Episode Six: Of Borgias and Bodybags


Niccolo wasn't scared of anything.

Even when he was younger, he was never afraid of the dark or imaginary monsters under his bed. He was raised and groomed to inherit the Borgia criminal empire, he wouldn't dare let a boogie man scare him. If a monster had the stones to rush out of his closet looking for trouble, his stand would make quick work of the thing. Though he'd never admit it, there was one thing that struck fear into the boy, something his older brother and sister were very afraid of.

"Mr. Borgia." A tall and lanky elderly servant called out to him, he turned around tentatively knowing what this was about. "Your father would like to see you."

"Grazie, Berto." He thanked the servant and quickly rushed off.

That thing that scared him, was the boy's own father, Michelangelo Borgia or Sir Borgia. His "fearlessness" was all a front, a front that very few people saw right through, and his father was the very first one. Once he made it to the door that stood inbetween him and his father's office, he had to mentally psyche himself up. He entered the room, his father sat behind a large brown oak desk, patiently waiting for him. The room was only lit by the roaring fireplace, Niccolo hated that fireplace, it reminded him of the inferno that raged in the fires of hell. Behind his desk was a large painting of The Transfiguration of Christ. For some reason, that painting always creeped him out, there was always an unsettling vibe that the painting gave off. Christ breaking through the grey clouds in a ray of light, whilst those below him worshipped from below, the environment in the was cold and dead. The rocks the men stood on were jagged and cracked as if it were rubble from destruction, the man on the right side of Christ held a stone tablet. He always interpreted that tablet as a tombstone, a tombstone with many names engraved on it. His father turned around in his chair and locked eyes with his son, Niccolo struggled to move his feet, it was as if his feet were turned into cinder blocks.

"Mio figlio, take a seat." It didn't sound like it, but Niccolo was commanded by his father.

Without another word he sat in the leather chair in front of his father's desk. As he sat, his fingers dug into the black leather, impatiently anticipating his father's words.

"You know why I've called you here so I will get to the point. Due to your failure to deal with the Silverson threat, I have contacted our Borgia assets fair Verona, since you can't be trusted to get the job done yourself. You failed me son."

"Father...if you can just give me another shot I'll-"

"You've had years to kill him, you were destined to destroy the last Silverson. But even with destiny on your side, you still disappoint me, did you at least kill Luigi? Or at the very least Giselle?"

Niccolo's head dipped forward, his father let out a gruff sigh. The disappointment he felt was practically radiating off of him like an intense heat, a heat that made the brightest of stars seem like tiny glaciers. Michelangelo adjusted himself so that he may sit properly in his chair, this made him look even bigger, he resembled a mad Titan more so than a man.

"You wish to be the heir to my throne? And you can't even kill a little girl? How useless of a child are you? Don't even answer that, don't even waste the breath answering that. Right now, they could be helping our enemy. While you flaunt my money on the streets and waste time with these whores, our enemy grows stronger."

"Father...I'm sorry, I can fix this. Just give me another shot and I will-"

"Shut your God damn mouth, I was wrong to trust my son with a man's job. Now it's time actual killers finish this job."

"If that's your wish, then I'm sorry father."

"I've taught you not to be sorry, but to be better. Out of my sight."

Niccolo rose from the chair and quickly scurried off. After leaving the room he shut the door and immediately burst into tears, he was never one to cry, but when it came to his father he was reduced to nothing but waterworks.


If there was anything he learned from his family.

Fate would always be on his side. Luigi made his way down the streets of Brooklyn, he needed quiet time to himself, time away from Giselle even. It wasn't exactly wise for him to be strolling the very public streets of Brooklyn, but he wasn't worried about Borgia Family goons going after him. There was too much on his mind for him to be worried about that.

One of the many things was Daria.

The name used to mean a lot to him.

When they were together two or three years ago, he couldn't remember when they split but he could remember the day vividly. The two met at their usual rendezvous spot, the rooftop of an abandoned apartment complex in the Bronx. It was back when he cared about his family name, which obviously complicated their relationship. The Borgias and Vicarios had been at war for many years, this war needed up outliving the war with the Silversons.

