Tale From The Afterlife - a Helluva Boss Fan Story

Chapter 37. A Deadly Game Unfolds

During that same week, while the IMP team had been keeping tabs on each other and keeping their eyes open, the members of the Crimson family had been in the shadows, pretty much stalking them and collecting info. The good thing is that the team had been using different disguises for outdoor trips, with some more simple and others more complicated. This led to the mafia scouts pretty much believing that there were way more people in the buildings than there actually were. Depending on the perspective, that could either be a good or a bad thing. There was also the fact that the mafia had limited a number of cleaners available due to the time it takes to train new recruits taking too long. That means no more cleaners will be used until further notice. While it severely complicates things, as a trade off, there will be more imps to use instead. The plan is pretty much to invade both Blitz's place and Moxxie's place at night with what was pretty much 2 small armies worth of men and guns.

The plan was simple: having Vinnie and Tommy on Army 1 that was waiting at Moxxie's place, ready to air the apartment with rocket launchers and grenade launchers, while Johnny and Jimmy on Army 2, waiting for the rest of the IMP team at Blitz's place and air the place out there with their standard issue tommy guns and good old fashioned molotovs. There was however a little hiccup that none of them would have predicted.

Right now, Army 1 is waiting behind the nearby neighborhood buildings, waiting for either the van or the two imps to appear to blast them into mist. In the plans, both the front entrance and back entrance to the building were covered. Wondering if everything is going to plan, Vinnie phones in one of the guys looking over the back entrance.

Vinnie: "Any sign of 'em yet?"

Tommy: "Nah,quiet as a graveyard back here as well. No signs of those pricks yet."

Vinnie: "Just keep ya eyes peeled. We don't want them sneaking up on us."

Tommy: "Sure thing, 'boss'."

The two imps then just let down their guard for a few seconds as they giggle for a bit.

Tommy: "Gotta admit though, getting pretty antsy just waiting around like this."

The waiting game has begun. It definitely felt like a graveyard in Inferno Late too given the cleaners pretty much exterminated everybody like livestock, so quiet some of the grunts started getting goosebumps with how silent it was. After about 5 minutes had passed, the following phone call from Vinnie lightly spooked the grunts from Tommy's side.

Vinnie: "Any movement?"

Tommy: "Nothing."

Vinnie: "I don't get it, they should've BEEN here 20 minutes ago. We accounted for traffic and everything!"

Tommy: "Talk about rude."

Vinnie: "Just keep watchin', they'll come eventually."

After about 10 minutes of pretty much waiting for anything to happen, Vinnie has a thought pop into his head, thinking they might have changed up the route and decides to ring up Jimmy from the other army, wondering if they have any luck on their end.

Vinnie: "Yo, Jimmy, any activity on your end?"

Jimmy: "I thought your end was the first one. What's going on?"

Vinnie: "Well the bastards ain't showing up. Damn it all, Where are they?"

Jimmy: "Maybe they caught wind of something and changed their plans?"

Vinnie: "How?"

Jimmy: "Hellhounds DO have quite the sensitive noses. And the scouts mentioned there always seemed to be two among the targets."

Vinnie: "And it's for this exact reason why I had them masking their scent with whatever they could - so that the hounds wouldn't be able to track them."

Jimmy: "We could use houndsbane gas to poison them."

Vinnie: "And where exactly would you have gotten the money for the special filter gas masks, gloves and containers to carry said houndsbane gas?"

Jimmy: "Was just a thought sir."

Vinnie: "Just keep a lookout."

And then Vinnie hangs up. Afterwards, Vinnie just holds his temples and exhales in frustration as, while yes it was a good idea to use houndsbane, the flower itself has a very strong odor which could be smelled from a afar and turning it into gas, while possible, is extremely difficult and on top of it all requires specialized equipment. Tommy of course could kind of hear what the two were talking about, at least Vinnie's side and while yes, the idea for houndsbane gas is kind of outside their budget ... among other factors, there was no need to be so harsh.

After an additional 30 minute wait, it was clear - nobody was showing up. Tommy then just phones Vinnie.

Tommy: "As much as I hate to say it, we are just wasting our time. Nobody's coming."

Vinnie: "Fuck!! Must've sniffed us out and bailed."

