Chapter 10: Ricky Luciano

1 month later,

Ricky had recovered after a month due to the combination of tentative care from Lucky's personal staff and the best medicine dirty money could buy.

*Knock*

*Knock*

"Ricky, you have guests should I let them in?" Ricky's personal maid, Isabella, a kind Italian immigrant, asked through the door.

"Yes, you can let them in." Ricky gave permission as Isabella opened the door to reveal three teengaer's Jake, Rocco, and Edward.

"Oh it's uh, you guys?" Ricky smiled as he had completely forgotten the names of these three and poorly tried to play it off.

"I'm Jake, this is Rocca, and that's Edward." Jake quickly reintroduced himself as well as the other two while understanding the poor recollection since he was sh*t faced.

"Slick, is it true? Did you really wack the leaders of the five point gang as well as that rat!" Rocca excitedly rushed over to Ricky as he held up an arm.

*Smack*

"Seriously Rocco, read the room." Jake showed the qualities in his older brother while slapping the back of Rocca's head.

"Ow~" Rocca frowned while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, it's the truth." Ricky shrugged while admitting the truth.

"I KNEW IT!" Rocca excitedly fist pumped as Jake showed a shocked look.

"Whoa." Edward gasped in amazement as the stories that had been circulating had been crazy.

"So are the stories about you true?" Edward rushed forward as Jake scrunched his eyebrows.

"Edward-"

"It's fine, what stories?" Ricky held up a hand to Jake while inquiring as Edward nodded his head.

"Word on the street is that you singlandly ripped apart each leader for messing with Lucky and once the boss found out, he was so impressed with your ruthlessness he adopted you!" Edward jumped up and down as his second chin jiggled ever so slightly as Jake gazed at him in a dead panned expression.

"That's obviously over-"

"Yeah, kind of." Ricky admitted since he decided that this power would be found out sooner or later and decided to admit it.

At first, Ricky was thinking of hiding it for fear of government experimentation until he realized that he literally had the backing of a notorious mafia family behind him.

"Here look." Ricky suddenly said as a transparent barrier appeared around him which made the three of them flinch.

"No way!" Rocca exclaimed while tapping the barrier with shock.

"Wait then how did you kill-defeat the leader of the five point gang?" Jake asked Ricky who nodded before pointing at a baseball bat.

"Throw that snowglobe at me and find out." Ricky said though Jake immediately held his hands up in defeat.

"I'm good." 

Even if Jake wasn't in his right mind, he wouldn't be stupid enough to hit someone who actually took out the five most ruthless people that used to basically own the south side of brooklyn.

"I'll do it!" Edward ran to grab a snowglobe as Jake facepalmed at his friend's stupidity since although he wasn't stupid enough to do it, others weren't.

"Ok, ready?" Edward asked as Ricky nodded with a cheeky smile.

"Give me your best shot." Ricky taunted as Edward nodded while seriously gazing at Ricky.

"Hup!" Edward had a running start before throwing it as hard as he could at the barrier surrounding Ricky.

"Full counter."

*WHOOSH*

*BAM*

*THUD*

Right as Edward's projectile made contact with the barrier, a force double what he inputted into the barrier was thrusted into him which whipped him across his new large bedroom and tumbled into the nearby wall.

"Urgh~" Edward grabbed his head as Jake rushed to his side before sighing in relief at him being okay.

"Alright let's not-"

"MY TURN!"

"Full counter."

*WHOOSH*

*BAM*

*THUD*

Rocco grabbed a bat this time and in the next second flew back right smack to the side of Edward as his head swayed back and forth as his vision spun all around.

"Cool right?" Ricky smiled as Jake nodded instinctively before realizing he was smiling.

"The leaders all shot their rounds into my barrier and I propelled it back at them." Ricky explained without a care in the world since his abilities were cut and dry.

"So the rumors about you being one of those mutants are true." Edward grumbled as Jake punched his shoulder again.

"He ain't a carnival act!" Jake rubbed his forehead in distress at his hopeless friends as Rocco shrugged.

"I think it sounds cool, mutant." Rocco said as if imagining it in colored lights as Ricky thought for a while.

"Wait, there's others like me?" Ricky curiously asked and Edward nodded with affirmation but was quiet afterwards.

*Cough*

Jake, Edward, and Rocco were all quiet at this junction since they all knew of mutants and the stigma that was attached to them.

"Listen Slick, mutants don't have the best record-"

"Rocco, what is he trying to say?"

"Mutants don't have the brightest opinion for those who follow the church, they think it's the devil's powers." Rocco explained on command as the other two looked to the side since this was what they were taught.

"It isn't a huge deal, but Lucky put a gag order on it as he only allowed the rumors about you killing the bosses to spread." Jake informed him as Ricky raised an eyebrow before shrugging at these future problems for later.

"There is also a passing circus that puts up a special act that includes the 'Mutants' who can do incredible things." Edward informed him as he nodded.

"Where is it, I'm curious?" Ricky asked but Edward shook his head.

"I don't know, it passed by a couple months ago." Edward informed him as Ricky looked plainly at him as well as Jake.

*Sigh*

"Well you guys caught me right on my way out." Ricky informed them while walking towards the door as Jake rushed after him.

"Alone?" Jake asked with slight worry and Ricky weirdly nodded.

"You can't." Jake shook his head which made Ricky have a plain face.