Though he cared about Daria a lot, much more than he cared about himself even. He never knew why Daria ended the relationship, she loved him a lot, he did just as much, and definitely more so. All she told him was that "I'm too good to you." a statement that confused him to this day. The more he tried to forget about those five words, but the more he tried to forget, the deeper those words were burned into his brain.

She changed a lot since the last three years, which was to be expected, they both changed a lot. It was just the fact that Daria had taken a darker path than him, she was always deceptive when they were together. He never expected her to change, it was Daria Vicario of all people. But what surprised him most was Anthony being associated with her, he had gotten to Anthony too late. Luigi knew the dangerous of Daria first hand, she was known for exploiting both men and women for her own motives. She was a temptress, she knew the right things to say and when to say it. If she were to take advantage of Anthony, there surely would be hell to pay.

A dark chapter would be opened in New York.

Somethign that Luigi was trying desperately to avoid.

"Luigi." He looked up to see a rather familiar face, Antoine Silverson, he sat down next to Luigi a stressed sigh.

"Antoine."

A brief period of silence crept in, it was only broken by Luigi letting loose a sneeze.

"So let's get straight to the business. What is the business?" Antoine asked.

Luigi cleared his throat whilst he tried to conjure up the correct phrasing. "It's about Daria...and Anthony."

He wasn't sure which one, but a certain name caught his attention, Antoine leaned forward so that he could listen more intently.

"You and I both know Daria isn't very trust worthy, and she's already had one of her enforcers grooming him since they were ten."

"So you're afraid that she's trying to coax Anthony into becoming a Vicario?" The older man asked.

"That's not my only fear. I'm afraid that she may intentionally or unintentionally change fate. Either or could have disastrous effects on the world, which is why we need to prevent him from falling into her grasp."

Antoine simply nodded.

"I understand, but Daria is the least of our problems though. Shouldn't we be worried about the Borgias? If it's true that Anthony is destined to defeat Niccolo, shouldn't we be doing our best to train him? He can summon his stand right? Is it at least battle ready?"

Luigi shrugged.

Antoine's hand connected with his forehead.

"Well, that sets us back a bit. Is there anyone who could possibly train him? Asides from me?" Antoine asked.

Luigi took a moment to think, he didn't have many possible instructors in mind.

"There's Kirby, but the two currently hate each other, that and I have no idea where he is."

Antoine looked off towards his side and began to whilstle an nervous tune.

"I could always try, but I never trained anyone before. My stand isn't exactly a combat stand, and I do a good amount of fighting myself." Luigi stated, he took another moment to think, then after a few minutes a lightbulb switched on in his head. "I know someone, can't tell you though. Secret stuff."

"Sure, a secret regarding my cousin."

"Correct, and in due time I'll reveal that information, just know that Anthony will learn."

"Hmmm, alright, I'll trust you Luigi...but don't think for a second about vexing me." Antoine's face formed into an intimidating scowl, however, this attempt to intimidating Luigi didn't work.

"You should be more worried about that girlfriend of yours."

Antoine cocked a brow, then it hit him.

"That reminds me Borgia, word on the streets is that you two hitched up."

Luigu kept a straight face but the delivery of his response was laced with agitation. "Yeah, what's it to ya?" He rose from his seat slowly, feeling as if he got up too fast it'll trigger a negative reaction from Antoine.

"I was just wondering, how'd that end?"

"Both of us were hurt, but it hurt me more physically. I'm going to get going, you should lay low." Luigi began to walk down the sidewalk, Antoine got up looking rather confused, he began to call out to Luigi but the Borgia kept walking.

He walked aimlessly down the sidewalk ocassionally checking behind him every few blocks, he felt like he was being watched, by who or what he had no idea. But there was this unexplainable growing discomfort, after walking a while longer he decided that he was being followed and took a turn into an alleyway. He stopped in his tracks, sensing a certain stillness in the air, then came the whisliting of a fast moving object cutting through the air. Luigi suddenly found himself forced into a wall, he pushed the wall in, then another great force pushed him through the wall. He was sent flying through shelves and into a stone pillar, which stopped him from flying off any further. He managed to push himself off the ground and dusted off his brown leather jacket, he knew he was in for a fight so he pulled up his sleeves to the elbow. He stared wide open hole in the wall created by the attack, three sihlouettes appeared in the hole. One was short and skinny, the other was taller and more stocky, then the last one was a large hulk-like figure.

