Chapter 19: Hope

"So that's the famous Thunderbolt (Lightning Cutter) spell I've heard about," Disprezzare muttered, looking down at the charred remains of Fiera.

"That's all you can say? Your assistant has just been killed, by my own hands!" Spauracchio said, looking at his hands in shame.

"It wasn't your fault," Disprezzare said, and secretly pulled out a gun from inside his pocket and held it behind Fiera's back. "He just got in the way."

Suddenly, two of the dogs that had scattered before leaped up behind Disprezzare, grabbing his arms as they flew, and ripped them clean off before he had a chance to fire. As Fiera's body fell, Spauracchio grabbed it and pulled it away from Disprezzare. But as the gun hit the pier, it fired, nearly hitting Spauracchio and he backed away too quickly and fell over along with Fiera's body, which landed in front of him. It was also at this time that Rosa and Freno came out of their hiding place to help Gelato pull the needles out of Tony's body.

"These are acupuncture needles," Freno said as he worked on the needles in Tony's arms. "They're a type of Chinese medicine that focuses on pressure points in the body, and depending on where you put them, they can either cause great relaxation or a death-like feeling. I met a few men who practiced it when I worked in the city, and learned the art from them."

"But when I saw them impale Tony, they were knives. So how do you explain them being needles now?" Gelato said, slouching down on the pier in exhaustion.
"Fiera must have taken the needles out, and placed an Illusion on them to make you think they were knives when they hit Tony," Rosa said, following Freno's example. "So if Tony wasn't dead, he was put in a death-like state."

"That's what it seems to me," Freno said.

"So Fiera did stick to his moral code after all," Gelato said, and looked at Fiera's body lying flat on the pier. "And I wanted to kill the poor b****rd."

But their quiet period was cut short by the approach of a large group of nasty-looking men and a short little man wearing a black business suit and a grey tie was leading them. A pair of dark shades hid his eyes, and his hair was light brown and frizzy. He noticed Disprezzare, who turned around to face him and quickly lost balance.

"Malacca…" Disprezzare said, looking up at the little man. "I can explain."

The little man frowned.

"Worthless trash! You're no good to me with no arms!" Malacca snapped, and then he saw Fiera's body. His right arm was in a bandaged sling, and his face tightened. "Men, do you as you like to the little f**ker who broke my arm, and then proceed to kill Freno when you're done!"

"Right away, Boss," one of the thugs said.

Then the thugs ran over to Fiera's body, ignoring Spauracchio for the present, as he teleported to where Freno was with the other three. The thugs first shot Fiera's body multiple times with Tommy guns, and then beat it to a pulp with wooden sticks. It was a horrible sight to watch, as Rosa and Freno looked away. Tony was still in a hazy state, while Gelato was getting angrier with Disprezzare, who watched the scene with pure disinterest. Spauracchio, despite his weakened state, had his hands near his knives.

But then a sudden cry of anger caused the thugs to look back, allowing Spauracchio and the others to see what was going on. Disprezzare, despite having no arms, was able to pick up a throwing knife with his teeth as the bandages were falling from his face, and charged at Malacca. Malacca was too shocked to move, and was met by Disprezzare decapitating his head. Then as he fell, the thugs aimed their guns and fired at Disprezzare till he barely moved. After they were satisfied, they talked among themselves.

"Hey, boys, I have a great idea," said the thug who spoke first. "Instead of just killing Freno, why don't we mutilate everyone in the town as well?"

"Yeah, as payback for getting nothing for our services," a thin-haired thug said, nodding.

"We'll become famous," chimed in a buck-teethed thug.

"But what about the Foglia guys? They're standing right there with the old man," said a thug in a striped suit, pointing at Spauracchio and the others.

A thug with a short haircut licked his knife, and said, "We'll kill the old man first, cuz he's the source of our troubles, and then kill the Foglia guys."

"But we'll make it look like the Caligine family did it, so the heat's not on us!" agreed a thug with a top hat.

This made a thug with gold teeth say, "In turn, this'll start another Mafia war, and both sides will have no choice but to hire us, cuz too many of their own have been killed already."

Then they all laughed and started to advance on the five. But just as Spauracchio was about to raise his hand for another Thunderbolt, a shot was heard. All of them looked up and saw all the male and female citizens wielding shotguns and garden tools, with a little boy at the front holding an old pistol. Gelato immediately recognized him as Cannoli.

"This is our turf, you meanies! Now get out!" Cannoli screamed.

The thugs didn't move.

"And what are you gonna do if we don't? Throw pebbles at us?" said the thug in the top hat, and then before he knew what was coming to him, he was shot in the knee by Cannoli.

"Goddamn it! The little s**t shot me in the leg!" the top hat thug cried, and pulled out his revolver.

But to his surprise, all the citizens aimed their guns and shot at him as they charged down an easy slope next to the cliff. After he fell, the thugs then retaliated by reloading their semi-automatics, and fired back. So Spauracchio and Gelato decided to help the townspeople by creating Homunculi of themselves and attacking the thugs from behind. Meanwhile, Rosa and Freno had all the needles removed from Tony, and were helping him up to take him to the town doctor, who was already preparing to receive dozens of wounded citizens even though they hadn't arrived yet.

By the time Tony managed to come back to reality, the battle was over. Most of Malacca's thugs were either dead, or swimming away from the island. As for Malacca's remains, they impaled his head and incinerated it at the town square for all to see, and kicked his body into the bay without a proper burial. As the doctor predicted, several men and women were injured, but luckily, nobody died. As for Disprezzare, he was barely alive, and requested to see Fiera one last time.

So Spauracchio and Freno picked Disprezzare up and placed him next to Fiera's desecrated body. Underneath the bandages, his face had many burn scars and he could barely move his lips. With the last of his strength, he turned on his side and kissed Fiera on the forehead.

"I wish I could've joined you in the afterlife," he muttered. "You would've been a great companion to have."

Then, his eyes widened, and he died like the wind.

Rosa found herself crying, even though they tried to kill them twice. Tony nodded solemnly, while Gelato tried to stay calm, but he too started bawling like Rosa. Spauracchio said nothing, and out of respect, Freno arranged for them to be buried next to each other in the island cemetery. After the funeral service, the four took the next boat back to the mainland, leaving the Riva district with it's new ray of hope in the form of Freno's bridge, which he decided to name the Kaiser-Gelato Bridge.

End of Chapter 19