Marvel: Impregnation System

Earlier that day,

Looking around at the city, once split apart and reshaped by the greed of others, all of it now consumed by Ricky, it felt surreal to Jake. 

The streets, once rife with power struggles and unseen wars of the underworld, now seemed to bow to the man who had carefully woven his way through it all. 

Everything within the tri-state area was held firmly in the palm of Ricky's hand, the very same hands capable of conjuring powers that Jake had only ever read about in stories.

Jake just couldn't help but laugh, a sound almost void of humor as he marveled at how far Ricky had come. 

The same drunk kid from all those years ago, the same kid Jake had to carry all the way back to his orphanage with Eddy and Rocco. 

The kid who refused to do anything other than numb himself, unable to take responsibility for his own future. 

The same kid who only ever achieved things by accident, with his mistakes constantly drowning out whatever small victories he managed to scrape together. 

Failing time and time again, forced out of the only place he ever knew as home, and coming back like one of those stories people talked about, the ones that felt too good to be true. 

Then, before all the spectators, the ones who had surrounded him with their glances filled with expectation, had those very glances shattered beneath the man he had become.

When Ricky came back, he didn't just handle the pressure, he became it. 

Where once he was seen as fragile, a mere product of the circumstances that surrounded him, he now stood as a force, a diamond forged by the expectations that pressed down against him. 

Every misstep, every failure that had been counted against him, was now proof of his strength, of his growth, and it all culminated in the fact that he wasn't that same kid anymore. 

The weight of the world no longer crushed him and instead he wore it he wore his past experiences with pride, like armor that proved he could withstand anything. 

And in doing so, he had shattered everyone's preconceived notions of him, turning their doubts into reverence.

Before becoming the man who now held the reins of not just the city, but the Luciano family itself.

Deep down, Jake always carried this lingering doubt, one that perhaps Ricky needed him, needed him to do the things he couldn't be bothered to do. 

But that image of Ricky; the reckless, high, and drunk kid, seemed to vanish completely when Jake looked through the window of Italiano's.

Watching Ricky, eyes focused, combing through the papers within the Italians' vaults, looking through the window with a level of intensity Jake had never seen before or at least, hadn't noticed until now.

Ricky had grown up, and in that moment, Jake felt a strange sense of peace, realizing that the man who stood before him wasn't the kid he had once carried home, but someone who had taken control of everything. 

It was a bittersweet realization, but it made Jake smile.

With that smile, Jake turned away, walking down a familiar path, a street that led him to a certain person, the one who was currently dining on the dime of the Luciano family.

"So, you finally decided, huh?" Gino, seeing Jake walking up to him, reluctantly pulled the hamburger from his mouth to speak, 

Jake pulled out the chair across from him, his face steeled and resolute, a stark contrast to Gino's, who was already dreading the diet his wife constantly nagged him about back home.

"Yeah, Gino, I wanna go." Jake's eyes were serious as he gazed at Gino, who chuckled, reaching over to wipe his hands and then his face with a napkin.

"You ain't just gonna skip town without-"

"No, I'm gonna tell him today." Jake finally made his decision at the last minute, while Gino just shrugged.

"Well, I'll be at the train station and if you ain't there, then you ain't there."

It took a long time, but Jake finally decided that he didn't want to be part of the Luciano family anymore. 

The decision didn't come easily, but it was one he had to make as he'd spent so much of his life looking up to people like Ricky, trying to carve out a space for himself in a world that had always been someone else's.

But now, Jake felt the need to spread his wings, to carve his own path instead of simply following along in the shadows. 

The family, the power, the control, it all came with a price, and Jake had paid it for far too long.

Here, in New York, entrenched deep within the family, it felt like he was suffocating. 

Drowning in his own self-loathing, constantly haunted by the mistakes and decisions he'd made, the things he had allowed himself to become.

For the first time, Jake was truly thinking of himself. 

What he wanted. 

What he could be outside of the family's grasp and it felt terrifying, but also liberating.

The weight of expectations, of being part of something bigger than himself yet never quite fitting in, pressed down on Jake like an anchor. 

It was suffocating, dragging him deeper with every passing day but the one who helped pull his head above water wasn't Ricky, it was Barko.

