#Wind is so likely to fall for the candy in the van trick it isn’t even funny

[weepingtalecowboy]

Fanfic prompt :Everyone always makes the joke that Wild and Hyrule are the most likely to get kidnapped

But in their literal game mechanics and the lore of the games

Hyrule must run from anyone and trust nobody or someone could hand him over to ganon he definitely is really skittish about trusting anyone but when he sees someone help him he does trust them a bit more (he knows the concept of stranger danger and had to become a master at it or else it was game over)

Wild literally just has to throw a banana and you can almost always tell it is a Yiga even before you even pull out said banana (it is part of the game mechanics after all)

But you know who is the one who actually canonically is the most likely to get kidnapped and not notice it at any point during the entire process

Wind who has jumped on the boat of sketchy old man and pirates during both his adventures

Like he was extremely lucky that nothing ever happened to him

And he probably doesn’t know the concept of stranger danger because nobody on the island is a stranger or dangerous to him how would he even figure out if nobody is telling him about it or showing it

Like the first thing he does when the game starts is run up to a random girl who has fallen from a tree then she turns out to be a pirate and even if she has told him the truth about the kidnapped girls

You don’t jump on the boat of a pirate no matter how nice they seem (for all we know she could have orchestrated this situation to kidnap him and it is pure luck that she was just nice like that )

Essentially because later during the failed heist he gets throw across the sea he literally just wakes up on a different boat with no record of how he got there and instead of alerting anyone (because Wind fell island has a prison so he could have told the guards that a random guy had him on the boat and all that) he breaks fucking tingle out of the cell just to buy a sail for the weird talking boat and then continue on with just the two of them together (like I get desperately trying to save his sister but telling a guard or two that your sister got kidnapped and that you are saving her to make sure that at least a few people will know where you are like grandma definitely doesn’t know that you no longer are with the pirates)

And even more unhinged is the fact that tetra is not a good person at all she has interrogated a guy who wouldn’t sell her bombs which should have tipped Wind of as a red flag she has scammed a rich man out so much that he lives as a beggar with his daughter (also a thing that makes it more vague than ever to know what she would have done to his grandmother like a promise telling him she would bring his sister back safely is very dubious)

Also he canonically has repeatedly went to tingle's tower and asked him to translate the triforce charts (like that is tingle and nothing more has to be said)

Like Wind has the most luck known to mankind

It also somehow gets even worse because during phantom hourglass he and tetra are on the boat (which understandable because she proved that she is someone you can trust and a good friend)

And after waking up on a random beach the first thing you do is go into an old guy’s storage unit to get his sword (and somehow again not get mugged , kidnapped or trafficked because you never go somewhere alone when a single person is aware of it with no weapon especially when someone told you to go there )

Then he went with a different shady guy he just saved at the temple who genuinely looked like a problem in the making (and it was a problem in the making like I love linebeck he is a father figure for wind but also he did have the problem with his ex who wanted to kill him and he looked really shady and you would not have been able to escape if he did kidnap you because you are on the sea )

Like obviously Wind hasn’t learned his Lesson at any point in time because every time it went well

But with Yiga nothing goes well with them

He would probably hold hands with them as well and any other kidnapper would have a very easy catch

He probably joined the chain in less then a second without any form of self awareness (like everyone definitely was nervous with each other but not Wind he heard they said everyone else can sleep while another takes watch and planted his face on a pillow and was just out like that while everyone else was uneasy and didn’t sleep well or also took watch to make sure they won’t be killed in their sleep)

The chain really has to teach him that lesson (for the sake of like literally everything he has ever done because that luck will run out at some point)

Like Warriors definitely is seeing Wind go with literally everyone and not understanding why like that looks like a trauma response (it is just wind with over 12 years never learning about stranger danger and a big misunderstanding but also not really wrong )

[bugheadfamily]

🎶Boys and girls of every age

Wouldn't you like to read something great?

Clink the links & you will read

These some fics of Halloween.🎶

Hey Buggies, the song & dance is over (literally), but the fics are still here! Below you’ll find a list of both supernatural/spooky seasonal type fics & Halloween specific ones (marked with a 🎃). After the trick-or-treating is over (but before the candy hangover sets in) get your Halloween fic fix here below the cut!