[MENACING]

"Ahhh, Luigi Borgia, its been a while." The voice was very clearly a woman, she was a New Jerseyan, her accent was very distinct. She stepped forward into the light revealing her features. Her skin was tanned, she had orange skin, not the guido orange tone but a light orange tan. She wore a light blue long sleeved dress shirt with a purple vest over it, a short black skirt, she had a pair of black stockings and flats. The woman slowly strolled up to Luigi, till there were only a few inches separating them, she dragged a finger up his chest, resting a nail under his chin. "Its been so long, and I've missed you so much." The woman brushed a some of her long black hair behind an ear, her attempts to charm him didn't seem to work.

"Wish I could say the same for you Erica."

"You two gonna fuck already?" A deep Boston accent asked him, from the hole walked the medium build man. He appeared in a dark blue puffer jacket, the collar and cuffs were adorned with small silver spikes, and on the right shoulder a skull patch was sewn into it. The jacket was zipped up halfway revealing the gold chain with a large cash symbol. He wore a pair of grey jogger pants and a set of white taylors, he gripped the brim of the hat and turn the Red Sox hat backwards. "I'd like to kill this bitch already."

"If you could fuck off for a minute maybe we can get things going on. Forgive me Luigi, let me introduce you to my partner Curtis, he's kind of a-"

"Why're you here? And what's up with you following me?" Luigi' question was ignored, they were getting ready to attack him, and if he didn't think of something quick, then two rocks are gonna crush him in between a really hard place.

Curtis and Erica exchanged nods and rushed Luigi at the same time. From the inside of his jacket, a long flowly ink tendril extended outwards and swatted Erica away, Luigi leaned to his side dodging a punch from Curtis. Another tendril shot out from the inside of his jacket and wrapped around Curtis' neck, the tendril squeezed tightly. Before he could snap the man's neck, a sharp pain ran through the side of his shoulder, he looked down to see a knife sticking out of it. Curtis was able to break free from the hold with a kick into Luigi's nose causing him to loosen the tendril's grip. A fist buried itself into his stomach with enough force to lift him off the ground, another fist cracked him in the jaw, then a brutal right hook collided into his cheek. Luigi stumbled on his feet, a hand cupped his jaw to collected the blood pouring out of his mouth, however, Curtis delivered a viscious uppercut. Luigi found himself flying several feet into the air, Erica watched from the top of a stack of crates rather amused. Luigi's ankle was tightly grabbed and he found himself spinning around in a circle, once he let go Luigi found himself flying upwards, Luigi smashed through the roof. He flew aimlessly into the sky, fading in and out of consciousness, for a second Luigi thought this was his last few moments. Until the sweet face of his little sister popped into his mind, if he couldn't protect her, then no one else will. A sudden burst of vigor shot through his body, he reached into his jacket and drew a bottle of ink, he attached it to his belt after popping off the cork. He looked down to see the the rooftop fastly approaching, he used the black substance to retreat inside of his clothing, he managed to stick the landing without a scratch.

"How'd he do that?" Erica asked, Curtis scoffed and cracked his knuckles.

"I don't know, nor do I care. It's time we take the fuckin gloves off." A green hue rose from Curtis' body, this was an obvious sign to Luigi that Curtis was summoning his stand, it came as a special surprise to him. He couldn't feel that the man was a stand user, he just assumed he was a really strong human.

"Watch out for his stand, Curt. Black Beatles is a tricky bastard, each time I see him use it the damn thing does something new. Watch yourself!." Curtis formed a devious smirk across his face, the green hue he was giving off then morphed into the fiery emerald aura. A vague figure twisted from his body, the first thing Luigi noticed was the long flowing green cloak. Golden stripes ran down the cloak back, the shoulders of the cloak had large dollar sign symbols that exuded golden dust. Two large blocky fist came out from came out from the arm holes, one each large knuckle was a dollar sign made of brass. The stand had no face under the hood but a floating pair of golden trimmed shades took its place. The stand didn't appear to have any legs to stand on, opting to levitate in midair, the way it moved was ghost-like but gave off a humanoid feel.

