(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko, or any names/brands that might appear in the story. Any references to any person living or dead is merely a coincidence, and should NOT be taken as intentional.)

Doing another one of his crossword puzzles as he laid in the backseat of Henry's car, Ray was trying to stave off his boredom while he was being driven by Mike and Henry all the way over to Hartford, Connecticut. The reason he was heading out to Hartford was because he was due to have very important meeting with Don Joseph Scaletta of the Scaletta Crime Family. Y'know, some fellow followers of Cosa Nostra? These guys were based out in Boston. Although it was extraordinarily rare for the dons of mafia families to personally meet after that mess with the feds in Apalachin back in '57, the Conway Mob has been a pain in the ass in both New York City and Boston and it was officially time for a sit-down between the two dons to discuss what can be done about those Irish goons.

Conway and his boys were going to need to be dealt with one way or another, regardless of if a gang war actually ended up breaking out in New York or Boston. The Morettis and the Scalettas just needed a good plan of action. If the heads of the families met, then they'd get one.

Noticing the events up in Boston (namely several arson attacks against Scaletta buisnesses, a few murders, and God only knew how many fistfights between the Conways and Scalettas on the streets), Ray was the one who first came up with the idea of forming an alliance between the Morettis and the Scalettas so that they could both fight Gerald Conway and his boys in both cities. The threats made to Henry and his girlfriend a few days ago was the straw that broke the camel's back. A line needed to be drawn in the sand after that little incident, whether it had a risk of escalating into a war or not.

Luckily for Ray, Don Scaletta had agreed to the formation of an alliance between their two families. Under the basic informal terms of their new agreement, the Scalettas and Morettis would give each other access to each other's valuable contacts and well-supplies gun runners. They'd pool their resources to fight the Conways and any other Irish that dare to get in their way, but just as importantly they'd also be giving each other access to some of each other's safehouses both in Boston and New York City. Those would be a godsend if they ever needed to lay low from the Conway Mob or, God forbid, the law.

This wouldn't be intended to be an alliance of any sort of loyalty to one another, but it was more of an agreement born out of necessity. Both of the mafia dons could see the benefits of having each other's family do even a little bit of their extra dirty work in the other's city. Who knows? Maybe this alliance will turn out to work so well that it could last even much longer than Gerald Conway's life.

Ray finished up another word on his crossword puzzle before he set the book aside. Hartford was a couple of hours out from New York City but it was the exact halfway point between there and Boston. It was the perfect place to set up a meeting between the Morettis and the Scalettas. The drive was boring but it wasn't even close to as hellish as the drive from NYC to Rochester was. Even now he was still a bit pissed at Frank Romano for making him go all the way out there to kill him...

Specifically, the place they were to meet was a house on a street called Langford Lane. It was a spot picked out for them by the New Haven branch of the neutral Colombo Family, but most importantly it was a spot where no ambushes would await either side and where there would be no presence from the feds. Ray was sure that everything would go smoothly for all involved. It also helped that the car in front of Ray, Mike and Henry's held the soldatos Vinnie 'Ice Pick' Galante and Derek Rosato, along with their capo Paulie Marcano.

Another car behind theirs carried four Moretti triggermen who were all armed with some submachine guns. The fact that Ray was bringing some of his manpower with him was both accepted and understood by Don Scaletta as a security necessity, and as agreed with Ray he was also bringing an equal amount of Scaletta gunmen with him to this important meeting.

In any event, Ray and Don Scaletta go back more than a few years and they thought pretty respectfully of one another. It helped a lot that both Ray's father and Don Scaletta considered each other as good friends for many years as well. Their two families may have had a few tense moments with each other over the last few decades but thankfully nothing ever spilled into killings or open warfare. Uniquely, at least compared with other mafias here in America and back in the old country, not a drop of blood has ever been shed by either one of these families against the other.

Ray didn't see any complications that would arise from a meeting like this, and with luck the Morettis and Scalettas would make sure that the Conway Mob was going to be nothing but a distant memory very soon. After that, things in New York hopefully will get to go back to normal and the Morettis can continue their (not so) legal business activities across the whole city. Though the Moretti Family would be adding in territory in the Bronx as a victory prize once Gerald and the rest of the Conway Mob has finally been dealt with, of course.

"So the Moretti Family and the Scaletta Family are probably gonna helping each other out now, huh, boss?" Henry asked, trying to make a little small talk during this long drive. The Morettis have aided other families before this Irish nonsense but not for the last several years. It was practically a new experience to him.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a weird situation." Ray conceded. "But Conway's fucking around and starting a lot of shit both down in New York and up in Beantown. The added muscle we can offer each other can go a pretty long way towards ending Gerald Conway a lot sooner than either of us could by ourselves." he reasoned.

"Moretti and Scaletta triggermen shooting side by side, huh? That's a combo that's as good as Irish whiskey and Irish corpses." Mike cracked a stupid joke as he drove the car.

"Especially Irish corpses..." Henry smirked as he looked out the window from the passenger seat.

Ray couldn't help but laugh at that. He knew that the two underboses were completely right. If the Morettis and the Scalettas teamed up and combined their manpower and their connections, then there'd be a helluva lot of dead Conway micks all over New York and New England. If this meeting goes well for the two families then it'll quite literally be a match made in hell.

"So what's Don Scaletta like, boss? You know anything about him?" Mike wondered aloud. "I'm not too familiar with most of our brothers outside of the Family." he added.

"Well, he's a pretty straightforward kind of guy." Ray shrugged. "He doesn't like to take any shit and he expects people to be able to get shit done if he tells them to do it. Don Scaletta also loves gin and he's a Red Sox fan. He also really hates drugs. He hates them so much that he even forbade the Scaletta Family from any sort of drug deals. No coke, no X, not even reefer..." he explained a little about Don Scaletta to his two friends. "I think I also heard somewhere that he likes collecting rare stamps. Either that, or old coins or somethin' else along those lines..."

The Moretti don glanced out of the window and he tried to think more about what Scaletta was like. It would be very helpful to his boys if they knew as much about the other don as they could before they could finally meet him. "What else...? Oh, yeah, well, he's the undisputed lord of organized crime in Boston and he's one of the top men in the Commission too. He also took charge of his Family after his father Don Ennio was whacked by one of his own underbosses in '54, though he avenged his dad by strangling the weaselous underboss to death himself. And he was also one of the guys who was at Apalachin in '57. He and some others had to run through the woods for miles to get away from the feds..."

Ray paused for a moment so that he could take a sip of some Sprite that he got at their last pit-stop. After that, he continued speaking.

"He's nearly been assassinated more times than I could count. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he was the last of the old generation that's willingly still in the life, let alone still actively taking part in it... All in all, Don Scaletta is not the worst guy to get to know so long as you don't get on his bad side. He's a tough old bastard and he's very good to those who are loyal to him." Ray finished informing his two underbosses about the other don.

"Does he got kids? A wife, at least?" Henry wondered as he kept looking out the window.

"I know that he's been divorced for many years. But he had four sons in total before that marriage ended." Ray responded. "Two of his sons signed up to join the military. One went to the Army Rangers and was sent to Afghanistan, the other became a Marine and got shipped over to Iraq."

Ray looked at his crossword book again and he was tempted to go back to it, but his eyes were a bit strained from staring at the paper nonstop for the last couple of hours. With a shrug he looked back to his friends and kept explaining. "By what I can only assume to be a shitty cosmic coincidence they both got iced by some IEDs. But do you wanna know the weirdest part? Both of 'em were killed by those towelheaded bastards on the same day, just a few hours apart from each other... Honestly, what are the fucking odds of that? Anyway, a few years after that, a third son of his got snatched up by some Albanian crew that the Scaletta Family had beef with..."

The Moretti don visibly cringed as he spoke his next sentence. "The poor guy dealt with the Albanians' 'hospitality' for fifteen goddamn days before they finally ended him with meat cleavers... After that, they dumped what was left of him right outside a distillery that Don Scaletta owns outside Boston. To my knowledge, Don Scaletta's retribution was... harsh, to put it politely."

Henry and Mike both cringed a bit at hearing that. They knew from experience that 'harsh' was almost always an understatement when it came to Cosa Nostra.

"Lots and lots of those guys got whacked all over Boston and beyond." Ray continued. "But the main Albanian guys who tortured and murdered his son weren't whacked. They all got kidnapped and tortured for days just like how his son was. Their eyeballs, their tongues, their ears, and... uh... 'other parts' were all cut off during that time." Ray had cringed at his own words. "It was some pretty fucked up stuff... Anyway, after that they all got dumped in public places around the city for the people to see. Send the entire city a message not to fuck with the Scaletta Family, y'know?"

