Chapter Text
“Where is the bastard?!” Impulse hunkered down even closer to the floor as the angry voice yelled out. “Find ‘im and kill ‘im!” He grit his teeth as something crashed loudly nearby and he heard the sound of splintering wood. Heavy footfalls passed by his hiding spot behind the unfinished bartop and Impulse only allowed himself a breath as they grew distant. He’d known this might happen, he just hadn’t expected it so soon. Charlie had sent retribution to Scar’s casino for the disappearance of 5 of his men.
Impulse swore under his breath and peeked around the bar, spying a group of 6 men absolutely trashing anything in their sight as they looked for Scar. It had only been a day since Charlie had sent Impulse and four other men out to try and intimidate Scar into submission, but when 5 of his best “negotiators” hadn’t come back, Charlie must have known what Scar’s answer had been. And Big Boss Charlie wasn’t one to soon forget any slight against his power.
He had been hopeful when he first heard the doors get kicked in and ducked behind the counter. He was banking on the advantage that Charlie didn’t know he was still alive to maybe get the upper hand in this inevitable confrontation, but it worried him that he wasn’t sure where Scar was at the moment. He’d just smiled to Impulse and said he needed to step out for a bit before disappearing about ten minutes ago. But the voice that shouted orders and made the loudest crashing sounds sounded familiar to Impulse, and if his hunch was right, they were a lot more screwed than he’d anticipated. Just then, a large figure pushed their way through the group of men and Impulse ducked back behind the counter as they passed by before peeking out again.
His breath caught in his throat as the leader of the group of men turned and Impulse got a good look at his face. It was Gus, Charlie’s biggest, cruelest lackey that was leading the search. Shit , this just got a lot harder. Impulse figured that he could probably take most of the other men in a fight. They tended to rely on numbers and were clumsy, and it would be easy to create chaos when they would inevitably get in each other’s ways. But Gus was one of the few people in Charlie’s inner circle that Impulse knew he stood no chance against. The man was an absolute brick wall of a human being, nearly as wide as he was tall, with plenty of muscle under all that fat to make him a dangerous threat.
“COME OUT YOU RAT BASTARD–!” Gus screamed in frustration as his searching yielded no results. “COME OUT NOW OR I’LL TORCH THE PLACE!” Impulse almost gave up his hiding spot to try and confront the group, but he stopped as he heard Scar’s voice.
“Gentlemen! What is all the fuss about? If you didn’t like my decor, you could have just said so.”
“Think you’re a real fucking funny man, huh? Charlie was playin’ nice earlier, sending you a welcoming committee and everything, but we’re here to show you why you don’t mess with us.”
“I can see you gentlemen mean business, so let’s cut the formalities, hm?”
There was the sound of quick feet across the floor and suddenly Impulse heard a man cry out in pain, the sound changing into a choking gurgle. Impulse could hear the sound of something splattering against the floor followed by a thud. He couldn’t see a damn thing crouched behind the bar like this, but he knew Scar must have made his move.
“You fucking bastard– WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING FOR? GET ‘IM!” Gus roared and suddenly the sound of fighting broke out. Impulse took the opportunity of the commotion to slowly peek above the bar, catching a glimpse of Scar surrounded by four men, each angling to try and approach, but Scar kept them at a good distance with the long blade dripping blood he held in his hand. Impulse briefly wondered where on earth Scar had acquired a sword from, but banished the thought for now as he needed to figure out how to help. Just then, Scar glanced his way. A brief look of relief flashed over Scar’s face before he was forced to refocus on the situation at hand, dodging a man’s clumsy lunge for him with a careful side step.
“Five against one is– ngh– Hardly a fair fight, you know.” Scar chatted, though the strain of fending off multiple attacks was evident in his voice.
“Didn’t seem to bother you yesterday.” Gus growled, and Impulse noted he could hear the fight getting closer to his position. “What happened to those five men, huh? You can’t get away with pulling shit like that here, and somebody’s gotta teach you a lesson.”