"Yeah yeah Erica, but he's no match for Wu-Tang!" Curtis shouted.

The ghost stand darted forward in a flash, the stand bashed his fist together, connecting the dollar knuckles together and producing a high pitched ringing tune. Ringing in his ear was very painful, but it wasn't enough to take his focus off the stand rushing towards him. Wu-Tang cocked back an arm, charging up for a fierce hook aimed right in between his eyes, Luigi retaliated with a fist of his own. The stand and the Borgia collided knuckles, the sheer amount of power blew the skin off Luigi's knuckles, a searing hot pain coursed through his veins as if his muscles were set ablaze. The two just stood there, neither the stand or Luigi moved an inch, then the arm of the stand started to vibrate. It started off small but then it violently shook, before he could move the vibrations channeled into Luigi's arm and he could feel his bones break in. The ink flooded his veins almost instinctively and wrapped around his bones, and tightly squeezed around them so it could hold the bones in place. Another punch came his way, he had been far too distracted with repair his near broken right art that he couldn't dodge it, he used the ink bottle to summon a tendril blocking the fist at the last second. Luigi stepped forward with his hook, he managed to strike the stand in what felt like a face. The stand was knocked back by the force of Luigi's punch, yet Curtis stood still as a statue closely watching. Ink covered his arms and formed a pair of bulky protective gauntlets, the next strike the stand threw was blocked with his uninjured arm, with his main hand he delivered a strong uppercut. Curtis furrowed a brow, he was displeased with Wu-Tang's current performance.

"Quit messing around, kill this fucker, Wu-Tang!" The stand looked back to its master and gave a nod.

Wu-Tang opted for going on the defensive, Luigi threw everything he had at the stand. Though he was fast, the stand was even faster, catching or blocking each and every single one of the strikes.

KA-CHING! KA-CHING!

The sound of Wu-Tang firing off two quick jabs echoed for blocks.

KA-CHING! KA-CHING! KA-CHING! KA-CHING!

Curtis almost smiled from the merciless beating Luigi was receiving from Wu-Tang. Luigi found himself thrown side to side with each punch, one finally hook was all it took to send Luigi onto his knee. Wu-Tang stood over the man, clutching its fist tightly, it slowly move its fist back as if it were gaining some wicked sense of gratification dragging this out. When the fist finally came down upon him, Wu-Tang found its fist stopped, an ink hand caught the fist. Luigi looked over at Curtis, flashing a weak smile, he spit out some blood and wiped his chin on his forearm.

"Ill give you one thing, your stand hits pretty damn hard."

Wu-Tang threw his free hand but that too was caught by another ink hand that sprouted from Luigi's hip. A third arm formed and struck the stand square in its face, Wu-Tang was thrown off its feet and tumbled across the the roof. Luigi struggled to stand up on his own without the use of the ink, more ink treated into his body and wrapped around the bones in his legs. Though it didn't fix the bones and it hurt even worse, at least he was able to keep going.

"So your plan was to get your ass beaten by my stand?" Curtis asked, Luigi responded with a so-so gesture.

"I had to get a feel of what your stand was like, it's fast and hits hard, it's striking power is amplified the more vibrations it produces. If I hit it, it can produce twice as many vibrations than when he hits me. You got a neat stand, I'll give you that kid. But I will say this, I'll give you a ten second head start." Curtis cocked a brow in confusion, and that same confusion fueled his anger.

"Sir Borgia sends his regards. You have been made a target for Sir Borgia's squadra d'elite d'esecuzione. No matter how far you and your friends run, we will chase you all to the ends of this Earth, and drag you into Hell ourselves."

"Alright Curtis, then I'll have to introduce you to your destiny."

"Our destiny is your death!

"Very well."


"I still don't understand why you insisted on coming to work with me. I could've just brought back some comics for you, and besides it's dangerous, Luigi would kill me if you got hu-" Giselle latched onto Anthony's arm, he wanted to shake her off but she had an iron grip on his arm.

"Because you're super cool! And I can't stand staying in that room, it's sooo boring!"

