Now, you've made many mistakes in the past. Most done because of the crushing need to do something to survive, boredom, or because you really didn't wanna get killed by your Don, but this current mistake may just cost you your life.
And considering the bony hand tight around your throat, pressing you flushed against the wall with a bone attack hovering dangerously in front of your eyes, you'd say that your hunch is correct.
Hoooo boy this guy was ticked, if his vibrantly glowing red eye was anything to go by. "a'ight, pal, you got ten seconds to explain what the heck you're doin' here in my home before i use my bone attack here to paint the walls a shade of paint i like to call: guts an' gorey."
To emphasize his point, he ground the pointy tip of the bone attack into your forehead. Luckily, the full-face mask you were wearing prevented the attack from scratching you in any way, but he still applied enough pressure to make sure you got the idea that this skeleton could literally spray your brains across the wall with a single thought.
Your heart pounded in your chest, and you felt your entire body screaming to run and get to safety. Yet another part of you, the one which your Don had a certain amount of control over, told you that your mission wasn't over, and that if you came back empty-handed, then the punishment that the older Crossbones Brother had would be considered mercy.
So what mistake did you make that ended up with you being stuck between an angry skeleton and a hard wall? Well, let's go back a few years and review all your life choices to determine where you went wrong, shall we?
The Roaring 20's was a time of self-exploration, women would go out and party instead of stay at home and tend to children, the Prohibition law set in, making bootlegging the go-to crime job for big cash quick.
The people of the time were carefree, buying things on credit, investing in stock markets, big-rig companies dominated the industrial life, and civil rights movements occurred pretty much every week.
But the 1920's wasn't just a time for the growth of arts, extremely famous mobsters like Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Crossbones Brothers thrived in this time period.
Most of the famous mobs made their name and reputation on bootlegging, political machines, soup kitchens, and bank heists. But see, on one fine, sunny day in Ebott City, the Crossbones Brothers –"Boss" Papyrus and Sans- had just shown up and became instant hits with the people, becoming the single most famous mob in the city.
Within the week they had appeared, Sans and Papyrus had -ahem- done away with all the rival street gangs and larger mafia organizations. No one knows how, only that the skeleton bros did it. In fact, nobody knew anything about them!
No one knew where they came from, who they reported to (if they even reported to anyone), or how they kept their citizen's loyalty so well. The only thing that everyone knew for sure was that no one messed with them.
Not if you wanted to live that is.
So, this is where you came in.
As fun and thrilling as the Roaring 20's were, it was also a time of falling into debt. And you, dear Reader, really fell into debt. No, you didn't just over-do the student loans, you actually fell into debt with a Mob Boss.
And not just any Mob Boss, you fell into debt with the Vargas Family Mob.
Now, the Vargas Mob wasn't exactly stationed in Ebott City, however, they did have a covert branch of recruiters that seemed to fly under the Crossbones' radar. And you, being the daredevil you were, decided you'd break into the office of said recruiter, just to see if you could.
(You also heard a rumor that the recruiter had a secret stash of [favorite candy], but that wasn't important).
Originally, the day of your break-in, you hadn't planned on barging in uninvited, but one of the men in your neighborhood and bragged he was gonna be a future Vargas mobster and that he was going to overthrow the Crossbones (despite them being in control for only a few months at the time).
Upon hearing this, you had scoffed. The kid who was bragging was the biggest wimp on the block, and you knew this for a fact because you had knocked out a tooth of his when you were both teens and he had avoided you since.
And yet, as ridiculous of a goal it was for him, you found yourself slightly intrigued.
You knew he couldn't join a mob if his life depended on it, but you? Maybe…it wasn't like you were a stranger to working at night, breaking into homes, taking what you need, then fleeing. You were actually pretty good at it too. Very good, if you do say so yourself.
So later that day, when you were taking a leisure stroll around the park, you noticed the Vargas recruiter out on an ice cream run (no seriously, he had chocolate ice cream all over his mouth like he had the worst aim in the world) and decided to give yourself a little challenge.