Ray hesitated for a moment, but he continued to speak once more. "The guy who actually ordered his son to be kidnapped and tortured to death? Don Scaletta didn't kill him either. What happened was that he was kidnapped by the Scalettas... Fifteen days later, the Boston P.D. found the guy skinned alive and hanging from some meat hooks in the same warehouse that Don Scaletta's son was butchered in... To my knowledge, that Albanian guy was alive for another two weeks before his heart finally gave out from exhaustion in the hospital..."

"...Holy shit..." Mike muttered with shock from everything he had heard.

Henry was pretty disturbed by what he heard as well but unlike Mike he didn't take his eyes off the road. Although the fates of those Albanians was gruesome, he personally didn't feel much pity for them. Brutal shit like that was just to be expected if you fuck with the son of a mob boss. In regard to that son and the other two sons, Henry had no idea how any kind of man could emotionally deal with having to bury three of his children. He also couldn't comprehend the kind of vengeance that Don Scaletta could dish out against the people who wrong his family.

One thing was for sure though: Joesph Scaletta was not a man to be fucked with. He definitely had to have been one tough man if he was still willingly living this way of life.

Henry kept his eye on the road as he drove. "What happened to the fourth kid? He still alive?" he wondered aloud to his don.

"Yeah." Ray nodded. "Tony Scaletta's a capo in the Scaletta Family. I hear that people like to call him 'Tony Cadillac' 'cause he runs a decent auto-repair shop somewhere up in Brookline. That kid reminds me a little of Paulie, but less on the heavy side and definitely less greasy..." he futher explained, making a half-true joke at the end in regards to Paulie.

"Is he comin' to the meeting?" Mike inquired out of curiosity.

"I didn't ask Don Scaletta but I'd wager Tony might just show up. We'll just have to see what happens." Ray replied with an honest shrug. "But anyway, you guys might like him. He's much more laid back than his dad is and I think he's got some stuff in common with you guys. Actually, now that I think about it, I think maybe you both ought to try to get to know him a bit if we're all gonna be working together now..." he added. His two underbosses nodded in reply.

That's when Henry noticed that their car was getting pretty low on gas. By that point they were getting close to Hartford, but after Henry got the all-clear from Ray he decided to pull over and get some more gas before they headed into the city. He called up Paulie on his phone and let him know that they were going to pull over at the next station they would come across. After that, Henry followed Paulie's car for another mile down the road they found a rest area with some gas pumps. Paulie drove into there with Henry and the other car following behind him.

Paulie parked in an open parking spot as Henry drove past him and over to the gas pumps. The other car simply pulled over a short distance from Paulie's car and the four triggermen inside patiently began to wait for their don's car to get moving again. As Henry got out and started pumping the gas into his tank, Ray felt he needed to get out and stretch for a bit, maybe get something to drink in the gas station. So, Ray climbed out of the backseat and he went over to chat with Paulie, Derek and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' about the upcoming meeting.

Mike stayed with Henry as his friend pumped gas into the fuel tank. Mike pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and a lighter from the other, but after he put a cigarette in his mouth the lighter was snatched from his hand by Henry, who threw it back into the car before Mike could spark the thing.

A confused Mike blinked at his friend's action, but Henry just deadpanned at him while he pointed up at a "No Smoking: Fire Hazard" sign attached to the side of the gas pump. Mike was a bit annoyed by this but he relented and took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it back in his pack, saving it for later. He seriously needed to get on nicotine patches or something anyway, or at least just cut back on his habit... Christ, he figured he should've known that by now considering that his own dad literally died of lung cancer.

Ray, however, didn't share his friend's sense of breaking a bad habit, nor did he ever try to care to. After finishing his talk with his men, he lit up a cigarette and he walked with Paulie, Derek, and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' into the gas station. Some cashier who looked around eighteen or nineteen or so tried to give Ray some shit about smoking inside of the building, but an icy glare from Paulie, Derek and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' silenced the boy almost immediately. Satisfied at at the now-silenced protests, Ray kept on smoking his cigarette as he turned to look at his three made men.

"Alright, you guys hungry or somethin'? Want any coffee? I'm buyin'..." Ray offered the three made men with him before he took another puff of his cigarette.

Derek politely declined since he didn't want anything but Vinnie and Paulie both took their don up on his offer. Ray nodded and he went to get some fresh coffee and a couple of hot dogs with them while Derek went to stand guard near the front doors of the station for his boss.

As Ray treated himself and his loyal men to some crappy coffee and some cheap gas station hot dogs inside, Henry had filled up half of his car's gas tank and he was still going since he wanted the entire tank filled up. He cringed a bit when he saw how much he had to pay to fill up the tank... Jesus, how did gas get so expensive these days? Thanks a lot for the shitty gas prices, President Resnick... you douchebag.

Out of boredom Mike left his friend for the moment and he went to lean against the trunk of Henry's car. He crossed his arms and relaxed as he watched the cars heading up and down the highway, counting them by color just like how he did with Ray and Henry when they were all little kids living in Bath Beach together. The last couple of hours in that car had been extraordinarily boring and he was desperate for some sort of entertainment, cause if anything interesting didn't happen soon then he felt like he'd just blow his own brains out...

Unfortunately, something did happen pretty quickly after that, something that immediately drew Mike's eye. He saw a black SUV and a white SUV with tinted windows that were barreling past all of the traffic on the highway and they were speeding towards the gas station much faster than they reasonably should. To Mike's shock, the SUVs had pushed a minivan out of the way and caused it to hit a tree off the side of the highway while they continued on into the gas station's parking lot. It was obvious that these SUVs meant trouble was on the way.

Mike, quickly realizing what was about to happen, suddenly grabbed a confused Henry by the scruff of his jacket and threw him over the trunk and to the other side of the car. He dived in behind him, and after he reoriented himself he readied his pistol while Henry recovered from his friend's life-saving action. A couple of scratches and a bruise was far better than taking bullets.

The black SUV circled the perimeter as the white one slammed straight into the car carrying the four Moretti gunmen. The car was hit so hard that it had flipped onto its side, but the driver of the white SUV simply kept his foot on the accelerator and pushed the car like it was weightless. Within seconds, the white SUV had pushed the car and its occupants all the way to the brick wall of an outdoor bathroom. Debris like broken glass and shards of metal were all over the asphalt. The car was pinned against the wall by the white SUV and the four Moretti gunmen inside were all either too injured or too stunned from the impact to do anything.

The black SUV which was circling the perimeter finally parked outside the front of the gas station and the occupants rolled down their windows. Ray, Paulie, Derek, Vinnie 'Ice Pick', and the cashier had all already been looking through the windows of the building after they heard the white SUV hit the Moretti car, but once the windows went down the mobsters all realized what was about to happen. They immediately dived for cover wherever they could find it.

Alas, the cashier didn't dive down since he still had no idea what was happening. The poor kid took several bullets in the chest and head once the gunmen in the black SUV began to open fire at the building in an attempt to assassinate the Moretti mobsters. As the cashier fell dead onto the floor, the three made men all readied their guns and prepared to defend their don by whatever means necessary, although Ray was readying his gun too since he was sure as shit not going to sit this fight out. If someone was trying to kill him then he was damn sure gonna make them work for it!

Derek readied his M1911 as the bullets flew all around them. Light bulbs exploded. The glass doors on the freezers shattered. Cans and boxes and snack cakes were shot off of the shelves. Nudie magazines were tragically damaged beyond repair. The mobster barely had any clue what was happening in the midst of all of this but one thing was very clear: someone wanted blood. "WHO IN THE NAME OF JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IS SHOOTING AT US?!" he shouted at the other mobsters as bullets kept flying all around them.

"I have no idea, kid!!! Just shoot back and ask questions later!!!" Paulie shouted back at his soldato, the shots from the SUV shredding the inside of the gas station as they took cover for their lives. Though he was in a life-threatening situation, Paulie took the opportunity to pocket a few fallen snack cakes and a bag of chips while he had the chance. Might as well.

Against his better judgement, Ray cautiously peeked his head around his cover and looked to see what was going on outside. Mike and Henry were still taking cover behind their car but they weren't taking any fire yet. He caught a good glimpse of the shooters in the black SUV, but unfortunately he couldn't tell who any of the shooters were. All of them were wearing black suits and they had some balaclavas on to help conceal their faces. But whoever they were, they were clearly professionals. Military-grade machine guns, expert aim, the rapidity in their attack... This was a pre-planned ambush and the Moretti Family were the targets.

Ray also noticed that the four Moretti gunmen were pinned in their car by that white SUV. He desperately tried to figure out a way to get his boys out of that mess before the worst could happen, but alas it was already too late for him to do anything to save them. Three shooters armed with submachine guns climbed out of the white SUV and they went to face the front windshield of the car, raising their weapons. Then those bastards all suddenly emptied their magazines into the windshield.