"And why is that?" Ricky asked since can literally propel a bullet.

"Because you're the new heir to the Luciano family!" Jake grabbed his shoulder and tried to shake some sense into him.

"I am?" Ricky asked while scratching his hair as Edward and Rocco followed them.

"Yeah Slick, the boss hasn't taken a doll as a wife nor had kids which technically makes you the heir to the family." Edward pointed to him as he was a little surprised.

"That's ridiculous and totally not how it works, right?" Ricky scoffed only to see the dead serious faces of the three.

"We might be a crime family, but all families have rules and familial ties are the strongest bond within any mafia." Jake explained to Ricky who really tried to pay attention but was getting more and more distracted by his surroundings.

"I'm not even his real kid-"

"It doesn't matter, the news that your blood is from Sicily has already solidified your position." Jake informed him as Ricky shook his head at this weird roundabout way of joining the mafia.

"Some of the members might not agree, but Lucky will snuff out those who disagree." Rocco added, knowing that Lucky would most likely do that action since it fell in line with his personality.

"Cool." Ricky gave an honest response since he was essentially the criminal underworld's version of a trust fund baby now.

"Cool? Slick, your situation is really serious." Jake hurridled followed Ricky out the door as the two followed behind them.

"It looks that way." Ricky affirmed Jake's words as he started walking down the lavish spiral staircase.

"Then why aren't you worried-"

"Because that's exhausting." Ricky interrupted Jake with a small sigh as the three of them flinched.

"If I'm worried about every little thing then I'd end up in a wack house." Ricky commented while continuing his walk down the stairs.

Ricky had made a lot of enemies in his last life, mostly loan sharks, but he didn't spend every waking moment fearing their retaliation but simply lived his life.

"Listen you can come with me or not, I don't care but I'm leaving either way." Ricky spoke as he opened the door and walked out.

The three of them looked at each other for a while before they all nodded and rushed after their new designated leader.

Ricky walked down around brooklyn but instead of the usual uncaring expression on the passing pedestrian, he received different looks.

Their expressions when gazing at him were either respect or fear though in the end, they all bowed their heads in his presence which was a new experience for him.

"This is weird." Ricky voiced out his words as Jake shrugged.

"You basically stopped a turf war that would've been drawn out for months, maybe even years in a single day, people are warranted to respect the very ground you walk on." Jake commented since in the eyes of the common person, Ricky was sort of a hero and a villain.

It wasn't all unlikely for civilians to get caught up in the crossfire of gang attacks and as the turf war ramped up, so did the accidental shootings.

Then Ricky appeared out of the blue and squashed the heads of the entire operation in a single day while disbanding a gang that had been active for more than thirty years in brooklyn after taking out its central pillars in one fell swoop.

Ricky's nine year old figure became a balance of whether to fear or respect him before most regarded him as a necessary evil.

"Why did you come back to this dump?" Rocco asked after arriving at the orphanage alongside him.

"I left something here." Ricky left the sentence ambiguous as he walked up the steps only for the door to be opened for him. 

"Ricky!" Steve thought his eyes had decided him as he hugged him in relief.

"You really gave us a scare back there, and the rumors they've been saying about you? It made us worried but it's good you came back." Bucky patted Ricky's shoulder as he gave them a smile.

"I couldn't leave you to rot in this dump." Ricky informed them as they laughed before Steve tapped his shoulder.

"Come on-huh?" Steve misinterpreted the situation as he thought Ricky was coming back to live with them at the orphanage.

"I've come to get you guys, I won't leave the guys who had my back for the first nine years of my life."

While Ricky couldn't recall, it didn't alter the fact that these two had been there for him through thick and thin. 

In his previous life, Ricky had zero friends due to burning bridges, and although he wasn't eager to make new ones, they were already his friends, so he wouldn't abandon them.

"Ricky, those monsters are awful people, you don't really want to live that life do you?" Steve asked in a surprised tone as the three wannabe mobsters behind Ricky scoffed.

"Monster? You mean mobsters." Ricky corrected as if he heard wrong though Steve shook his head.

"Those nights you couldn't sleep were because those guys were terrorizing the streets of brooklyn-"

"And when I was forcefully dragged from my room, who was it that came to my rescue?" Ricky backed away from Steve with a dumbfounded look.

"It wasn't the cops, it sure as hell wasn't you, but instead those very mobsters." Ricky laughed in disbelief as Steve shook his head.

"I fought for you-"

"And you lost!" Ricky covered his face in disbelief as he couldn't hold back the ironic laughter at Steve's words.

"You got your head bashed in and fell unconscious like you always do!" Ricky pointed at Steve as he frowned.

"The heart is what counts." Steve patted his chest as Ricky shook his head while looking towards a regretful Bucky.

"And you Bucky?" Ricky asked Bucky who let out a small sign.

"I can't leave Steve here alone, Ricky." Bucky confessed as Ricky nodded his head before turning around.

"You need anything and I mean ANYTHING, come find me." Ricky waved goodbye to his past before walking towards a new future.

"You're Ricky Freeman, remember that!" Steve yelled as the three teenagers scoffed at this kid.

"Not anymore." Ricky loudly said as he gestured for the three of them to follow him.

"Ricky Freeman died the day he got hit in the head with that wooden plank." Ricky stopped at the last step before turning to see a betrayed Steve and giving him a small smirk.

"I'm Ricky Luciano."