"Tell me about it. I was in that room for way too long, I've never been more happy to go to work." Then the most unusual thing happened to him, he actually smiled. He occasionally smile whenever he was told a joke or a customer approached. But this was a genuine smile, and came from a genuine place. It came from Giselle, she was a rarity nowadays. It wasn't out of the norm to see a kid her age carrying a gun, the only reason she was relatively normal was because of her wealthy upbringing. He was interested in getting a peak into whatever life she had before all these events. Giselle was also interested peaking into whatever life he had before the situation with her family reered its ugly head.

"Anthony...you..." She trailed off for a moment, the words she wanted to say escaped her. But then other words appeared in her mind, it wasn't what she wanted to say but it was something to say at least. "You look really goofy when you smile!"

"Umm thanks...that's actually the nicest thing I've heard all day."

"Anyways...umm last night, I overheard Luigi and you talking last night-"

"That was a private conversation." Gone was his warm and upbeat tone, he has gotten very serious and the look in his eyes was something she'd never seen in him. The glare he have her seemed almost like an entirely different person, almost like Anthony was gone.

"I...I know, b-but sometimes I can't control my sub-stand. No Ordinary Love can latch onto people I care about without me knowing. It's just really hard sometimes...and I know I can be an annoyance sometimes but-"

"How much did you hear?" Giselle was puzzled for a moment, she expected him to be really angry, but it seems as if he doesn't care anymore.

"Most of it didn't come through clear but I did hear quite enough. There was more than two gangs in New York, there were over thirty gangs excluding the Borgia and Vicario crime families. I missed a big chunk of the conversation because everything was so hard to understand, things sounded really staticky like radio feedback. But when things got clear once again, Luigi mentioned something about 1985 brawl, the brawl that wiped out the Lucero Cartel. After that, I don't remember what you said exactly, but you mentioned having to bury two people that day. You said from that day and onwards, you'd burn the Bronx to the ground and drag Niccolo out of the fire if that meant you'd get the chance to see the fear in his eyes." Anthony let out a tired sigh, he was relieved that she didn't find out what he wanted to hide so desperately. But she still knew too much, even if the information she knew wasn't something that could be used against him. If she found out more information using her stand, and managed to piece together the puzzle things could get really hairy.

"How much do your actually know about me Giselle?"

"I know who you are."

"You know my name, and you know certain facts about me. But you don't truely know who I am, and that's gonna get you killed." Anthony's cold delivery was just another blow directed towards her. "Giselle...you're a sweet girl don't get me wrong. You're a one in a million out here, but there's a problem here. You've latched onto me for some reason despite knowing me for a little under a week. Giselle...I like you a lot, but there's a lot of things I regret, and I don't what you getting into that."

She nodded, not because she agreeed with what he said, but more so to escape the current conversation. It was obvious that she was getting into things she didn't quite understand. Her and Luigi's mission was to protect him, and unfortunately in the process she formed a bond with the boy. A very one-sided friendship, he probably only saw her as just some annoyance and another dumb kid. That or some preppy little rich girl. Or, he probably still saw her as the enemy. But if any good came out of it, at least he thought she was special in some way.

When the two had arrived at Kirby's doorstep, something was off to Anthony. Something made his hairs stand up along his forearms, then it lead to the back of his neck. Something was responsible for the chills running throughout his body, and he was intent on finding out what it was. It certainly wasn't the weather since it was early fall. Could this be...

Space Oddity ejected himself from Anthony, he grabbed the two and tossed them out of the way. As Anthony soared through the air he retreated into his master in case his landing needed to be softened. Anthony managed to take hold of Giselle and held her as close as he could, his vision was filled with a bright orange light as his ears were overwhelmed with a boom. Brick, wood, glass, and anything else caught in the blast radius was hurled in every direction. Anthony crashed onto his back landing directly on one of his old wounds, he cried out as a sudden burst of pain shot through his entire back. Giselle rolled off him almost lifeless, whether it was the force of the blast or Oddity chucking through the air, she didn't have the energy to stand up. The first thing he noticed when he took his eyes off Giselle was Kirby's house being enveloped in flame. But leading into the destruction of Kirby's house was a thick trail of white smoke, source of the smoke came from a man, the only way he could tell was because of the physique of the one in question. The man was well dressed in a black and white tuxedo, his face was obscured by a black motorcycle helmet with a dark tinted visor, he held a M202 FLASH over his shoulder that was still smoking from the missile fired at the house, but the weirdest part out of all that was the fact he was on a motorcycle. Anthony recognized the model of the motorcycle because of a comic he read, it was a blacked out Suzuki Katana, the GSX1110X to be exact. Anthony pushed himself off the ground and found himself frozen in the mysterious biker's gaze, his soulless eyes behind the helmet staring holes into his.