Those four Moretti boys in the car were all torn to shreds. Butchered like animals in seconds...

"FOTTUTI SUCCHIACAZZI!!! (MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKERS!!!)" Ray furiously cursed at the shooters who killed his men. "Una volta usciti da questo, strapperò le loro fottute lingue dalla bocca e le spedirò alle loro fottute madri! (Once we get out of this, I'm gonna rip their fucking tongues out of their mouths and mail them to their fucking mothers!)" he added, angrily slamming his fist against a metal shelf.

"Boss, keep your head down!" Paulie said as he hurried over and pulled Ray back from the window. "Ray, I promise we'll find these guys and we'll make them all pay, but you're gonna get yourself shot if you don't stay down!" he stated as he reloaded his gun.

Ray cursed to himself yet again and he readied his pistol to shoot back at the attackers, though he made sure to keep his head safely down this time. He swore to himself that all four of those poor boys would be avenged later

Meanwhile, Henry and Mike were still taking cover behind Henry's car outside. They both witnessed the four Moretti guys get shot up inside of their car. The two underbosses were infuriated, and neither hesitated to raise their guns and shoot round after round at the three guys who shot their boys. The attackers were taken by surprise since it seemed like they didn't know that the two underbosses were there, and within a couple of seconds two of them fell dead with bullets in their chests and brains.

The other shooter from the white SUV took a round in his kneecap, causing him to scream in pain and to desperately dive behind the overturned Moretti car for some cover. Both Henry and Mike were about to head over there and finish the guy off themselves, but the shooters in the black SUV noticed what was going on and that two of their friends were now laying dead on the ground.

As two of the shooters in the black SUV continued to fire at Ray and the others, one of them went to the back windshield and started shooting at the two through it, causing them to take cover once again. As Henry and Mike took cover, Henry's car suffered the consequences. Henry could only watch with utter shock as his car started to get shot up.

"MY CAR!!! MY FUCKIN' CAR!!! OH MY GOD, THEY'RE SHOOTING MY BEAUTIFUL FUCKIN' CAR!!!" Henry exclaimed with nothing less than sheer horror as his car was shot all to hell by whoever was attacking them. He loved that car. "MIKEY, THOSE ANIMALS ARE SHOOTING MY BABY GIRL!!! THEY'RE KILLING HER!!! THEY'RE KILLING MY BABY!!!" he practically screamed in his friend's face in his despair. His car was being turned into Swiss cheese!

The bullets had easily caused thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of damage to his beautiful, pristine 1966 Lincoln Continental in just a few short seconds. Henry was so distraught that he actually tried to stand up and start shooting at the mysterious shooters once more, but luckily Mike pulled him back behind the car and out of the line of fire before he could get hurt. Henry's car wasn't worth his getting killed over!

"Just keep your fuckin' head down, man! You're gonna take lead if you don't!" Mike shouted as he fired off a few rounds at the shooters. Instead of standing up to shoot, he was blind-firing over the hood of Henry's car, keeping himself safely covered. "It's just a car! It ain't worth your life, man!"

""JUST A CAR"?! "JUST A CAR"?! MIKE, HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A TERRIBLE THING ABOUT MY BABY GIRL?!"

"Are you fuckin' serious right now?! You're really gonna act like this in the middle of a gunfight?!"

"YES!"

Mike fired off another round or two at the attackers before he turned back to Henry. "Good lord! You know that you can get the fuckin' thing fixed later, right?!"

"BUT I JUST GOT HER WAXED YESTERDAY!!!"

Henry looked up and literally screamed at the sky so loudly that his throat got a bit scratchy. Even the guys who were shooting at them cringed from how loud his shouts had become. "WHY, GOD?! WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MY BABY GIRL?! SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO ANYONE!!! SHE WAS A GOOD CAR, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! SHE WAS FUCKIN' INNOCENT!!! SHE WAS FUCKIN' INNNNNNNOOOOOOOCEEEEEEEEENNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!"

Mike simply rolled his eyes and he didn't say anything more about it to his nearly-sobbing best friend. Henry's Lincoln was certainly a beautiful car, but the car taking a few bullets was better than you taking a few bullets! Shit like this is exactly why Mike almost always drove some really cheap cars anyway... Maybe for once Henry would finally learn not to drive nice cars when people are gunning for him and his friends.

As Mike and Henry took fire from the guys in the black SUV by the building, Ray and the others inside the gas station had to figure out a way to help them both out and escape with their lives. Luck finally came to them when Paulie got a good shot against the shooter firing at Henry and Mike. Paulie fired his pistol and he shot the scumbag right in the face. The attacker instantly fell dead inside the SUV and his weapon fell out of the destroyed back window and out onto the pavement below.

The other shooters stopped firing at this killing. They've lost three guys so far and a fourth was wounded and cowering behind the overturned car. Though they had strict orders from their boss to not leave any evidence, they didn't have much of a choice but to drive away and leave the two corpses and the sole survivor behind. The black SUV, its three surviving occupants, and the corpse inside all sped away from the crime scene. They abandoned the survivor and the driver of the white SUV to whatever fate would await them.

The driver of the white SUV attempted to back up from the overturned car so that he could speed away too, but a skilled shot from Henry sent a bullet straight into his brain. The driver instantly fell dead onto his steering wheel, endlessly sounding off the horn. His lifeless eyes stared directly at his killer. His foot fell on the accelerator and sent the vehicle flying back across the parking lot until it crashed into a parked car and ceased to move any further.

Though one of the SUVs had escaped, the firefight had finally ended. Whoever the attackers were they had failed to kill the head of the Moretti Family. All that they succeeded at was killing four triggermen and getting three of themselves killed in the process. Though they didn't kill any of these made men today, Ray and the rest of his friends would not rest until they killed whoever ordered this attack.

Cautiously, Mike and Henry stood up from behind Henry's ruined car. Henry literally had to fight off tears as he gazed upon his beauty-turned-wreck, and after he was sure Mike wasn't looking he leaned down and gave an affectionate kiss to the door. "I'll fix you, baby... I promise." he whispered as quietly as he could. The last thing he needed was for Mike or any of the other guys to hear something like that...

Ray and everyone else in the gas station carefully rose their heads to look out the windows, breathing a sigh of relief once they saw that the two underbosses outside were okay. The four made men stood up, brushed themselves off, and then went outside to meet the pair. They were all pretty shocked that they weren't shot...

"Jesus, that was rough... you two okay?" Ray wondered, a tone of concern evident in his voice.

"Yeah, we're both okay." Mike nodded. "How about you guys? No one got hit?"

"The cashier got killed but that idiot didn't really matter... All of us are fine." Paulie assured the underboss with a triumphant grin on his face.

Though Henry and Mike were very relieved, they both noticed Ray's scowl as he glanced over at the car with the four dead Moretti men inside of it. Obviously the family took some casualties today. Saying that he and the other made men were "all" fine was insulting, though Ray didn't say anything about Paulie's incorrect choice of words. He truly hated losing men like this but that was just an unfortunate part of this way of life for all involved. Ray also made a mental note to check in later with the dead men's families, maybe throw some money their way... they certainly deserved it.

Silently, Ray stepped away from the group and went to examine one of the dead shooters near the overturned car. The dead guy was laying face-down but Ray shoved him onto his back with his boot. The don then started to go through the dead guy's pockets in an effort to find anything that could tell him who they were. He had his suspicions on who had attacked him and his men, but he couldn't act without anything less than irrefutable proof.

Inside the dead guy's jacket was a now blood-covered leather pocketbook. Ray opened it, his eyes widening as he flipped through the pages to discover several attack plans and hundreds of words detailing the Moretti Family's meeting with the Scaletta Family today. The route they would take from New York to Hartford. The number of guys that would be attending. That Don Scaletta and Don Moretti would both be there... someone ratted, but who did?

As Ray finished flipping through the pocketbook, he tossed it over to Derek for safekeeping and then he yanked off the balaclava of the dead guy to show his face. As the face of the dead shooter was revealed, Henry's eyes widened.

He recognized this guy... It was one of those Irish bastards who threatened him and Ashley outside the movie theater a few days ago...

The Conway Mob had just tried to assassinate them all.

"He's Irish..." Henry announced, immediately drawing the attention of all of the others. "He's one of the guys who came up to me and Ash the other day. The one who threatened me, her, and the Family... Ray, this guy's with Conway!"

The Moretti don's scowl immediately turned into a look of pure fury. That Gaelic son of a bitch just tried to assassinate him?! He had lost four men to that bastard?! This little spat between the Conway Mob and the Moretti Family wasn't a spat anymore... it was war.

