You don't mind if I talk, do ya Jack? Osbourne don't fancy writing much more, really annoyed him that he had to write to get it subtitled, just to take the piss out of you, so it's me, Daniel having a little chat with you all again, you know how this works, I talk, explain the week and what's about to go on. You good with that? Couldn't give a toss anyway. Well, it's been a slightly get back to normal but busy week, while Jack can swan off in to his arms of bleach blonde barbie girl wannabe and Matt Spears can do whatever Matt Spears does, and off course, Joshua Acquin can work on his my neck's buggered so I need to leave speech, we have a business to run, money to be made, and that's pretty much what we've been trying to get back in the swing of. It worked alright, just like riding a bike, but it was Sunday, and we were one week away from High Stakes IX. Nick had been put back in charge of the casino and we was on our way to Hawaii. We lumped out for a private jet, cause we very much had business to discuss on the way over and plane engines have a great habit of drowning out noises, still, with all the weird things going on, was always good to check and double check.
Charlotte returns to her seat at the table, the private plane fitted with a table for four. Daniel and Osbourne sit on one side of the table, Osbourne by the window, while Mackenzie sits opposite the big man, as Charlotte slides in the seat opposite Daniel, placing a device on the table.
"Clean as a whistle." Charlotte tells Daniel as the leader of London Underground nods his head.
"Paranoid much?" Mackenzie says sharply, but Daniel shakes his head.
"Cautious mate." Daniel tells her. "Nothing wrong with being a little more cautious when we have important things to discuss and no better place to do it then cruising up here."
Daniel had always been a hide in plain sight man, often disguising business meetings in public as a pint with the boys, it was his casual way of not arousing suspicion. After all, he was a good old East End boy, born and raised, and that's how people from that area do business. There's a saying in the East End, you get more work done in the pub then you do in the boardroom. Very true saying, but certain discussions needed to be kept away from people's eyes.
"Besides." Daniel "If I'm right in thinking there might be a plant around us somewhere, best to just keep this one safe."
Daniel looks towards Mackenzie.
"So Charlotte filled you in on all this, what did you find out about new employees over the last few months." Daniel asks her.
Mackenzie shrugs at Daniel.
"Not too much, she admits." Mackenzie tells him. "We've hired thirty at various positions in that time, most are still with us now, but nothing would show off any red flags at all. Because you have no age range or requirement in that sense, most of them are in their forties, few part time single mothers, that kinda thing, no one jumps out there. Bar staff, Dani checks properly, she doesn't take any chances. I know she doesn't know what we do, but she's so eager to impress, she hires the best she can find. She has a whole set of tests set up for them."
That was one of the reasons Daniel brought Dani in, her infectious happiness and the way she refused to let anyone down, in any possible way if she could, made her more detailed orientated than most.
"Two different sets of tests." Mackenzie continues. "Based on experience. If you claim you're new to the game, she tests for potential, if you claim you've been around in the barman game for a while, she sets things up to test you out, trip you up. Being that bar is experience and potential, so it wouldn't be coming from the bar."
"Did Dani mention anything the other night at all?" Daniel asks. "Maybe about workers that she didn't like, or was often disappearing? Always on their phone, something like that?"
Both Charlotte and Mackenzie shake their heads simultaneously.
"This is her team." Mackenzie says. "She put them together, based on what they bring to the table. She gets on with everyone there because she played her part in bringing them there."
"Alright, how about table workers?" Daniel questions. "Any of them look likely?"
"Older guys." Mackenzie tells him. "Forties, evening jobs mostly, none of them come anywhere near us. They're more happy to be employed."
Daniel turns his head to Osbourne, looking at him.
"Notice anything out of the ordinary over the last week?" Daniel asks the man next to him.
Osbourne shakes his head as he look around the group.
"When we get back." Daniel tells Osbourne. "Jack is gonna be pissed that we took his championship belts. His partner will probably be hitting rehab, but he's gonna be pissed so I want you to keep a closer eye on everyone. Punters, staff, even the trusted ones. I want everyone kept an eye on."