'Motherfucker tried to kill me and Giselle! If it weren't for Oddity, me and her would've been deep fried. I don't know how many rockets is guy has left, nor do I know if this guy has any ties. But I do know he needs to be dealt with!' Anthony thought to himself, then came the sirens, though he didn't have the most positive feelings towards police, it was a relief to know they'd bag this crazy bastard. When the police cruiser arrived it came to a screeching halt, out walked an officer, then that's when all feelings of relief were drained from his body. Because it was replaced by that same cold feeling he got before the biker attacked him. The officer lifted his radio to his mouth and looked Anthony directly into his eyes.

"Suspect sighted." Before Anthony could even blink, a sharp pain ripped through his shoulder, everything felt like it was in slow motion as he fell onto his back. The officer took a moment to inspect and admired the pistol he held in his hands, smoke emitted from the barrel almost like fire from a dragon's mouth. "Colt M1911, semi-automatic, .45 ACP rounds, 30 rounds per minute, and packs a fucking punch." The man spun the pistol around his index finger, akin to those old western movies, like the ones Clint Eastwood would be in. The cop turned his attention towards the biker. "I'll take this from here Rider." The biker gave the officer a nod and rode off down the street with great speed. "Now for you." The man leveled the barrel of the pistol with Anthony's head, all Anthony could do was call out for Oddity's help, but it seemed as if his cries fell on deaf ears. As the bullet soar downwards, Anthony pushed himself off the ground with everything he had, channeling his inner Olympic sprinter he took off down the street. He bobbed and weaved his way out of the bullet's harm, however his mad dash was cut short by a round grazing his calf. The sudden pain was enough to trip him but luckily he fell behind a parked car. He peeked around the car to see the officer walking down the sidewalk and firing at his current position. Bullet smashed through the glass and a ripped through his hair, he took a moment to check if his hair was still on his head.

'This is went from bad, to really fuckin worse. I need to deal with this asshole and get back to Giselle. I don't need Oddity, I can take this fucker alone, I don't need his coward ass!' Anthony eyed a beer bottle rolling towards him, now he no longer had to rely on a hand to gun fight, but bringing a beer bottle to a gun fight was much better. A sudden footstep came from the other side of the other side of the car, without even noticing, his body began to move on its own. He sprang up from his position of cover and charged right at the officer, this surprised the attacker, before he could train his sights on the boy. The teen's hand came up and pushed the pistol out of his direction and caused it to fire into the air. What was more surprising to the officer, was the bottle bursting into the side of his face on impact. Blood and glass flew through the open space, the cop lost his footing and fell onto his back. Anthony tossed the remnants of the broken bottle and wiped the broken glass in his hands onto his jacket. As he walked down the sidewalk to go find Giselle, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Assualt on an officer can get you fifteen years if you're fuckin lucky. But right now I'm not an officer, I'm actually on lunch break right now..." A turquoise colored aura began radiating off the officer, with the crack of his knuckles his aura became more fierce and fiery. "Now I will put you down, with the other scum and vermin in this shit hole of a borough. You shoulda took the shit hike back to whatever shithole you and your family came from. But it's whatever, I hope you don't mind becoming a statistic."

Anthony felt his blood boiling, this bastard's passive aggressive comments of a certain kind really hot under his skin.

"Listen here you-"

"You have the right to shut the fuck up and die! Anything you say or do will be used against you in my court of law, and in my court I am the fuckin law. I am the Judge. I am the Jury. And I am the Executioner! I summon my stands, LAW AND ORDER!"


[To be continued]