip as he tried to pull her out of the chapel.
"Oh my god~" Ricky whispered, collapsing to the floor while shaking uncontrollably at the one thing in the world that could bring this man, any man, down to his knees.
Pussy.
"RICKY~" Eileen moaned, watching him crumple in on himself as her cries echoed until the double doors closed behind her, finally sealing them away.
All the while, Alexander stared at him, bewildered and completely unsure what to make of what had just happened.
"What are you doing?" Alexander asked genuinely, having almost never seen Ricky turn away a woman.
Let alone a beautiful one.
"You're never one to reject the advances of a beautiful woman-"
huff
"She's one of Gaea's," Ricky muttered, clutching his chest as if this were worse than any torture he'd endured yesterday.
"Her druids," Alexander whispered, dropping the sunflower kernel along with its shell to the floor, his gerbil's head turning toward the entrance in shock.
"How the f*ck did you not see it-"
"The divinity of life is undetectable since every living thing around us resonates with it," Alexander sighed, shaking his head in distress at Gaea's divinity.
Although its battle practicality was limited, in terms of camouflage, Gaea, along with those she entrusted with it, could blend anywhere.
"Gaea's divinity essentially allows her to blend into her surroundings with perfect grace; no one could notice it," Alexander said solemnly, only to freeze as he turned toward Ricky.
"How did you notice it?" Alexander asked, staring at Ricky, who was holding his face like he'd just seen the sun explode.
But instead of answering, Ricky's hands shot out towards the double doors.
"God, did you see those f*cking knockers? She had the type where that fat just goes through your fingers when you squeeze," Ricky muttered painfully, reaching toward the doorway, his hands trembling like he was trying, and failing, to resist.
"Control yourself, you mustn't give in to Gaea's designs," Alexander lectured, swatting Ricky's cheek sharply as if to snap him out of it.
"I know, but that ass," Ricky muttered, almost tearing up as he clutched his face.
"It feels so wrong-"
"You must be strong, you must!"
15 minutes later,
"And when she said my name, I swear, Alexander, I just wanted to pounce like a f*cking cheetah." Ricky said, slumping on the floor and staring at the ceiling while Alexander sat off in the distance like some sort of therapist.
"Yes, but you held firm, you steeled your resolve, and you fended off Gaea's grand scheme." Alexander replied, his tone calm but heavy with approval.
"God, did you see her tits-"
SIGH
"Yes, Ricky, I saw her ample bosom," Alexander sighed, already used to the circle they had suddenly found themselves in.
No matter what he said, Ricky would always return to obsessing over how big her breasts were or how squeezable her ass was.
"And her ass, my god~" Ricky whispered, clutching his face with sheer, helpless regret.
"It is better to merely keep a distance, observe her and-"
"And still have sex with her," Ricky finished Alexander's sentence, leaping to his feet as if struck by a sudden eureka moment.
"Wha-" Alexander flinched, watching all those minutes spent commending Ricky's bravery against his urges suddenly fly out the window.
"I mean, not now, obviously." Ricky chuckled, muttering to himself as he paced back and forth.
"Wait, Ricky-"
"But what's a bigger fck you to Gaea then turning her own druids into one my personal fck dolls?" Ricky seemingly asked Alexander, bombarding him with rapid-fire sentences while the gerbil scrambled to grab the other end of the one-sided conversation.
"I didn't mean-"
"Yeah, I mean, although fcking her in the chapel would just make things annoying since I got all this sht going on, it doesn't mean it's off the table." Ricky revealed, shrugging at his previous deposition and immediately turning this around in his favor.
"Ricky-"
"Wait, I got a better idea." Ricky said, turning toward the chapel doors and strolling toward them, his sleazy smile remerging as if it had never left in the first place.
Alexander sighed, watching him hop-step across the floor, the weight of inevitability dragging his expression down.
Watching Ricky approach the same door he had originally slammed shut on Eileen, and almost as if it had a will of its own, he reopened it.
'Accept the mission.'
DING
The mission rang in Ricky's head, a persistent buzz beneath the surface of his thoughts.
Sure, he wasn't in dire need of power right now; his sights were set on bigger, more dangerous women, those who could truly elevate him.
But that didn't mean he couldn't make her his rainy day f*ck.
Treating her as a last resort, a contingency in case something popped up and he was ultimately forced to indulge, all for the sake of just a little more power.
That was his first thought.
But the longer he mulled it over, the more he wanted to twist Eileen into acting entirely for him, molding her into his double agent
Or so he told himself, if only to justify keeping this busty beauty on the table.
"I-I don't understand, am I not beautiful enough?" Eileen asked from the other side of the door, her eyes scanning her own body, wondering why it wasn't enough.
"I don't think it's the problem here, Slick's just got a lot going on-"
BAM
"Oh, good, you're still here, I changed my mind." Ricky said suddenly, kicking the door open and yanking Eileen back into the chapel without hesitation.
"Why do I even bother?" Shades muttered, facepalming and cutting himself off mid-sentence before wandering to the side to keep himself busy.
As Eileen was pulled back into the chapel, her expression shifted back into an innocent smile
"So you will partake in my body and all it has to offer!" Eileen asked excitedly, her heart swelling with pride at the thought of serving her mother goddess.
"I-"
'Oh my god, I can't believe I'm actually gonna say this.' Ricky thought, holding back a laugh at the absurdity of his own words.
"I wanna get to know you." Ricky finally said, almost chuckling as the sentence slipped out.
Alexander, in the background, dropped the sunflower kernel he had just picked up, jaw slack, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"What?" both Eileen and Alexander asked, shock written across their faces, but in completely different ways.
Eileen tilted her head, genuinely confused, trying to process Ricky's words, while Alexander looked mortified at the sheer audacity of it.
Gulp
"Yeah, like, talking and all that stuff." Ricky said, gulping and shoving all his incredulous laughter down his throat as he guided her to the side and plopped down in the front row.
"I don't understand," Eileen said, tilting her head and locking her green eyes on his as if trying to read him.
"Me neither," Alexander muttered, staring at the scene with equal parts disbelief and exasperation.
"Listen, Eileen, you're hot, really f*cking hot." Ricky said, Ricky said, admiring her beauty in its purest form.
"Like, goddamn." Ricky muttered, biting his lip and taking another second to drink in her beautiful appearance with his eyes, letting the words hang between them.
"But I'm not that type of guy to just get in bed with a woman without knowing her first," Ricky lied through his teeth, shrugging at her shocked expression, knowing full well that wasn't what she expected.
"Uh-huh," Alexander muttered, rolling his eyes as he picked up his dropped kernel and resumed his munching.
"I-I really don't understand, is my body not enough for you?" Eileen asked again, lowering her gaze to her own curves and pinching them delicately between her fingers, genuinely puzzled.
"Listen, I swear, all I wanna do is get to know you." Ricky said, wincing slightly at the words while they slowly sat down on the bench.
"Wow." Alexander muttered from the side, plopping down with his sunflower seeds to watch the spectacle, having literally never seen Ricky act like this in his entire life.
"How would you get to know me?" Eileen asked, tilting her head as if the concept were completely foreign to her.
"Uh, I guess, just tell me what you like?" Ricky shrugged, equally confused since he hadn't actually thought past the idea of getting to know anyone in this way.
"Well, I like trees, and I like grass, and I also like birds-" Eileen rattled off her likes with wide-eyed sincerity, her voice carrying the kind of innocent enthusiasm that made Ricky pause.
For all the beauty that struck him like a blade, Eileen was a double-edged sword. The other edge, however, cut with the quiet danger of her painfully dull personality.
A truth Ricky was only now realizing.
