"Howard, Howard Stark." Howard introduced, holding out his hand as Lady Roma cordially shook the man who she had seen countless variations of.
"La-"
But as the words trailed out of her mouth, she realized something or more accurately, came to terms with it.
Lady Roma.
The name, the title hung there like a ghost of who she used to be.
To put it simply, Lady Roma was not her name.
It's always been Roma.
The title Lady had been an honor bestowed upon her, one reserved for those of high standing within Camelot's court, for those who sat within the shining halls of the Citadel and guarded the order of realms.
But now, with her dismissal from the Starlight Citadel and her home of Camelot, that title no longer belonged to her.
It was strange how a single word could feel heavier than all the enchantments she'd ever cast.
It wasn't just a name but an identity, a rank, this sort of right to be seen.
And stripped of it, she felt the quiet sting of exile settle in her chest.
Roma, just Roma.
The name sounded smaller somehow, when it echoed in her head.
Because as she looked around for the reverence, the deference, the quiet bow of those who once held her in awe, she found not even a flicker of recognition on these drunkards' faces.
For the first time in centuries, she was no longer the Lady of anything.
Just a woman among mortals, walking beside a man who didn't fear her power, but teased her for it.
And perhaps, she thought, that was why the name Roma suddenly felt real.
"Roma." Roma chuckled, letting go of that part of herself as Ricky raised an eyebrow at the side.
"Well, it's my pleasure-" Howard said, a sly grin pressing across his lips as he moved to place it on her palm.
"Ah, no." Roma cut in, pulling her hand back.
"I'd rather you not slobber over my hand."
The words slipped out before she even thought about them since Howard always introduced himself this way, and every time he pushed it too far.
It was instinct built on every single encounter she had ever had with this man, yet it was not only the first time for Howard, it was the first time for this Howard.
The one who stood in front of her now had no memories of their countless back-and-forths.
No recollection of how often she swatted his hand away, no awareness of the line he crossed every time he leaned in to kiss her knuckles like some overeager dog ready to slobber on the first hand that gave it attention.
Then, as if the moment couldn't get any worse, Ricky, eyes currently glowing green, registered the sight and reacted in the only way anyone could have expected from him.
SNORT
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ricky cackled, doubling over as he grabbed his stomach, the sound ripping out of him without restraint.
Howard's face went blank, frozen somewhere between offense and confusion as he sort of stood there.
All while Henry tried to turn away with dignity, yet even he could not stop the small chuckles leaking out as the scene played itself out.
"Oh, I-I didn't mean-"
"She didn't even mean it!" Ricky cut in, stumbling to the side as his laughter coiled through the bar, pulling others into it one by one.
"N-No, I-I wasn't thinking-"
"She just reacted!" Ricky wheezed, gripping the bar to steady himself while clutching his stomach.
"RICKY!" Roma reprimanded, yelling at Ricky as embarrassment clouded her features while gazing at the surrounding laughter turning into howling roars.
"Ha!" Ricky doubled over, pointing at Howard this time, realization hitting the young man fully as he balled his outstretched hand into a fist.
"Ya know, for a watered-down version of me, you're pretty funny to laugh at!" Ricky yelled, striding over to Howard and looping an arm around his shoulder.
"Listen, I'm gonna go on a bar crawl 'cause I don't wanna drink this guy's beer. How about you come with me?" Ricky asked, tapping his chest with a little force, making sure Howard felt it.
COUGH
Howard coughed hard, lifting his gaze to Ricky, whose smile stretched into a deliberately mocking grin as he looked down at him.
"C'mon, a king always needs his jester~" Ricky teased, purposely antagonizing him as Howard let out a small chuckle, staring him straight in the eye.
"You might find your jester leading the show instead," Howard said, challenging Ricky with the intensity of his gaze.
"You're just a flashy act." Ricky continued, gesturing toward the laughter smothering the room, slowly unhooking himself from Howard.
"A sideshow that grabs attention but fails to lead it." Ricky muttered, his eyes nostalgic as he took his time walking around the encirclement around them.
"People watch, they cheer, but when the curtain falls, you're just a performer who couldn't keep them engaged." Ricky chuckled, walking over to Roma and looping an arm around her shoulders.