🎃 10.31.17 by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency | T

On that night, when the veil is at its thinnest, he finds his way home.

body talks by @justcourbeau | NR

Instead of late morning light being his wake up call, Jughead was woken by the horrendous chirp of an alarm clock going off, and, really, that should have been the first sign that something was wrong.

Cooper's Monsters by @cooperandjonesinc | M 

In the darkened halls of an abandoned mental hospital Dr. Hal Cooper has been making monsters.Betty, oblivious to her father’s machinations, comes across a horrifying creature. Together can they stop the doctor and free the others?

Curl of Ash by @darknessaroundus | T

Jughead attempts to save a strangers life in Queens one night. Nothing is what it appears to be.

Darkside by @exmachina187, @itsmarscosta | E

Jughead has had centuries to reflect on his life, but none of it had meaning until she came along.

🎃 Dirty Devil by @thesecretfandom | E

Betty and Jughead are celebrating Halloween, but their costumes seem to be interfering with their fun.

Dust & Desire by @darknessaroundus | T

They have a rhythm to their days, the result of having very little company but each other for years now. When Betty wakes from the nap, they eat mac and cheese before they go hunting. A Vampire Slayer AU.

erase & rewind by @sopaloma | M

When a powerful storm hits Riverdale, five students are hit by lightning as they leave school. The result of that storm will change their lives forever, in ways they never could have imagined. A Misfits AU.

🎃 go home people (the party's not over) by Anonymous | T

“It was your dad’s idea,” Betty chirped. “He told my mom that if people were going to stare at us she may as well make it worth her while.” Jughead bit back a sigh. “And she said ‘like what, throw a party’? And he said ‘sure, Alice, the perfect holiday is coming up’.”

🎃 Hollowed Hearts by @kmlefev | T

Betty and Jughead have a pumpkin carving contest.

🎃 Howling by @lovedinapastlife | T

Jughead's working a shift at the Blossom haunted house when he spots a familiar blonde ponytail and decides to try and give her a scare. He ends up smashed in the face, real blood added to his costume. Horrified, Betty tries to make it up to him. She's nervous to finish the house by herself, so Jughead offers to let her work on a few scenes and scares with him until Archie comes back from his break. There's nothing quite like method acting with a childhood crush and best friend when hearts are pounding and limbs are entangled in a ravenous display. Something's building inside of them, a low, penetrating howl.

🎃 I Don't Have a Lot of Friends by @typing123 | M

Joker Jughead and Harley Betty meet at a Halloween Party. It's definitely a treat.

Interview with the Coopers by @typing123 | E

What a perfect little family they make

🎃 It's A Great Pumpkin, Jughead Jones by @alisoncollis | NR

Jughead and Betty go to a pumpkin patch.

i will hang on the hook of your splendour by @jughead-jones/@stark | G

“We have to go up to Woodland House tomorrow,” Betty said, hopping out of the back of the van the night before, dressed in something that she called summer sleepwear and Jughead deemed to be sweet torture. “There has to be a clue there about these abductions.”Mystery Inc AU

🎃 Let the Right One In by @yavannie | T

When Jellybean talks Jughead into going to a Halloween-themed birthday party in Greendale, she does such a good job on his make-up that not even his best friend can tell it's him.

🎃 love is kinda crazy (with a spooky little girl like you) by @whaticameherefor | G

Jughead always thought that falling in love would feel like a punch to the gut. It didn’t, of course. It was more like a punch to the face. Right in the nose, to be exact.

🎃 Magic in the Air by @it-happened-one-starry-night | M

A tale from Riverdale. Betty and Jughead learn something interesting about the earlier inhabitants of their tiny town. Later, they attend a Halloween party together at the Blossom Mansion.

🎃 Movie Night on Elm Street by @bettsc | NR

Jughead Jones finds himself at the Cooper household on Halloween night, and it's not just the scary movies that are giving him goosebumps.

🎃 No Guts No Glory by @thesecretfandom | E

Jughead may have taken their pumpkin carving competition a bit too far, and now it's Betty's job to get the both of them cleaned up.

🎃 Nobody Knows You Now by @bettsc | M

They moved like this for what seemed like hours; neither one relenting to the other; both losing themselves in the intertwining of two souls.