'F*ck.'
Meanwhile outside the chapel,
"What'd the doctor say?" Paolo asked hurriedly, approaching Louis, who rubbed at his tired features.
"That whatever Slick did, saved his life." Louis said with a sigh, watching Paolo and Jeremiah finally exhale in relief.
SIGH
They all sighed and sank onto a nearby bench, staring through the window at David's hospitalized form.
"What about Benny?" Jeremiah finally asked, pinching the bridge of his nose as if the question alone might give him a headache.
"He'll pop up eventually," Paolo muttered, lowering his gaze to the floor, his feet swinging idly from the high bench.
As they sat there, the room heavy with quiet tension, Louis's eyes slowly roamed over the group, until it froze over an empty spot.
"Where's Marco?" Louis asked suddenly, his eyes widening in shock, the same realization slowly spreading across the others.
"I thought you were watching him-"
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE WATCHING HIM!" Paolo yelled at Jeremiah, springing to his feet and clutching at his black hair, his frustration and panic spilling over into his expression.
"Whatever, I'll just use a tracking spell on him." Jeremiah shrugged, rummaging through his coat before pulling out a strand of hair.
"This will track his scent." Jeremiah explained as his grimoire fluttered open before him, the hair slowly dropping onto its pages.
"Why do you have Marco's hair?" Louis asked, raising a brow as Paolo frowned beside him.
"I have the hair of all of you." Jeremiah cut in before they could press further, ignoring Paolo instinctively rubbing at his scalp.
"Why-"
"For this exact situation, duh," Jeremiah mocked, rolling his eyes as Paolo's expression twisted ugly at the response.
"Oh sh*t." Jeremiah muttered, jumping to his feet as Louis instinctively followed.
"Wha-"
"He's outside," Jeremiah interrupted, bolting down the hallway with Paolo and Louis immediately chasing after him.
All the while, Johnny lingered just behind the corner, his back pressed to the wall, listening this entire time.
Slowly, he tilted his head, peering out just enough to catch a glimpse and then quickly pulled back, peeling away from the wall to trail after them in silence.
The three of them bolted through the hospital corridors, their footsteps echoing against sterile tile floors as Jeremiah pushed ahead.
His grimoire flickered faintly at his side, the spell pulling him along, but his face betrayed the gnawing anxiety growing with each turn.
Louis and Paolo exchanged uneasy glances as they struggled to keep pace, chasing Jeremiah through the maze of halls until the exit doors burst open.
To the sight of the parking lot, and in the far corner, crouched by the side of a car, was Marco.
Fumbling with the wires beneath the steering wheel as he tried to hotwire it.
BAM
"Argh!" Marco grunted as Paolo tackled him to the pavement, shoving his face hard into the ground.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Paolo screamed, immediately accusing him of something, while Louis and Jeremiah hung back, making no move to pull him off.
"I'm-"
"No, let me answer that for you, you're trying to f*ck us over, again!" Paolo yelled, his roar simmering down into a hateful whisper.
"Get off of me-"
BAM
However, when the inexperienced Marco tried to fight Paolo off, the more seasoned of the two smacked him across the face with the flat of his palm.
"Help me drag him back to the hospital-" Paolo said, turning his head toward the others for just a second.
But Marco seized on that exact moment.
Bam
An elbow smashed into Paolo's jaw, knocking him backward and sending him crashing hard against the side of the nearby car.
"Jeremiah." Louis muttered, turning to the warlock, who lifted his gaze along with his grimoire.
"Argh!" Marco cried, his attempt to run cut short as a spell wrapped around him, strangling his body in place.
"Snake Binding." Jeremiah muttered, tightening his grip as Marco writhed helplessly under the crushing pressure.
"What the hell are you guys doing to Marco?"
But before any of them could act, everyone, including Marco, froze at the familiar tone, slowly turning back to see Johnny squinting at them.
"N-Nothing, Johnny." Louis said, stepping in front of the bound Marco as if to shield him from the obvious sight of their manhandling.
"Y-Yeah, swear, we ain't involved." Paolo stammered, straightening up as he addressed Johnny, who squinted at them with unblinking eyes.
But before he could form the words, filled only with reprimand, Marco's voice suddenly boomed across the lot.
"I'm gonna find him!" Marco yelled, straining against the magical bindings as he twisted and writhed in a desperate attempt to break free.
"I CAN DO IT!"
However, before he could continue his ramblings, Jeremiah slammed his hand over Marco's mouth to shut him up.
"You can do it, huh?" Johnny smiled, rubbing his face to conceal the expression as he turned back toward the hospital.
"It's the hospital, Johnny, he's on too many crazy pills!" Paolo blurted out, forcing a laugh as if that would make the situation any less awkward.
"Yeah, don't mind him, he's just gonna cause more trouble-"
"Y'know who caused the most trouble for the family?" Johnny asked suddenly, swallowing his earlier words as his gaze slowly drifted down to the pavement.
A smile threatened to form on his face as he remembered a certain someone who used to bring nothing but trouble to the family.
"The other families?" Louis asked, scratching his head and glancing at the others, who nodded at what seemed like the reasonable answer.
"No, you idiot. Slick," Johnny revealed, watching their eyes slowly widen in pure shock at something so incredulous they could barely process it.
Although it should have been better remembered, Ricky's failures were slowly being forgotten.
With each new achievement, each step forward, the noise of his past mistakes faded a little more.
The close calls, the blunders, the moments where he almost lost it all.
Those were talked about less and less, as if the streets themselves were trying to forget.
For the younger generation, the rogues, those failures barely existed.
What they saw, what they repeated, was Ricky's success.
To them, he wasn't the man who stumbled; he was the man who just kept climbing without ever falling.
"Ain't no one ever fucked up more than him. In fact, before he became the guy you all know, he was just a drunk." Johnny laughed, the sound carrying a trace of emotion as he recalled how everything had led up to this moment.
"What?" They all said in unison, even Maroc, who had never heard the stories before he left for the Vatican.
"Slick used to get wasted ever since he was a kid, f*cking up everywhere he went, causing so many problems it nearly drove Lucky and the family mad." Johnny recalled, closing his eyes as the wave of nostalgia washed over him.
"But he just kept trying," Johnny said, opening his eyes to the kids, their faces marked with disbelief.
"And then he kept failing, a lot, but he always got back up." Johnny let out a laugh, reaching into his pocket as he decided to take a chance, the same chance the family had always taken on Ricky.
Clink
Car keys clattered onto the pavement, the metallic echo pulling every eye downward before they snapped back up in shock at the realization that Marco had nearly jacked Johnny's car.
"Let'em go." Johnny said, watching Jermeiah slowly unhand Marco who was staring balnkly at the keys thrown in front of him.
"Aye, Marco."
The words pulled his gaze up to Johnny as he expected anger or even hate, but instead, all he found was a smile.
"Everyone in the family f*cks up." Johnny revealed, spreading his arms wide as if offering grace to someone who only wanted to belong.
"I fck up, Slick fcks up, Shades fcks up, hells, even Lucky fcks up." Johnny chuckled his way through the list, his smile growing with each name until he reached the end.
"But we get back up."
"So, get back up." Johnny said, slipping his hands into his pockets before turning toward the hospital.
Johnny had never been the type for grand speeches.
He knew these kids didn't need sermons or stories, they just needed a chance.
A chance to stumble, to get back on their feet, to prove themselves in a world that gave second chances to no one.
Marco didn't need lofty words about courage or destiny; he needed that chance, the smallest opening, to prove he wasn't as broken as he felt.
That was Johnny's job, after all.
Training runners, turning nobodies into somebody, was what Johnny did best.
