“Boss?”

The unfamiliar deep voice sounded very wary, as though it’s owner were trying to choose his words with extreme care.

“Look, Boss...” the voice said slowly.

A pan of the camera revealed two men that had become ever so familiar over the past few weeks, Alceo Dentari’s two associates, who had just recently been revealed as Tony ‘Two Hands’ Di Luca and ‘Big Vinny’ Vincent Rinaldi.

That’s in size order by the way. Smallest to largest.

“Boss... I dunno what to say.” Said Di Luca, “It’s just...”

Di Luca wasn’t lying, he really didn’t know what to say, and Alceo wasn’t exactly helping matters as he sat opposite the the two associates not saying a word.

Tony flapped his hands around gesturing to himself and to his much larger partner, “We... us... you see, Boss...” He struggled to get out, “We wasn’t exactly...”

Tony ceased his rambling as Alceo reached to the side and slid a drawer open ever so slowly.

“Gimme a reason, Tony.” Alceo said in an eerily calm manner.

Tony swallowed hard and prepared himself, “Look, Bo-”

“GIVE ME A REASON, TONY!” Dentari shouted as he reached into his drawer, “GIVE ME A GOD-DAMNED REASON!”

“Uhhh, well...” Tony uttered as he struggled to catch his breath, a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek as he continued, “It weren’t exactly our f-”

“IF YOUS SAY IT WEREN’T YOUR FAULT I SWEAR TO GOD!” Dentari screamed. He began to withdraw his hand from the desk, which caused both Tony ‘Two Hands’ and the very quiet Big Vinny to widen their eyes.

Tony clapped his hands together tightly, “Please, Boss,” he begged as he shook his head, “Please...”

“Please what?” Dentari asked, his voice now quieter, but the rage still milliseconds from bubbling over.

“We just...” Tony said closing his eyes, “We just need one more chance.”

Dentari laughed in disbelief. Usually at this point he’d be looking to the men flanking him for them to join in on the laughter, but those men were sat opposite him, the butt of said joke. “Yous want one more chance?” He asked as he withdrew his empty hand from the drawer.

Tony nodded half heartedly, from the number of times he’d been stood watching this exact exchange he had a good idea of what Dentari would say next. What’s more, he knew just how rarely extra chances were handed out.

“You know why I brought yous two in, and yous ain’t doin’ your jobs.” Alceo said slowly, “I shoulda been the Master a’ Wrestling, but I ain’t. I shoulda won the FIST championship twice now, but I aint. If yous two were anyone else you wouldn’t a got a second chance, let alone a third, an’ now yous askin’ for a forth?”

Di Luca nodded again, one may describe is at sheepishly. He looked like a deer in the headlights, quite pathetic when the oncoming semi stood at a mere 5’ 2”
.
“Why?” Dentari asked, “Gimme one good reason.”

“We’ll show you.” Di Luca replied hastily, “We’ll show you against Frank Dylan James and Virginia Quell on the first episode of Retaliation.”

Dentari sat in quiet contemplation for a moment. On the one hand he could do what he would normally in this situation, but on the other, these two were probably the men he trusted most in this world. If he gave them a pass he would appear weak, and that wasn’t acceptable, but with their loyalty and friendship over the years surely they had earned 100 more chances.

“Ok...” Dentari said finally as he slid the drawer to a close, “Yous got your chance, but I don’t wanna see or hear from either a’ yous ‘til after Retaliation. An’ if I do...

Dentari stroked the handle of his drawer, the gorillas couldn’t see it, but they knew exactly what he was doing, “Capiche?”

“Yes, Mr. Dentari.” Tony said as he rose to his feet. “Crystal clear sir.”

Di Luca slapped Big Vinny on the underside of the arm and signaled him with his eyes to the door. Rinaldi heaved his frame out of his chair and nodded at Alceo, a gesture that was not returned, and followed Di Luca out of the room.

Once outside and after hearing the door slam shut Di Luca heaved a heavy sigh of relief, “We gotta get this sorted, Vinny.” He said as he rubbed his temple, “I ain’t never seen the boss like that.”

Vinny shook his head in agreement, that was about all the conversation Tony was going to get out of him today.

“Look, Vinny, we gotta do somethin’ big against this Moral Majority.” Tony said desperately, “Or next time... well, there ain’t gonna be a next time.”

Tony started walking briskly down the corridor, Big Vinny meanwhile stood stock still outside of Dentari’s office door. Turning around Tony called back to him, “Come on, man, you want Dentari to come out an’ see you standin’ there? We gotta go get our heads together, come up with somethin’ that’ll get us back on the other side a’ that desk.”

Even though he didn’t fully understand what was going on, Big Vinny didn’t say a word, he didn’t even nod, he simply started lumbering his way after ‘Two Hands’. As far as he could tell Di Luca was the one in the dog house with Dentari. He’d done what he needed to during the three way.

But this wasn’t an ‘every man for himself’ environment. These guys looked out for their own, and Tony Di Luca and Vincent Rinaldi were indeed looking out for each other.

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