Osbourne nods his head once.
"I think you're para mate." Mackenzie tells him. "That Asher guy is barely smart enough to do up his own shoe laces let alone out smart us. No way he stuck people in the casino. We're too much on the ball when it comes to business."
"The thing is, no one's ever come straight out and called us what we are." Daniel says. "Even though I despise that term, people have always played the game right, took things on face value. So either he's stumbled on to something or he's got one hell of a lucky shot."
"My money's on lucky shot." Charlotte adds. "Mackenzie's right, he's non too clever about anything, so my guess is he's took a random shot because of the money and the businesses and he's just got lucky with it. Basically throwing a bit of mud around to give himself something to talk about when he has to. Nothing more or less."
"I'm just being a little bit more careful, especially while we have the deal with the bikers still getting set up." Daniel tells the group. "Once that's out of the way and established, I won't worry too much."
Daniel looks towards Charlotte, his head slightly tilted.
"What did you find out about the families?" Daniel asks her.
"Well The Ward's are an odd bunch." Charlotte says. "Her immediate family are a bunch of pissheads. Drink from morning to night, stumbling in and out of places, pretty much a route you can see her going in the not too distant future. They're all train wrecks waiting to happen. Mark's side of the family, not so much. He was a son of a lawyer, who bought in to a wrestling company with a guy called Mike and a guy called Craig, pretty successful. Mark wrestled elsewhere to start with where he met Christian. For his laid back attitude, he seemed the worker of the family."
"He like's to drink too." Mackenzie tells the group.
"Yeah but not to the extreme of the other side of the Ward's." Charlotte tells her. "The other side is a mess. I don't think they'll stay sober long enough to hatch any kinda plan. Body is probably on auto pilot to the nearest pub."
"Then it looks like there's a way in there with those lot. Thing with drunks is they'll do anything for a quick quid for a pint." Daniel muses. "Come to think of it, we could get her to turn on him. When she turns twenty one, offer her discount drinks to screw him over, hell, I could offer her me to screw him over."
The group smile, knowing full well that this is a tactic Daniel would use to his advantage.
"And his family?" Daniel asks.
"His mother is squeaky clean." Charlotte tells him. "But daddy has been involved in some very high profile cases. He's a mercenary, happy to take anyone's money. He could witness his client murdering someone but if the money is right, he'll defend anyone. It's all fair game to him."
"Now that is interesting." Daniel says with a smile. "Bent?"
"As a nine bob note." Charlotte adds. "Even his business deals are crooked and I do mean very crooked."
Daniel smirks.
"And his son has the cheek to call us gangsters?" Daniel says, shaking his head in disbelief. "Calls us dodgy but his old man is as iffy as hell."
Daniel rubs his fingers over his chin, looking around the group in thought. He nods his head as if he just decided something mentally.
"Well there is our back up plan." Daniel tells him. "Should anything come of this, the bent old man is the way to keep Jack well and truly under wraps and out of our way."
The group nod in agreement as the cracking voice of the pilot can be heard over the speakers in the plane.
"Ladies and gentlemen." The pilots voice crackles over the system. "Please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts, we'll be starting our descent in to the beautifully sunny Honolulu, Hawaii in just a few minutes."
Daniel nods around the group as they stand, moving to the individual seats as the camera fade.
*******
Wrestling fans are a different breed - Sorry Jack, still Daniel talking here by the way - they really are. They're passionate, they're no shy to let you know how they feel, and they'll certainly let you know what they wanna see from you. We've seriously had people show up in hotel lobbies at five in the morning just to stand around and have a chat with us, or just for a picture. I don't mind it as suck, Charley smiles through, Kenz is a straight up crank at that time in the morning. You really don't wanna go near her at that time in the morning but still, the fans show up. They're all over the place. I mean in the casino last week, we had a group of fans basically shadow us for an hour, just to be near us and local businesses are doing a roaring trade when we're about. It's pure passion from people who see us as superheroes or some bollocks like that. We're not... Well, Roxi Joihnson and Keira Fisher are, but that's a whole different story. We're people who put our bodies on the line and people respect that. Thing is wrestling in Hawaii, the fans are not only passionate, but traditional, that was something we was about to find out.