🎃 october 2017 by @elizabethbettscooper | G

“Jug, you’re home!” she glanced up, grinning at him. He nudged off his shoes and started towards her.

“So it seems.” he said, smirking and dropped onto the floor beside her. “What’s up, Betts?”

“Do you have plans tomorrow? I want to go to the pumpkin patch.”

“The… pumpkin patch.” Jughead raised an eyebrow and put his arm across the sofa seat, leaning in to look at Betty’s planner.

🎃 Over the Wall by @typing123 | T

The Over the Garden Wall AU nobody asked for.

Palm Readings and You [AO3] by @soylent-greene | G

Fall AU - In a world where Jason never died and Riverdale never fell into chaos, Jughead and Betty come across a palm-reading who will change their perspectives on life and bring them closer than they ever were before, or ever wanted to be.

🎃 Pumpkin Spice (and all things nice) by @itsindiansummer13 | G

Jughead, Betty, and Halloween through the years.

Seek Forbidden Things by @maeve-of-winter | T

Kevin Keller has gone missing from Riverdale, and it's up to Betty and the rest of the gang to bring him back.

🎃 Self control by @bettyscooperr | NR

Jughead just really hates Halloween

Spirits, Are You There? by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency | T

An abandoned asylum, plus a ouija board, plus Cheryl Blossom? The perfect potion.

strange days by @sopaloma

His sister is missing, his dad is talking to Christmas lights and Betty Cooper needs his help. November 1983 is a strange time for Jughead Jones. A Stranger Things AU.

🎃 The Cooper House by @satelliteinasupernova | T

“Let’s go to a haunted house, Jughead,” Jellybean had said. “It’ll be fun,” she said.

Except, now he was turned around somewhere in a dark hallway; alone. With no source of light nearby, he could barely make out his surroundings. Tentatively, he reached out to use the wall to guide him, taking one step at a time. The surface of the wall was uneven and with each step he felt another notch as his hand moved across one panel of wood to the next. The floor creaked softly under his feet. Here in the dark, it was unnervingly quiet. The only other sound he could hear was of the wind passing through the trees outside the house.

“Hey, JB?” he called out. “Where the hell did you go?”

🎃 The First Halloween Since by @typing123 | G

Single Mom Betty doesn't think she can face Halloween this year. She just wants a quiet night in with her daughter. Jughead's not so sure.

🎃 The Mouse by @typing123 | G

A hungry Jughead is lured into the woods on Halloween by a hungry vampire.

🎃 The One That I Want by @dreamersshouldknowbetter | T

Betty and Jughead meet at a Halloween party where they accidentally form two halves of a couples costume

the strange death of Elizabeth Cooper by @wolfofansbach | T

Betty Cooper, after a long struggle with illness, has passed away. Except--she hasn't, because against all rhyme and reason, she awakens on the coroner's slab, hale and healthy. The illness is gone, and she couldn't be in better condition, to the weeping relief of her friends and family, not least of all her longtime boyfriend, Jughead Jones. No real explanation is forthcoming, but what does it really matter, when Betty is alive? And he can discount the occasional oddity in her behavior. She's been through a lot, after all. Except, as the days go by and the strange happenings pile on, Jughead begins to suspect that whatever it is that crawled out of the grave that day isn't really Betty Cooper.

🎃 the unexpected perks of being a pumpkin by @thetaoofbetty | M

Jughead Jones has a damn good Halloween.

🎃 Things that Go Bump in the Night by @createandconstruct | T

Are sometimes things that also squeal...

Time Honoured Tradition by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency​ | T

When Cheryl dares Betty to spend some time in the abandoned house across the street she gets a little more than she bargained for.

What Happened on Elm Street by @tory-b | M

When Jughead Jones moves to Riverdale with his family, he uncovers a few mysteries this simple small town has been trying to cover up--specifically the murder that occurred in his house during the late 1950s that was never properly solved. Unable to keep his curiosity away, he teams up with neighbor and fellow mystery lover Betty Cooper to uncover the truth.

🎃 what we pretend to be by @sylwrites | G

It's his little sister's first Halloween, but his parents don't have money for a costume or the time to take her trick-or-treating. The answer to both of these problems comes in the form of his best friend's neighbour.