Barko had been the one to open his eyes, to help him see what he couldn't before: that he didn't need to be anything more than himself. 

He didn't need to be a cog in a machine, a puppet to the strings of the Luciano family, or someone he wasn't just to earn respect.

What mattered, what truly mattered, was the sincerity of his efforts as his worth wasn't measured by how well he played a part, but by how real he was, by how genuine his actions were. 

As long as what he did meant something to him, as long as he could look at himself and say he gave it everything, that was enough.

For the first time, Jake felt like he was finally seeing himself clearly, not through the eyes of the family or anyone else, but his own. 

And that was a freedom he hadn't realized he needed so badly.

Jake wasn't as sharp with numbers as Meyer, nor as ruthless a mobster as Ricky, but he never needed to be. 

The problem was, for so long, he had fallen into that middle ground, the space wedged between their greatness. 

He wasn't sharp enough, ruthless enough, and that feeling suffocated every ounce of confidence he had and it hurt. 

It hurt because no one wants to feel average, no one wants to feel like they aren't special, like they don't matter.

Being around Ricky and Meyer only amplified that feeling for Jake as it was like standing in the shadows of giants, never quite tall enough to be seen. 

No matter how hard he tried to make his own mark, he could never escape the shadow they cast. 

And now, even with Ricky's trust, even being invited to a dinner with the people Ricky cared most about, Jake still felt inadequate.

The honor of it all made it hard to even look Ricky in the eyes, let alone tell him the truth, tell him he couldn't stay. 

He wanted to, more than anything, but that weight of feeling small, of being too far beneath the surface of it all, had him trapped in his own uncertainty as the fear of being nothing more than a shadow lingered.

"Of course buddy, but first things first, how's it hanging?" Ricky slapped his shoulder, slinging his arm around him and guiding him to the side.

"G-Good, Slick." Jake nervously said, the words stumbling out as the pull of Ricky's presence tugged at him as it was like a gravitational field that made everyone around him gravitate in his direction, including Jake.

"You all straight, you end up finding what you were looking for?" Ricky asked, looking at Jake whose neck shrunk at the direct question as they walked outside onto the backyard to talk.

"About that, Slick, uh, that's what it's about, and that's why I want to talk to you." Jake forced the words out, watching Ricky nod with a smile.

"Sure man-"

"Man to man."

Ricky's expression shifted, a knowing look crossing his face since in the family, when someone asks for a conversation like that, it's never casual, it's always a sign that things are about to get real

"What's up?" Ricky asked, backing up slightly as he studied Jake, wondering if he was back on the stuff even after going to such lengths to prevent it.

"Do you need money? Did you get a hooker pregnant? What's up?" Ricky asked, his tone laced with experience from his first life as he knew how annoying those situations could get, especially when the pimp finds out. 

The most annoying pimps weren't the abusive ones, they were the ones who actually looked after their girls. 

Ricky remembered one who'd literally tracked him all the way to the lower ends of Cuba to demand child support.

"Ha, no man." Jake waved his hand, trying to brush it off, but the words were stuck in his throat.

That's why Jake stood there for a while, struggling to find the right words as every time he tried, it came up short, and the silence slowly began to gnaw at Ricky's patience.

"Jesus christ, just f*cking tell me-"

"Gino has a spot open to be his paralegal up in Yonkers!" Jake blurted, stammering out the words that made Ricky immediately surprised, and for the first time since they started talking, Jake built up the courage to finally look him straight in the eye.

"A-And I think I'm gonna take it," Jake announced, watching Ricky grow quiet as the words seemed to settle in the air between them.

But what made Jake anxious was that Ricky didn't say anything but instead his expression slowly shifted from a smile into a plain expression, glancing down at the ground, trying to process what he had just said.

"For so long, I felt worthless," Jake suddenly blurted out, unable to bear the silence any longer. He had to fill it with something, even if it was just the truth spilling out uninvited.

"I always feel like everything I do is never enough, like it doesn't compare to the guy next to me." Jake's mouth was like a broken fire hydrant, a torrent of words bursting out in a steady stream that never seemed to stop.

"And then I start to get these thoughts that I'm never gonna be enough," Jake revealed, his voice cracking as his anxiousness bubbled up, bringing all the insecurities he'd been hiding from Ricky to the surface.