"We're going to war with Gerald Conway. Today." Ray announced to his men. He then turned to face Paulie. "Paulie, I want you to go back to New York and start spreading the word amongst the Family. Make sure our boys are out on the streets protecting our assets and our territories, and make sure that they know to start shooting whenever they see those Irish cunts on our turf. I want you to tell Sam about all of this and I want you to tell him to get the Commission on the line, they'll need to know about all of this mess too..."

Though he was annoyed that he had to drive all the way back to New York City, Paulie nodded at his don's request. But he wouldn't dare leave until he was sure that Ray was safely away from the crime scene. Ray himself stood up from the corpse of the shooter and he took a moment to look at his surroundings. He was actually pretty amazed that he and the other made men weren't even hit by a round, let alone killed today...

Ray then turned to look at Henry. "Henry, do not tell Lucy what happened. EVER." Ray was very adament to his underboss. He was certain that if his wife found out about any of this shit, she'd finish the job that these shooters failed to do. "You underst-"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Ray screamed and collapsed down to the ground after he felt a bullet tear its way through the flesh of his right leg. The others all finally saw that the one shooter who was shot in the leg and who took cover behind the overturned car had in fact survived the firefight. The dumb fuck fired off the last of his ammunition and he only hit Ray in his leg. Now he was without bullets, now he was caught out in the open, now facing five very angry mafioso...

And now came the consequences...

Henry, Mike, Derek, Paulie, and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' all unleashed hell on the helpless surviving shooter. They all began firing upon him as if they were a part of a firing squad - a fitting analogy considering that the shooter had basically just sentenced himself to death. Bullet after bullet from five handguns tore through the poor bastard's body until he was just a bloody, ravaged mess. The five mafiosi ensured that he was dead before he finally collapsed onto the ground. Mike and Derek kept firing at the guy even after he fell down, and they kept going until they had used up their magazines. Vengeance for shooting their don.

As Derek and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' kept their guns out in case any other shooter had also survived, Paulie, Henry, and Mike all hurried over to attend to their wounded don. Ray was gritting his teeth in an effort to deal with the searing pain in his right leg. Blood was pouring out of him, but Vinnie 'Ice Pick' took off his belt and tossed it to Henry so that he could make a tourniquet for him. It wasn't perfect but it would keep Ray alive until they could get him some medical attention up in Hartford.

"Fuck! Where did that guy come from?!" a baffled Ray wondered as Henry tied the belt around his leg. Henry certainly wasn't a doctor but he thought that the wound looked much worse than it actually was. As far as he could tell the bullet made clean entry and exit wounds, though he hoped that it didn't break any bones in Ray's leg. The belt tied to his leg was definitely helping to keep the don from bleeding out right then and there, but he needed to find an actual professional to deal with this. Maybe the Scalettas could help with that...

"I think I'm the one who shot that guy earlier! This is my fuck up, obviously I didn't kill him!" Mike took full responsibility for the guy putting a bullet in Ray.

"It ain't anyone's fault! Shit happens sometimes, that's all!" Paulie assured the underboss.

The six men suddenly could hear something far off in the distance, something that made all of them go wide eyed. Police sirens. The law was on the way to the scene and they would be here any second... These six had to get the fuck out of here. Now.

Not wasting any time at all, Henry and Derek hurriedly picked up Ray and took him over to Paulie's car, throwing him in the backseat with Vinnie 'Ice Pick' as Paulie got in the driver's seat. Derek took the passenger seat as Henry hurried back to his car with Mike, and soon both cars were speeding down the highway and away from the bullet-ridden gas station.

By the time the police cars arrived, the six made men were already long gone...

Ray cringed, growling with pain as he endured yet another hard bump on the road courtesy of Paulie's shitty driving. That bullet wound that he suffered just over an hour ago did a number on his leg, but luckily it went straight through his flesh and left only a clean wound behind. It didn't feel like the bullet had shattered any bones, so that was just plain luck. After he gets patched up it'll probably just be a week or two of limping and then he'll be right as rain.

Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same thing about those poor triggermen who were massacred in their car. He would avenge their deaths one way or another though... but right now his life was still at risk. Ray had a hole in his leg and it took a lot of effort from Derek to make sure he wasn't bleeding out.

"Do you really gotta hit every fuckin' bump in Connecticut, Paulie?!" Ray growled at his capo after yet another bumpy road sent some pain searing through his leg. "Y'know, for a mechanic, you drive worse than my fuckin' grandmother! And she's been dead for twenty-five fuckin' years!"

"What the hell do you want me to do, Ray?!" Paulie exclaimed with frustration as he sped down the street of a neighborhood. "It ain't my fault that the roads all suck here, so just fuckin' relax for a bit! We're almost there anyway!"

Ray cringed as Derek kept pressure on his leg wound. He was in way too much pain to deal with this shit. "I've got a hole the size of a ping pong ball in my leg and you're tellin' me to relax?! RELAX?! SERIOUSLY?! Just shut the fuck up and get me to the Scalettas, dammit!"

"Jesus, you guys argue like you're an old married couple!" Vinnie 'Ice Pick' couldn't help but make a joke from the passenger seat.

Three booming voices from Ray, Paulie and Derek immediately silenced the grinning young soldato. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, VINNIE!!!"

As Paulie and Ray continued to yell at each other, Henry and Mike followed close behind Paulie as he speed through the neighborhood. The GPS in his ruined car told Henry that they were only a street or two away from turning onto Langford Lane. Hopefully the Scalettas had a good doctor on standby to attend to Ray. All the ones the Morettis trusted were either back in New York or were otherwise too far away to be of any help. The concern for their don lingered in Henry and Mike's minds as they turned onto Langford Lane and sped to the cul-de-sac at the end of the street.

The two Moretti cars left skid marks as they stopped in front of the house where the meeting was to happen. The Scalettas guarding the place were startled by the sudden arrival and for a moment they thought they were under attack, but luckily they realized it was just their new friends coming in fast. Even so, they had no idea that their new allies would look like this upon arrival. Someone definitely attacked them on their way here. A few of the Scalettas hurried over to the two cars to see if Don Moretti and his boys were okay, and they were shocked to see that he had been shot.

As two of the Scalettas opened the rear door of Paulie's car and offered to help Ray, the Moretti don brushed their hands aside. "Sto bene! Non ho bisogno del tuo aiuto. (I'm okay! I don't need your help.)" Ray assured the Scaletta guys who tried to help his men carry him inside. He was glad to see some kids these days with some honor to their name. It wasn't every day he was offered help like that from people in other families.

As the Scaletta gunmen reluctantly backed away from Paulie's car and made some room, the front door of the house opened up and a young man hurried out to see what was happening outside. His eyes widened when he saw the blood on the five mafioso and the bullet wound in their don. Ray, however, simply forced a pained grin on his face as he saw the young man approach him.

"Hey, Tony..." Ray greeted the approaching Scaletta capo.

Tony Scaletta was no stranger to violence or blood. After all, he's been a capo under his father's rule for the last twenty years. But seeing a close family friend of his in such a state was simply horrifying to him. He then ordered his guards to ready their weapons and to go out and patrol the whole neighborhood instead of just the house. If Ray had been attacked on the way here then who knew if both he and his dad were targets too.

As several Scaletta goons hurried down the street, Tony turned his attention back to the wounded don. He could tell the poor bastard was in a lot of pain...

"Oh Christ, Don Moretti..." Tony said with a shocked tone. Someone obviously fucked up or ratted at the very least. "What happened out there? Who shot you? Was it the Conways? Did you lose anyone?" a million questions ran through the capo's head.

Ray's eye twitched for a moment before he deadpanned at the capo. "Oh, this little scratch on my leg? No, no, I just decided to shoot myself for fun." sarcasm dripped from his tongue. "OF COURSE CONWAY TRIED TO MURDER ME, TONY!!! IS IT NOT OBVIOUS?! HE KILLED FOUR OF MY FUCKING GUYS!!!" he blew up at what he could only say was a stupid question. However, Ray quickly regained his cool after that. "Christ, just... never mind! I'll fill you in about everything later! Just get your dad, I need to speak with him right now!"

After that outburst from Ray, Tony immediately ran back into the house to try and find his father. The others followed him inside, and Ray cringed as he was carried into the house and into the living room. As they could hear Tony speaking to his father, the Moretti don was carefully set down on the living room couch and a couple of pillows were used to prop up his head and his wounded leg. Ray was bleeding a little bit onto the couch but the tourniquet made from Vinnie 'Ice Pick''s belt was a godsend that kept him from gushing like a geyser.