"A lot like me, but when I was younger." Ricky mocked, glancing back at Howard, who clenched his fists tighter.
"But hey." Ricky added, a sly grin tugging at his lips.
"At least you're gonna try to keep up." Ricky said, lingering just long enough for Roma to pull him away, reveling in the quiet display of influence over the girl who had just rejected Howard.
"Good on you, old sport," Ricky cackled, melting into the crowd, which instinctively parted for every step he took.
Only then did the arrogant Howard Stark, first in his class, the smartest man of his era, a man who had never lost to anyone, to truly see it.
To look upon the chasm that stretched between them, the distance that seemed so small and yet was impossibly vast.
It was such a small and fleeting moment, yet it laid everything bare.
It revealed how far Ricky had already come on his path, how effortlessly he commanded attention and bent the room to his will.
But more importantly, it revealed exactly how far behind Howard truly was, despite all his brilliance, all his accomplishments, and all his confidence.
The realization struck Howard harder than any defeat ever could, and he just stared, wearing the same bitter expression anyone in his shoes might muster.
"C'mon." Henry whispered, stepping to his side and gripping his shoulder tightly.
"I'm not really going-"
"You're going, and you're going to apologize at the end of whatever this is, or I swear to God, our friendship is over." Henry chuckled dryly, his blue eyes locked on Howard's with an intensity the young man had never seen before.
"Are you taking his side-"
"You'd be a fool not to." Henry said simply, stepping into the parted path without looking back to see if Howard would follow.
"Dammit." Howard muttered, clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles whitened.
No matter how much he wanted to hate Ricky, to push back against his arrogance, his mocking grin, and the chaos he carried, he couldn't.
Just like the others in the crowd, just like those nearby, and just like Howard himself, they all found themselves drawn in, following without thinking.
The audience hungered for a show, raving in the makeshift coliseum that Ricky seemed to conjure with every gesture.
As the bar emptied, the bartender smiling widely at the spectacle, the old man's gaze drifted toward the counter.
"Well, I'll be." He muttered, walking over to the pitcher Ricky had drained at the start of it all.
As he lifted it, not only did he find two hundred dollars, but a golden ticket resting beside it.
"You sly bastard." The bar owner mumbled, pocketing the cash before moving to a nearby frame.
Instead of putting it in some safe, he carefully slid the ticket into it, smiling as he looked at it over the bar, nodding proudly to himself and shaking his head at the man who was about to make a real splash in the city.
"Stays true to the name-"
"SLICK!"
"SLICK!"
"SLICK!"
The blue-collared crowd trailing behind him chanted loudly, their voices rising in unison as he strode through the city, his entourage moving alongside, cheering him on.
POP
POP
Flashes popped all around Ricky, his buzzed expression catching every burst of light from the tiny, vintage cameras illuminating him.
But instead of rage or frustration, Ricky was actually posing for the pictures, tugging Roma into every single shot with him.
"Ricky!" Roma laughed as another flash lit them up, and he spun her around, grinning like the center of a chaotic, glowing storm.
Every single picture was another headline, and there was no shortage of reporters, slowly flooding his vicinity as word spread through the crowd.
POP
"Get my good side!"
POP
"Get her good side!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
POP
"GET BOTH OUR GOOD SIDES!" Ricky laughed, scooping Roma up and spinning her around, the two of them buzzed and unable to stop laughing.
POP
POP
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Roma laughed, slowly becoming bothered by the flashes suffocating them as she was suddenly carried into a nearby bar.
"What can I get for ya-HOLY SH*T!" An Italian man exclaimed, only to hysterically yell and point at the man before him.
"YOUR-"
"A GUY TRYING TO GET DRUNK OFF HIS ASS, HELL YEAH I AM!" Ricky laughed excitedly, pointing back at the man, who suddenly puffed out his chest.
"Stay right there, STAY RIGHT THERE!" The man matched Ricky's excitement, spinning toward the door leading toward the back of the bar.
"Ma, MA-"
"WHAT!" His mother roared from the kitchen, up to her elbows in order, not bothering to glance back.
"WE GOTTA GET SLICK DRUNK OFF HIS ASS!" He screamed, throwing open the door and running in, as Ricky caught the sound of audible gasps from inside the kitchen.
"....."