Making sure the recruiter was going to be delayed longer (you tweaked his Model-T's engine a bit [read: put a rock in some of the gears]) and headed to the recruiter's home.
This part wasn't much of a challenge considering everyone in the area knew where he lived (why the Crossbones didn't kick him out, you would never know). The real challenge was getting inside then back out unscathed and unnoticed.
Your outfit of choice wasn't your normal full-body suit that gave you a masculine build to mask your identity, but a regular outfit you'd wear to the bookstore or a café.
After all, appearance was everything. During night heists, you dressed in all dark colors to blend in with the night sky, but during the day you chose a more "average citizen" look. And an occasional Flapper outfit, just to be scandalous.
But today, today was all about blending in. At the time, you hadn't known how people got recruited into mobs, and frankly, you often joked about it with the few friends you had saying there was a sign up sheet on a random lamp post that said: "_ Mob Sign Up".
But you had heard stories of where once you walked in the front door of a building of a known recruiter, you had to prove yourself through a series of tests. So, you did what any self-respecting thief did: You entered through the roof.
Roof entries were surprisingly easy to get into, due to lack of building regulations and people's assumption that a thief would get into their homes through the front door or an open window instead of the rooftop entries.
What were these rooftop entries? Ventilation shafts, mainly. Occasionally, you'd score a gem and find a private staircase to a penthouse, or you'd get into the apartment by the fire escape or the stairways and break into an apartment like that, but considering this specific apartment was being inhabited by a branch of a really powerful out-of-city mafia, you chose the safer route: Vent shafts.
Once you figured out a way to get inside, you began searching for the apartment of the recruiter. Your method of searching for a home to break into basically consisted of you choosing a random door then pressing your ear against it to determine whether or not the owner was home.
But, Fate or Destiny or whoever the frick was in charge of coincidences seemed to smile on you, because the room belonging to the recruiter was simple and easy to find. No, it didn't have flashing neon lights saying "Vargas Mob Recruiter Here", but it was equally as obvious if you looked for it.
A simple paper labelled "Luciano's Pasta Shop: Hiring Here" marked the door in question. Making a mental note of the floor number and side of the building, you began fiddling with the lock. Considering this was a bit more dangerous than most of the self-employed jobs you took, you decided to plant a false trail.
After fidgeting with the lock a while, you abandoned the door knob, went back to the roof and threw your lock pick into the nearest alleyway before hopping onto the fire escape.
Once you arrived at the correct level, you opened the window of the desired apartment with a lock pick and crowbar combo and swung yourself inside. Not really knowing what else to do (you honestly didn't really plan these heists), you simply snuck around as much as you could, trying to think of pranks to use as warning systems in case people came too close to your current position.
After roughly 3 minutes of aimless wandering, you made the second biggest mistake of your life: You walked right into a private meeting with none other than Luciano Vargas, the Don of the Vargas clan, standing in front of you, cold eyes piercing straight through you and into your soul.
After everyone gawked for a good ten seconds, you finally remembered you had legs and tried to run away only to be caught by a bodyguard who had rounded the corner out of pure coincidence.
Once you had been secured as a hostage, Luciano Vargas came to speak with you in person after thoroughly beating you for the better part of an hour or two.
When you had regained a certain amount of mental clarity, Don Vargas (for that was how you'd address him unless you wanted a bullet to your head) told you he wanted to hire you.
And that began your professional career as a thief, stealing everything from information to blackmail objects, to weapons all in the name of Don Vargas.
Roughly two years passed, but you were still kept at the bottom of the mafia ladder. Sure there'd been others who'd come later than you but got promoted faster, but you never let it bother you because you knew why Don Vargas kept you a measly foot soldier: he didn't trust you.
Of course, that never stopped you from fantasizing he was terrified of you and your pro-thieving abilities, but that was the reality of your situation.
Don Vargas knew you were good and used your abilities to make his mob more prosperous and widespread. That was why he told you to go on this next mission which would lead you to make the biggest mistake of your life.