As Derek and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' tried to keep their don comfortable, Henry looked around the living room and examined some of the décor out of boredom. He nearly knocked over a vase as he looked around but thankfully he saved it and set it upright again without anyone noticing. Mike was busy looking out the front window and keeping an eye on the street for attackers despite the armed Scaletta guards outside, and Paulie was busy talking on the phone with Sam about the assassination attempt that they had just went through. It was on a burner phone that he borrowed from one of the Scaletta gunmen, so he wasn't worried about anyone listening in.

"-la strada fuori casa di Ray è come una fortezza. Niente passerà senza il permesso di Moretti. E abbiamo anche altri tre uomini che tengono d'occhio il ristorante di Ray in Jamaica. (-the street outside Ray's home is like a fortress. Nothing will get through without Moretti permission. And we also have another three men keeping an eye on Ray's restaurant in Jamaica.)" Sam said on the other end of the line.

"Fantastico, Sam. (Fantastic, Sam.)" Paulie praised the efforts of the Moretti consigliere in getting everything in order back in New York City.

The capo was about to hang up the phone and go speak to Ray about the newfound preparedness of the Morettis back in New York, but Sam quickly stopped him before he could. There was... something else that Sam needed to talk to Paulie about, at least before he'd talk to Ray about it. Though Sam realized that Paulie's temper was going to make telling him about this other matter a needless annoyance. "Aspetta un attimo. (Wait a moment.)" Sam said to Paulie.

Paulie blinked. "Che cos'è? (What is it?)"

"Ho bisogno di parlare di un'altra cosa prima che tu vada... Riguarda Derek e Vinnie e quell'uomo con cui hanno 'chiacchierato' qualche giorno fa... (I need to talk about one more thing before you go... It involves Derek and Vinnie and that man they 'chatted' with a few days ago...)"

Already feeling his blood pressure begin to rise, Paulie could tell where this conversation was heading. After Sam told him what he needed to tell him, Paulie got so pissed off that he ended up throwing the phone at what he thought was a nearby wall. However, it turned out to be the back of Mike's head. Henry turned to look at whatever was going on with Paulie and Mike.

"OW!" Mike exclaimed, frowning at the capo as he rubbed the back of his head. "Paulie, what the fuck was that for?! I didn't even do anything to you!... well, at least not this time!"

Paulie completely ignored Mike's questioning as he stormed out of the room. Whatever pissed him off had pissed him off good, as even Ray was a bit stunned by the sudden outburst. After Paulie went out into the front yard to vent, Ray told Vinnie 'Ice Pick' to go after him to see what the hell was going on. The don had a really bad feeling in his gut about whatever made his capo so pissed... What exactly did Sam tell Paulie on the phone? Whatever it was, Ray wanted to know.

As Vinnie 'Ice Pick' hurried out the front door to find Paulie, Mike rubbed the back of his head with a cringe on his face. He seemed to be okay from the phone being thrown at him, though he was still a bit angry about it. That fucking hurt... Now he felt kinda bad for all of the people he beat to a pulp or beat to death over the years. Kinda. Of course he was still going to do it to anyone should Ray tell him to.

Henry saw what had happened. But before he could see if his best friend was alright, the group heard a distant door open and they saw a very important man step out from a nearby hallway with Tony...

Don Joseph Scaletta had a scowl on his face as he stepped into the living room. An elderly man, Don Scaletta did not have the muscles of his youth, but his mind was still incredibly sharp under that gray hair of his. He's lived for seventy-two years on this earth and practically all of them were in service to his family and to the way of life all mafioso lived, earning himself a status as one of the most legendary living mobsters of the modern age. Henry, Mike and Derek all felt as if they were in the presence of a giant, and in many ways they were correct.

Tony had told his father that Don Ray was shot. Don Scaletta didn't like that one bit. His guest, his friend, had been the victim of an assassination attempt which murdered four of his new allies. Of course, Don Scaletta didn't tolerate insults such as this. The attack on the Morettis was just as severe as any attack on the Scaletta Family itself. But they would deal with all of that later. Right now they were alive and safe and that was the main thing that mattered.

Quickly turning his scowl into a warm and very relieved smile, Don Scaletta approached the wounded don and opened his arms. "Raymond! I'm so happy that you're still alive! I was greatly worried when I heard what had happened to you and your men." Don Scaletta greeted. The two embraced and kissed each other on both cheeks as a brotherly greeting, though Ray was clearly in a lot of pain as he forced himself to lean up to meet his friend.

"Good to see you too, Joe..." Ray tiredly smiled at the older man.

Derek stood up from the chair next to the couch so that Don Scaletta could have a place to sit. After he sat down, a concerned Don Scaletta took both of Ray's hands into his own. "What happened out there, exactly? I want to know every last detail, and I want to know who dared to attack you..." Don Scaletta said to his hurt friend. He then told Tony to send for the Scaletta Family's most trusted doctor, some guy who worked in downtown. He was the best his family could offer to Ray.

Ray cringed as some more pain shot up his leg, though he tried to ignore it. He appreciated that Don Scaletta was getting a doctor for his leg wound. "Fuckin' Conways, Joe... Fuckin' Conways..." he said through gritted teeth, the pain in his leg and the anger of what happened to his men making a bad combination within him. He wanted vengeance against Conway and his entire gang for what they did to his men.

"They ambushed us at a gas station outside of town, killed four of my boys and some dumbass cashier inside... We killed most of 'em but a truck got away... We had to get out of there since we heard sirens..." Don Scaletta listened to every detail that Ray could remember about the attack, memorizing all of it in his head. Despite his age, his mind was still incredibly sharp.

The two dons continued to talk to each other. Don Scaletta asking more and more questions, Ray giving more and more answers to the best of his ability. When all was said and done, Don Scaletta stood up from his chair and he looked over to his son.

"We're at war now, Tony. Go spread the word." Don Scaletta told his son. Tony nodded and he grabbed his car keys, hurrying out the front door to his car. Don Scaletta ordered two gunmen to go with his son to ensure his safety. Who knew if the Irish had something planned for the Scalettas next...

"Hey, Tony, wait a moment!" Henry called out before tossing his car keys to the capo. "You mind fixing up my baby girl outside if you get the chance? I'll pay you." he offered. Tony was a good mechanic after all...

Tony caught Henry's car keys in mid-air and he told him that he'd try his best to fix his beloved car for him. As Tony hurried out and hopped into his own car with the gunmen and left to spread the word of this new mob war, Ray's leg was propped up with a pillow and he was carefully laid on his back. It would be a little bit before the doctor would show up to treat his gunshot wound. The don had to just suck it up and wait until then. Don Scaletta was kind enough to tell someone to hurry out to Ray's car and fetch his crossword book for him since he knew that he enjoyed doing those. It'd help stave off boredom at least a little bit.

In any case, Henry and Mike just wanted to head back home and get some much-needed rest. God knew that they earned it, so Ray allowed them to go back to New York City to rest. But before they could go, Don Scaletta himself stopped them.

The two underbosses immediately gave their full attention to the don as he walked up to them. Though he acknowledged Mike, it seemed as if he was much more interested with Henry. "You're Henry De Luca, correct? One of Raymond's underbosses?" the don asked.

"Uh... y- yes sir..." Henry nodded, a tad bit unnerved at the sudden attention.

Don Scaletta warmly smiled at the young underboss and he reached over to give him a light, affectionate slap on his cheek. "Raymond told me a lot about you on the phone... You're an interesting kid, Henry. I'll be seein' you later, you hear?" he told him. It seemed as if the don had taken a bit of an interest in his friend's underboss.

Henry blinked at the strange statement from Don Scaletta even though he felt a bit flattered by it. He stayed quiet and he nodded in reply since he wasn't sure what to say, and Don Scaletta chuckled a bit to himself as he went back over to continue to speak with Ray. Mike looked just as confused as Henry was about what Don Scaletta had said, but like his friend he didn't ask questions either. In any event, the two Moretti mobsters decided to finally head home after such a long day...

As Henry opened up the front door, Vinnie 'Ice Pick' ran straight past him and Mike and over to Ray in order to tell him something. Henry and Mike noticed that Vinnie 'Ice Pick' looked a bit pale in the face as he ran past, but they didn't stick around to find out why. Whatever it was, they were sure that it was probably nothing. And even if it was something then they were sure he or Derek could deal with it.

"We've got a problem, boss..." was all Mike and Henry heard from Vinnie 'Ice Pick' before they walked out the front door together.

Mike and Henry saw Paulie's car speeding down the road and out of the cul-de-sac. He must've been heading back to New York as well, but the two mobsters still had no clue what set him off earlier. At the moment they just didn't care since they just wanted to get home. Mike still had to finish up what was left of that Kingdom Hearts game that he bought for his PlayStation last week, and Henry just wanted to get some sleep.

