1969. Downtown, New Jersey.

 Police sirens, indiscriminate shouting, along with the sounds of guns being fired could be heard coming from the western part of downtown Jersey deep into the night.

“Boss, bad news, it’s the cops!” 

A door is slammed open, leading into a room situated deep within a large mansion. The DeCavalcante Family were holding a strategy meeting on how to deal with their rapidly expanding “allies” in New York. However, seeing the opportunity in the coming conflict, the New England crime family, the Patriacra tipped off the cops to use them as a means to gain favor with the five families of New York. 

A man sitting in a chair talking to the DeCavalCante head while drinking a glass of bourbon suddenly stood up upon hearing the situation.

“What!? The Patriarca sold us out? Those motherfuckers I’m gonna shoot up every one of their god damn clubs!” 

“These god damn cops, they followed our bag man and ambushed our crew, so far we got 7 dead and killed a whole bunch of them but there’s just no end!” desperately explained the mobster who just stormed into the room. 

“Ace get the boss outa here we’ll buy you some time, now GO!”

“Wait, where’s Florian?”

“Smoke? He’s already securing a back entrance, use the third alley and you’ll see him,” the mobster continued.

“I got it, Uncle please follow my lead until we get to the safe house.”

“Hmph, that motherfucker Raymond, I’m gonna personally gut one of his kids for every button I lose today. Wanna mess with mi familia? Cavante, clear all the hot goods, I ain't going to a joint today.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Good. Let’s go Ace we’ll meet up with your brother around back.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

At that moment, a large explosion resounded throughout the residence. The room shook as if an earthquake was occurring, hinting at the scale of damage caused by the blast.

“What the fuck was that!? Boss, Ace, you okay?”

“I’m fine I’m fine, Ace got me.”

A new mobster came running this time, his face pale and desperate.

“Boss! Bad news there’s a Gifted taking out our crew around back!” 

“That explosion… Harvey, is it? So it is the Patriarca after all. Son of a bitch!”

Snap. A chair was kicked across the room. The middle-aged boss of the DeCavalcante Family, Simone Decavalcante was furious.

“Cavante, I don’t care how many it takes, round up all the made men we got. If they want a fucking war that’s what they’ll get.”

“Yes, boss! But first, let’s get you out of here.”

“Right, let’s go, lead the way Ace.”

“We’ll burn them for today Uncle, I promise you.”

The young 23-year-old followed by the 56-year-old man left the room through a back entrance. As they made their way quickly through the war zone that was originally a beautiful mansion in downtown New Jersey, Ace felt an intense rage burning in his normally calm heart.

“Whoa there son, I know you want to burn them but don’t forget, our men is in here too. Calm yourself.”

Noticing that fire was bursting out from his clenched fist, Ace quickly recovered from his turmoil.

“I’m sorry Uncle, Florian’s attitude must be rubbing off on me.”

“Right, now let’s hurry.”

***

The two arrive in a back alley where three men awaited them. At the head of them, a 19-year-old youth with gray hair and black eyes. He was indeed Florian Kuklinski, nicknamed “Smoke.” Wearing a fitted suit with a magazine pack around his waist, his fierce expression stayed unwavering upon seeing his brother and uncle. His looks rather matched his gift, unlike that of his brother Joshua, who possessed green eyes that contrasted greatly with his flaming red hair, of which provided the only hint towards his ability.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Uncle! Ace! Finally, you’re here! You two, take care of them.”

“Wait. Stop! where do you think you’re going?”

Ace pulled his brother’s arm as he tried to run past him into the mansion.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m gonna kill those motherfucking cops, I can’t let a single one of them leave here alive, Johnny and Carlos were both killed at the front, I’m gonna avenge them! You have to let me go Uncle.”

“Calm down Smoke. Our first priority is to get out of here and regroup, you think those stupid cops are capable of this? The Patriarca sold us out. They even sent Harvey didn’t you hear the earlier explosion?”

“Harvey? Fine, I’ll kill him too, this’ll be payback for all that money he took from me.”

“You mean the money you gambled away, you hot-headed idiot.”

“Hmph. You’re the last one I wanna hear that from.”

At that moment, a man jumped down from the roof and landed on the car.

“Alright that’s ‘nough, sure is a nice last chat between two brats and an old man. Who woulda thought that the great head of the DeCavalcante Family would face his end in a dirty back alley like this.”

“Agh it’s Harvey!” “You bastard!”

The two men that stood guard at the car pulled out their pistols and fired on Harvey. However, with his beyond human reflexes, he anticipated the shots and dodged while pumping two bullets into each one of the men’s heads from a pistol by his hip.

“Well speak of the devil and he shall appear. If it isn’t a walking dead man. You’re gonna pay for that.”

“Keep talkin’ Smoke, this time it won’t just be your money I’ll be taking.”

“Harvey, I’m let’s see how many jokes you can make after I melt your fucking lungs!”

Smoke opened his magazine pack around his waist and took out one of its contents, an empty 7.63mm bullet canister. He gritted it between his teeth and with a deep inhale, inside the empty shell was formed a bullet made of smoke. He exhaled violently as multiple smoke bullets shot out from the shell. This was his signature move, if the smoke bullets were to pierce a person’s lungs, it would quickly spread with intense heat and render the enemy lacking for oxygen within seconds, dead within minutes. But not before choking to death while the poison of the smoke filled their bloodstream. A simple, but crude attack.

“Hmph!”