On no particular night, Don Vargas sent you a package labeled "Target". No, you weren't the occasional hitman, but Don Vargas had a flair for the dramatic, so when he said "target" he normally meant "victim of plagiarism" (aka: "Steal info from this person so we can take over their mob").
Knowing the Don would want this assignment done as quickly as possible, you opened the package and examined the contents. You nearly dropped it once you saw who your target was.
The Crossbones Brothers.
You remembered when they first rolled into Ebott City, everyone expected them to be just another tyrant, but…they were surprisingly decent. Sure, there was a level of fear that remained constant (after all, they were skeletons who were the head of a mob), but almost everyone seemed to appreciate them.
Unless you were in a rival mob.
Then you were dead. Metaphorically, and literally speaking.
And your task was to break into their private apartment and find any information you could about their boss! You didn't even know if they had a boss!
Oohhhh, Don Vargas was really out to either test your skills, or get you killed.
Probably both, now that you think about it.
Sighing to yourself and sending a prayer to whoever the heck it was that controls the universe that you won't die tonight, you geared up and readied yourself for the heist.
Since this was a night raid in very dangerous territory, you went for your "Shadow Walker" outfit.
Why did you name this ninja-parody outfit "Shadow Walker"? Because you're a dork, that's why. A dork who can kick butt, steal stuff, and walk away with nobody the wiser.
Also because that's what the news papers have been calling you for a while now.
Pulling the outfit out of your closet, you laid it on your bed and began dressing yourself, layering yourself in various clothing articles of dark blue (black stood out against the night sky), and began debating whether or not you should go with a simple pull-over face mask, or an "oni" mask used for scaring people long enough for you to get out.
Deciding that a pair of skeletons won't be freaked out by a plastic mask, you opted for a simple ski mask and began stuffing your outfit with all your tools and weapons.
Before you set out, you gave one last look over the floor plans of the apartment before exiting your own building and clambering up to the rooftops where you made your way to the Crossbones Brother's not-so-secret hideout.
It took you roughly 30 minutes to get there and you had to take another 10 to calm your breathing down so you would be undetected. Once fully prepared, you began executing your plan. It was nearing midnight which should mean the brothers would be asleep (you knew of some Dons who planned heists or turf wars well into the night), but to be safe, you did a quick perimeter check which involved pressing a listening device up against the wall and windows of the apartment to get an accurate reading.
You only heard loud snoring and a few meows. Great. A cat. Most likely the cat would see you and not stop meowing until you fed them. Wonderful. Just add a tiny, 9 inch Chihuahua filled with territorial rage to the mix, why don'tcha?
Bracing yourself for any complications, you climbed down the fire escape until you were standing next to their kitchen window. Bringing out your lock pick tools, you slowly began working on the latch, keeping a watchful eye out for anything that might trigger an alarm.
Normally you'd be able to work through a simply kitchen window latch in under 10 minutes, but you wanted to make sure that you took your time and avoided any alarms so you get in and out unnoticed.
You managed to successfully disarm any alarms (there were 5, whoever put them in was a wizard because they each took you ~10 minutes each). Once the latch was unhitched, you slowly lifted the window, careful not to make it squeak in any way, and eased your way in, eyes watchful for the cat.
The kitchen looked like it popped straight out from a home owner's ad. Everything was pristine and shiny, not a single hint of food stains or anything that would indicate life inhabited this space.
Either you just broke into the wrong apartment, or the Crossbones were super big on cleanliness…
Shaking your head, you refocused on your task. If you were something information sensitive, where would you be…?
Your first guess would be the bedroom in a safe or something, the second guess would be the study, or some kind of hidden room. Although, the blueprints that your Don had sent you revealed no hidden room…
Shrugging, you decided to go with the option that seemed the least likely for you to end up dead, which meant the study room. Creeping slowly along the walls, you kept an eye out for any open doors or other traps.