Since Henry's car was simply too roughed up to travel in, Henry called for a cab to take them to the nearest car rental place. Hopefully they wouldn't bump into more Conways on the way there or on the way back to New York...

Home. Finally.

Henry was absolutely exhausted after the events that had occurred today up in Connecticut. During the whole drive back to New York he practically kept one hand on his gun, just in case another ambush was in store for him. Luckily the drive back was pretty peaceful aside from a bout of road rage or two, though the weather went from sunny and beautiful to rainy and shitty not long after he left Hartford. There was definitely a thunderstorm on the way to New York.

He had rented a Toyota in Hartford and he drove it all the way back to his apartment in Brooklyn. His '66 Lincoln obviously took some pretty severe damage back at the gas station thanks to those Irish assholes, but on the way back he called Tony Scaletta, who told him that all he needed was a week or two to work on the car before he could give it back to Henry. It was a pretty expensive job to fix her up but Henry was willing to pay whatever was necessary to get his baby girl looking good again. But that was something to deal with later on. Right now he was just happy to be home and even more happy to put that assassination attempt behind him.

Henry had also called Ray just before he got home. The Moretti don will be walking with a limp for a good while, but he'll live. For the last few hours Ray and Don Scaletta had been coming up with good plans to use against the Conways in their new conflict, and apparently Ray had also mentioned to Don Scaletta about that thing that Daniel Pearse had mentioned during his torture. The idea to rob the armored cars full of cash coming out of the West Point Mint. Henry wasn't sure how wise that was since he was under the belief that this was going to be solely a Moretti take, but he didn't share his concerns with his don. It is what it is, right?

The Moretti underboss had also heard from Ray that every last Moretti crew across the country had been informed about their new war against the Conway Mob, and that the Scaletta Family would also be aiding them in the fight and that the Commission had given them their full support, though no other families planned to fight with them unless they were attacked by the Irish too. In any case, blood was going to be spilt between Morettis and Scalettas and Irishmen in several cities all over the U.S.A., but Henry was certain that the Morettis would come out on top just like they always do. They haven't lost a mob war yet.

Henry's place was on the corner of Classon and Willoughby, and conveniently it was just a few blocks away from both Ray's house on Jefferson Avenue and Mike's apartment down on Pacific Street. Henry walked into his apartment and he locked the front door behind him. He rid himself of his jacket by throwing it onto a chair, and he set his pistol down on the coffee table in the living room. He just wanted to eat the leftover Chinese food he had in his fridge, relax, watch a little TV, and then head to bed. After all of the crap that happened today he figured that this wasn't too much to ask for.

The mafioso turned on his TV just to bring some sound into the apartment as he went to get changed into his sleepwear. On his TV was a live news report.

"-nd we're back on the breaking news of a Georgia police officer that has been shot and seriously injured in the line of duty." a newscaster announced. "We come back to our own James Amanpour who's reporting live from the Harrison Memorial Hospital near Atlanta. James?"

"Thanks Chet." the reporter replied to the anchorman. "It appeared to be a routine call just a few short hours ago for Deputy Rick Grimes, an officer of the King County Sheriff's Department on the edge of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. A decorated ten-year veteran of the police force, Deputy Grimes and his partner, an officer that was recently identified as Deputy Shane Walsh, were responding to a high-speed police chase against a group of bank robbers who were heading into King County from neighboring Lindon County when the incident occurred."

His nightwear being a simple white tank top and crimson-colored boxers, Henry came back out into the living room and he immediately turned to go into his kitchen. Henry started looking through his refrigerator for wherever the hell he left his leftover Chinese food that he didn't finish two days ago. He didn't have any soy sauce left for his kung pao chicken though, so that was a bummer... Henry was more focused on getting his food than whatever was on TV at the moment.

"After using spike strips to disable the suspect vehicle, Deputy Grimes and his fellow officers surrounded the overturned car and neutralized two armed suspects who opened fire despite calls to surrender. Deputy Grimes was shot in his Kevlar vest but at the time he sustained no serious injury. In what has been termed as an 'act of error' on the part of a King County police dispatcher, none of the officers were aware that there was a third suspect who was also in the vehicle. This third suspect caught all of the officers by surprise and shot Deputy Grimes in an unprotected part of his back shortly after the second suspect was killed. This third suspect himself was killed only moments later."

Henry let out a yawn as he came into the living room with a bowl of reheated Chinese food and a diet Coke. He popped out a tray table in front of his chair before he sat down and began eating, watching the news report that was going on. After he noticed that it was about a wounded officer, Henry let out a bemused chuckle. He hated cops and so did everyone else in the Moretti Family, so one of them getting shot even in cities far from New York was some pretty good news to him. Hopefully this was one less pig out there in the world.

The TV now showed some footage recorded just an hour ago of the scene where Deputy Grimes had been shot. Henry grimaced a bit when he saw three black body bags holding the bodies of the robbers, but then came footage of the overturned, bullet-ridden, ruined car that those guys were driving in when the spike strips got them. He recognized it as a '71 Pontiac GTO... what a terrible waste of a car. It should be criminal to use spikes on a classic muscle car like that.

"Deputy Grimes was airlifted to the Harrison Memorial Hospital and he was taken in for emergency surgery immediately after arrival. He is said to currently be comatose and in critical condition, but his attending doctors said that they remain optimistic that he will eventually regain consciousness on his own. No other officers were injured in this incident."

Blah, blah, blah, blah... will this pig die yet so that the news can focus on something more important? Christ, Henry wished there was something actually good on TV...

"We here at AMC wish Deputy Grimes a speedy recovery, and our prayers are with him, his partner, and his family. I'm James Amanpour reporting live from the Harrison Memorial Hospital near Atlanta for AMC News. Back to you, Chet."

"Thanks James." the news anchor said before he went on to the next news story. "With a sudden and very alarming rise of cases of the 'Russian Flu' throughout the European continent, E.U. President-"

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Henry immediately shut off his TV and reached for his gun when he heard someone knock on his door. He moved his tray table out of the way, stood up from his chair, and cocked his pistol. He was ready for action in case the Irish had decided to pay him a visit.

The Moretti underboss hurriedly took cover behind his couch and he aimed his handgun at his front door, his eyes widened from adrenaline and shock at the situation. But before he could say anything at his would-be attackers, he heard a familiar voice come from the other side of the door.

"H- Henry? Are you home? It's Ashley... I- I really, really need to see you right now!"

Henry finally let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. Ashley? Oh, thank God...

An incredibly-relieved Henry set his pistol into a nearby drawer so as to hide it from sight, then he hurried over to answer the door. He silently thanked God that it was his girlfriend and that it wasn't the Conways trying to kill him for the second time in one day.

Henry opened the door and was greeted by a tight hug and a quiet sobbing in his shoulder. Henry awkwardly hugged Ashley back as he led her inside his apartment and out of the rain, shutting the door behind her. Ashley was a mess and Henry could tell that something had happened with her.

"Ash, it's okay, I'm right here... I'm right here, baby..." Henry soothed as he led his girlfriend into his living room.

"H- He... I- I..." Ashley mumbled in-between her sobbing, barely able to speak.

"Easy, Ash..." Henry said with a feeling of great concern. This was the first time he's ever seen Ash this upset about something. It freaked him out a little. Whatever it was that made her like this had to have been something bad. "Take a deep breath. Count to five. Clear your head... then try to talk to me, okay?" he suggested to her to try and calm her down.

Ashley nodded as she shakily wiped away some of her tears. She sniffled before she took a deep, shuddery breath, held it in for a good five seconds, then released it. Though she was still upset, she felt much more calmer than how she felt when she initially came in. Henry's suggestion was something she really needed...

"T- Thanks..." Ashley thanked her boyfriend, clearing her throat as she was finally able to speak clear enough for him to understand.

Henry nodded as he took her hands into his, giving them a gentle squeeze. "Ash, what's wrong? Why're you here? Why're you crying like this? Are you okay?" a million questions were going through his mind right now.

Taking one more moment to calm herself down, Ashley felt very touched by the concern her new boyfriend showed her. She certainly was lucky to have bumped into him back at Sinner's Palace. But now Ashley had to get to why she was here, no more beating around the bush...

"Six years ago I was living in Seattle..." Ashley began to explain. "I met a guy out there. Gale... We hooked up through some online dating thing... but I broke things off with him after he started getting really creepy with me... Like one time he texted my older brother and told him to fuck off and that I was "taken", thinking that my brother was a secret boyfriend or something no matter how many times I kept explaining it to him. Another time he tracked down the address of my old boss and left a threatening letter... Anyway, he really didn't like that I broke up with him..."