🎃 What's Your Favourite Scary Movie? by @gellsbellshead | T

Betty Cooper doesn't do scary movies. However maybe she could be persuaded by some cuddling from her boyfriend Jughead. This is a continuation of the fic "Movie Night"

🎃 when things go bump and grind at night by @rainystripe | M

Betty dresses up and Jughead is her slave.

🎃 won't you tell me what you're thinking of? by @flwrpotts | G

Betty enlists Jughead, Reggie, and Archie to help her set up for the annual Riverdale middle school Halloween dance.

Still haven’t satisfied your itch for Halloween fics? Check out our fanfic tag on @buggiebreak! Our Halloween event, Vice and Virtues, is going on and you can find fics posted exclusively to Tumblr there!

[antics-pedantic]

RALLY CO. #3: THE RACKETEER PART 3

          Rib-Eye Renzo was valuable. That’s why Don Malvoli holed him up in a hotel whose owner was on their take. Cozy little spot, though hardly luxurious. So he tried to sneak out as often as he could to go shopping for things to help stave off the frustration of being stuck here until the job was done. Malvoli’s thugs were his security, but Renzo knew ways to convince them into relaxing their guard.

          “Mister Renzo! Whatcha getting’ us today?”

          The neighborhood kids were set to heckle him again. But Renzo didn’t mind: For a little pocket change he’d buy them some candy or a small toy. He couldn’t spend too much all at once, but it felt nice to at least do something until this business working for Don Malvoli was squared away. The nearest grocer or butcher shop would provide him with ribeye steaks, the fresher the better. And then he could resume his divining for the gang.

          Just as he was carrying his paper bags of personal things like toilet paper and deodorant—and a lone plastic bag, tied to secure the ribeye steaks within, he bumped into someone who had stopped by to purchase the latest newspaper from a corner stand run by a teenager.

          “Oh! Dreadfully sorry, my man. Allow me to help you.” said the fellow Renzo bumped into.

          “Aw! I’m sorry, I shoulda been payin’ attention. Real lousy and lout-like I was—what.”

          Renzo perked up when he recognized the famous occult detective, Solomon Callahan! Did that mean that Callahan was onto him? And that Rally Co. bunch that had come back—he’d heard of them! And how they fought ferociously against fiends, despite being new to the adventuring scene.

          “Something the matter, my friend?” said Solomon. The older man couldn’t place what it was, but he tried to maintain a calm appearance. Solomon had no intention of frightening Renzo. In fact, the occult detective wasn’t even looking for him.

          “Here, you dropped your ribeye steaks! Fresh looking cuts, you’re a lucky—”

          But mid-speech, Renzo had just stood up and started jogging away, terrified. Solomon took up the groceries and hurried after, confused but determined to ask what was bothering the poor man.

X

          “Ya told me you wasn’t followed!” exclaimed a woman in a fancy vest, and shirt with folded up sleeves. One of Don Malvoli’s captains: Menace Melanie, as she was called.

          “Get off my back, Mel!” sputtered another gangster, who had tied a bandanna around his mouth. “It was a whole blasted chase! And look!”

          The lowly gangster gestured to his car: Three other enforcers, all knocked out.

          “If I hadn’t taken the wheel and covered my mouth… You shoulda caught a whiff of that juice! They had these fancy pellet-capsule things filled with the crap. Each shot enough to lay out my boys. I ways swayin’ through traffic just catching the secondhand… gas!”

          “Well whaddya waiting for?!” bellowed Melanie, before waving to a few other goons to grab their weapons. “They’re gonna crash this joint real soon! So we gotta nix ‘em before all our product and operations in this neighborhood get busted!”

          “No, I mean—there it is now!”

          Melanie turned to see some of the pellet-capsule things colliding with the wall: She’d just lost a couple more guys to these things, as Felix and Tycho came charging in.

          “Prepare ta be blasted!” bellowed Tycho, letting loose with a barrage of impellets. The remaining gangsters let loose with their own weapons, as impellets and bullets flew every which way.

          “I’ll do the blasting, pintsworth!”

          Ez wasn’t far off, flicking the cap off of a test tube and lobbing it forward to create a small explosion.

          “They missed us! We’ve got ‘em!” cried a gangster.

          “You idiot!” screeched Melanie. “It’s a smoke bomb!”

