Mello
For someone in his position, the kid sure had guts.
I was pretty sure he had already processed that his life was dancing on my palm, and if I hadn't been really interested in a hacker, I would have crushed it already.
Ross was too busy with a brunette that obviously had located the boss and straddled her way to a secure position. Like if being the boss' pet would save her ass. If anything, she'd buy herself a one way ticket to the coffin.
If Ross didn't finish her with one of his many sick sex games (the old fart was almost as bad as me in the domain), she'd be shredded to pieces by the other girls for the spot.

Seemed I would have to solve the junkie's case alone since Ross was unable to talk with his tongue buried in the brunette's cleavage.

I turned back to the kid who was still staring at me, or was he high as fuck, I couldn't tell, he could as well have been looking through me with that expression that held something of a fish agonising on a grocery store's display.

It seemed that the energy required to introduce himself as the new hacker had emptied his batteries, because he was now obviously spacing out.
No. It wasn't that. He was coming down from his high. I had seen it often enough to recognise it. I snapped my fingers before his nose, startling him. The fucking kid giggled.

"Sorry man, I..."
El Niño almost sent the redhead to the floor as he nudged him to shut him up, catching him up just in time and pulling him straight up again.
"At least there's a smart one between you two." I sighed, patting El Niño's cheek before sending my coldest glare to the kid, turning to face him, too close for his comfort, enough for my entertainment.
He was coming down but not enough for the fear not to show on his features.
He swallowed with difficulty, his eyes widening. Blue. They were blue.
His lips quivered slightly, and he took a step backward.

I didn't let him complete the movement though, gripping his shirt and bringing him even closer with slow movements, snarling. He would have wetted his pants that I wouldn't have been surprised at that point.
I made a duty of inspecting his features like a vulgar piece of meat, still holding him. Then I threw him to the floor, and it was as easy as throwing a toothpick. This guy really needed to eat.

"New hacker... hmm. And what makes you think we need your skills, if you have skills to begin with?" I asked, going back to sit on the couch.
El Niño pulled the kid back on his feet, but he didn't dare to move further on his own.
"Answer!" I growled, "You've made it alive so far, consider yourself lucky I'm in a good mood. But don't push it."

"I... they said you needed a techie so I thought you could use me... I mean, my skills." the junkie stared hard at the floor, probably too scared to look at me. Mmh... love that.
"First thing if you want to last more than ten minutes here, don't think. There's only one brain here and it's me. But you're right on one point," I said, gesturing to El Niño to bring the redhead closer, "I will use you."
I smirked at his decomposing face. He knewit wasn't a light statement. Good kid, finally understanding who he was talking to.

I glanced at Ross who was still squeezing tits, not even interested to the slightest in the brat. He vaguely looked at me, probably feeling my eyes on him, but I knew with the half crooked smile he sent me that he trusted me to solve the matter in whatever way I wanted. The power of boobs... turning a Mafia boss to a kid looking at a candy store.
Ah... I wouldn't deny I liked playing with women's attributes, I had had my fair share of fucks here, girls came and went like a regular supply for the men, and I always kept the prettiest for myself once Ross had made his choice, but still, it had never gone in the way of my judgement.

"Sit." I commanded, yanking the supposed hacker's arm to have his ass greet the dirty carpet. Know your place kid.
"So, you're a hacker." It wasn't a question. I bent to catch the laptop I was using minutes ago to bring it to the kid's eye level. He looked at me, then at the screen, and something happened in his eyes, like a fucking light coming out of nowhere.
I leaned back in the couch, making myself comfortable. "Here you go. Sandman's security system, twenty three cameras, and an infrared security line around the saves. You get in there, you get in here."
The kid barely took his eyes off the screen, and already typing, he asked: "How much time?"
"I'll shoot you when I consider it's taking too long."

Sat crisscrossed beside the coffee table, the junkie was typing frantically, not even disturbed by my persistent stare. At that point, I believe he wasn't even aware of his surroundings. I could however see his jaw twitch more and more often. After something like ten minutes he fished something in his rear pocket, earning him the barrel of my gun on the temple.
"Easy, Sir, I just need a smoke." he said, holding his twenty pack, hands up in a peace offering.
I huffed and put my Beretta back in my pants. Yes, I can sit with a gun down my front, shut up.