He knew the streets could crush a man, but he also knew that sometimes all it took was one voice telling you to keep going.
What he needed was the same thing Ricky once found in Lucky: someone who believed in him enough to let him fall, and then expected him to rise.
"You're kidding me?" Paolo muttered, eyes fixed on Marco as he stretched for the keys.
"I can do this, I'll get the bastard." Marco heaved himself forward through his bindings, scrambling toward Louis, whose face mirrored a mix of disbelief and worry.
"YOU'RE THE REASON ALL THIS HAPPENED!" Paolo screamed, pacing back and forth while his hands gestured widely.
"TELL'EM, LOUIS, SPEAK SOME F*CKING SENSE INTO THIS LUNATIC!"
Up until this point, Louis had always been the one to step up for Marco.
But that didn't mean he liked him, far from it.
Every reckless move Marco had done only fueled a quiet resentment that burned hotter than Paolo's open hatred.
In fact, Louis blamed Marco more than anyone, yet he swallowed it all, kept it buried, for the sake of the family.
And unlike Paolo, there was only one thing stopping him from giving in entirely to his hateful emotions: loyalty.
Not blind loyalty, not admiration, but the ironclad bond that tethered him to the people who had become his life.
"Benny's still out there." Louis said, lifting his gaze to sweep across them, letting them see where some of that loyalty truly lay.
"Louis, the boss sent literally every-"
"No one understands that crazy bastard better than us, we were brought up with him." Louis cut him off, waving away Paolo's interruption with a sharp sweep of his hand.
"They all think he's somewhere injured or dead, but let's just be real, Benny's f*cking chasing the truck." Louis said, knowing deep down in his heart that even now, Benny was still locked in a relentless pursuit.
"We find Benny, we find the truck, and we get the bastard who put David in that bed," Louis said, each word falling like a step, his resolve burning hotter than the hatred simmering in his heart.
"B-But he-"
"After this, we're washing our hands of Marco," Louis vowed, his eyes hardening with a coldness that made Marco visibly flinch.
"But he owes us an extra body. He needs to make it right," Louis said, eyes fixed on Marco, who sank to the pavement but slowly nodded at his words.
SIGH
"Alright," Jeremiah sighed, slowly releasing Marco from the bindings of the spell and turning to Paolo.
But before he could fire off a heated retort, he swallowed it, pushing it down.
Even if he wouldn't admit it aloud, he was starting to get worried about Benny.
"Fine, but I'm driving." Paolo scoffed, snatching the keys from the ground and stomping toward the car.
"Jeremiah, can you use that tracking spell on Benny?" Louis asked, walking towards the backseat with Jeremiha who nodded.
"Yeah, but the second he sheds his scent, it'll be lost," Jeremiah muttered, rummaging through his coat to pull out a single blond hair, which he dropped onto his grimoire.
5 minutes later,
"This is where the spell ends." Jeremiah frowned, glancing around the bridge, where a car passed every now and then.
"No sh*t." Paolo muttered, pulling the car to a stop at the side of the road and turning to Jeremiah in the backseat.
"Didn't you hear the guys at the hospital, the first thing they talked about was the crash on bridge-"
"You asked me to f*cking use my tracking spell, and I delivered. What more do you want from me?" Jeremiah scoffed, gesturing toward his grimoire with his hands as if he were already surrendering to mob culture.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe finding the guy with that f*cking tracking spell." Paolo said suddenly, shrugging at the very thing it should've done.
"Magic is very complicated-"
"And apparently very useless." Paolo interrupted, stepping out of the car as Jeremiah immediately followed.
"My tracking spells are like going after someone's scent, it's complicated," Jeremiah scowled, stomping behind Paolo while lecturing him.
"Whatever, let's just follow the family, I heard them saying something about going down the road-"
"What if the family is going about this all wrong?" Louis suddenly asked, turning toward the bickering pair with a hint of empathy.
"What are you even talking about?" Paolo asked, giving him a strange look before turning to Jeremiah, who was raising a skeptical eyebrow in response.
"Think about it, Benny's relentless. I mean, have you ever known him to just give up?" Louis asked genuinely, gesturing to all of them, including Marco, who slowly shook his head along with the others.
"We need to stop thinking about this like the family is." Louis muttered, rubbing his head as he tried to think in a completely different way.
"Then what are we supposed to do, look into this chump's magic ball?" Paolo joked, nudging Jeremiah's shoulder, only for the young warlock to push him away.
"No, we need to start thinking like Benny."
However, instead of being surprised by Louis's genius, they all started pointing and laughing at him.
"I'm serious guys, what would Benny do in this situation?" Louis asked, his deadpan expression slowly hardening into conviction.
"Louis, he crashed the car and Paddy got away-"
"Just listen," Louis interrupted, holding up his hands, forcing them to pause and actually hear him.
"Benny chased after the car, then all of a sudden, the two cars crashed?" Louis said, letting the end of his sentence hang before slowly raising his hands in the golden question.
"What would Benny do?" Louis asked again, surveying them as if daring them to catch his wavelength.
"The guy would try to jump on it," Paolo joked, crossing his arms, but his eyes widened at the ridiculousness of the scenario he'd just painted.
"Holy sh*t, you don't think he jumped onto it-"
"No, no way," Louis said immediately, waving his hand as if to dismiss the thought entirely.
"Wha-Why not-"
"Cause if Benny made it on that truck, he would've crashed the thing rather than letting Paddy get away with it." Louis explained, his tone leaving no room for argument.
It was a ridiculous statement, almost absurd enough that it shouldn't even have existed.
But they knew Benny better than anyone.
They knew the type of man he was, the way he moved through the world with relentless obsession, and the insane lengths he would go to for what he wanted.
So, as that truth slowly sank in, their eyes all drifted toward the edge of the bridge, completely heavy with unspoken dread.
"You don't think?" Marco muttered, letting the question hang, leaving the words to take shape in their imaginations.
Slowly, Benny's story began to take root in Louis's mind.
It was as if the sequence played out before his eyes: he stepped toward the end of the bridge, staring down at the water below as the scene started to unfold before him.
"Guys, imagine-"
First Person Narration: Louis
Imagine Benny, after he leaves the alley while we go get help for David, just jacking a car without a second thought.
He uses it to catch up with the truck, and, of course, the first thing he thinks of when he gets close is getting onto it.
So, like the guy he is, he decides to make a jump for it.
And he misses.
Completely.
Think about it, if he'd hit the car instead, or just misjudged the leap, he'd have gone right off the bridge and into the water.
Now, what would Benny do?
"He'd crawl onto the f*cking shore," Paolo muttered, breaking the retelling of Benny's madness as they all exchanged glances.
It was as if they were recounting Benny's actions almost exactly, with only slight alterations, but overall, they had more or less gotten it right.
Louis wanted to frame it this way, to get them into the mindset of slipping inside Benny's psyche, to tell the story of where he was now.
However, in the next second, they bolted toward the bank of the bridge, scattering around the shoreline with an urgency to find any clues
"GUYS!"
The missing piece of the story they had been slowly piecing together clicked into place with Paolo's shout.
He bent down, fingers tracing the footprints of someone his own age, spotting a single detail that changed everything.
"I think I figured out why Benny missed the truck." Paolo said, turning to the others gathered around him, holding up the blood he had scooped from Benny's footprint.
"What if he got shot?" Paolo said, knowing it sounded outlandish, but also knowing that only a bullet could have stopped Benny, only for a moment.
"Then he should've met us at the hospital," Marco added, scratching his head as his concern lingered, but everyone knew that was only a last-ditch possibility.