Harvey slightly pricked his finger with a hidden needle and pointed it at the incoming smoke bullets. A shockwave then appeared that destroyed the incoming projectiles and left the two brothers and their boss bracing for impact. Harvey was a unique Gifted, he had the power to create combustions with his blood, any amount of blood as long as it was his, he could explode at will. Of course, doing so while his blood was still in his body would be rather foolish, therefore many 'Families' were hesitant to employ him due to his volatile ability. He was aptly nicknamed, “The Human Bomb.”

“This is bad. We can’t fight Harvey here while ensuring Uncle’s safety. Florian, we have to retreat.”

“Don’t fuck with me, I’m gonna kill this guy here and now!”

“And you expect me to let Uncle die because of your foolish vendetta? Try to grow up for a second. Quickly, now Uncle follow me!”

“Tsk. Fine!”

Smoke had annoyed expression on his face as he spat out a large smoke as cover. The three then retreated down the street off to a side alley next to the mansion.

“Hmph. Running away? Don’t think so,” huffed Harvey.

Harvey was slightly surprised that the usual hot-headed Smoke would actually create a smokescreen to try to escape. This led to him being slower in his reaction and gave the three men just enough time to escape his view.

The 27 or so year old hitman repeated the same action as before and blew away the smoke. Assessing the situation he wondered if he should just blow up the whole block. His mission was to kill the current head of the DeCavalcante family, however, he was not allowed to kill any cops. The Patriarca Family feared that such casualties would be a roadblock to their negotiations with the Five Families of New York, who treasured their covert style of doing “business.”

Analyzing his options, he had no choice but to chase on foot.

***

In the side alley, the three men escaped into a small pathway that led to the sewer. This whole area was owned by the DeCavalcante Family and of course, that includes the space underneath as well. As they ran they heard shots being fired and men shouting in front of them.

Coming round the corner, they spot Cavante and his men fighting off the New Jersey State Police units.

Smoke took the initiative and gritted two empty shells between his teeth this time, as he produced a swift and accurate assault on the encroaching police.

“Boss! Ace and Smoke, what the hell are you guys doing here!? You were supposed to escape to the safe house by car.”

“Harvey found us, we couldn’t risk fighting him near the boss,” Ace explained.

“Fucking hell, there’s a ton of cops this way but it should be safer than trying to get through Harvey, that lunatic.”

“Boss, please, put this on,” one of Cavante’s men beckoned.

The boss was then handed a bullet-resistant vest and a police helmet stolen from one of the dead cops.

“That’s right boss we can’t risk you getting hit by a stray, please understand.”

“Yeah yeah I got it. Now hurry up and let’s leave.”

“Not so fast, the fun hasn’t even started yet.”

The men turned around as they saw a figure with bright green hair and deep blue eyes. Almost like a beacon in the middle of the night, his figure could be easily spottable a mile away.

“Fuck he caught up.”

“Son of a bitch, eat lead bitch!”

Cavante and his men opened fire on Harvey but his inhuman reflexes along with the using a police vest in front of him as a shield, he was quickly closing the gap between the group and himself.

“It’s no use, stop wasting your time, Cavante, escort the boss with your men outa here. Florian and I will hold Harvey off.”

“I got it. Good luck, don’t die kid.”

“Who’s gonna die? You old fuck,” retorted Smoke.

At that moment, Smoke and Ace took a deep breath and blew out a storm of smog and fire, encompassing the whole sewer.

Harvey, quick to react, slashed his fingers and jumped, slamming his palm on the ceiling of the sewer, and used the force of his combustion to the break through the cement and escaped from the ensuing attack.

Similarly, Smoke and Ace jumped through a hole that Ace had melted through to pursue Harvey.

“Man, you guys are really starting to piss me off. My target is your boss, if you let me pass, I’ll put in a good word for you with my current employers, what do you say?”

“Fuck you. We’re gangsters, we’re not rats you fucking prick!” Answered Smoke.

“Fine. Then I’ll blow you up along with your boss!”

A fierce battle ensued. Harvey was a powerful Gifted with his ability of combustion however he could not easily beat two of the best young Gifted members in the DeCavalcante Family even with his advantage in age. As the three of them fought flying from roof to roof around the block, finally the scale of battle started to shift.

“!!! An opening”

Forced into an alleyway by Smoke’s storm of bullets, Harvey had unfortunately picked an area that was a dead end. Seeing the opportunity, Ace roared out as much fire as he could to try to completely enflame the area.

“! SHIT!”

Realizing that there was nowhere to escape from the flame, Harvey took drastic measures and slashed his whole left arm to create an explosion large enough to blow back the incoming inferno.

The aftermath was clear, although Harvey had protected his life, his left arm was done. He was barely keeping even with both arms intact, at this rate he would surely perish.

“Forced back into a corner by a bunch of fucking kids. You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Ha! Don’t estimate the sons of ‘the one-man army.’ If our dad was here, you would’ve been put in ice and left to suffer hypothermia until you decide to kill yourself!” Proudly exclaimed Smoke.

“Well aren’t you just a perfect little daddy’s boy."

Harvey spat out blood and then formed a wide and sickening smile on his face. 

"Well, I may die today, but I’m certainly not gonna do it alone! DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!”

Harvey suddenly raised both of his arms with a wicked smile on his face. In the next instant-

“FLORIAN! GET DOWN!”

Ace leaped at his brother and then the two of them were covered in a bright light.

The next thing they hear-

“Your majesty, the summoning has been successful.”