Silence hung in the back of the bar as the old woman slowly peeked through the door, only to freeze when she saw Ricky waving at her, Roma still laughing in his arms, as more pictures were snapped around them.
"Get the pot." The old woman whispered under her breath, realizing it was the only way to impress the most important man in their community.
"B-But that's-"
"That's how we show our respect." She lectured, watching the man gulp before nodding dutifully.
"Ooooooooo, what's the pot?"
A familiar voice echoed in both their huddled ears as the mother and son slowly turned to the side, to see that Ricky had unknowingly joined their huddle.
"AHHHH!" They all yelled in unison, Ricky joining in just for the fun of it, as the mother and son flinched backward.
"And before you start, I'll give you this wad of cash to skip whatever warning you wanna give me, deal?" Ricky said, gesturing toward the stack he pulled from his suit. The mother immediately swiped it from his hand.
"Jimmy, get it." The old woman flicked her head and almost immediately, Jimmy darted to the side.
"Slick, this is our family's heirloom, a pot of cautiously brewing wine that my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother first started." The old woman explained, not as a warning but from a state of pride, watching Ricky's lips glisten with anticipation at every word she uttered.
"On any one of our family's sixteen birthdays, we drink a cup and add a cup, so the pot is never emptied completely as new grapes, water, and herbs are added periodically." She said, holding her hands tightly and locking her gaze with his.
"Until the oldest wine slowly merges with the new, creating layers of taste and potency." She continued, carefully explaining so Ricky wouldn't blame them for the consequences of drinking too much.
"But every cup someone adds is different, and at some point, our wine earned its hallucinogenic effect." The old woman added, gesturing toward the side as Jimmy and two others lugged the pot over.
"And that's why, we don't just drink it. We respect it." The old woman said, letting her eyes roam over Ricky's face.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna respect the sh*t out of whatever this is," Ricky said, rubbing his hands together while licking his lips.
"Open it." She commanded, watching Jimmy and his cousins hesitate before slowly prying open the old ceramic clay pot.
As the lid lifted, a wave of aroma washed over Ricky, and his eyes widened at the perfectly still, deep purple liquid within.
"Here." She whispered, gesturing as one of her nephews brought over an old chalice.
"Holy sh*t, this is awesome." Ricky whispered, grabbing the chalice and staring at the wine.
"Wait, I can-"
"Have however much you like. It's our family's honor." She said, smiling and nodding to Ricky as he slowly dipped the cup into the deep purple liquid.
"Well, see you all on the other side." Ricky gestured, cheering to them all as Jimmy and his cousins rubbed the backs of their necks.
GULP
Ricky downed the cup in one gulp, literally all of them flinching not at how easily he devoured it, but how quickly his hand moved for seconds.
GULP
GULP
GULP
GULP
Four more cups of the wine down, and everyone stood pale and frozen as Ricky wiped his mouth, a chilling grin spreading across his face.
"Ah~" Ricky let out a refreshed sigh, nodding to himself as he set the chalice aside.
"That's some good sh*t." Ricky said, giving two thumbs up as the old woman cautiously stepped toward him.
"H-How do you feel, Slick?" She worriedly asked, creasing her brow as she took a step forward.
"I guess if I had to describe it-" Ricky's words stretched lazily, his surroundings beginning to swirl.
BURP
He closed his eyes, sinking into the darkness of his mind for a long moment before finally reopening them to finish his response.
"Fine, I guess."
But when Ricky spoke, he wasn't in the same scene.
Opening his eyes, he realized he wasn't even in the bar anymore and instead, somewhere completely different.
"Oh man, I don't know if I can do this!" A man emotionally said behind the wheel of a truck, holding his head as lights basked Ricky in its glow.
"What the-"
"Ricky, RICKY!" Henry yelled, trying desperately to get his attention, but Ricky was completely absorbed in what was happening.
"This isn't funny anymore, seriously!" Henry gestured all around, at what Ricky was currently doing.
It was then, as Ricky's eyes scanned the vicinity, that he realized he had dragged everyone out of the bar, just to look at the spectacle he had got himself into.
"You don't have to prove anything to anyone, this is insane!" Henry yelled, his eyes catching the truck whose headlights beamed down at him.
"Wait, what am I doing again?" Ricky asked, looking down and realizing he wasn't wearing his shirt or even his coat.