"If Benny crawled out of the river, and none of the family heard about him-
"He really is still chasing the truck." Jeremiah said, frowning as he realized it along with Louis who nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so he goes into the forest, right?" Louis continued, stepping forward as Benny's muddy footprints began to fade with the ground hardening.
"So he jacks another car-"
"No, who drives this late at night?" Paolo weirdly looked at Marco, interrupting him with a flick of his hand.
Back in the 1930s, not as many cars drove late at night as they would later in history due to a combination of dimmer headlights, poorly lit roads, and the simple fact that most people's lives wound down after sunset.
Cities had their nightlife, sure, but beyond the glow of neon signs and theaters, the streets thinned out quickly.
Another major part of this was that once you left downtown, darkness swallowed the roads whole, leaving only the weak yellow glow of passing headlamps to push it back.
For the average civilian, there wasn't much reason to be out driving this late.
Businesses closed earlier, and few restaurants or shops stayed open past midnight.
Most households kept to strict routines shaped by work, family, and the limits of electricity at the time.
Unlike later decades, when cruising or late-night drives became a pastime, the 1930s after-hours road belonged to truckers, and maybe night-shift workers.
SNPA
Paolo snapped his fingers, mind spinning, and suddenly bolted to the side, drawing confused glances from the others.
"The train tracks!" Paolo yelled, glancing over his shoulder as everyone widened their eyes and sprinted after him.
"Okay guys, think about it-"
First Person Narration: Paolo
So, say Benny's probably shot, maybe even limping as he made his way out from the shore.
He'd think about hitting the street, like Marco's dumbass, but what he wouldn't know is that the trains run the tracks every hour, on the hour.
What if Benny hopped a train to catch up?
He's probably limping through the forest when the sound of a train blares out of nowhere.
Then, like the motherf*cker he is, he makes his way to the tracks.
And wouldn't you know it, a train just so happens to appear.
"OVER HERE!" Jeremiah yelled, holding up his fingers at the train tracks, revealing more blood.
"Paolo was right, that psycho really hopped a train to catch up to the truck." Jeremiah sighed, disbelief written all over his face.
"By why would he hop a random train-"
"Because it just so happens to intersect with the road." Louis cut in, pointing ahead as their gazes followed the railroad tracks that conveniently met the road a mile or two down.
"Holy sh*t, we're like freaking Sherlock Holmes!" Paolo shouted, bouncing on his feet and looking back at them with wide eyes.
"Huh?" They all said in unison, the three of them completely foreign to the name most associated with solving mysteries.
"Y'know, the character from the books?" Paolo revealed, his toothy grin hinting not just at his taste in literature, but something more.
Then, as if on cue, the three of them exchanged glances and looked back at him.
"You can read?" They all asked, a mix of surprise and disbelief in their voices.
"Yeah I can read-"
"But didn't you drop out of school to join the family-"
"Oh, f*ck you guys, I'm getting the car."
5 minutes later,
"Yeah, look, he was here." Marco muttered, holding up more of Benny's blood where the track met the road, as Paolo tapped the steering wheel.
"It still doesn't add up, though." Paolo said, watching the three of them climb back into the car.
"Yeah, if Benny got into another car, he would've easily caught up-"
"Unless the wound was worse than we thought," Jeremiah muttered, his face hardening as he lingered on the detail everyone else seemed eager to ignore.
First Person Narration: Jeremiah
This entire time, Benny had been leaving his blood like breadcrumbs, marking his own trail.
What if, while chasing the truck, the blood loss finally started catching up to him?
No matter how much of a freak of nature he is, the guy has his limits, all of us do.
Benny must've realized he couldn't keep going without getting patched up, so he took a detour.
And headed straight for the first medical place he could find.
"A veterinary clinic?" Marco muttered, raising his eyebrows as they drove down the road and spotted one up ahead.
"That is totally a Benny move!" Paolo laughed, slapping the steering wheel before jerking the car toward the side of the road.
Almost immediately, the moment the tires skidded across the gravel to a near stop, they all bolted out of the car.
RING
The bell above the door jingled loudly as the four of them barreled into the clinic, catching the attention of a tired old man rubbing his temples in distress.
But the moment he saw the boys, a smile spread across his face, and he straightened himself up.
"May I help you boys?" The old man asked, his voice soft, trying to calm himself as he faced the young men.
"Yeah, did a blond-haired kid come in here?" Louis asked immediately, stepping forward while the others hung back.
The moment the words left his mouth, the carefully fashioned smile on the old man's face vanished, replaced by a pale, unsettled expression.
"A-A-Are you with him-"
Click
"What happened?" Marco demanded, yanking out his pistol and pressing it against the man's temple as the rest of them widened their eyes in surprise.
But made no move to stop him.
"U-U-Uh, s-s-so-
First Person Narration: Random Veterinary
I was just closing up after a long day when, out of nowhere, this kid limped into my clinic.
At first, I tried to help him, but then he pointed a gun at me.
He said if I didn't stitch up his shoulder, he'd shoot me in the exact same spot.
Who even says that?
And before I could even comply, he hit me across the face with the gun.
I was only reaching for my medical kit, but he shoved the barrel into my head and pushed me against my own counter.
Sniff
I couldn't help it.
I started crying as I worked, all through the stitches, while he kept that gun pressed to my head.
I really thought he might kill me.
And then, when he should've ben over, he asked for my blood type.
Then, as luck would have it, we were both B positive.
For what felt like five minutes, he took not only my tears, but my blood too.
Then he started asking about the Irish and before I could ask for more clarification, he hit me with the gun again.
I had no choice.
I just blurted out the only thing I could think of: I told him everything I knew about the Irish in Hoboken.
"This is totally like a mystery!" Paolo said, shaking Jeremiah as if trying to pull him onto his level, only for the young warlock to shove him aside.
"Why would there be Irish in Hoboken?" Jeremiah frowned, crossing his arms and trying to act intimidating into front of this old man.
"Well, haven't you heard?" The old man asked curiously, tilting his head, as if it were obvious.
"The persecution from those mobsters in New York has forced most of the Irish to leave."
Although most of the Irish community had no desire to abandon everything they had built in New York, the aftermath of the massacre left them with little choice.
A small minority, determined to survive and rebuild, began trickling into the surrounding areas, searching for safer ground and a fresh start.
The Luciano family still maintained an ironclad grip over the tri-state area, but their reach was less pronounced in places like New Jersey, where the chaos of the city hadn't fully extended.
Here, the Irish could carve out pockets of safety, blending into quieter streets and less-policed neighborhoods that were filled with mobsters.
"Okay, so from this point on, Benny heads to Hoboken to chase down Paddy," Louis started, scratching his temple as he walked out of the clinic alongside the others.
"But how does he even know the guys headed for Hoboken"
"Let's just say the stars f*cking align and it all pans out for him." Paolo sighed, sliding into the driver's seat as the others nodded in agreement.
"So, what would Benny do next?"
However, instead of a sudden realization, their expressions slowly drained of color as thin trails of smoke rose in the distance, winding lazily into the sky.
They didn't need anyone to spell it out for them anymore as their minds had already grasped it: Benny had been tearing through Hoboken, leaving pure chaos in his wake as he hunted down the truck.
As they drew closer, the scale of the destruction became undeniable.
Their faces paled even further at the sight: entire blocks scorched, windows shattered, and the lingering scent of smoke thick in the air.
Almost immediately, as they passed under the weathered 'Welcome to Hoboken' sign, the full horror hit them.
They were met with the charred skeletons of over a dozen buildings, blackened and crumbling as if the city itself had been gutted.
While they had been clinging to David's side in the ICU, hoping he'd pull through, Benny had been tearing through neighborhoods, torching anything in his path to reclaim Ricky's drugs.