Daniel, Charlotte, Mackenzie and Osbourne stand behind the door, leading in to the main area of the airport, clearing customs with ease, and even standing to post for pictures with the airport security team and customs officers. Mackenzie huffs.
"It's like they've never seen wrestlers before." She says in a complaining tone.
"We can't be the first to arrive here." Charlotte says. "Probably trying to get a photo collection of their faves or something."
"Something to brag about to your mates down the boozer I suppose." Daniel adds. "Right, nice and low key today. We'll get out there, look for the bloke holding a sign up with our name on it and skip away."
The group nod in agreement as Daniel pushes the door, leading in to the main airport, the scene in front of them stopping them in their tracks.
"So..." Mackenzie says with a smile. "What bloke with the sign do we go with?"
The group look around as a crowd of people stand holding signs with their names on it, cheering as the four walk through the doors. The group move side by side as people cheer them, looking around at each other, not used to the cheers in the slightest.
"The fuck is going on?" Mackenzie asks quietly.
"Damned if I know." Charlotte replies, just as quietly.
"I'm gonna take a punt." Daniel says "And say this is how they welcome all people they see as celebrities?"
Four teenagers, their skin tanned by the Hawaiian sun step forward, holding necklaces of flowers, commonly know as lieu's, standing in front of the four members of London Underground.
"Just bow your heads and go with it." Daniel whispers to the group.
The group listen to Daniel and they bow their heads, allowing the teenagers to place the flowers around their neck, much to the discomfort of Osbourne. The four step back and walk away and Daniel nods his head in appreciation.
"Now what?" Mackenzie asks.
"I guess we make a thank you speech?" Charlotte wonders.
Charlotte, Mackenzie and Osbourne all look at Daniel, who sighs and looks around the crowd.
"Aloha." He says as the crowd hushes.
"Aloha?" Mackenzie says, hiding a laugh.
"What?" Daniel says as he stares at her. "I watch Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI."
Daniel looks back towards the crowd.
"Thank you for this fantastic and unexpected welcome." He starts "I can safely say, none of us expected it at all, but we very much appreciate it."
"Sell the show." Charlotte whispers to him.
"It's great for us to come to Hawaii, we've never been here before, but we've heard great things about it." He continues. "How many of you guys are going to see High Stakes IX?"
A cheer come from the crowd.
"Sounds like a lot of you are gonna be there, and there's a lot you can expect from this show and won't be disappointed." Daniel says with a calm tone. "Everything from the pre show to the main event is gonna be proper diamond. It's gonna be absolutely bloody fantastic. SCU are bringing the pre show, then joining with SCW to bring you the most entertainment this island has seen in a long time and through all of that, you get to see us four win the SCW Mixed Tag Team Championships once more. I ain't feeding you a line when I'm telling you this is a show that you, nor anyone else will want to miss. It's gonna be a show where the eyes of the world will be on it."
Daniel pauses for a second.
"When SCW bring it, believe me, SCW bring it." Daniel says with a nod. "And SCW has brought it to Honolulu, Hawaii."
Daniel waits for the cheap expected cheer to die down.
"And we are gonna show you what wrestling is all about." He says with a nod of his head. "Anyway ladies and gentlemen, thanks again for the warm welcome, we'll see you all on Sunday!"
Daniel lifts his hand.
"Mahalo!" He says, saying thank you in Hawaiian.
The group nod and smile as the camera fades out.