"This feeling of mediocrity just haunts me," Jake continued, his voice trembling, at this realization that just popped into his head.

"And I feel like if I follow you or my bro Meyer, that I'll be alright." Jake revealed, knowing deep down if he stayed here, stayed in their shadow, he would always be alright.

"That I'll never have to worry about anything," Jake said, almost laughing bitterly as he looked at Ricky, who was simply listening. 

"But if I do stay I know I'll never be anything, I'll never be the man I want to be."

Jake felt the sting of tears threatening to spill after saying those words as the truth settled heavily in his chest, that for everything he had been given, he could never be more than the scraps handed over to him. 

It all crushed him, and he couldn't escape the feeling that no matter how hard he tried, he'd always be stuck in someone else's shadow.

It was that exact desperation that pushed him to want to step into the light for the first time, to break free from the comfort zone that had held him captive for so long. 

The fear of staying in the same place, of always feeling like an afterthought, was finally greater than the fear of the unknown

"And for a long time, I was just okay with that, understanding it was my place. But when I saw Marshall that day-......damn." Jake chuckled softly, wiping his eyes as he looked up at the night sky, the memory washing over him. 

That moment, that scene in the supreme court, had shaken him to his core, and he could still feel those raw emotions as if it had just happened.

"I just thought he was some negro with a briefcase, and with all that education, I wondered what it could ever do for someone like him, for anyone." Jake's voice spoke of his past misconceptions, his eyes distant as if the memory still haunted him.

"I've seen people like him before. The same people that come into your life Slick, then leave to live one of their own." Jake's voice softened, looking back down as the single passing side character of Marshall made him question everything he thought he knew.

"But Marshall didn't feel like a passing face to me, he just felt so real." Jake chuckled, a hint of disbelief in his voice, knowing it might sound stupid to most but to him, it was the truth, Marshall had shaken something deep inside him, something he hadn't known was there.

"The way he spoke, commanded that f*cking courtroom, just captured your breath, man, it captured my breath." Jake's voice grew passionate, his steps quickening as he paced around, retelling the scene to Ricky as if he hadn't been there.

"It was like, in that moment, he wasn't just someone who came and went in your life, but his own person." Jake said, trying to explain the innate feeling he had of being a side character to Ricky, the main character.

"And I just sat there, wondering how someone other than you or Meyer, someone outside our world, could just command my attention like that." Jake's voice was tinged with disbelief, as if the idea itself still felt strange to him. 

"It was then that I realized, Slick, that I've only known the people around you." Jake's voice grew quieter, as if admitting it to himself for the first time. 

"Watching, from what feels like a distance, how everyone around me is walking their own path, but I just feel-f*ck," Jake cursed, frustration clouding his expression as he struggled to find the right words, taking a deep breath before mustering another try. 

"I just feel that I can't keep up, that I keep falling behind while you always have to look back to help me catch up." Jake continued, his voice heavier now, a raw honesty in his words.

"And I tried to stand out with Roco and Eddy, but, uh, I think part of me knew it too." Jake bit his lip at those names, trying to stop his head from ducking to the ground, the shame creeping up on him.

"When I look-"

SIGH

Jake sighed, holding his forehead as the memory of his friend's death hit him all over again as he had to steady himself, taking a deep breath before heaved out a sigh and tried to continue.

"With everything going on in the world, with my problems, and my addiction, I just want to be able to stand up for myself." Jake looked up at Ricky, his voice steady but filled with vulnerability. 

"I don't want you or my brother to keep looking back to see if I'm okay, I wanna-......I just wanna-"

"Jake." Ricky's words finally broke through the silence, and it was then that Jake unraveled, collapsing into the mess of his thoughts before crumpling onto a nearby seat as he buried his face in his hands.

Ricky slowly walked over, taking a seat next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, grounding him in the moment.

"I know you've been having a tough time and I know I haven't made it easy on you." Ricky smiled, shaking him a little as most of his troubles could be traced back to him.

"But Jake, you're my friend, damn, you're probably even my oldest friend." Ricky realized with a chuckle, looking down at him with real, genuine sincerity.