"Jesus~" Jeremiah whispered, his voice barely audible as he pressed against the car window, watching the firemen emerge, blackened and battered from the charred ruins they were trying to contain.
"Did he really do all of this?" Marco muttered, horror twisting his features as he tried to imagine the thought process behind someone lighting entire blocks ablaze.
"Only one way to find out." Paolo said grimly, easing the car to a stop in front of a couple of kids on their bikes, their wide eyes reflecting the flames behind them.
"Hey, kid!" Paolo yelled, waving at the kids lounging beside their bikes, their attention half on the wreckage behind them.
"Kid? You're barely older than us—"
"You wanna make five bucks or not?" Paolo cut him off, his frown deepening as he sized up the younger boys who were probably two years younger than him.
"Hell yeah, I wanna make five bucks!" the kid shouted, sprinting toward the outstretched bill.
But before he could grab it, Paolo yanked it back.
"What do I look like, a charity?" Paolo asked, frowning at the kid's grubby hands as they stretched toward the money.
"Tell me what happened, then you get your money," Paolo said, waving the bill at the kid as if to tantalize his eyes.
The kids nodded eagerly, whispering quickly with the others for a moment before one finally stepped forward.
"Uh-"
First Person Narration: Random Kid
"I don't know much, but all of us just woke up to a fire.
My mom grabbed me out of bed and we ran outside, and it sounded like fireworks, popping off left and right.
Then all the dads got together and hid in Jimmy's bunker.
I only heard little bits after that, so I don't know if it's true.
But Sam's dad said there was a blond kid going around, burning the Irish people's homes.
I don't know what they did, but something really pissed that kid off.
And oh!
He started yelling through the streets about a Maddy? A Paddy?
Something like that name, and-
"Paolo?"
Before the kid could say anything more, a familiar voice called out from behind them. Lil Tony and his crew stepped into view, their presence immediately making the air feel heavier.
"Louis, Jeremiah-what the f*ck are you guys doing here with-"
"Oh, you've gotta be sh*tting me-WHY IS MARCO HERE!" Lil Tony interrupted himself, his anger boiling over as he scowled, bracing himself for the earful he knew Ricky was about to unleash.
"We're looking for Benny-"
"Join the club, why the hell do you think we're here?" Lil Tony revealed, gesturing around as only then did they realize they were not the only ones trying to get information.
It was only when they really looked around that they finally noticed the mobsters lurking in the background, pulling people aside and questioning them.
But they weren't the only ones.
The Irish community trailed behind, whispering, pointing, trying desperately to lend a hand, to guide anyone who could help or who might know something.
And in the midst of it all, Fogwell strode calmly to Lil Tony's side, his steps measured, his gaze sweeping over the scene with a gentle smile.
"Children." Fogwell said softly, a wry smile touching his lips with not a hint of blame in his tone, unable to find it in himself to blame mere children.
"So you guys followed Benny's trail from the bridge, to the train tracks, to the clinic, and then here?" Paolo asked awkwardly, chuckling at how absurd it sounded when said out loud.
"What?"
"Benny set a f*cking city on fire, of course we heard about it." Lil Tony replied, looking at them like they'd just discovered the wheel.
"Also, it ain't that hard to ask around for a big ass truck with Lucky Corp on it." Lil Tony said, giving them a weird look since the truck was smuggled under Ricky's business.
"Oh-"
"Wait, why the f*ck was Benny at a clinic?" Lil Tony suddenly asked, his eyes squinting, while Fogwell's eyes widened as he realized Louis was about to speak.
"Cause he got a shot-"
"HE GOT WHAT?!" Lil Tony roared, yanking Louis by the collar and hauling him forward as the mutant swallowed hard, his throat dry with fear.
"Shot?"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAD WITH THAT?!" Lil Tony bellowed, his eyes blazing with exasperation at the detail that mattered most.
"I thought you knew-"
"BOYS, IN THE TRUCKS!" Lil Tony screamed, shoving Louis away from his grip as Paolo and Jeremiah lunged forward to catch him.
"Where are you headed-" Marco tried to ask, stepping forward only for Fogwell ot stop him.
"W'ere headed to the highway, ya'll are going back to that f*cking hospital." Lil Tony said, waving his hand dismissively, as if erasing all the progress they'd made.
"The highway-"
"Hoboken's a dead end, that Irish bastard probably took off and that lunatic Benny followed him-"
"But Benny-"
"Benny's out there, f*cking shot, and we've been chasing leads!" Lil Tony screamed, getting inside his truck as two cars roared up beside him.
BAM
"LET'S GO!" Lil Tony roared, slamming his fist against the hood as the car lurched forward. The clouds of dust and exhaust rolled over them, leaving the boys in a haze.
Before Paolo could even react, Marco yanked him back by the collar.
"That's too easy." Marco said, putting his foot down as the others turned their gazes to his stubborn expression
"What are you-"
"IT'S TOO OBVIOUS!" Marco screamed, his anger rising at how far they came only to be tossed aside again.
"We just went through an etnire manhunt, only for it to end on the highway?" Marco asked, phrasing the question in such a way that even made Louis surprised.
"You heard Lil Tony," Paolo started, shaking his head, only for Marco to shove him back toward the car.
"If Benny chased the truck onto the highway, do you really think it'd be quiet enough for the family not to hear?" Marco laughed, spreading his hands wide, half in disbelief and half in triumph at the twisted logic he'd finally pieced together.
"...."
It was such an unreasonable hypothesis, but judging by how the family had managed to get here in the first place, they all knew one thing for sure: if Benny had been causing a commotion on the highway, the family wouldn't have even come here.
"We've been thinking like Benny, but let's take a second to understand the guy who stole from Slick," Marco said, forcefully grabbing their attention with a firm grip.
"If we had a truck full of drugs, where could we go that might actually escape Slick of all people?"
In Marco's mind, it didn't make sense for Paddy to hit the highway.
Because there wasn't anywhere in the country that could keep Ricky from getting his drugs back.
"So what if he's trying to leave the country?" Marco finally blurted out, the most outlandish thought he could muster and as he said it, the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
"Like what, go back to Ireland?" Louis asked, genuinely starting to consider the possibility as Marco's finger traced the direction of the nearby harbor.
"And there's only one place in Hoboken where you can even leave the country," Marco revealed, his eyes narrowing as he pieced it together.
Paddy was trying to catch a boat out of the country with all of Ricky's drugs.
Immediately, they all bolted toward the car, and just before Paolo could slip into the driver's seat, Marco shoved him aside.
"What are you-"
VROOOOOM
The car engine revved, interrupting Paolo and before he could even argue, Louis yanked him into the backseat.
"C'MON!" Louis yelled, yanking Paolo along with Jeremiah as Marco slammed his foot onto the gas.
The car roared to life, tires screeching as they skidded onto the road, the speedometer climbing furiously.
Marco's eyes darted across the warehouses, searching for one big enough to hold a truck of that size.
Then, spotting a promising structure, he swerved the car sharply off the road.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING MARCO-"
Meanwhile inside the warehouse,
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Paddy screamed, pointing the muzzle, still smoking at the tip, directly at Benny, who was kneeling on the ground.
"You shot me in the exact same spot—" Benny answered, his eyes scanning the ripped stitches where the bullet had torn through his shoulder.
"NOT THAT, I MEAN-ARGH!" Paddy grunted, stomping his foot in place like a furious child.
"You ruined everything! EVERYTHING!" Paddy roared, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the one kid who somehow managed to turn his entire world upside down.