*******
The ocean is not really a place I'm used to seeing if I'm honest, spent most of me time rattling around some city or another, not exactly a bloke you often see at the beach but I gotta admit, my view right now is actually pretty damn decent. SCW has played a blinder hooking people up with beach side places for this tour, most of the shows were on a beach, which is a bugger if you don't like sand in unthinkable places but it's alright to sit and look out over at the sea, watching the surfers and birds in bikinis but I had to focus on other things at this point, I had to focus on Jack Asher, Joshua Acquin and Matt Spears. I gotta admit, not listened to a bloody word they said last week, if they said anything at all, I dunno, ain't taken much notice, so I'm winging it.
The sounds of waves lapping up on a beach can be heard in the distance as the camera shows a distance shot of the beach, the very clear blue water over lapping with the golden sand on the beach. People can be seen running in and out of the water, while some sunbathe, taking in the rays of the sun. The camera turns around to show Daniel Morgan looking out from a beach house, on the ground floor patio area, just slightly raised from the beach. Daniel shakes his head slowly with a smile.
"Ain't bad here is it?" He says to himself as he looks around.
Daniel turns his head to the ring, just to glance down the camera.
"I'll admit, ain't see a bloody word of what's been said about us this week." Daniel says with a smile "So I ain't getting accused of listening and replying from what others said, that's more of an Asher thing anyway. In fact none of us have seen what's been said about us. None of us actually care too much about empty words and a load of old rubbish anyway. It's true, load of old flannel because no one really cares about anything you lot happen to talk about. Let's take Joshua Acquin as a prime example here."
Daniel breathes deeply through his mouth.
"Been here longer than most but doesn't actually do anything." Daniel says with a shrug. "I don't think I've ever seen him do anything worthy, anything of note. I can't actually remember one single match of Acquin's. Hell, we might have been in the ring against him before but I can't for the life of me remember it cause everything Acquin does is pretty forgettable, everything he says, I can't remember a word of it. Gotta be honest with you, till Climax Control 250, I actually forgot what the fella even looked like. I didn't have a clue. It's worrying when your greatest thing that people know you for is not for long title runs, it's not for being involved in some of the greatest angles in SCW, or some of the greatest titles matches, it's all to do with the fact that you've ended up around Jessie Salco and Amy Santino, habitual losers. People who have some how managed to have a bit of relative success, but never set the world on fire. That's all I can remember you for."
Daniel looks back out across to the ocean and continues to talk.
"You've been here forever but when you ask someone about who SCW was build on, who helped make it get past it's eight years anniversary the other week, no one mentions you." Daniel says firmly. "No one mentions you at all. You were a foundation here but no one remembers anything at all, and they would never have you in the same breath as anyone that was half decent here. No one sits there and thinks you're under used, or under rated, no one sits there and thinks you should have more screen time, more chances to prove that you got something to offer because you've basically fell down the cracks of SCW, and out of everyone's mind. The fact that you have been gone since Fenris tied you up like a balloon knot, no one has missed you for a second. Not once have the lights gone out in the arena or as the case may be recently, on the beach and everyone's thought please be Joshua Acquin. No one in the mind has ever thought that at all. There's not been a single man, woman or child that ever thought that, nor got excited when you showed up."
Daniel turns his head back towards the camera.
"Bet your parents don't even get excited to see ya, do they?" Daniel asks. "And when this match was announced, I wasn't too excited to see you in there either. You add nothing to this pal, nothing at all. I heard it announced, I thought to myself there much be some kind of mistake but there is no mistake, you're in it for your god knows how many chances to win a title and this will just be another failure for you. It's just the truth mate. There's nothing at all that you add to this, just another failed attempt on your part to become a champion."
Daniel breathes deeply before looking out at the ocean.
"Same can't be said about Matt Spears though." Daniel says looking in to the distance. "He has had success here. It's the breeding you see, Acquin didn't have the group mentality to fall back on and as far as I'm aware, the Members of The Elders is not a small group and being in groups shows that there's competition, everyone wants to be better than their group, they all wanna be the stand out player, they all wanna sit there and be the best. That's healthy and Matt Spears has that. Even if he don't admit it, he wanted to be the best, he wanted to stand out in his group and that's what drove him to have some success, the problem is Matt."
Daniel turns his head to face the camera again.