"You're preserving my honor!" Roma roared drunkenly, lifting her arms to cheer along with the others at the side.
However, Ricky didn't even notice them.
His green eyes were locked on her, wearing not only his collared shirt but his suit jacket, and he couldn't help but smile at the scene.
"Sweet." Ricky said, turning back to the truck as he slowly started to put two and two together.
"Look at what you did! Look!" Henry yelled at Howard, who was calmly sipping a cocktail, completely unbothered by the chaos unfolding around him.
"What?" Howard innocently asked, leaning on the table while winking at a nearby girl.
"How was I supposed to know he would stand in front of a moving truck to protect that lady's honor-"
"Because he's Ricky!" Henry interrupted easily, exasperation clouding his features as he continuously turned back to the both of them.
"He's done crazier things for less-"
"Alright, bring it on or whatever!" Ricky laughed, spreading his arms as the ladies around him began to ogle his perfectly toned body, sculpted like marble.
"A-Are you sure, Slick?" Jimmy asked, peeking his head through the window as Ricky gave him a thumbs up.
"I'll pay for the damages, just go full throttle!" Ricky reassured him, though that didn't make Jimmy any less nervous.
"Okay, okay, Ricky, I was just messing with you-" Howard chimed in, rolling his eyes away from Henry and over to the man in question.
"I'm about to blow your f*cking mind when I tank this truck!" Ricky laughed in Howard's face, pointing smugly at him as the inventor immediately scoffed.
"Never mind." Howard muttered, finishing his cocktail so he wouldn't miss a single second.
The truck horn blared, Jimmy slamming his foot on the gas but closing his eyes as if he couldn't bear to watch, while the crowd roared at the sound.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ricky's laughter towered over the surroundings, the bright lights casting him in a chaotic glow as the truck careened closer.
The crowd had swelled in the span of Ricky's blackout, from mere dozens to hundreds, all surrounding the insane scene.
But none of them, neither the eyes of the people nor the flashes of the cameras, could capture the anticipation that laced every single one of these regular joes.
And then the truck met the man known as Ricky Luciano head-on.
BOOM
The sound was deafening, a violent explosion of metal and air that rattled the street and sent vibrations through the surroundings.
Dust and sparks erupted around him, blinding flashes from broken glass and twisted headlights cutting through the chaos.
The crowd screamed, a mixture of terror and exhilaration, their voices blending into a single, roaring wave that threatened to drown out everything else.
Because there, as the dust began to settle, was Ricky, encased in a translucent green dome, his arms spread wide.
Completely unscathed.
"Are you kidding me?" Howard gasped genuinely, his mouth dropping open at something so unreal he had to see it with his own eyes to believe it.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ricky cheered, throwing his arms into the air, lowering not only the barrier that protected him.
But also the secondary barrier he had erected to stop the shrapnel from escaping into the crowd.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Roma joined in, raising her arms and feeding off the chaos, while the rest of the crowd immediately roared in response, breaking the tense silence that had gripped the street.
POP
POP
POP
The camera flashes swarmed Ricky as he hurriedly climbed onto the truck to pull Jimmy out of the wreckage.
"You lunatic!" Ricky laughed, patting Jimmy's cheek as the young man shook his head, eyes wide with disbelief.
"S-Slick, you-"
"Need a drink? F*ck yeah I do!" Ricky said, patting his shoulder and helping him to the ground.
"How are you even standing?" Jimmy asked, baffled at Ricky helping him over to the side-walk.
"Cause I can-"
"Your liver is insane!" Jimmy exclaimed, unable to hide his admiration, remembering how he had literally been flat on his ass for two days after just a sip of their family's wine.
"I know, it's a miracle I never kicked over." Ricky scoffed, shaking his head at all the crazy things he ingested in this life and the last.
"Y-You-" Howard breathlessly stammered, pointing at something that should literally be scientifically impossible.
"Keep up." Ricky chuckled, walking right past Howard and back into the bar with Jimmy.
"Frustrating, isn't it?" Henry laughed, leaning on the table next to him as the crowd followed Ricky into the bar.
"Welcome to Ricky's world, where everything is spontaneous and nothing is as it seems." Henry sighed, patting Howard's chest before finally following them back inside.
