“Got this through the mail just the other day.”

A blue patch with a white C embroidered onto it turned slowly between the thumb and fingers of the now official Evolution WarGames team captain, Alceo Dentari, who sat back in his oh so familiar high backed, red velvet lined throne.

“Ain’t so sure about ruinin’ this here fine Italian craftsmanship though,” He said as he looked down at his suit, “So maybe I’ll just stash it safely in here.”

Using his index and middle fingers Alceo pressed the patch to his chest and slid it slowly into his breast pocket. He patted the pocket a couple of times before bringing his hands together and rubbed his palms against one another.

“Since day one, Evolution has been my league.” He said with a smile, “You know who won the very first Evolution match? You’re lookin’ at him.”

Alceo separated his hands and placed them gently on the arm rests at his sides. He lifted his right index finger and bobbed it about a little.

“You know who’s been number one in this league since day one?” He asked before providing the answer anyway, “You’re lookin’ at him.”

A slight head tilt.

“You know who took Yoshikazu YAZ under his wing? Brought him all the way up the table into second place?” Alceo asked with raised eyebrows, “Do I really need to say it?”

Dentari laughed to himself and shook his head slightly as though he were reminiscing with an old friend.

“Ever since December them league tables a’ read ‘Number one, Alceo Dentari.’ So there ain’t never been nobody but me in contention to bear the title ‘Captain’ when we step in that cage at WarGames.” He said as he leaned forward, “Yet I still had to embarrass Jonny Booya to get my spot.”

The smile had faded to be replaced with a serious stare.

“I could write a book about the asinine decisions an’ moronic choices made by Elijah Goldman over the last few months,” Said Alceo, “Anyone remember his first draft pick, or how he left me til damn near last? ...How ‘bout how he wanted Bronson Box workin’ with him rather than yours truly? An’ this WarGames team... well, it’d make for one helluva climax, the perfect final chapter.”

Dentari waved his hand in through the air above his head, “I can see the title now,” He said, “‘Goldman’s Greatest Gaffes’”

Alceo looked up at the imaginary banner painted in the sky and nodded in satisfaction.

“So what’s wrong with the team? Start from the bottom, shall we?” Alceo asked rhetorically, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand, “I ain’t gonna hide my disappointment over the fact that we ain’t got that hulking man mountain, Niklas Kiri on side. Instead, we gotta settle for Jimmy Kort. Sure he’s fourth place in the league... But he’s a guy who couldn’t get it done in Defiance one, an’ for some reason thinks he’s got what it takes to be named the master a’ wrestlin’.”

Alceo clapped his hands together slowly.

“Good on yous, James. You threw Heidi Christenson over the top rope to book your place in the most important match in Defiance history.” Alceo said sarcastically, “Managed to get a whole heap a’ points the process too, pushed yourself way up in the rankin’ with one lucky win. But what’d you do before then? Beat Jonny Booya? Who ain’t? I’d rather be an Astros fan than a Booya supporter right now.”

Dentari looked pained at the meer thought of where he was headed next.

“Then yous got number three, Sam Turner Jr.” Alceo gritted his teeth at the mention of the man who defeated him on the last Evolution show, “Now, there ain’t a lot I can say about this guy that I ain’t already, but Sam... Congratulations, you managed to hold these shoulders...”

Dentari rolled said shoulders.

“Down to the mat for three seconds. Now I ain’t the kinda guy to say that shouldn’ta happened...” Alceo said as he squinted one eye and inhaled again, “But that shouldn’ta happened... an’ I promise, ain’t nobody pinnin’ these shoulders to the mat in the WarGames match, an’ I’m promisin’ even harder, I ain’t tappin’ out to nobody neither.”

The look of determination etched on Alceo’s face should have been enough to convince anyone of his conviction over the subject.

“An’ why won’t it happen?” He asked,  “Simple, ‘cause I ain’t gonna let Yoshikazu YAZ send this match into a nose dive.”