"But I'm gonna fix it, fix this life you ruined, and I'm gonna take this truck and ship it off to Ireland to start my own mob." Paddy chuckled, his maddening grin revealing the very plan Marco had managed to guess.
In Paddy's mind, it genuinely made sense.
He believed this idea could work, that he could escape the tangled streets of New York and carve out his own empire across the ocean.
But his confidence came from a life of half-truths.
Even though his father had left Ireland to escape poverty, the lessons of the old country hadn't been fully passed down.
Paddy's father had filled his head with stories of Ireland's beauty, its green hills, its music, its history, and wanted him to be proud of his heritage.
What he hadn't been told were the struggles that still gripped the island in the 1930s.
Ireland was battered by the Great Depression, like much of the world.
Exports fell sharply, especially agricultural products that the economy depended on.
Farmers were drowning in debt, cities like Dublin and Cork were choked with unemployment, and trade wars with Britain only made things worse.
Life was brutal, which was exactly why so many Irish had left in the first place, searching for any sliver of opportunity abroad.
And yet Paddy, fueled by ambition and ignorance, saw only possibility.
To him, Ireland wasn't a place of hardship; it was his chance at power, a chance to start fresh and build his own mob.
He believed nothing could stop him, not realizing that the same struggles his father had fled were still very much alive there.
"And I'm going to start my new life by ending yours-
BOOM
"YOU F*CKING PSYCHO!" Paolo screeched, clutching Louis as the car tore through the warehouse wall, Marco's hands white-knuckling the steering wheel.
BAM
However, just before the car could slam into Paddy, he lunged at Benny, locking him in a brutal arm hold.
"Stop squirming, you little-AHHHHH!" Paddy screamed, only for Benny to clamp his teeth down onto his forearm, tearing out a chunk.
"YOU F*CKING BITE ME-"
BAM
Paddy slammed the butt of his gun into Benny's head, dazing him, before wrapping his bleeding forearm around Benny's neck, squeezing until the child gasped for air.
HUFF
HUFF
Paddy's eyes burned with fury, blinking rapidly through the swirling dust, until it finally settled and revealed Johnny's car flashing frantically with its lights.
"Ohhhhh~" Paolo groaned, staggering out of the car, clutching his head before collapsing onto the ground.
"Now listen here you little sh*ts-"
BLERGH
However, his words were interrupted by Jeremiah vomiting, slumping limply out the window as Paddy slammed the butt of his gun into Benny's face just as he tried to bite again.
"Let him go~" Marco weakly said, stumbling out of the driver's seat, his hands gripping a fully loaded gun.
"HA!" Paddy laughed, a cruel sneer twisting his face as Louis tumbled out of the car from the side.
"If it ain't Mr. Freeze." Paddy scoffed, sneering at Marco who slowly raised the gun to point it at him.
CLINK
CLINK
CLINK
Before silence could settle between them, the gun in Marco's hand trembled, the bullets shifting and clinking in their holster that once again revealed the child's fear.
"Take the shot, Marco, I can take it." Benny said, his tone completely hollow but his eyes were unflinching even with a gun pressed to his head.
"Wha-" Paddy stammered, breathless, utterly shocked at the sheer audacity of the kid he had chose as a hostage.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Paddy screeched, his hateful eyes narrowing on Benny, disbelief etched into every line of his face.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!" Paddy screamed, gesturing towards all the rogues slowly making their way in front of them.
"YOUR JUST A BUNCH OF F*CKING KIDS AND-"
HUFF
A loud breath escaped Paddy as he closed his eyes, trying to reign in the fury that reddened his face to match his fiery orange hair.
"And somehow, you managed to not only kill my guys, BUT RUIN EVERYTHING!" Paddy's attempt to hold back his rage crumbled, his every word rising his tone until he was once again screaming.
"THIS WAS MY CHANCE, MINE, TO MAKE A NAME FOR MYSELF AND-"
HUFF
Paddy continued, venting every ounce of anger he had on these kids, his voice rising and falling like a storm.
All while Marco's chest heaved with each breath, eyes locked fiercely on the Irishman, muscles shaking as if he were having a seizure.
Benny, who was about to do something, slowly stopped himself while looking at Marco.
Marco's eyes flicked down to Benny, expecting defiance or hate, but instead he found something else, a subtle nod.
It was quiet, almost imperceptible, yet it spoke that whatever Marco was about to do, Benny had his back.
HUFF
All Marco wanted in that moment was to feel strong again, to reclaim some control over the chaos of his life.
Power, just a sliver of it, coursed through his thoughts as he fixed his gaze on Benny, drawing strength from the kid's unwavering presence.
And slowly, his eyes hardened.
Huff
A single, controlled breath escaped Marco's lips, steadying him as he raised his gaze deliberately toward Paddy.
And in that suspended moment, the world seemed to slow down.
The second Paddy aimed his gun at them, gesturing with the flair of someone dramatizing his fury, Marco's hands stopped shaking.
The clatter of the bullets in the holster ceased.
Time itself seemed to stretch, Paddy's rage-filled features twisting as he gestured wildly, while Marco's controlled breathing brought a deathly calm over himself.
"WHO DO YOU EVEN THINK YOU ARE-"
"Just a couple of rogues."
BANG
Then, as if finally seizing control of his own life, Marco slowly squeezed the trigger, and the bullet slipped smoothly from the revolver's barrel.
SPLAT
It tore through Paddy's shoulder, forcing him to loosen his grip on Benny, who ducked instinctively.
Paddy stumbled back, his hateful eyes narrowing as he leveled his gun toward a shadowy figure.
Before he could react, a massive wave of water slammed into him as Jeremiah's hands had collided, sending him sprawling across the ground.
BAM
The man slammed against the wall, water crashing into him and knocking him off balance until his grip on the gun finally slipped.
Only when the spell dissipated did the reality hit the Irishmen.
It was why Paddy slowly slumped against the wall, drenched and defeated, the fight finally drained from his body.
Cough
Cough
The man coughed up mouthfuls of water, struggling to lift his head, only to meet the sight of five kids and a single barrel pressed against his forehead.
"We're the rogues~" Paolo mocked from the side, shattering the tension just as Marco opened his mouth to speak.
SNORT
Laughter erupted from everyone, Marco blushing furiously, cheeks burning as he glanced around at the mess of giggles.
"That sounded way cooler in your head, didn't it?" Jeremiah cackled, clutching his stomach and flailing on the ground beside Paolo.
"Shut up, SHUT UP-"
However, before he could let out a hateful yell at their laughing forms, Benny limped over and snatched the gun from Marco's hand.
BAM
Without wasting a single motion, he swung the butt of the pistol across Paddy's face, sending the man slumping to the ground.
"C'mon, we have to get him to the boss."
Soon afterwards, the Luciano family and the Irish community began trickling in, moving quickly through the chaos.
Some rushed to tend to the injured, while others worked to apprehend Paddy, who now sat slumped and defeated on the ground.
Marco remained to the side, breathing heavily, his hands still gripping themselves but his gaze softening as he watched the scene unfold.
Around him, the Luciano family let out long, tension-filled sighs of relief, a few even cheering quietly as they confirmed that the drugs were all intact.
Meanwhile, members of the Irish community began to cry softly, tears of joy mingling with laughter as the nightmare was finally over.
"Aye, Marco." Benny said, approaching him as Marco instinctively ducked his head, bracing for a sharp reprimand, expecting the worst.
"I know-"
"You did good." Benny said, patting his shoulder firmly before Lil Tony stepped in, pulling him away to tend to his wounds.
"Yeah, I know we've been hard on you, but you came through, and that's what counts." Louis smiled, giving Marco a chance to breathe, and patted his shoulder before following Benny.