          Melanie stumbled through the smoke, trying to get away when she caught a glimpse of Felix trailing after her. Ez snuck up on a gangster from behind and poured a handful of impellets into their back, forcing them forward and falling into an open crate. Tycho found a ladder propped up against a stack of crates, and began to climb it, before dropping onto a gangster with a body slam.

          “Your number’s up, Mel!” exclaimed Felix, between coughs as the criminal captain struggled to open a backdoor that would have led into the alleyways.

          “I ain’t done yet, you goody two-shoes!”

          Menace Melanie drew a switchblade and thrusted it forward at Felix, who took up her jutte with her free hand and used it to redirect the blade in a circular motion. The lightning fast motion twisted Melanie’s arm and forced her to let go.

          “We want to know about the rising star.” said Felix sternly. “Don Malvoli. Last I heard, the old bosses weren’t stirring up such trouble.”

          “You’re right about that—guy’s a pain in the ass. He had a lot of grief with all the other syndicates. Our old lead, Gramps Toretti took him in on account of the fact Malvoli wouldn’t have made it on the streets on his own as a youngster. But too much pity went around for that little bastard. He had free rein to live comfy. Took some of our… less disciplined people and they all put together a plan. Took out Toretti together.”

          “And now you’re just following him? Isn’t anyone going to stand up?”

          “You don’t get it: He made friends with all the meanest legbreakers, and the saps who run the numbers, balance our business books. All the guys we used to keep in check before he talked Toretti into letting ‘em roll with him. An idiot like Malvoli needs people stronger and smarter than him to buy into his schemes. And if nothing else, Malvoli could sell a sob story. Made all of the slimeballs—even among mobsters, see themselves in him.”

          Felix scowled at the thought. Malvoli might have had a rough life, but that was no excuse for his actions now. The only one he aimed to help now that he had the power to do so, was himself! All others would be his pawns. Loyal to him, but never the reverse.

          “I’ll tell you where he is, if you think you’re tough enough to stick it to him.” said Melanie. “But be warned: He’s turned to some mumbo jumbo and monsters. Another reason why we couldn’t jump him ourselves. But I hear you Rally Co. people got some tricks of your own in the weirdo department.”

          “Quite a way to phrase it, but yes.”

          Felix dragged Melanie back over with her fellows, and the lot of them were bound to a pole with chains found by Tycho. Once Felix had the information she wanted, she nudged the shorter adventurer.

          “I’m going to call Solomon to inform him of our findings. I thought I’d let you know there’d be a cryptid involved.”

          “Any idea what kind?” said Tycho.

          “Hopefully nothing large. I could do without a big monster for a while… That and I doubt its size because I’d have caught wind about the gangs carrying something like that, or using it against enemies.”

          Meanwhile, from a nearby van parked on the curb, a couple of jumpsuit-clad working men were staking out the scene: And In the back, one more of their number keeping a caged beast at bay.

          “They’re boutta go.” said a gangster, adjusting their jumpsuit and cap repairman disguise. “Let that thing out already before they get away.”

          “Youse got it.”

          The third gangster opened the rear doors, and turned the cage to open it: As Felix had suspected, it wasn’t a terribly large cage. But it was spacious enough the nimble cryptid within could move around. Agility was the ally of this one.

          “Hey, is it out yet?!”

          “Don’t scream at it, Agata—”

          But it was too late. The nimble little cryptid reached out a limb and latched onto Agata’s face, becoming a flurry of pain for the two gangsters up front. At least, until one of them could roll down the window in time to allow the cryptid to escape. But by the time they did, their faces looked as if they’d been belted one too many times by a handful of stones and a nightstick.

          “If I was one of them gangsters, Felix,” started Tycho, as the two headed back for the car. “I’d get one of the biggest, meanest jerks I could. And tough luck if they’re too chicken to get a real beasty! In fact, I’ll bet they just up and got an oversized chicken to come after us.”

          But before Felix could respond, the two perked up at a sound: Something hopping along the roofs of the parked cars. Felix would reach into her jacket for a weapon, but by the time she’d fired off a couple of impellets, the approaching aggressor had seemingly vanished. When she turned, she spotted Tycho wresting with something, as the two fell into the shadows of an alleyway.