Determination turned slowly into anger as he thought back to the triple threat match.

“Which leads me nicely to my final subordinate... YAZ... Now, I dunno what’s got into yous lately,” Alceo said confusedly, “But yous need to remember... without me, yous would be hangin’ out with Jonny Booya on what might as well be nil-point.”

Dentari held up a big fat zero, formed by his thumb and index finger.

“YAZ, I made yous. It ain’t gonna be hard for me to send yous back where yous came from.” He added, punctuating each reference to YAZ with a thurst of his finger down the camera, “Capiche?”

Maybe he just needed to get that out of his system, but Alceo seemed to calm down ever so slightly

“But I guess I gotta thank yous, YAZ, ‘cause I learned somethin’ last week,” Alceo said as he pulled his lips back over his teeth and took a sharp breath, “I learned that if you want somethin’ done right, yous gotta do it yourself. Last week I made the mistake a’ thinkin I could rely on yous when we stepped in that ring with Sam Turner Jr. …How wrong I was.”

Alceo gestured ‘no’ with his finger and shook his head.

“I ain’t gonna be makin’ that mistake again. Not even if we’re standin’ across the ring from the most mismatched, shambolic group a’ walkin’ embarrassments Heritage could throw together.” He said, “Cause despite the bitchin’ an’ moanin’ I been doin’ on my boys, I guarantee yous, Heritage are gonna need all the help they can get to beat us.””

Alceo propped up his head in his hand and tapped gently on his temple.

“Over there yous’ got Edward White?” He said, “Now I’m gonna do some preemptin’, an’ tell my boys that if he offers yous anythin’, the Dentari family can and will match it. An’ as an added bonus, we’ll leave your kneecaps in tact.”

No gangland gun gesture, not even a “capiche”. No, there was nothing there suggesting Dentari was anything but deadly serious about that ‘offer’.

“Next up, Little Miss St. Sure... she ain’t gonna be no help to yous in that cage,” Alceo said with a shake of the head, “Sure, one on one she’s been handin’ out beatin’s like candy corn on Halloween, but she ain’t standin’ in that ring against Hollywood Jack or some jumped up jackass in a cape. She’s gonna be steppin’ in that ring against three a’ the best competitors Evolution has to offer an’ Jimmy Kort.”

“An’ if she can keep Sam Turner Jr. from treatin’ her like one a’ his pigs then more power to her.” He shrugged, “But I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

Finally the corner of Alceo’s mouth curled as he began to address the last piece of the puzzle.

“Finally, discountin’ the empty slot that nobody seems to wanna fill, yous got Christian Light, Heritage’s captain an’ winner a’ the TLC match on the last Interleague show.” He said, clearly something that still pained him greatly, “Oh no, I ain’t forgot about that Christian, an’ I ain’t forgot about you comin’ to my show an’ tryin’ gain some kinda upper hand.”

He didn’t like that one bit on the day, and now? Well now he seemed to like it even less.

“Remember the two things I told yous, Light.” Alceo said, barely containing his anger, “I told yous, yous wasn’t gonna get the best a’ me twice an’ that the beatin’ yous had coming was gonna hafta wait til another day, well that day’s comin’, an’ it’s comin’ fast.”

Dentari’s voice rose to a borderline shout as all of his emotions bubbled up to the surface. He pushed himself out of his chair slightly and his head shook with rage as his face turned beet root red.

“So you come to WarGames, Christian, an’ you bring Claira St. Sure, you bring Edward White, an’ you bring whoever the hell you can find to fill that fourth spot!” Alceo spat, “Cancer Jiles, Eugene Dewey, Mr. Destruction... anybody you can muster, you bring ‘em!”

“Cause I promise you, whatever yous bring, it ain’t gonna be enough!” Alceo said as he flopped back down into his throne and seemed to relax, but the furious expression adorning his face didn’t change.

“Now ain’t that a kick in the head.”

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