Henry frowned at what he was hearing. He hated stalkers and other creeps who couldn't handle rejection. He's gladly crippled more than his fair share of those freaks over the years. If one of them was after Ashley then he'd happily do the same to him.

"After I broke up with him he kept trying to call me, so I blocked his number..." Ashley continued. "But then he'd keep trying to call me with random phone numbers several times a night. He'd text me too... email me... send letters to me... drive by my house in the middle of the night..." she shuddered at the memories, the events terrified her now as much as they did back then. "Finally it got so bad that I had to get a restraining order against Gale, but he got a judge in Seattle to revoke it since he was a district attorney... He had the law on his side and I couldn't do a damn thing about it..."

"Keep going..." Henry encouraged his girlfriend, hiding the rage building up inside of him. He could already tell where this was going...

Ashley could tell that Henry was growing more mad the more he heard about Gale. She couldn't blame him. Six years ago she felt like she loved Gale (at least before he started getting super stalkish and creepy) and now she wanted nothing more than for him to disappear off the face of the earth or to just drop dead.

That man made her life hell back in Seattle... and now he was going to do it again here. Ashley hadn't felt this frustrated and so completely helpless in a long time.

"I've gone six years without seeing or hearing from that monster... Six whole years. I started a new life across the country, Henry. I made it. I was safe... but now he's back." Ashley sighed, shaking her head as if she herself still couldn't believe it. "An hour ago, Gale showed up at my door and told me that he still loved me, and that he spent the last six years trying to track me down. He moved into a condo just a couple of blocks away from me... I was about to grab my taser when he forced his way in and grabbed my arms, and... and he had this look in his eye..."

The poor waitress looked terrified just at the memory of what had happened. Henry... well, let's just say that "pissed off" was an understatement of the century.

"I- If my landlord didn't show up right then... Oh god, Henry, I thought he was going to try to... t- to... r..." Ashley trailed off, tears welling in her eyes from the memory of what had happened. She was unable to even say the word.

That was it. Without a word, Henry stood up from the couch and he went back into his kitchen. Ashley was bewildered by this, but what she didn't know was that Henry was getting the .32 snub-nosed revolver that he had stashed under the sink. The entire apartment had enough guns, ammunition, knives, and other weaponry stashed inside of it to invade a country, but that was kind of a necessity when you live the life of a mafioso. Anyway, this wasn't the point. What mattered was that Henry was going to deal with this creep the old fashioned way.

"Do you know where Gale is right now, Ash?" Henry wondered as he came back, tucking the revolver in the back of his underwear before grabbing his pants and shoes from his laundry hamper in the bedroom. He also grabbed a black leather jacket that he liked.

"Y- Yeah, I know his address, I'll lead you there..." Ash nodded, wiping away the last traces of her tears. However, her fear remained. "W- What are you going to do? Why are you going to his condo?" she wondered aloud.

"I'm just gonna have a "chat" with Gale, that's all... I promise I won't do anything I'll regret." Henry cryptically told his girlfriend as he tied his shoelaces. The less she knew about what was going to happen, the better. Besides, he wasn't lying. He wasn't going to regret doing this at all.

Ashley was still pretty worried, but reluctantly she stood up from the couch and followed Henry out of his apartment and to his rental car. Henry himself was a man on a mission now. Any thoughts he had of getting some rest were replaced with near-homicidal thoughts about that stalker Gale...

District Attorney or not, Henry was gonna make him feel the same fear Ashley felt.

Henry felt nothing less than fury as he drove his rental car up to the condo building in Williamsburg that his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend was living in. Gale. The guy who had followed Ashley nearly 3,000 miles just to keep stalking her. The piece of shit who thought that he could treat her like she was property. He was in for a rude awakening...

In the passenger seat of Henry's rental car, Ashley stayed pretty quiet. She could tell that Henry was probably going to kick the shit out of Gale, but even so she was worried. What would happen to Henry? Gale was still a D.A. and he had the power to ruin her boyfriend's life as well as her own. He needed to be careful.

Keeping the engine on, Henry simply parked right in front of the front doors of the building before turning to look at his girlfriend. "Keep the engine runnin', Ash. I'll only be a couple of minutes..." Henry said, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Ashley simply nodded quietly, her stomach tied in knots as she watched Henry get out of the car and hurry up the front steps of the condo building. A part of her wanted to try and stop him before he could do something either of them would regret, but she felt too conflicted to do anything but stay put. She hoped Henry wouldn't end up in jail because of her and her problems.

Henry approached the front desk after he went into the building. The elderly man who managed the condo assumed that Henry was a delivery guy, so of course he was more than happy to provide Henry with Gale's exact room number. 21 This elderly man was very polite and generous towards Henry, so he didn't see any need to threaten him or hurt him. Honestly, it was a pretty nice change of pace after all the bullshit he had to deal with today.

The mafioso hummed a tune to himself as he went up a flight of stairs and to the fourth and top floor of the building. As he stepped into a hallway, he politely said hello to a woman before he started to look for Gale's condo.

"Nine... ten... eleven... twelve... thirteen... fourteen... fifteen... sixteen... seventeen... damn, this is a fancy building..." Henry whispered to himself as he counted down the numbers of the condos on either side of the hallway.

After a few more steps he finally found the condo he was looking for. But when he walked up to the door and prepared to knock, it opened up to reveal Gale himself. Henry took the brief moment before Gale walked past him to note his appearance. Thick glasses, black hair, a somewhat average height and build, a small silver-colored Bluetooth headset in his ear... wait, was that a pocket protector? Who the fuck actually wears a pocket protector outside of some shitty Hollywood movie about computer nerds? If Gale wasn't stalking Ash then Henry would probably kick the shit out of this guy because of that reason alone.

"Yo! Dude!" Henry called out, hurrying up to Gale as he was walking down the hall. The stalker of his girlfriend looked like he was in a hurry.

"Look, whatever you're sellin', I ain't interested 'dude.'" Gale rudely called back to the approaching angry boyfriend.

Henry's eye twitched as he watched Gale walk away from him. Henry then hurried to catch up to him. He could clearly see how this guy's terrible attitude makes him so desperate for a woman that he needs to stalk one...

"Seriously, I need to talk to you about somethin'! It'll only take a couple of minutes!" Henry said in a final effort to be reasonable. By now the two had walked down to the ground floor of the building and they were now approaching the lobby. "Come on, just stop and listen for one second! I've had a really shitty day today!"

Gale rolled his eyes as he walked. "That's a second that I ain't willing to give to you. Now fuck off, please!"

Henry almost jumped Gale right then and there, but he hesitated when he saw an NYPD officer walk in through the front doors. Cursing his own luck, Henry went to hide behind a pillar as the police officer went to chat with a woman who was cleaning up the floors of the lobby. After all of the shit that happened up in Connecticut earlier he didn't want to take any chances being seen by the law.

The Moretti mafioso watched Gale heading towards the front doors. However, in a sign of some changing luck for Henry, Gale stopped just before he could've walk outside. Gale then held a hand to his stomach, a deep cringe on his face as he suddenly turned around and hurriedly walked until he went down another hallway and straight into a men's restroom. It was a lucky break for Henry after everything that happened today.

Henry didn't waste any time in hunting down Gale. He hurried down that same hallway and to the men's restroom, quietly entering it so as to not alarm Gale. He locked the door behind him.

Gale was busy pissing in a urinal, totally unaware of the angry man who had just walked in. He was talking on his Bluetooth headset as he relieved himself.

"Uh huh... yeah..." Gale said in reply to whoever was on the other line. Something the other person said caused Gale to roll his eyes in annoyance. "Well, Jerry, not that this is any of your business, but I just feel like that nigger junkie up in West Harlem isn't really a lady I should waste my time and effort on, y'know?"

Henry was as quiet as a church mouse as he stepped towards the pissing pig. "Believe me, I learned my lesson with that illegal broad with the seven kids... Huh? Yeah, you don't remember her? She was the one I got deported back to 'wetback land' or wherever the fuck she came from?... Well, of course! I mean, who else is gonna-"

Suddenly, Gale felt a hand grip the hair on the back of his head. Then the hand slammed him nose-first into the metal flusher. Hard. Hard enough to break his glasses and probably his nose as well. The Bluetooth headset fell out of Gale's ear and right into Henry's hand as Gale himself fell down onto the tiled floor. With Gale totally stunned, confused, and with him bleeding and in a lot of pain, Henry had him right where he wanted him.

"Gale's busy. He'll call you back later." was all Henry said into the Bluetooth headset before he crushed the fragile plastic thing in his hand.

