Chapter 6: Interrogation

"Bucky, I'm fine." Ricky sighed while Bucky constantly circled around him in order to see if he had any injuries, however as Ricky said for the past five minutes he was fine.

"You've been gone for two days Ricky and the last time I saw you was when you were getting chased by over ten bullies." Bucky said seriously, his worry carrying weight, as Ricky shrugged.

"Well I'm fine." Ricky then walked forward however his two proclaimed best friends wouldn't simply sit still for that poor explanation.

"Where were you Ricky? They said you had died. Even the police were looking for you!" Steve worridley yammered on, only for Ricky to ignore the questioning stares of the other orphans.

*Sigh*

"Steve let's just stop, he's obviously not gonna tell us." Bucky let out a disgruntled sigh though Steve shook his head.

"No Bucky, Ricky went too far this time and-"

"My god, will you please shut up." Ricky rolled his eyes while opening the broom closet to reveal their room.

"Listen if I told you then both of you would be even more worried so can we just pretend that I was here the past two days?" Ricky sighed, climbing up his bunk bed ladder as Steve looked at Bucky for answers but the latter just gave him a shrug.

"Yeah, why not." Bucky quickly agreed, grabbing a nearby magazine while flipping through it.

Believe it or not but kids don't really have long attention spans and Bucky highlighted it after seeing Ricky completely fine.

"Guys~" Steve whined since although most kids would move on, Steve was a special case.

"Can it Steve, Ricky's fine so all is well." Bucky yawned while flipping the page as Steve crossed his arms but didn't say anything more.

"RICKY!" Steve was about to let it go before he saw Ricky take out a switchblade after taking down his poster.

"Loosen up Steve, it's only a knife." Ricky smiled as he started cutting out a hole in the ceiling.

"Why do you have a k-"

"Steve, do you want the whole orphanage to know as well?" Bucky covered Steve's mouth as the realization dawned on them.

"Yeah Steve, it's rude to let others know my own business." Ricky lectured after cutting a hole into the ceiling while setting the burlap sack inside of it before covering it over with the poster.

"But Ricky-"

"But nothing." Ricky interrupted Steve after hopping off the bed with a cheeky smile.

"But if that's not enough." Ricky led his sentence on as he pulled out his newly acquired golden money clip which immediately made Bucky laugh and Steve falter.

"Why don't I buy you both off."

5 hours later,

"Man, I'm stuffed." Bucky patted his full stomach with a relieved sigh.

"I can't remember the last time my stomach was full." Steve wiped his mouth on his sleeve and revealed a smile.

"It's the power of money boys, it makes the world go round but most importantly, it feeds our empty stomachs." Ricky smiled while picking his teeth.

For the last five hours, Ricky treated his two new best friends to a night of fine dining in the local diner, soda shop, and lastly capped it off with a rootbeer float.

"Uh oh."

"We're doomed."

"Oh boy."

The three of them simultaneously spoke different combinations of words yet they all had the same meaning as their eyes locked onto the guardian of the orphanage, Gertrude.

"YOU!" Gertrude pointed directly at Ricky who played dumb while looking around.

"Me?" Ricky asked before a huge vein appeared on her forehead.

"RICKY FREEMAN-"

"WAIT!" Ricky screamed, holding out his hands making everyone halt including Gertrude who confusedly stopped.

Then without skipping a beat, Ricky bolted in the opposite direction causing both Steve and Bucky to flinch as Gertrude immediately regained her composure.

"RICKY! STEVE! BUCKY!" Gertrude screeched at the top of her lungs as the very glass around her vibrated at the highest frequency.

Bucky and Steve looked at each other and then at Gertrude before finally the disappearing back of Ricky.

"Run."

"Yep."

Then without a second thought, Steve and Bucky bolted after Ricky with the sounds of children laughing sounding out throughout the night of Brooklyn as an oldish lady howled at the moon.

Meanwhile at the Brooklyn Hospital,

The clicking of heels resonated in a particular ward of the hospital, accompanied by the tapping of a cane before coming to a halt. 

Slowly, the Italian leather shoes turned towards a door, and through the glass, Lucky Luciano came into view.

*Click*

The sound of the door opening awoke the patient lying in his bed which revealed to be the cop that Ricky had shot in the stomach, gravely injured. 

The officer who was being treated in the hospital rubbed his eyes with a groggy expression, before finally opening his eyes in a daze.

"Who is it-'' Sammy groggily asked only to halt his words at the sight of a ghost.

"And here I thought my wounds were bad." Lucky joked while walking closer to the edge of Sammy's bed.

Showing a warm smile, he sat next to the bed only for the other man in the room to not reciprocate his expression in the least.

In reality, Lucky was in an intense amount of pain but was way too stubborn to be confined to a bed which is why he was currently hopped up on painkillers.