"Someone already broke into the security system." the guy stated after a while, looking at me in expectancy.
"I know. Took you long enough to figure it out." I was inspecting my nails in a bored fashion, but I was actually mentally noting that he had made it in seventeen minutes, when I had needed thirty-two.
"You know?" his cigarette was dangling from his lips, and I thought he was about to swallow it.
I smirked. "Did I say I needed a techie?"
"Wha... Man, Sir, What?" He dragged on his cigarette so deeply that he began to spit his lungs out.

Playing mind games put me in a good mood so I patiently waited that he could breathe again.
"The whole circuit is already under control. Did they tell you what happened to the last hacker we had here?" I crossed my legs, finally looking at him.
"Th... they said you shot him." he whispered, averting his eyes from mine.
"Right. Why fucking have a hacker in here if I can do the job?"
Oh, the look in his eyes. Delightful.

"Go on." I gestured to the laptop.
The kid looked at me in disbelief and went back to the screen.
Of course I had already broken into the system, I was a fucking genius.

Glancing at the computer's clock, I waited. It was going to be long and I knew it.
Time passed, I stood up several times, walking around the room, sipping coffee... at some point I even stole a cigarette to the junkie, who, even if he looked at me from the corner of his eyes, never protested. Like he could...

He was getting more and more nervous, swears escaping him from time to time. Pressure much?

Two hours and twenty one minutes.
"Guess you're not that good." I spat, making the hacker start at the sound of my gun's security being pulled off.
Two hours and nineteen minutes was what I had needed to deactivate the infrared system. I wouldn't wait any longer.
"Just three more minutes, I'm charging the files and I'm done!" The kid panicked.
Files?

Holy shit, the kid was good.
He lit up a smoke, silent, staring at me. At that point, I guess he didn't dare say a word, but he had control of the infrared lines, accessed the technical archives at Sandman's and obtained the codes of the saves. All of them. When it had taken me two hours and nineteen minutes to deactivate the infrared system only. And probably twice the same amount of time to get those codes.

"You're in." I said. I could do the job, but he was faster. A lot faster. Plus I wasn't fond of anything computer related and I had other focuses here in the Mafia that already ate a lot of my time.
"I thought you didn't need a hacker." he stated blankly, not understanding but obviously relieved. He was paler than before, if possible, and I could see the hair on his nape sticky with sweat although it wasn't particularly hot in here.
"I don't, but I always keep my word." Huh, like I would admit it in front of the kid that he was better than me at this.

I didn't have time to think about what I'd do with the guy further than that, because he started to become really nervous, and cigarettes didn't seem to be enough anymore. The kid needed his fix, obviously.
Damn, like I needed such crap in my paws.
I grabbed his chin to look at him since he was having it really bad right now and didn't seem to focus anymore.
"Niño, bring on the dope." The tall thug disappeared and came back equally fast, throwing four bags on the coffee table. Whatever the kid was on, we had it.

Matt
That hack wouldn't have taken as long if I hadn't been shaking so badly, but it wasn't my fault that Crazy Fuck didn't think to fix my problem until after it. He should see me on speed. Cuts at least ten minutes off my time.

Regardless, I was now high again, stamping out my cigarette and scrambling for the heroin as soon as it was presented to me. If this was how it was gonna be all the time, life was gonna be sweet. Lots of hacking, wages paid in drugs. As long as they fed me occasionally, I literally wouldn't have a complaint. And the rest of the time, free room and board in a cushy (relative to the streets) Mafia base? That was probably warm in winter? Yes, please.

Thoroughly more optimistic now that there was no gun pointed at me but still very aware that there was a gun in the proximity, I watched Crazy Fuck as he stared me down.

"Feeling better, junkie?" he asked.

I knew I was being mocked, but in truth I was feeling better. How bad could this whole situation be? So, outlook positive, I said, "Yes. Thank you."

His face did some kind of expression I couldn't name, but it definitely wasn't something like 'happiness' or 'pleased.'