          “Tycho?!”

          Tycho was swinging his fists, trying to find his opponent, but something caused him to bash his fists into the nearby brick wall. He would have cried out, but the cryptid had its tail around his mouth. It had meant to ensnare his throat, but the stout cryptozoologist was not easily taken.

          “I can’t get a clear shot!” exclaimed Felix. She tried to move in to pry the thing off of Tycho, but he gestured for her to stay back. As Tycho teetered back into the light, she could see just what it was: Some sort of monkey, but the tail seemed to have a stony layer, rendering it a deadly weapon.

          “Mmmph!” Tycho sounded off. Just as Felix watched, Katrina and Ez had wheeled up in the car. Katrina of course, was quick to try and use her telekinesis to tr and remove the cryptid. But as its legs were forced off, it simply latched on with its arms, while its stony tail whacked Tycho over the head repeatedly.

          “Eep!” cried Katrina. She pulled at the arms now. It latched on again with the legs, that club-like tail battering Tycho some more until finally, Katrina got the idea to levitate it by its tail.

          “Tycho! Oh, I am so sorry dear.” said Katrina. “Are you well?”

          But the Irishman was dizzy from the assault. And all he could blurt out was:

          “Slàinte!”

          “I’m almost glad for Malvoli’s rotten luck…” sighed Ez. “Felix being able to intercept Dr. Leistung’s creation, and now Katrina capturing this little nuisance? Otherwise Don Malvoli might have actually had a hypercompetent fighting force.”

          “Issa Granite-tailed Howler.” puffed Tycho, holding his head in his hands as he recovered. “They’re not as bad in the wild if ye leave ‘em alone. But this one was steamin’ mad.”

          “Ah, that’s always how it is with distant relatives, you foolhardy orangutan!” said Ez, getting some things from her bag. “Come here, Tycho. Let me see how badly that thing hurt you.”

X

          The next morning, Don Malvoli was at a golf course upstate, outside of the city of Arcadia. But despite his best efforts, he never could seem to get a hole in one… or anything resembling getting his golf ball into the hole. And his instructor had long since been threatened into near silence. Rib-Eye Renzo was driving a golf cart over to Malvoli’s spot, with the third gangster from the night prior—who had disguised themselves as a repairman or some such.

          “Renzo! What gives?! I thought I told youse to stay put!”

          “That’s just it, boss!” cried Renzo. “I ran into Solomon Callahan on the way to getting more divining steaks. And this goomba here says they not only busted Menace Melanie, they caught your cryptid!”

          “What?! But I ordered a big monster!” spat Malvoli, moving for the repairman-gangster with an impotent thirst for blood in his eyes. But Renzo had stepped in.

          “Wouldn’t you eh… rather have me peer into the future? I only got one steak left and it’s been goin’ bad fast!”

          “What? Oh, aw right, Renzo. Keep me updated… They mighta found youse, but I guess you technically ain’t failed me yet.”

           Renzo nodded meekly and took out a plastic bag he’d filled with ice. There was a ribeye steak starting to lose its crimson shade. But he held it up to his eye, as it peered through the round bone, and into the future.

          “Well?” said Malvoli.

          “I see… I see…!” chanted Renzo. Malvoli just stared for a while, before Renzo slapped the steak a bit before putting it back up to his eye. Malvoli himself proceeded to slap Renzo about the face.

          “Whaddya see, wiseguy?!”

          “Gah! Alright, alright! I see lotsa guns firing. Rally Co., and a spectacular ambush!”

          “Is it ours or theirs?!”

          “I can’t see so good no more. This steak’s bit the dust.”

          Malvoli’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head at Renzo’s inability to clarify. But then he just started laughing.

          “That’s good, that’s good! I’m gonna set up an ambush of my own… That way, Rally Co. ain’t gonna get the jump on us! Cause see, we’ll get the jump on them!”

          “Wow. Real swell plan, boss.”

          “Damn right. Now get outta my sight. Get yourself some new steaks!”

          Renzo nodded and scurried back to the cart. But before the gangster-repairman could join him, Malvoli beckoned for him to turn around. And then with a swing, Malvoli walloped the nine-iron against the repairman-gangster’s rump, an anguished cry ensuing as Malvoli forked over some extra money for his golf instructor to help him beat the underling up.