"You got guts." Jeremiah chuckled, lightly patting his cheek before walking over to help heal Benny.
Finally, Paolo walked over to him, his steps slow but deliberate.
Marco felt a weight settle on his shoulders, pressing down on him like a physical force.
He had blamed himself more than anyone for what had happened to those runners, replaying every misstep, every hesitation in his mind.
The laughter of those twins, the blood, and the near-death moments, they all spun together in a gnawing tangle of guilt that Marco had carried with him through all of this.
But instead of a scoff, or some hateful slight, Paolo simply reached out his hand.
Marco stared at it for a long moment, the weight on his shoulders pressing harder, then slowly, almost reluctantly, he let his fingers meet Paolo's.
Because Paolo finally forgave him.
"Thanks, for helping Benny." Paolo murmured, his gaze dropping as if the words themselves were heavy.
"No problem," Marco replied with a laugh, clasping Paolo's hand firmly and giving it a reassuring shake before watching him turn to check on Benny.
But instead of joining them, Marco stayed seated, a small smile tugging at his lips as quiet tears began to trace down his cheeks.
SNiff
"You did it Marco, you f*cking did it."
Meanwhile At Roosevelt Hospital,
"And I like bushes-"
Thud
"And I like the color of the sky-"
Thud
"And, oh, I think that's it!" Eileen said happily, turning her innocent features toward Ricky, who was busy trying to bash his head against the back of the seat.
Even Alexander had stuffed kernels into his ears, desperate to drown out her long tirade of likes.
BAM
"BOSS, THEY-"
"OH THANK GOD!" Ricky laughed, springing to his feet and lunging out of the godforsaken chapel.
"But-"
"SORRY, GOTTA GO, SH*T TO DO!" Ricky yelled, waving at her with a manic excitement, relieved that the interaction was finally over.
"But I didn't get to hear what you like?" Eileen whispered dejectedly, her gaze dropping to the floor as she looked toward Alexander, who suddenly went pale.
"Hi-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alexander screamed, scrambling after Ricky as he bolted out of the chapel.
"Boss?"
All of the Luciano family muttered in unison, eyes fixed on Ricky as he darted into the hallway, Alexander clumsily scurrying in his wake.
"HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE ME-"
"I MADE AN IMPROMPTU DECISION TO-
AHEM
Shades cleared his throat from the side, cutting through Ricky's and Alexander's arguing and making them realize that everyone else was standing in the hallway.
"Oh, yeah, the truck." Ricky muttered, his eyes flickering with sudden intensity as they landed on the unconscious man in the hands of two grunts.
"Is that?"
"This is Patrick 'Paddy' O'Rourke, the man who stole your shipment." Fogwell introduced, his disappointed gaze roaming over the man who had almost doomed them all.
"Good." Ricky said, his smile hollow as he extended his hand, his telekinetic powers yanking the man free from the grunts' grip.
KERUK
Paddy's eyes snapped open, his throat catching in a sudden choke as he met the gaze of the one man in the world he feared most.
"N-No-"
"Yes~" Ricky whispered, a dangerous edge of satisfaction curling into his chuckle as Paddy trembled uncontrollably, trapped in the intensity of his green-eyed stare.
Then, with deliberate calm, Ricky released his grip on Paddy's body, only to replace it with control over him through his mind.
Slowly, almost torturously, he dragged him across the hall.
"NO, PLEASE, WAIT-"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ricky's laughter erupted, drowning out every desperate plea as Paddy was unwillingly pulled into the chapel by the invisible force of Ricky's telekinetic power.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" Paddy's scream tore through the halls as the massive double doors swung open, revealing Eileen stepping out.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned, catching sight of Paddy lunging forward, fingers clawing at anything within reach, desperate to grasp her as if she were his last lifeline.
BAM
Just as his fingers brushed the edge of her pristine white dress, the massive doors slammed shut on him.
Eileen flinched, the sound reverberating through the hallway, her frame trembling for a fraction of a second before she regained composure.
Then, she slowly turned, her gaze locking down the hallway and resting on Ricky who had his back turned to her.
"Alright, I'll take it from here. Good work, guys," Ricky said, gesturing toward the mobster before giving an appreciative nod to Lil Tony, who dutifully bowed in return.
"About-"
"From now on, the restrictions on the Irish community are lifted," Ricky declared, his gaze sweeping over Fogwell and the others, who finally let their shoulders relax.
"But make no f*cking mistake, if this ever happens again—"
"I think you get the picture," Ricky interrupted himself, his eyes glowing as he fixed Fogwell with a stare that made him tremble.
"I-I understand," Fogwell stammered, bowing his head. Ricky waved him off with a casual flick of his hand.
"Good. Now scram," Ricky scoffed, clearly done with redheads for the day.
Fogwell quickly made his way toward Eileen, his eyes flicking back to Ricky, expecting to be stopped.
But Ricky didn't so much as glance at him, subtly giving him permission to take Eileen away.
"Cmon, darling-"
"But-"
"You're not safe here." Fogwell whispered, his eyes burning with urgency as Eileen's mouth clamped shut at the genuine worry from his words.
"I promise, Slick, we won't cause you any trouble." Fogwell added, bowing his head as he quickly guided Eileen and the others into the elevator.
"Just remember, all it takes is one flick of the hand." Ricky chuckled, his words carrying an unspoken warning about how easily he could crush the community.
At that single sentence, every Irish-American in the elevator bowed their heads, their eyes fixed on the floor as the doors slowly closed, packing them tightly together.
"Louis, Paolo, and Jeremiah," Ricky said, the green glow in his eyes fading as he turned to the boys who straightened up instantly.
"Good sh*t. You'll be rewarded for this, along with that shooting dummy currently unconscious." Ricky winked, watching them puff out their chests with pride.
Then his gaze shifted to Benny.
"Benny, stop getting yourself into near-death sh*t until after I make you, got it?" Ricky warned, his tone firm but with a small smile.
"Yes, boss." Benny nodded, already bracing himself for safety even in this very moment.
"And finally, Marco," Ricky said, his eyes softening as they settled on the last of the group who currently had his head ducked into the ground.
"Marco, look at me."
The words trailed into Marco's ears, and his shameful expression slowly lifted though not to the disappointment or annoyance of Ricky.
But to his genuine smile.
"I was wrong," Ricky revealed, watching as Marco's eyes swelled with emotion, a mix of relief and pride flooding over him.
"And it ain't no secret, I didn't want you to join the family." Ricky sighed, rubbing the back of his head, finally honest with himself.
"So when your first f*ck-up rolled around, I just lunged at the opportunity to kick you out." Ricky muttered, the weight of his words hanging heavy in the air.
"But you're right, I looked at you as nothing more than Rocco," Ricky said, stepping closer to Marco and slowly kneeling to meet him at eye level.
"I should've treated you as your own man and not Rocco's little brother." Ricky continued, reaching out to gently pat Marco's cheek as the boy fought to hold back the tears.
"I'm so sorry for that," Ricky apologized, his voice softening as he finally looked past the shadow of Rocco to see Marco for who he truly had become.
For the first time, he saw the young man Marco had grown into and he was proud.
The other rogues at the side gave him a thumbs up, grinning at the scene.
Benny, however, simply stared at the young boy, his gaze heavy with unspoken understanding since he knew full well what was to come.
"You're your own f*cking man, you're Marco," Ricky chuckled, nudging him lightly, a small push of confidence that carried far more weight than any words could.
"I was too hard on you, and I wanna give you a clean slate," Ricky said, patting Marco's shoulder, smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothes as if straightening more than just fabric.