At one point during your search, the cat spotted you, but she appeared to be uninterested as she just stared at you, gave an annoyed meow then stalked off to another room. This left you with a sense of relief, knowing you wouldn't have to deal with a noisy pet during your snooping.
Finally, you found the study room, and pulling out a small, weak flashlight (the new, brighter flashlights would give away your position, so you often used older, weak-light flashlights) you began silently going through papers and drawers, even the occasional book.
There was an awful lot of books on space, astronomy, and cats, as well as historical books (both monster and human history and you were tempted to take a monster history book since those were basically non-existent in the bookstores).
After several minutes of blind stumbling, you found nothing. You were tempted to try looking in another room, but your instincts were screaming at you to return to the bookshelf.
You hesitated for a moment before walking up to the bookshelf once more. Your first thought was to see if there were any hidden areas that were revealed with a trick book or bookshelf item, but that was quickly disproved as you went around pulling out random items and books to see if something moved.
Despite not finding any hidden doorways or anything like that, your instincts still screamed at you to get something from the bookshelf. You frowned, trying to make sense of your instincts.
During your time with the Vargas Mob, they haven't steered you wrong, but for the life of you, you can't figure what your instincts are telling you to do right now.
You browsed the books one last time and then it hit you: a monster history book!
They were literally non-existent in the normal bookstores, and here in Ebott city, the Black Market only carried false monster history books! If you could grab a real copy of monster history, this should give you a huge insight to monster abilities and allegiances!
Fumbling with the messenger bag on your shoulder, you began grabbing anything that looked like it would be important and stuffed it in your bag. You really didn't want to make it obvious about your break in, but you were a bit too exited about getting to read actual books about monsters that you threw caution out the window.
By the time your bag reached its limit, it was nearly 1am.
You had to hurry or risk being caught by the early birds. Sealing up your bag, you began creeping your way back to the kitchen. You made it there relatively quickly, and had your freedom in sight when- SLAM
Every cell in your body froze.
Someone just woke up.
You felt your breath hitch in your throat when the footsteps slowly made their way to the kitchen. Your heart caught in your throat as you dove behind the kitchen island, hoping whoever it was that was in the kitchen was too tired to pay attention to anything.
"ugh, stupid appetite." The owner of the voice sounded groggy and exhausted, you heard the door to the refrigerator open, causing some glass items to rattle around and hit each other, making the 'clink' noise.
You heard him rummaging around in the fridge, and the frustrated groans he was emitting told you he was having trouble finding his desired snack to satisfy the midnight munchies.
Glancing around the corner of the kitchen island, you were greeted with the backside of the shorter skeleton brother. Sans. Sans the skeleton.
You've seen pictures of this guy in a red dress shirt with black vests, shoes and fedora. But this…? This was something else.
The skeleton in question was wearing fluffy pink slippers, in a union suit and held an open astronomy book in the hand that wasn't rummaging through the fridge.
In any other situation, you would've sniggered about seeing a mob boss in a union suit pajama. But currently, you were breaking into and stealing from his home. So this probably wouldn't be a good time to laugh at a mob boss in his skivvies.
"Meow!"
You nearly yelped in surprise.
"Meoooww!" The cat who you had thought was uninterested with your existence had suddenly manifested behind you and was rubbing her head against your bag. Panicked, you began waving your arms at her, hoping to shoo her off.
"Mew!" She cried again, rubbing her head along the leather as her meow turned into loud purring. "ah, shaddup, doomie. you know how boss gets when i feed ya before your set feedin' times."
"Meoooow!" The cat protested, letting out a frustrated groan, Sans closed the door to the fridge "doomfanger, shut it! boss is sleepin'!"
You panicked as you registered his footsteps going around the island and tried to scramble away, only for the cat -Doomfanger?- to leap onto your chest, her nails clawing into your chest.
Unwittingly, you let out a cry of alarm and thudded into the floor.
Ping
You felt your body freeze, not just from fear, but from the sight of your SOUL being pulled out of your body and being turned bright red.
You felt your throat constrict as your mouth went dry.
Hoooooo boy were you in for a bad time…