"Do you know Ricky Luciano?!" A random girl asked, running up next to Howard, who turned to her with a deadpan expression.
"Could you introduce me-"
"Have you ever heard of the brilliant inventor Howard Stark?" Howard interrupted, smiling at the girl, who raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"No?"
"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Howard chuckled, holding up his hand as the woman blinked, surprised, but smiled in response.
"Inventor, like cars~" She asked, shaking his hand as Howard pressed his lips gently to her palm, careful not to slobber it.
"And so much more~"
3 hours later,
"Let's go fly a plane! I wanna fly a plane!" Ricky shouted drunkenly, stumbling across the street, barely anyone daring to follow his wild lead.
Once back inside the bar, Ricky launched into what would become the stuff of local legend: the most epic bar crawl anyone had ever witnessed.
By the time he reached the eighty-seventh stop, Ricky hadn't just crawled through them.
Ricky had emptied each one, drink by drink, his wallet reduced to nothing but scattered bills tossed carelessly across tabletops.
The bartenders shook their heads, some laughing, some groaning, as Ricky roared in triumph, raising glass after glass, the crowd swept along in his unstoppable, intoxicated momentum.
But even the most eager onlookers could only be carried so far.
One by one, the crowd staggered off, until only five souls remained, stumbling through the streets completely drunk off their asses.
"I want to be in first class!" Roma yelled drunkenly, hopping onto Ricky's back and pointing dramatically.
"That way, stead!" Roma commanded, and the air–plane–turned–horse as Ricky started galloping down the street.
Making horse noises, he frolicked along the empty road, Roma clinging tightly to his neck, laughing erratically as they barreled forward in their absurd, drunken spectacle.
BLERGH
Meanwhile, Henry was slumped against a lamppost, throwing up the contents of his stomach, seemingly expelling everything he had ever eaten.
"I-I'm going sleep~" Henry whispered, awkwardly hanging onto the pole and closing his eyes as two figures tumbled past him.
"We won!" the girl from earlier screamed, laughing as she had to actually hold Howard up.
"Hip hip!" Howard yelled, brandishing his nearly empty beer bottle.
"HOORAY!" The girl shouted, laughing at him as his sleazy grin widened.
"Hey, are you-"
Before Howard could even finish, his collar was yanked down, and the random woman pressed into a slobbering, unexpected kiss.
Then, the race that had boiled down from five gradually fizzled until there were only two.
"Where did everyone go?" Roma asked, looking around and realizing that everyone had suddenly disappeared.
Burp
"They couldn't hang~" Ricky slurred drunkenly, turning back with Roma still clinging to his back.
"Oh my god, you know what we should do?" Ricky suddenly exclaimed, a lazy grin spreading across his face as Roma rested on his shoulder.
"Eat fried chicken and waffles?" Roma asked, watching his sleazy smile suddenly light up with excitement.
"F*CK YES!"
10 minutes later,
"Oh my god~" Roma whispered, finally tearing her face away from the chicken as the diner lady wiped down the counter.
"Your chicken is sooooooooooo goooooooood~" Roma gushed, while the black lady just scoffed.
"You ain't gotta tell me." She said, wagging her finger at Roma before her eyes trailed over to Ricky, who was devouring his fourth plate.
MUFFLED NOISES
Ricky, cramming food into his mouth, handed the empty plate over as the lady smiled and went to bring him his fifth.
"Stoooooooop~" Roma whined, pushing Ricky's fingers away from her plate, which was still her first.
"Hahahahahaha!" Roma immediately laughed, pointing at Ricky, who had food stuffed in his cheeks and was letting out muffled laughs of his own.
"Ha~" Roma's laughter simmered, her smile suddenly fading as she turned her gaze back to her plate.
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
Chewing audibly, Ricky processed the food for a moment before devouring it all in one sitting.
GULP
"What?" Ricky asked, having demolished the entire plate just to ask that simple question.
"I-I just miss the Citadel, that's all." Roma sadly said, turning to Ricky who didn't even hesitate to shrug.
"Alright." Ricky muttered, holding up his hand with a sleazy smile.
SMAP
With a mere snap of his fingers, a portal opened, and Roma's eyes widened before she turned back to Ricky.