"Good," he grunted. "See this rug?"

I looked down at my feet and there was, in fact, a tattered rug.

"I do, sir."

"It's yours. Have a good night."

I gaped at him as he vaulted over the back of the couch and made himself comfortable with his back to me. Against my better judgment, I said skeptically, "To sleep on?"

He didn't even turn around, flipping through some files or something. "Mhm."

"The other guys get rooms."

BANG!

I like to think that if I hadn't been high, I definitely wouldn't have pissed myself when I heard Crazy Fuck's gunshot. Shaking, I traced the trajectory and found the bullet hole. Right by my toes.

"I never miss," Crazy Fuck said pointedly, looking back down at his papers. So apparently he'd had to at least glance up to shoot. That boded well. "Understand?"

"Y-Yessir," I managed.

"Sit, boy."

I sat without argument.

"Don't move from there. Someone will let you out to do your business in the morning."

Well. Maybe this whole deal wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I may be filthy, I may stink, I may be willing to do almost anything (or, actually, anything) for drugs, but I was a person. I might even have a little bit of pride, maybe. So if Crazy Fuck was gonna treat me like a damn dog with rugs to sleep on and, apparently, taking dumps outdoors when someone lets me out, I was just gonna leave.

Quietly. After he was asleep. Because that bitch is insane.

And so I waited. And waited. And waited. And just sat around in that hellhole, waiting for Crazy Fuck to actually leave for the room which had to be, by process of elimination, his. Long after everyone else was in bed, he was awake, working silently on something that I was too afraid to read over his shoulder to examine. So I simply curled up on the little rug, ignoring the fact that I was doing exactly what he wanted me to do, and continued waiting.

I was so drugged out that I was generally incapable of sleep, and for the first time ever that actually came in handy. I remained vigilant until finally, finally Crazy Fuck suddenly snapped out of his work-trance and rubbed his eyes exhaustedly. He stood up, cracked his neck, and headed towards his room, pausing only to give me an extremely condescending grin.

I quickly looked down. I didn't want to meet his eye.

When I had waited another hour and snoring was all I could hear from any of the rooms, I knew it was my chance.

As quietly as possible, using every ounce of sneaking experience I had gained from stealing various things from various people over the years, I crept towards the entrance.

I was almost there... but there were still four giant sacks of every drug imaginable on the table, and if I could get my hands on that I might actually be able to sell enough (any that I didn't use) to get an apartment or something. I could give some to Candy and the others, assuming they survived, and receive their services. A stash this huge could be my ticket to the big time!

I tiptoed over there and grabbed as much as I could carry, which was two, cursing my weak body for halving my ticket to the big time.

I looked around. Still no one was awake.

Okay, now it was really time to get out of here. There could be thousands of dollars in a case, but I was not gonna push it even a bit further.

Silent as a ghost, or so I hoped, I carefully, carefully made my way to the only exit I knew of...

I'd never been one for extrasensory experiences (with the exception of drug-induced hallucinations), which is why I knew the prickly, cold chill that suddenly ran down my spine had to actually mean something.

Suddenly I was in the air, toes not even scraping the cement flooring, and I smelled chocolate even with my thoroughly wrecked sense of smell. This whole sensation was accompanied by the sound of my shirt fabric tearing even more, but that was all I knew until I felt a hand on my shoulder, pushing me so that I spun around from where I dangled.

"I don't sleep, asshole."

Crazy Fuck had grabbed me by the collar. I couldn't help but assume that my life was pretty much over at this point. Eyes huge, I could only look at him, waiting for him to kill me or worse. His eyes were wild and bright, bright, bright, cold, frozen blue. Those eyes were going to be the last thing I ever saw.

But for a long, long time, he only stared at me, insanity pulsing through him like a heartbeat, until finally he dropped me. I crumpled to the floor, never looking away.

He left me there for a long moment. Finally- "Come here," he said calmly. I picked myself up with effort and followed him as he turned on his heels and strode down a few hallways.

I was already lost in the maze, of course, and all I could do was trail behind the walking nightmare and wonder if I would ever see daylight again as he led me towards Force knows what.