"I won't assign you to some schmuck post, wandering the city for scraps of information. No, you're going with the real guys, my rogues." Ricky's words carried weight, a mixture of promise and expectation, and Marco felt it settle deep in his chest, like the first steady breath after holding himself under water for far too long.
"What do you say, wanna join the family for real this time?"
As Marco gazed down at Ricky's outstretched hand, the weight of the moment finally hit him.
He had done it.
Every misstep, every doubt, every pang of shame had led to this.
Around him, the people cheered, hands clapped his shoulder, and even the rogues gave him subtle nods of approval.
This was it.
He had proven, to everyone and most importantly to himself, that he had what it took to stand among them.
That he had what it took to be a mobster.
Pride swelled in his chest, fierce and unfamiliar, as the recognition washed over him.
And then he saw Ricky, watching him, a rare softness in his eyes, a quiet acknowledgment that Marco had earned his respect.
That moment, that gaze, carried more meaning than the cheers or the pats on the back because it was all he ever wanted.
For the first time, Marco allowed himself to feel it fully: acceptance, validation, and a spark of confidence he never thought he'd earn.
Ricky was proud of him.
And somehow, that was everything, that was enough.
"I-I don't wanna be a mobster."
The words trembled from Marco's lips, barely audible over the cheers and clamor around them.
As he spoke, tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, almost impossible to hold back.
Benny's gaze met his and with a slow, subtle nod, the younger boy acknowledged the truth Marco hadn't even fully allowed himself to feel until now.
Even in the midst of victory, Marco realized that proving himself didn't mean he had to take on a life he didn't want.
Sniff
"I don't wanna hold a gun, I don't wanna have to pull the trigger."
The words carried on in his head even as the praises faded into silence.
For the first time, Marco realized something with startling clarity.
He wasn't a killer.
He didn't want to be a mobster.
All he truly wanted was to reclaim the part of himself he had lost.
And now that he had it back, even for a fleeting instant, he knew one thing with absolute certainty: he never wanted to lose it again.
"I-"
"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay~" Ricky hushed, pulling Marco into his arms before the boy could fall apart.
Marco's head dropped against his shoulder with a heavy thud, his body finally giving way as the tears balled down his eyes.
"You don't have to be anything you don't f*cking want to, alright?" Ricky said, his voice firm yet gentle, holding the boy tighter as Marco crumpled in his embrace.
"I wanted to make you proud, I wanted-"
"You did it, Marco. I'm so f*cking proud of you," Ricky said, clutching him tightly, every word pressed into the boy's ear like a vow that he had truly succeeded.
"Let's go." Benny cut in, his voice steady as he gestured for them to move, already leading the way toward David's room.
One by one, they followed.
But Paolo lingered at the back, his steps heavy with guilt, his eyes flicking to Marco as if weighed down by the things he had said before.
"I didn't want those kids to die, I should've done something-"
"Hey, hey, you don't need to explain yourself anymore. I got you," Ricky said, his hand firm on Marco's back, grounding him in the moment as Benny pulled Paolo away down the hall.
SNIFF
HIC
"You were right, I wanna cook~" Marco cried, burying his tear-streaked face into Ricky's shoulder.
"I f*cking knew it," Ricky chuckled, smug but warm, the words pulling a broken laugh from Marco before another sniffle interrupted it.
"Look at me, Marco." Ricky pulled him back gently, making the kid meet his gaze as he furiously rubbed at his eyes.
"I know a guy, Enzo, and lemme tell you, this guy's a f*cking genius." Ricky smiled, watching Marco struggle to mirror it, his lips trembling.
"R-R-R-R-R-Rea-a–a-a-a"
"Really, I swear." Ricky lifted a hand, the oath so simple, so absolute, that Marco didn't doubt him for a second.
"He's gonna make you the amazing chief you wanna be, I promise."
For the next five minutes, Ricky stayed right there at his side, letting the emotional storm in Marco burn itself out.
They talked about Enzo, about food, about stupid little things Marco had always been too embarrassed to admit out loud.
Ricky didn't rush him, didn't push.
He just listened, nodding here, chuckling there, patting Marco's back every time the boy's voice wavered.
And slowly, piece by piece, Marco steadied himself as his tears thinned into sniffles, his breaths evened out, and the tension in his shoulders loosened under Ricky's hand.
By the time he leaned back to join Ricky's relaxed posture, Marco wasn't the broken kid who had come into this room.
He was lighter, smaller maybe, but also freer.
As if for the first time, he had finally allowed himself to want something for himself.
And Ricky, watching that, couldn't have been prouder.
"I wanna go home, I wanna see my mom," Marco muttered, his voice so soft it almost slipped past Ricky's ears.
"Alright, kiddo." Ricky smiled, slowly opening a portal at his wishes as Marco sat up and turned back at him.
"A-Are you sure you're not mad-"
I ain't mad, Marco, I'm relieved." Ricky said with a wink, patting his cheek as the boy turned, a fragile smile breaking through the shine of his tears.
Then, within Marco's gaze, he saw all the rogues huddled around David, who had finally awokne from his unconscious slumber.
Their eyes eventually found him, not with disappointment, but with a quiet respect.
Even if Marco would never walk the same path as them, he was still one of their own.
One by one, they gave him a subtle nod, a silent salute to all he had done.
At those gestures, Marco smiled, turning toward the portal to step into his own life.
One he could finally claim as his own, one he could finally live.
One that wasn't bound by blood, bullets, or the mob.
One that was his alone.
Sniff
"Are you crying?" Ricky asked suddenly, glancing at Alexander on his shoulder who immediately scoffed at this notion.
"What? No." Alexander rolled his eyes, shoving a sunflower seed into his mouth.
"I'm simply joyful that Marco has found his path, that is all-"
"Uh-huh." Ricky muttered, standing and strolling toward the chapel as Alexander frowned from his perch.
"Why does your tone betray your words-"
"Does it?" Ricky drawled, deliberately exaggerating his tone just to irritate him.
"Hurry along so that we may return to your tortuous adaptation." Alexander muttered, plopping down on his shoulder as he slowly neared the double doors.
BAM
At the flick of Ricky's hand, the chapel doors slammed open, revealing Paddy strung up on the cross.
Psychic constructs nailed his hands and feet in place, his body trembling under the strain as he writhed under the sins of his own making.
"Now, Paddy, where the f*ck did you get the rogue to steal from me?" Ricky asked, slowly walking into the chapel as the man immediately cried.
"I'll tell you, I'll-" Paddy sobbed, but Ricky tilted his head, raising a hand to his ear.
"What was that?" Ricky asked mockingly, before clamping Paddy's mouth shut with invisible force as the muffled cries only made his smirk widen.
"I have to torture it out of you?" Ricky seemingly asked himself, his tone caught between curiosity and delight as Paddy's body shook violently, sweat pouring down his face.
"Alright then." Ricky chuckled, spreading his arms wide as if to welcome the spectacle.
"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."
BAM
The doors slammed shut on Paddy's miserable cries, sealing him inside with Ricky's laughter.
Before long, the hospital would be haunted by the echo of his screams, his frantic begging spilling through the chapel walls and curdling the air for the rest of the day.
3 days later,
DING
"Alright, I'm f*cking ready."
Author's Note: Yeah, sorry about that guys I just couldn't for hte life of me write this chapter, I was just blanking so goddamnhard and I am really sorry for how long it f*cking took. Idk, sometimes I get writers block and I just cant for hte life of me get it write. Also, I know I've been putting off replying to the comments but I will get ot them, jsut been busy but I'll look over them all through the weekend. Anyways hope you enjoyed this writing format cause I thought it would be funny to write it in a sort of mysetry solving way.