“And here I thought you boys just wanted some drinks–” Impulse heard Scar’s voice practically directly over him, and he felt the thud as he was backed up against the bar. He crouched low and readied his fists. “You know, I just hired a new bartender and everything.”
Impulse took that moment as his cue to pop up from his hiding spot behind the bar, grabbing the first man he saw by the lapel and dragging him over the bar to connect with Impulse’s fist. There was a sickening crack as the blow landed and the man instantly went limp.
“Impulse?!” He flinched as he heard Gus’s accusatory tone. “Why you no-good, double crossing, son of a–!” The large man began to charge at him but was stopped by Scar’s blade pointing directly at him.
“Ah ah ah! That’s my new employee you’re talking to. I won’t have you speaking to him like that.”
“I’ll speak to him however I damn well please!” Gus bellowed and knocked Scar’s sword out of the way with a meaty hand, seemingly not caring about the way the blade left a deep gash on his palm as he swatted it away. Nothing could stop Gus on a mission, and Impulse was his new target. Before Scar could do anything else, he was distracted as a lithe man snuck past his guard and a blade ran across his upper arm, slicing through his suit and cutting into flesh. Scar let out a hiss of pain and quickly stepped back, readying his sword at the three remaining men.
“So, Impulse.” Gus spoke, his words filled with rage, “This is how you repay all of Charlie’s kindness? Betraying him to the first scrawny rat you meet off the street?”
Impulse ignored Gus’s words and fell into a defensive stance as Gus raised a fist and swung at him. He dodged the first blow easily, stepping out of Gus’s range and readying himself for the next swing.
“You always were a bit better than the other grunts.” Gus growled as he recovered from the missed blow. “That just means I’ll have to get serious.” Impulse braced himself as Gus wound up another blow, bringing his arms up to shield his face. What he didn’t anticipate was the way Gus feinted at the last second, using his foot to sweep Impulse’s legs out from under him as he guarded his face. Impulse coughed as he landed flat on his back and the air was knocked out of him. Before he had a chance to recover, a large knee buried itself on his chest, further restricting him from catching his breath as Gus landed a solid blow to Impulse’s head with his fist. The blow made stars of pain burst behind Impulse’s eyes and he felt something warm trickle from his nose. Just as his brain was beginning to catch up with the pain of the first blow, a second one struck, leaving Impulse too dazed to do much but struggle under Gus’s weight as the man rained blow after blow on his head. After a few more blows Gus paused, allowing Impulse’s mind to stop reeling before the larger man spoke again.
“You know, you were one of our best negotiators . I’m sure I could convince Charlie to let you off easy if you help us kill that bastard over there.” He gestured to the fight behind him where Scar was holding his own decently well, but it was clear he was injured and was beginning to get exhausted. “Just come back and join us, Impulse.” Impulse squinted and licked his lips, tasting his own blood on his tongue. Using all the strength he could muster from his prone position, Impulse spit a glob of blood and saliva right into Gus’s face.
“ So that’s how it is, huh ?”
Impulse hardly had the time to think as he was yanked off the ground by a large hand wrapped tightly around his throat. He choked and struggled, but was no match for Gus’s sheer strength and he was easily trapped. He only stilled in his attempts to escape as he felt something cold and sharp press against his neck.
“Oi, bastard!” Gus called out to Scar, who had managed to fell one man and was down to fighting just two when Gus caught his attention. “This is what we do with people who get in our way.”
The words rung out in his ears, but Impulse couldn’t comprehend them as he felt the cold knife slide across his throat. There was a brief moment of shock before his body gasped reflexively and warm crimson blood ran freely down his front. His vision blurred and Impulse stumbled, coughing and choking as his throat filled with his blood. He gasped and struggled to breathe, a horrid gurgling sound coming from his mouth as he felt the blood in his throat rise into his mouth and seep out. He clutched his throat reflexively and fell to his knees, his vision quickly beginning to fade even as his heart pounded and his mind raced that he couldn’t die yet, not yet, please–! There were sounds and movement all around him, but Impulse didn’t register any of it as his consciousness quickly began to fade and he slumped to the floor. In his last moments of consciousness, Impulse felt regret that it had to end this way.