"Even now, man, it means a lot that you've followed me this far, to this very point." Ricky rubbed the back of his neck, not really good with this touchy-feely stuff, but knowing that right now, Jake just needed his friend Ricky, not Slick.

"But if going on puts you in this state, makes you feel this way, f*ck man, I just wish you would've come to me sooner." Ricky honestly said, looking at Jake, who was slowly regaining himself.

"Y'know because at the end of the day, you're my friend."

In the end, Ricky honestly appreciated the friendship he had with Jake and although it had its bumps, what friendship didn't? 

True friends aren't on cruise control, they make it a loud ride but you enjoy it, because the real ones always stay by you, even when it hurts. 

People go their whole lives without having a true friend, but Ricky was lucky enough to have a bunch of them, and right now, one was standing right in front of him, hurting.

For a long time, Jake had put up with Ricky's pain, trying to help ease the load and now, it was Ricky's turn to return the favor.

"You're free, Jake." 

Ricky always felt like he'd messed up Jake's life, wrecking it like he was an innocent bystander caught in the wreckage of his actions, forcing him into this journey alongside him. 

But in this moment, I think Ricky realized something important, he realized Jake needed to heal, on his own.

"If, uh, if you want to be a paralegal, a lawyer, or even if you want to be a f*cking mailman, I want that for you," Ricky said, essentially releasing Jake from the family, from its clutches, cutting the bind that had been holding him down so he could finally fly.

"So you're free, ain't nobody gonna stop you from leaving, and you can finally live the life you need to," Ricky said, patting Jake's shoulder as the latter balled his fists in his hands since even he knew that it wasn't an easy matter..

You couldn't just leave the family. 

Not without a damn good excuse, and by good, that usually meant being crippled or dead. 

Once you were in, you were in for life, an unwritten rule everyone knew but rarely spoke aloud. 

This bond was forged in blood, loyalty, and the kind of trust that came with shared risks and dangers. 

The family wasn't just a group; it was a way of life, one you couldn't easily walk away from without facing consequences.

Yet, Ricky was just releasing him like it was nothing.

"When are you leaving?" Ricky asked, smiling ear to ear while looking at this little crybaby before him.

Sniff

"T-Tonight." Jake rubbed his eyes, revealing that he had waited until the very last second which only served to make Ricky flinch.

"Dude, are you gonna miss your train or bus or whatever?" Ricky asked genuinely, watching Jake let out a hearty laugh before shaking his head.

"No man, it leaves in an hour." Jake smiled, looking at Ricky with a grin that carried nothing but goodbyes.

"Then come on, let me walk you down."

Jake had already packed, his luggage sitting neatly in the back of his car, but instead of driving, they just walked. 

It felt easier that way, no distractions, no noise but just the two of them, side by side, moving through the familiar streets. 

They talked, drifting through memories as though they were threads, reconnecting the past to the present.

Old Cricket Bridge, where they'd spent hours, running wild like kids who had all the time in the world. 

The streets they'd run down, the ones that once seemed endless, but now felt like the backdrop to everything they'd been through. 

The day Ricky had left and what had happened to Jake in his absence, how hard it had been, for the both of them. 

The conversation wasn't rushed, it was just the kind of reflection they needed, letting all of those years sit between them, without words needing to fill every gap. 

They'd been through so much together and without each other, and sometimes, just walking beside each other, was enough to remind them of how far they'd come.

They had both changed, grown into different versions of themselves, and now, standing at the train platform, it felt like they were on two distinct paths. 

Paths that had once been parallel but now stretched out into separate directions. 

It was such a strange feeling, knowing that this moment marked a departure, both physically and in every other way.

So when their feet landed on the platform just before the train headed to Yonkers, the sound of its engine rumbling through the air, signaling the inevitable. 

The noise, the rush of people, the soft clink of wheels on tracks, it all felt so distant, almost like a passing dream. 

Jake stood there, his bag slung over his shoulder, smiling at the decision he had made, and the weight of what he was leaving behind.

Ricky stood beside him, the silence between them heavy with unspoken things but also smiling as the old version of them, the ones who ran in those streets together, who shared everything, was slowly fading. 

What lay ahead for both of them was unclear, but it was their own now.