Realizing what was happening, Gale tried to stand up so that he could run out of the restroom to that cop who was in the lobby. But Henry hurried over and grabbed Gale by his shirt collar, stopping him before he could flee. "Aw, now where do you think you're goin'?" Henry taunted as he harshly pulled Gale back by his neck.

Gale exclaimed in pain as he was sharply pulled back. Rather than let him fall to the floor, Henry simply shoved the district attorney against the tiled wall and pressed his forearm against his throat, choking him. As Gale struggled to breathe, Henry looked him dead in the eye with a very angry look on his face.

"Alright... Now, I'm only gonna ask this once, you understand?" Henry frowned, immediately continuing with his sentence despite Gale not responding. "You knew a woman named Ashley Meyer. You followed her from Seattle all the way here to New York. You won't leave her alone... So now I'm tellin' you that you'll leave her alone starting now. Otherwise... well, you can't stalk people if your eyes are cut out, right?"

Henry glared deeply at the stalker he was holding up against the wall. "You understand what I'm saying, Gale? Leave Ash alone or there'll be severe consequences..."

Gale barely had any idea what was happening to him at first. One second he was relieving himself, the next he had a busted nose courtesy of some random piece of shit. But now he was starting to realize. This guy must've been whoever Ashley was fucking these days... his competition. Whoever this guy was, he was with the woman who he'd been trying to find and win back for the last six years. He wasn't going to let her slip from his fingers again.

Rather than give Henry the satisfaction of an answer, Gale simply leaned his head back and then he spat some blood right into Henry's face. Though Henry was stonefaced at this act by Gale, it was clear that all it served was to piss him off.

"Well..." Henry began, trailing off as he reached behind himself. He pulled his .32-caliber revolver from his waistband, flashing it so that Gale could see it clearly. Henry gripped the gun by its barrel. "...I suppose we're gonna have to do this the hard way, aren't we?"

Suddenly, Henry raised the handgun and he slammed the butt end of the handle right into Gale's jaw, sending the district attorney down to the floor. But Henry didn't dare stop with just one hit. No, Henry grabbed Gale by his shirt collar and raised him so that he'd stand on his knees, and then Henry started to barbarically beat Gale over and over again with the grip of his gun.

The next several moments were nothing but a blur of utter agony for Gale as he was beaten, though luckily for him Henry decided against ending his life. Whacking a district attorney would bring heat down on far, far too many people - including the Moretti Family. After hitting Gale so many times with his gun that he lost count, a breathless Henry simply let go of Gale's shirt and he allowed him to fall back down to the floor.

Keeping his blood-covered gun in hand, Henry took the opportunity to examine his handiwork. Several of Gale's teeth were either knocked out or shattered. His nose was definitely broken, and his left cheekbone was practically powder at this point. Horrifically, not only was his left eyesocket broken, his left eye was covered in blood and its retina was detached. Henry may have blinded Gale in his left eye for life. Good.

"I guess you get the message now..." Henry tauntingly said to Gale, who was hurt so much that he was only semi-conscious. Crouching down on one knee, Henry turned his gun around and he pressed the barrel of it against Gale's forehead. "If I ever hear you messing with Ash again, I'll come back..." Henry said with nothing but pure hatred to this man for what he had done to Ashley.

Henry cocked the hammer of his snub-nosed revolver back just to prove the point of what he would say next. "...and if I come back, I'll beat you with this gun again and I won't stop until your face isn't worthy of an open-casket funeral. Think on that while you recover..."

Having said what he needed to say, Henry decided that now was the time to leave. He couldn't risk someone coming into the restroom and seeing him with a badly beaten district attorney, and God forbid if that cop was the one who'd come in. Trying to look as casually as he possibly could as he walked out of the restroom and into the lobby, Henry hid the blood-covered handgun underneath his leather jacket so that no one could see it. The pig who was chatting with the cleaning woman was none the wiser as Henry walked right by him with a gun in his hand.

Ashley was on pins and needles the entire time that Henry was inside that condominium, so once she saw him walk out the front doors she felt nothing but utter relief. When Henry came back into the car, Ashley engulfed him in a tight hug. Unfortunately, the hug had an unintended consequence...

When Ashley hugged Henry, she heard a loud thud hit the carpet on the driver's side of the car. Glancing down to see whatever made the sound, Ashley could see a handgun covered in what she could only guess was Gale's blood. Henry followed Ashley's eyes down to the floor and realized what had happened. The gun slid out of his jacket...

Ash looked so confused and horrified by what she had just seen. Immediately she pulled away from him, too stunned to speak.

"Oh fuck..." was the first thing that came out of Henry's lips.

It was clear to Ashley that Henry wasn't a union delegate like he said he was back on their first date. A union delegate wouldn't have a blood-covered handgun on his person. Whoever Henry was, whatever he actually did for a living, it was clear that it was something far too dangerous for Ashley to be involved with. So, the young waitress did the only thing that she could do in a situation like this...

"Wait, Ash!!! Please, I can explain!!!" Henry pleaded as Ashley got out of the car and hurried off down the street, quickly losing his sight in a big crowd of foreign tourists who were trying to find the Empire State Building despite the fact that they were still in Brooklyn. One moment she was in his sight, the next she was long gone. Whether she was out of Henry's life for good or not was anyone's guess, but right now it was clear that she wanted to avoid him like the plague.

In frustration about what had just happened, Henry slammed his fist down on the horn of his car. The horn honked for a moment as a result. "Fuck... FUCK!!! FUCKING FUCK!!!" he cursed to himself at the likely loss of his girlfriend. First that mess up in Connecticut, and now this? Today fucking sucked...

It took a couple of minutes for Henry to fully calm down after what had happened with Ashley, but once he did he immediately got back on the roads and started to drive back to his apartment. Despite what had happened, Henry hoped that Ashley would get herself home safe at least. He wasn't sure if she was familiar with this part of Brooklyn or not, and he knew from experience that finding your way home from an unfamiliar part of New York City was a nightmare all on its own.

The first thing Henry did on his way back home was to clean up the gun he used to beat Gale, wiping off any traces of his fingerprints. Since the serial number on the gun had already been filed off ages ago, all he had to do was to toss the thing into a quiet part of the East River where no one would find it. Once the evidence of what he had done to Gale was out of the way, Henry went straight back to his apartment.

Henry couldn't believe all of the things that had happened today. Losing Ashley was the cherry on top of this shitty day. He couldn't blame her for running like how she did, but he hoped that he'd be able to talk with her soon. She was an incredible person and he really wanted to keep dating her...

Stepping into his apartment again, Henry tossed his leather jacket to the floor and he pulled off his shoes and his pants, deciding to deal with the mess of clothing later or in the morning. Just as Henry sat back down on his chair, he suddenly heard the sound of a phone ringing. The sound caused Henry to let out an annoyed groan. He's already dealt with far too much bullshit today.

Underneath the coffee table in Henry's living room was a small compartment full of burner phones. These were usually what he used when it came to family business, so the call was clearly too important for him to ignore. Henry leaned forward and opened the compartment, digging through the big mess of burner phones until he finally found the one which was ringing. Henry sighed before he answered the call.

"Hello? Who's this?" Henry inquired as he leaned back in his chair again.

"Henry? It's Ray... We've got a problem."

Henry's attention was now devoted directly to his don. Today was one of the most annoying days he's had in a long time, but if Ray wanted to talk to him or ask for him to do something then he'd do it in a heartbeat, annoyances or not. That was part of his commitment as an underboss for the Moretti Family.

"What's up, Ray? Is everything okay? How's the leg?" Henry inquired.

"Leg's doin' okay, but that's not why I called... Like I said: we've got a problem." Ray said in a tone that clearly sounded off his exhaustion. "Not long after you and Mike left, Paulie talked to me about somethin'... Vinnie and Derek fucked up bad. Real bad. It's not exactly a problem now, but it definitely could become a pretty big one in the near future. I figured I should let you know before you possibly find a detective at your door."

"How bad is 'real bad', boss?"

"Well... you remember that guy that Derek and Vinnie were supposed to talk to for Paulie the other day? The guy with the $12,000 dollar debt that Paulie sent them to collect from? The guy who they said they whacked? Well, I dunno what happened, but they were wrong... He isn't dead."

Henry's eyes slowly started to widen at what he was hearing. No... Ray had to be mistaken. Right?...

Unfortunately, Ray wasn't mistaken at all. A so-called "murder" was really only an "attempted murder." The guy who Derek and Vinnie 'Ice Pick' shot was still alive, and if he was still alive then he remembers their faces and who they work for. If that fucker ratted on them, then the Moretti Family would face a lot of problems from the law. Sensing Henry's shock at the revelation, Ray finally told him all that he needed to hear.

"...Mamba's still alive..."