Sammy's eyes shook violently, yet his body was frozen like a deer in headlights. The very existence he never expected to encounter on the road of life appeared before him once more.

"How are you-"

"Alive?" Lucky finished Sammy's sentence as he took out a cigarette, offering one to Sammy. Seeing him unresponsive, he put the cigarette in his own mouth. 

Lucky then brought out his silver lighter, swiping his thumb across the spark wheel as an orange light appeared to ignite the tip of the cigarette that was gently placed into the ends of his mouth.

"My boys don't call me Lucky for nothing Sammy." Lucky exhaled the puff of smoke right into his face before flashing a smile.

"But do you know what they've been calling you after what you did to me?" Lucky asked, taking the cigarette and dabbing the ash on the floor before inevitably returning it to his mouth. 

"A dead man." Lucky's smile faded along with the color on Sammy's face.

"Lucky it was an accident-" Sammy tried to cover up his horrid mistake with a bunch of stammering only for Lucky to shake his head and blow out one last puff of smoke.

*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS*

Then without warning, the end of Lucky's cigarette buried deep into Sammy's flesh as the skin started to burn around the area.

In another sudden motion, Lucky pressed his other hand into Sammy's mouth to stop the scream as he stared deeply into his eyes which showed his true emotion when gazing at this pig, rage. 

"ARGH!" Sammy let out a pained grunt but couldn't let out a scream, squirming but Lucky didn't even let him budge until the end of the cigarette was put out in his being.

"Do you know what I hate more than anything else in this god forsaken world? Liars!" Lucky's eyes were filled to the brim in rage as he gazed at the very person who personally gifted him two bullet wounds with a near death experience to go on the side.

"ARE YOU CALLING ME A F*CKING LIAR SAMMY, YOU SAYING I SAW WRONG WHEN YOU CLICKED THE TRIGGER NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE INTO MY BODY!" Lucky roared as he dug his nails into Sammy's cheek.

Tears fell down the edges of Sammy's eyes as he shook his head at Lucky's words, knowing what his appearance before him meant.

"Now, when I let go of this dirty f*cking mouth of yours. I better get the words I want to hear, capisce?"Lucky's words commanded authority as Sammy shook his head violently, his body convulsing in fear before he released his grip.

"Now why did a pig on my own payroll end up shooting me?" Lucky sat down on the stool, flicking the cig away before gripping his cane tightly. 

"I'm so sorry Lucky, but I wanted to do right by Dolly and buy her a house." Sammy pleaded as his wedding ring flashed in the moonlight.

"Those weren't the words I wanted to hear." Lucky scowled, Sammy gulped instinctively while remaining silent.

"F-F-F-F-F-Five point gang." Sammy confessed the three words Lucky never thought he would hear utter out of his mouth.

"What." Lucky's expression turned ugly at the mention of the gang that took him in and showed him the ropes once he left Sicily.

"They offered to pay me twenty grand to-"

"Twenty grand, huh?" Lucky laughed while showing a dry smile while shaking his head.

"Oh the irony." Lucky stood up with Sammy immediately flinching though slowly calmed down when he saw Lucky reaching for another cigarette.

"I heard you were only shot once, your little friend Nicky was the one who grazed me, right?" Lucky said as Sammy nodding his head in agreement.

"You know the saying of a mobster?." Lucky reached into his Italian suit as Sammy's heart dropped upon seeing a smith and wesson revolver pulled out.

"A mobster always pays back a debt."

*BANG*

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Sammy screamed as a bullet ripped through his stomach, the pain rippling throughout his being.

"With interest."

*BANG*

Lucky pulled the trigger once more, and Sammy no longer let out any screams as a hole appeared in his forehead. 

The wisps of his life were blown out with a single pull of Lucky's trigger as he gazed down at the fool.

"Rest in peace Sammy." Lucky patted the lifeless Sammy's shoulder before adjusting himself. 

Turning around, he walked out of the room, Frank and Meyer following him as he strolled down the ward.

"What about his broad." Meyer inquired as Frank nodded to the side as five men walked to clean up Lucky's mess.

"We don't exterminate women." Lucky adjusted his cufflinks, Meyer raising an eyebrow but subtly understood.

"But if she turns out to be a rat." Lucky side-eyed Frank who nodded immediately after understanding.

"Then I'll need my exterminator." Lucky turned forward as a ruthless smile appeared on Frank's face.

"And we need to prepare for war." Lucky suddenly announced as Meyer flinched with confusion.

"With who? What family would-"

"Our old mentors, the five point gang."

1 week later,

"Do you understand Ricky?" Albert, the very man he had shot at just a week and some change ago, asked Ricky, who sighed. 