"Aye, Gino, take care of him now!" Ricky yelled, his voice cutting through the noise of the train station.

Gino, standing off to the side, turned toward Ricky, a grin spreading across his face as he buckled out a laugh, shaking his head. 

"Don't worry, Slick, I got it!" Gino laughed, his voice filled with a mix of confidence and humor as he waved Jake forward.

Jake shot a final glance at Ricky, then nodded at Gino, feeling the pull of the unknown but oddly at ease. 

With each step forward, this pressing feeling of his past started to lift, just a little. 

Gino fell into step beside him, patting his back and walking ahead into the train as a silent reassurance.

The moment felt strangely final, but also like a new beginning. 

The air around them buzzed with the hum of the city, the footsteps echoing down the platform, and Jake realized that no matter what, he was always going to leave something behind. 

What mattered now wasn't how he looked back, but how he walked forward.

"Hey Jake."

For the first time in his life, it felt like Jake was finally turning away from Ricky, as if the tether between them had snapped. 

Their paths, once so intricately intertwined, now diverged at this very point, completely separate.

"You better do great things." Ricky chuckled, his voice a little rough, but the warmth in his eyes clear as he nodded at Jake.

"Thanks, Slick." Jake's voice cracked slightly, his emotions swelling as he gave a final, small smile as he turned to follow Gino onto the train, but before stepping fully inside.

Ricky stood still, watching his friend leave, a feeling of both pride and something softer lingering in the air.

Ricky had had so many friends in his past life, each one unique in their own right, but with every single one, he had just ruined them. 

Slowly, methodically, sometimes without even meaning to, but more often than not, with a childish attitude that made it easier to do. 

He didn't regret it, not then. 

Each one had been a stepping stone into the continuously brewing f*ck up he had been, only there to be used by him so that he could selfishly abuse them, he was the center of all their misery and only would break off until they just couldn't take it anymore.

But this time, it was different.

The train let out a loud cry, its engine roaring as it signaled its departure and Ricky smiled, a genuine, rare smile, as he watched the train fade into the distance. 

For once, he wasn't screwing Jake up, he wasn't screwing a friend up or holding him back. 

A part of him needed this, Ricky needed to see that it was possible to have people close to him and not completely destroy them, not rot them down to their core just to feed his own selfish needs.

It was an ugly truth he never let himself acknowledge before: the relationships he'd forged in the past were often just vessels for his own ego.

But now, seeing Jake actually whole, was what he needed to really strengthen his relationships with others down the line.

Ricky turned to walk away, feeling the weight of the moment settle in but just as his foot hit the pavement, the backdoor of the train kicked open with a loud slam.

"AYE, SLICK!" Jake yelled out, gripping the railing tightly as Ricky turned around, only to see Jake crying and smiling at the same time.

"THANKS FOR NOT GIVING UP ON ME!" Jake shouted, his gratitude spilling out in those words, the only way he could express it.

"THANKS FOR COMING BACK!" 

It was just a few simple words, ones that didn't say much, but expressed everything Jake had trouble putting into action. 

When he was still on drugs, people had begun to see him as a lost cause, and the ones who always reached out, he pushed away, convincing himself that nothing he did ever mattered.

While the world kept moving, he stayed stuck, isolated, giving up on everything.

But it was because of all that, because of everything, that Jake needed Ricky to understand, understand how grateful he was that Ricky kept reaching out, no matter how many times he pushed him away. 

He needed Ricky to know how much it meant that this piece of sh*t had done everything he could for another piece of sh*t.

Ricky just laughed, the sound ringing through the air, Jake joining in as they exchanged one last look. 

He waved until the train chugged off into the distance, separating their paths, for real this time.

It marked the beginning of their separate journeys, but Ricky smiled the entire time, knowing that, for once, things had been different.

Ricky wasn't a good person, a fact that had been reiterated too many times in too many ways.

But within that small circle of people he truly considered his own, a redeemable part of him shined through. 

In that circle, he would do anything for you. 

And Ricky was glad, deep down, he was truly glad that he did everything he could for Jake. 

Even if the world saw him as a monster, in that moment, he knew he had done something that mattered, even if that only mattered in his own little world.

"Goodbye Jake."