"Wait-"
"WEEEEEEEEE!" Ricky yelled, grabbing Roma and lunging headfirst into the swirling portal.
Back in the diner, the lady returned, not to a viciously hungry mobster, but to the emptiness of their seats.
Instead of jumping to conclusions, she walked over to the counter and spotted a single golden ticket. Holding it up, she smiled at the signature.
"You know that's right." She muttered, sliding it into her cleavage before stacking the plates and heading back to the kitchen.
Meanwhile at the Citadel,
THUD
"Ow~" Roma muttered, colliding with the floor alongside Ricky, who rolled over, blinking furiously.
"Man, where are all these colors coming from?" Ricky asked, reaching out toward the swirling shapes and lights that didn't exist in the dimension Roma was observing.
But instead of diving into the high like Ricky, her warm gaze swept calmly across the control room.
"It's still the same." Roma whispered, her hand drifting across the control panel and hovering over the glowing orbs.
"Roma, it's been like, 4 weeks-" Ricky replied, scratching at the squiggly lines dancing in front of him.
That's not what I meant, it's just-"
SIGH
"It's nothing." Roma softly said, turning away as her hand reluctantly parted from the futuristic controls.
"C'mon~" Ricky said, his usual sleazy grin in place as he turned over, still lying on the floor with his shirt off.
"It's really nothing-"
"Whenever anyone says it's nothing, every single time, it's something," Ricky hiccuped, trying, and miserably failing, to get comfortable and sit up.
"Ha~" Roma laughed, slowly clenching her fist and turning to Ricky with a determined expression.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Roma asked the question she had been holding back, finally spilling out as she faced the man who could effortlessly eviscerate her where she stood.
"Cause your hot-"
"I'm serious, Ricky." Roma interrupted, trying her hardest to maintain a serious gaze even as she wobbled slightly.
"Why?" Roma asked again, squinting and locking her eyes on Ricky, who had finally managed to sit up.
"You were supposed to be my bargaining chip, Roma, you already know this-"
"Afterwards-"
"I was just making sure-"
"Don't bullsh*t me, Ricky," Roma scoffed drunkenly, pointing at him with an accusatory finger.
"I might be drunk, and a little insecure, but I'm not an idiot." Roma hissed, her anger boiling over at Ricky.
"Okay, okay," Ricky sighed, deciding to finally be honest with her, gazing at her with serious eyes
"I really wanna get in your pants-"
"You're just using me to get to him!" Roma screamed, closing her eyes and tearing her vocal cords to express what she believed was the truth.
"Hold on-what?" Ricky tried to stop her, only to suddenly realize what her words implied and felt the need to clarify.
SNIFF
"You're using me~" Roma sniffled, her eyes watering as she looked at yet another man trying to use her as she clenched her fists, struggling to hold back the tremor in her voice.
"Wait, just to be sure, 'cause I'm still a little drunk, what do you think I'm doing?" Ricky asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching out a hand as if to physically reach her understanding.
"You think I haven't figured out that you're just using me to control my father, Merlyn," Roma said, her words sharp despite the quiver betraying her fear.
"That's what you think?" Ricky asked, raising an eyebrow, leaning back slightly as if testing the ground beneath her accusation.
"It's what I know." Roma said, puffing out her chest, unknowingly revealing the last shred of hope she clung to for her father's love.
"Fine," Ricky muttered, holding up his hand to the side as a portal began to swirl, shimmering with green light.
"What are you-"
"What?"
A familiar, annoyed voice rippled through the Citadel control room, one Roma had heard her whole life.
But this time, it carried a weight that made everything feel different, unsettling the air around them.
"God you're so annoying~" Ricky sighed, hitting his head against the device while rolling his eyes away from his undead slave.
"Did you call me over here to-ah." Merlyn scoffed, verbally berating him until his eyes finally registered his daughter breathlessly staring at him.
"Do a little dance," Ricky commanded, boredly ushering in a sight that made Roma's eyes widen, tears welling instantly.
Throughout her time in the cell, hope had been a rare commodity.
Morgana did anything and everything to make her life miserable from starving her, isolating her, all the way to taunting her.
But never inflicted any real pain, not physically.
Instead, she let Roma's own mind do the torturing.