          Renzo had caught a ride back to the city. Took a walk for a while to clear his head, but that did little good for the stress. So it was back to his safehouse to try and relax. He’d go in thirty minutes to get a fresh steak. Working for Don Malvoli was such pressing work—in the past he’d just been counted upon to help win at gambling. Horse races and blackjack at the underground casinos and backroom card games. Still criminal, but Gramps Toretti kept him away from any drugs or death-dealing actions. Easy enough since Toretti put the organized in organized crime. Settled things with conferences between the local syndicate leads before coming to blows. Now, it was like Don Malvoli used him for every little thing. Regardless whether there was blood to be had or not.

And under Malvoli, they went from fencing goods, gambling and embezzlement to plans for heavier drug trafficking, protection and loan sharks, arms dealing, and controlling prostitution with an iron grip. And with that the rival syndicates would step up to try and match Malvoli’s high stakes operations. Renzo felt a little guilty at first—Toretti’s jobs weren’t exactly noble. But now they were taking more money from the neighborhoods and less from the banks or the suits uptown.

          There was a knock at Renzo’s door. One of the thugs guarding Renzo had drawn a pistol, and gone to check: It was some of the kids from down the block. The ones he’d bought candy for whenever he was out.

          “Mister Renzo, you can’t do this!”

          “What?! What’d I do?!” cried Renzo. One of the kids had lunged at Renzo, battering him with their fists to a little over minimal effect.

          “Papa’s store! Your bums wrecked Papa’s store! He never snitched on your gang, and this is how you pay him back?!”

          Renzo shouldn’t have been shocked. But Leonardi’s shop was around as long as Renzo could remember. Renzo himself used to go in there to bring the best ingredients home to cook. And now here was Leonardi’s kid, blind in his desire for bloody vengeance.

          “That’s enough, peanut.” said the guard, ushering the children away. “Get lost before you get hurt.”

          Renzo sat there a while. This had to end. He was privy on Don Malvoli’s schemes. Heck, even out of his good graces he could combine his knowledge of the mob with his divining power. Put an end to this all! But how could he? The police would never trust him. And Rally Co. was crashing as many operations in town as they could, weren’t they?

          “Hey, yer steaks are here. I didn’t know they delivered.”

          “Huh?”

          “Yeah! All classy-like with that suit. At least ya don’t have to worry about going out in public no more for a while.”

          Renzo looked up to see Solomon Callahan as the door closed. He held in his hands a small crystal, of which Renzo caught a glow. It was the sort of arcane stone that alerted one to other mystical powers in the area, the glow stronger the closer the source was. And once the door shut and Renzo had a chance to test one of the steaks, Solomon was certain he’d found the place: The crystal grew even more brilliantly.

          “Mr. Callahan?”

          It was Felix. She had helped Solomon stake the street, and follow Renzo around the area unseen.

          “That fellow you said you needed help shadowing. Is he?...”

          “Not so loud, my young friend. But yes, you were right.”

          Solomon gestured for Felix to follow him outside. They could not linger here, but they also did not depart from this street right away. The more experienced occult detective between the pair of investigators pressed his index and middle fingers to the temple of his skull, and he glanced back up.

          “Do not make a sound. Your bodyguard needn’t know of this commune.”

          “It really was you!” thought Renzo, responding to Solomon’s telepathy. “I’ll come quietly. I’ll confess to everything, but you’ve got to get your Rally Co. bunch to lay off! I want to help bring in Don Malvoli!”

          “Perhaps. But for the time being we need you to stay in his good graces. Can we count on you, Renzo?”

          “Yeah! Youse ain’t gonna regret this none, Callahan. But I should warn ya: After some fortune telling, Malvoli’s settin’ up an ambush of his own.”

          “Where?”

          “Dunno yet. He’s been private with that info. You’ll have to be careful wherever youse guys track him!”

          Solomon looked over to Felix.

          “Felix. Inform the others: Rib-Eye Renzo is with us. But Don Malvoli has prepared an ambush at an unknown time and location.”

          Felix’s eyes widened with astonishment at Renzo’s change of heart. But nodded.

          “I’ll do you one better, sir: I’ll snoop around and find out just what… then we’ll mount our own counter-attack!”