Vinnie then just sighs exasperated by the revelation.

Vinnie: "Let's regroup and figure out our next move."

Tommy: "We going back to greed then?"

Vinnie: "No, somewhere more local. We can't go back with empty hands or it will be our heads."

Tommy: "Good call. I'll let Johnny know."

As Vinnie hangs up, he starts telling everyone on his side to pack up and move the gear back to the nearby cars as they'll be moving locations. Tommy then calls Johnny, however he doesn't seem to be answering. The imp wonders what the hell is going on and then calls Jimmy instead - nothing. After about a minute, Tommy gets a call back from Johnny.

Tommy: "Johnny, why weren't ya answering?"

Johnny: "Sorry man, both mine and Jimmy's phones decided to update at the worst time."

Tommy makes a sigh of relief

Tommy: "Listen, we're moving, targets aren't showing up and we're wasting our time sitting here doing nothing."

Johnny: "I was already convinced of that at about the 30 minute mark. Where are we going?"

Tommy: "For now pack your gear up. I'll phone you later for the details. I mean, not exactly a good idea to share details out in the open."

Johnny: "Right. Let me know when possible."

Johnny then hangs up and it was at that point when all hell broke loose ... for Army 2. After Army 1 had finished packing up their gear and were on their way, Tommy tried to phone Johnny, but there was no response from him, again. Same with Jimmy. After about a few more calls to both leading personnel and grunts from Army 1, it was clear - nobody was picking up the phone. What neither Vinnie nor Tommy knew was that everyone that was posted up on Blitz's address had been wiped out. This cut in communications has both mafia members pretty much concerned about what happened.

Vinnie calls one of the grunts of the cars to investigate, thinking that it was just technical malfunctions. After a little bit, Vinnie gets a call from one of the grunts.

Vinnie: "What's the situation?"

Grunt: "It's bad, like BAD bad.... real Bad."

Vinnie: "The fuck happened?"

Grunt: "All the cars... gone. Reduced to nothing!"

Vinnie: "WHAT?!"

Tommy wonders what happened and, instead of explaining, Vinnie just tosses the phone to him. The grunt explains what happened as well to Tommy.

Grunt: "They've been blown to bits, sir. Every last one of 'em. And... and there's no sign of anyone surviving. They were roasted alive."

Tommy: "Son of a... How the fuck did that happen? Where were the cars?"

Grunt: "Way outside the target's address, sir. It's like they were attacked on their way out by the looks of it."

Tommy lets out an exasperated sigh, his thoughts racing in his head as he starts to panic from the sudden change of plans in the span of a minute.

Tommy: "Alright, just get out of there ASAP. You can find us at Warehouse 13B."

Grunt: "Over at the Darkmoor Industrial Park?"

Tommy: "Yes exact—"

But just then an explosion is heard in the background and as the grunt is about to scream, he gets knocked out. A heavy thunk can be heard on the phone along with another sickening sound which was the grunt's head going splat all over the pavement. The phone gets picked up.

Tommy: "Hey, what's going on there? Answer me !!"

???: "Sounds like someone's brought out the fireworks. Guess they decided to celebrate my birthday early. Shame you're not invited though."

As then the person on the other end giggles maliciously as the phone gets crushed. Both imps are now pretty much scared shitless as they didn't even know who was attacking them and so far half the man power was poofed into non-existence. Vinnie then starts panicking, thinking that this unknown force might also know their hiding spot and decides to pretty much change course. Given that the other cars didn't know the final rendezvous spot, they followed Vinnie and Tommy's car. After like 2 minutes of nothing but the ambiance of the night and panic, the chaos began once again as the mafia cars that were following started blowing up in random order, leaving only the leading vehicle.

When it was just Vinnie, Tommy and 2 grunts, in the last remaining car, everyone was pretty tense. Not even a peep was heard from anybody. One of the grunts even started praying, just wanting it all to be over, he didn't care what happened, he just wanted it all to end. But for a good few miles, nothing happened. The mafia members were pretty much out of the city and no one seems to have followed them. Vinnie stops the car at a nearby bush, far away from the road and just tries to collect his thoughts wondering what to do next.

Tommy: "Vinnie, what the fuck just happened back there? How did they catch us off guard like that?"