"We have the same thing." Daniel tells him. "We also have the urge to be the best and the competition in the group has driven us to have the success we've had. We've had every set of tag titles SCW has had to offer, people have been crying out for Kenz to step up to the top ever since she bitch slapped Mikah around a long time ago. The competition in the group drives us Matt and we've gone and been the success we wanted to be and there's more to come and that's taking those Mixed Tag Titles from right under your nose. I give anyone credit who comes back, especially to SCW after they've had success here, So many people don't get the change in the roster, they don't get how people evolve and become better, who wrestlers in general look after themselves more, change the way they train, change the way they think. Wrestlers can't just return and think it's gonna be the same old, because it's not. Your return, you're stepping in to a new breed of wrestlers and the fact is, we're better now then we was back then, and this is where you're gonna fall flat on your little boat race mate."
Daniel points to his face, showing what boat race means.
"You're gonna fall flat on your mush." Daniel tells him confidently. "Because this is a whole new world and people like us are so much better than the generation that you dealt with. We're stronger, quicker and a lot smarter than what came before us, so I'm thinking that you showing up, that if you have any thoughts in your head about this being like the good old days, then you're in trouble already cause this ain't gonna be anything like the good old days, you're just gonna be dealing with the better generation. On the bright side for us, we can tick another legendary tag team off our list for people we've beat."
Daniel smiles at the camera.
"Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have these old past it guys in the ring with me instead of the naive type that I get, which greatly brings me to you Jack Asher." Daniel says as his smile fades. "You're starting to come across as a bit obsessed with us. I understand why Jack, because there's that hint of jealousy buzzing around you like a fly to cow shit. I understand it in a way, because we come in, oiled machine, you come in and get lumbered with the bosses relative instead of doing your own thing, with that blonde bird you couldn't keep hold of. She was way out of your league anyway to be honest with ya, way out of your league, ain't surprised it didn't last after she see she was with someone below herself, and lighting will strike twice there because that other tart you're seeing, she's gonna see that she is out of your league soon and piss off to find someone so much better. When you look at you, finding someone so much better won't be too tough for her."
Daniel smirks as he looks back towards the ocean and continues to talk.
"But I'll tell ya where lightning won't strike twice again Jack." Daniel says with a wave of his finger, not even looking at the camera. "It's not gonna strike again when you face us again. First time, you lot got lucky, you two were so damn lucky, it wasn't even funny, but you managed to take something that wasn't yours, you managed to sneak away with those titles and congrats on defending them against Salco and her carbon copy with a dick, Storms. I bet you two were buzzing after getting away with a win against those two."
Daniel turns his face back to the camera, slowly shaking it with a confident smirk on his face.
"But although you're facing one mug like that again in the form of Salco, I think even in your slower than average brain Jack, you know that me and Os are a million times better than that soap dodger Caleb Storms." Daniel says with a firm, confident nod. "You know for a fact Jack, that we're better than them, but I'm gonna let you know a little secret. See, when people push me, they take pointless digs, false accusations and a little blonde tart sits there and wants to use the c word in my direction, without the nads to actually say it directly, I smile, knowing in my head that I've already killed the pair of you ten different ways, and none of them are peaceful. Now with your accusations about what you think I am, would it be smart to get on my wrong side?"
Daniel inhales sharply.
"You're nowhere near right, but just say hypothetically, I am who you think I am, then you know what those kinda people are capable off, right?" He asks, his face getting serious. "You know just what they can do. It just simply wouldn't be smart to dig at someone like that unless you're tired of life. We are not who you say we are, we're business people, so they're not gonna find you in the Nevada desert anything soon, but I will tell you your immediate future. Your immediate future is that come High Stakes IX, you will be called SCW's former Mixed Tag Team Champions, and London Underground will be called SCW's NEW Mixed Tag Team Champions."
Daniel's face switches to a confident smile.
"And you know that's true." Daniel says with a wink. "Cause I only deal in facts."
Daniel turns and walks inside the beach house as the camera fades to black.