The Comfy Cartel: Corpse gets 'hired'

Friends at J10

"I heard you're friendly with him, but I still need him taking out."

Those words were etched in his skull as he downed what he convinced himself was his last whiskey. Corpse had a lot of respect for Don Scarra, but this was a big ask, and he didn't know if he could do it.

~Sykkuno's POV 7 years ago~

Sykkuno had left the Cartel not long after the shooting, and blamed himself for everything that had happened that night. This on top of what happened with Ludwig was just too much to bear, and he didn't want to see Corpse grow up to be like him.

Now he was helping Rae commit small crimes. Him and Rae had been good friends, only falling out when he joined the Cartel and she did not. He was glad that she took him back when he left, he didn't know where he would be without her.

They had a rhythm that was unmatched by any pair in the business, and they knew it.

Their most recent run was catching up with those who had betrayed Rae and sold her out to Team Rocket a while ago. They made swift work of it to say the least.

"I have a message for XQC, Blau told me to pass it on before he, well y'know," Sykkuno was deceitful, the jester of the court, and he enjoyed it.

"What message would that be? I'll decide if it is important enough to reach QC."

"Well, I didn't really understand it," He had to stifle a giggle, "he said something about someone called, Babushka."

"Bab-ushhhugh" The body hit the floor before the empty shell from Rae's sidearm.

Rae smirked as she watched the blood pool around his head, dripping quietly into the drain, giving him a slight kick as she turned to face Sykkuno, whose face was downcast, making heavy eye contact with a scuff in the floor, seemingly contemplating something serious, and quite possibly having an existential crisis.

"What's up? You normally love that move!"

Rather than looking up to make eye-contact, Sykkuno opted for biting his bottom lip in utter concentration.

At this point Rae didn't know whether to be empathetic or irritated, and shot warning shots into the air, watching the now empty shells hit the floor with a clink at Sykkuno's feet.

"That's an extra bit of evidence to clean up now" he stated matter of factly, unfolding a cloth kept in his pocket ready to pick them up without getting burned.

"Okay seriously, you need to talk to me! There's something on your mind and you can't keep brushing it off." She took a step forward, placing the tip of her shoe on the last shell so that it couldn't be picked up with ease.

"I've been thinking," he began.

"Yeah, I see that," Rae was getting impatient, and was now contemplating just leaving him to clean up on his own.

"I don't think I can do this anymore," that made her stop dead in her tracks, "or atleast, not with you," that was worse.

"What do you mean?" It was said through clenched teeth and she didn't try to hide it.

"I want to start over, I don't want to watch the people I care about get hurt by the Cartel."

"Is this about that kid?" Sykkuno hadn't said much about what had happened, but there had been rumors and gossip spread around.

"He didn't deserve to see that, I regret leaving before he woke up but I don't think I'd be able to face him after that. I wish he wasn't with the Cartel. I wish none of them were. What if - what if we made a new group? One with people who needed an escape from them, I'm not saying they're all bad people, but what they're doing is just that." He ran out of breath and angrily pulled the shell from under Rae's foot, which had lost its weight while she was distracted with his speech, causing her to nearly fall over at the motion.

"Yeah, good one! Let's just gang up against the Comfy Cartel, that'll go well! I wonder how they'd kill us?" She knew the consequences for such a thing, and dreaded them dearly.

"I'm not saying that, we wouldn't go directly against them, we'd just, make a safehouse for ex-members and anyone who wanted to join us! I've already spoken to Jack and I might be able to-"

She just had to cut him off, "You realise that I'm not joining you in this? I like my job and I do it well, but I'm no match for Poki's info and Toast's guys. They just wouldn't allow it Sykkuno. Stop daydreaming and help me move this guy already."

The guy on the floor had been ignored for some time now, being kicked in the side every so often by Rae for entertainment purposes, but now she was hunched over dragging him by his wrists waiting for Sykkuno to lift him at the other end.

When he didn't, she looked up to see that she was the only living thing in the room, spare a rat or two scurrying away at speed after being disturbed from their new-found dinner.

"Sykkuno?"

After a year or so he had done it. He founded a new group which rivaled that of the Cartel but had still gone undetected. He planned for it to stay that way. Sykkuno and his new friends were going to carry on their work in peace with the safety that came with trust. Trust for each other, trust that ran deep.

Together they made the respectable J10.