Ricky knew he had to return to the orphanage eventually, and when he did, instead of Gertrude, this cop was waiting for him. 

It was the same cop he had shot at, though by a stroke of luck, Albert didn't recognize him and instead came to scare him, though he failed miserably.

This was supposed to be a stern warning not to run away however, deep down, Albert's sixth sense was tingling. 

Ever since he found out Sammy was bagged, he had become dead set on finding any evidence to put away the Luciano family, and Ricky just so happened to go missing when Lucky disappeared.

"I get it so stop already." Ricky messaged his forehead since Albert had been lecturing him for an hour.

"Alright, alright." Albert held up his hand in defeat though a glint appeared in his eyes.

"I'll leave but only if you help me out a little." Albert asked Ricky, letting out a sigh of relief at this finally coming to an end.

"Anything, I'll-"

"Where were you those two days when you were missing?" Albert immediately asked as Ricky halted his words.

"I was camping out in the streets." Ricky told a bold face lie, right to Albert's frowning face since this wasn't at all what he wanted to hear.

"For two days-"

"I was scared all right, I didn't want my ass kicked by that fat ass-I mean, Thomas's friends." Ricky told another lie since although he didn't want to fight them, he sure wasn't at all scared of a couple of snot nosed brats to go into hiding.

"And the money-"

"I WAS BEING A BEGGAR! WHY THE F*CK ARE YOU INTERROGATING ME!" Ricky no longer wanted to dance to Albert's fiddle and decided to switch the tune.

There was no way in hell that Ricky was about to be classified as a rat in the mob eyes and would rather die a dog's death then be exterminated in cement like a rat.

"Language boy." Albert squinted with a reprimanding tone while pointing at Ricky who scoffed.

"I'm out of here." Ricky stood up off his chair and turned to walk out the door as Albert went to chase after him.

"Ricky, wait I'm sorry-" Albert saw that maybe he had gone a little overboard when interrogating this young boy only to stop upon seeing a particular man at the door.

"Who are you?" Ricky suddenly asked when opening the door to reveal the familiar sight of Frank who was confused before seeing behind him.

Albert halted his steps, his hand immediately trailing down to his side, hovering on his gun. 

Frank was about to make a joke until he saw Albert and shut his mouth, instead looking back down at Ricky.

"Aye kid, who's house is this?" Frank asked, gazing at him intently and with a knowing look, Ricky gave him a subtle nod.

"This ain't a house stupid, it's an orphanage." Ricky hissed at Frank while Albert slowly started to continue his steps before arriving behind Ricky.

"Whoops, I thought this was my girl's house." Frank let out a single laugh before gazing directly at Albert.

"Officer Albert, right?" Frank asked as if not knowing in the first place as Albert's breathing started to hasten.

"Heard what happened to your partner-"

"Don't." Albert's tone was chilling to the bone but it seemed to warm up Frank's smile.

"Although I got a little lost, I'm glad I could find you to say my condolences." Frank hinted to his purpose here as if coming to this orphanage not for Ricky, but for him.

"Leave, now." Albert commanded, grabbing Ricky's shoulder and pulling him behind him.

"You make it seem like I'm some big bad villain." Frank joked while slowly backing up before reaching the steps.

Albert pulled Ricky further behind him as his other hand hovered over his gun all the while his eyes were locked on Frank.

"Sorry for the inconvenience." Frank held up his hands before stealing one last glance at Albert who immediately shut the door.

"Who the hell was that?" Ricky showed a weird expression like a kid not understanding a complicated situation.

"Ricky, listen to me." Albert suddenly turned and knelt down before grabbing both of his shoulders with a serious look.

"That man and everyone he hangs out with are bad men." Albert tried to explain it so that this nine year old child could understand it.

"He doesn't look like all that much to-" 

"RICKY!" Albert's eyes were bloodshot as he clenched the child's shoulder tighter.

The lifeless body of Sammy appeared in his head as he blamed himself for not being by his partner's side and he didn't want another death on his hands, especially a kid.

"Alright geez, will you let go of me now." Ricky declawed Albert from his being before rubbing the affiliated areas in distress.

"Ricky, Brooklyn is in chaos right now so don't do anything stupid and ESPECIALLY don't go near that man or anyone like him." Albert warned as Ricky shrugged in compliance as he walked out the door.

"Ricky?" Steve peered from behind a corner as Ricky frowned but walked over to him.

"What are you doing here Steve, let's go." Ricky patted Steve's skinny shoulder and guided him up to their room.

"What was that all about Ricky?" Steve worriedly asked but Ricky simply smiled.

"It was nothing." Ricky scratched his chin as he walked into their broom closet of a room.

Steve hung at the door, remembering the interaction between Ricky and Officer Albert before shaking the thoughts out of his head.

'It'll be fine.'