And through it all, Roma's mind clung to a single defensive mechanism, a fragile instinct that surfaced whenever her sanity began to slip:
Deep down, buried beneath all the horror, beneath everything she had been led to believe, that small spark of hope still burned.
A tiny, stubborn ember insisting that Merlyn was doing all of this to protect her.
That the reason Ricky kept her alive wasn't because he spared her, but because she was being leveraged.
Proof that her father still cared.
That, maybe, just maybe, Merlyn loved her enough to be manipulated for her sake.
But when Ricky uttered that lazy command, Merlyn obeyed, and when that horrid, humiliating dance began right before her eyes.
Watching Ricky bend Merlyn to his will so casually, so effortlessly.
RIP
That tiny spark inside her didn't just flicker.
RIP
It wisped.
RIP
It screamed.
RIP
It began to die.
RIP
And the Shadow Broker lingered behind her as he had throughout the night.
He tore the last sheet from his stack, and when he did, he closed his briefcase with a sharp snap that seemed to shut out the ember in Roma's heart as well.
"Make him leave," Roma whispered, rubbing her eyes and turning away from the sight of what her father hadn't become, but what he had always been on the inside.
A disgusting lich who lived only to serve the aspirations of another.
"Your wish is my command~" Ricky said drunkenly, waving his arm as he sent Merlyn stumbling back through the portal.
SNIFF
HIC
The very second Merlyn vanished, Roma broke, collapsing into a spiraling mess of tears as her entire body crumpled onto the floor beside Ricky, who was still slumped there.
"For-"
HICCUP
"For what it's worth, I sort of understand." Ricky interrupted himself with a hiccup, lazily rolling his head over toward Roma as she pulled her face away from her hands.
"How-"
Sniff
"Could you-"
Sniff
"Understand!" Roma screamed, her mascara dripping down the ends of her eyes.
"Well, other than being an orphan, I just learned that my mom tried to kill me as a baby," Ricky said simply, shrugging his shoulders as if it were nothing.
"W-What?" Roma asked with a horrified expression, staring at Ricky, who in her mind had always looked like someone with a perfect life.
"Yeah, evidently the birth was gonna kill her and she wanted to save herself," Ricky explained, gesturing sloppily with his hand while rubbing his face.
"T-That's horrible, Ricky," Roma whispered, her voice trembling as she slowly pressed her hand against her mouth.
"I mean, if I remembered it, it would be." Ricky easily said, rubbing his nose and turning towards the shocked woman.
"Honestly, I didn't even grow up with her." Ricky added it casually, easing her drunken worries as she inched a little closer to him.
"Listen, Roma, I don't know if you want my advice, but here it is." Ricky continued, his drunken tangent taking an odd turn toward wisdom.
"Live your life." Ricky spoke from the heart, tapping his chest with an unsteady fist as he looked at her with a rare sincerity, trying to help her rather than get in her pants.
"Stop letting your crappy parents hold you back." He leaned forward slightly, eyes hazy but honest.
"I spent a good chunk of my life just regretting instead of really living." Ricky muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as if the memory annoyed him.
"And who needs that dickward Merlyn, anyway. All he ever did was hold you back." Ricky shook his head, disgusted at the thought, then focused back on her with a seriousness that cut through the alcohol.
"Just go for it." Ricky insisted, his voice softening as he watched Roma's expression shift.
For the first time, she wasn't looking at everything around him or the image she had built in her head.
Finally, Roma was looking at him.
THUMP
And for some reason, her heart started to beat in her chest.
"Stop hesitating-"
THUMP
"Take life by the collar and just-"
Maybe it was the push in his words, maybe it was the Shadow Broker's recent urging, or maybe it was just the unbridled eagerness that came from a good drunken mood.
But Roma interrupted Ricky with her lips.
She grabbed his collar with both hands and yanked him toward her, pulling him into a kiss that was messy, urgent, and overflowing with everything she had been holding back.
Before pulling back, she emptied every last bit of air in her lungs into the kiss, breathing against Ricky as her breath coiled with his.
The shocked mobster stared at her, eyes wide, still processing what had just happened.
All while Roma smiled, her lips trembling with adrenaline and alcohol, and she repeated the line she had heard Ricky say more than a dozen times throughout the night.
"Oh yeah~"