Song for Chapter: Enter Sandman-Metallica

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The location to the fight venue is not too far from where we live, but the area is sketchier than the one we live in, which is saying something. 

Most of the houses we drive past are boarded up, with overgrown lawns or no lawns for that matter and spray paint is the commonality in the neighborhood. 

We pull into a narrow alley, near an abandoned looking building and a man in a black beanie and hooded sweatshirt taps on Topo's window. I give the man the code word that tells him what we are there for. He asks for payment for parking and then directs us on where to park.

Topo curses under his breath in Italian, as we pull into the area we were told. "Yeah, like this doesn't have shady as shit written all over it. For all we know, he's making bank taking people's money. The other places they've held fights at didn't charge for parking." He complains.

"Five dollars isn't going to break you, Topo. Lighten up. And if you're that strapped for it. I'll give you a $20 when we get home." I tell him. The narrow alley leads to a larger open lot which is packed with several cars already. 

Stepping out of the car, I get the familiar fluttering in my stomach before a fight. I take a few deep breaths to settle my nerves as I get my bag out of the trunk.

Following the small crowd ahead of us, we walk down the stairs of the deserted looking building we drove by. I look ahead and see Zeeko at the bottom, waiting in line.

"Z!" He turns to look at me and walks back to us.

"Stella, you no tell me I have to pay for damn parking." He says, grumpily as he reaches us.

"Right?" Topo agrees, shaking his head. Annalisa and I roll our eyes at both of them. I fold my arms as I scowl at them. "I'll pay you both back with the money I win tonight."

"Cocky much?" Topo chuckles. I just shrug, when you know, you know, right? 

Just kidding, the girl that I'm fighting tonight is one of the best in the weight class I'm in. She's known for taking out her opponents out in the first round, by submissions.

Once inside, I survey the large open room. There's music blaring and the lights are kept low. A few fighters are shadow boxing in different areas. I walk towards one of the bouncers and he tells me where fighters go, to get taped up and changed, if needed.

Annalisa and the guys follow behind me as I find the line, but the line is long. Zeeko offers to tape me up before I have to fight and grabs a roll of tape from the table nearby. I head to another table where a woman is accepting the fighters index cards we were given at the entrance. She gives me a smile when I walk up to her.

"Phoenix, right?" Referring to my fight nickname, I nod. "Welcome. You've been moving up through the ranks these last few months, it's been fun to watch." She grabs my name card and goes over my weight and fight record information.

"Great song choice by the way." She says. I smile thanking her. Because it's the semi-finals we were asked to pick a walk out song for this week and for next week if we move on to the championship. 

"Keep an eye on the board, up there, it will tell you who's currently fighting and you'll see your name in the queue when you're coming up next. Good luck!" She tells me.

This venue has a large cage in the center, and there are overhead lights on the ceiling, pointing down directly into the cage. There are tables for the judges on one side. We find some empty seats near the back, to get a good view of the cage.

This is definitely bigger than the basement-like rooms the other fights have been held in. There's a stage off to the side of the cage where a DJ is playing music. 

"Alright, alright, alright, welcome to the semi-finals of this tournament!" The Emcee jumps onto the stage and talks loudly into the microphone. "Who's ready to see some all out, no holds bar extreme cage fighting tonight?" The crowd breaks out into loud cheers. I feel my nerves subside as the electric energy of the room fills me.

The preliminary fights begin, alternating between the men and women fighters. Zeeko tapes my hands before I slip on my gloves on as we watch the fights progress. The crowd is energetic, their cheers and boos are deafening. A few of the fights end quickly, while others go all three rounds.

My song choice Enter the Sandman starts playing signaling it's finally my turn. I look up and see my name flashing on the board above the stage.

As I make my way up to the cage, my arm is pulled back roughly. "You're going down, bitch!" A girl with her hair in two braids and a bandana wrapped around her head yells at me and then spits on my face.

Annalisa shoves her away from me, but a couple of bouncers intervene before the situation escalates. Zeeko hands me a towel to wipe my face. I look back at the woman and I see she's with a fighter I fought a couple of weeks ago, named Diabla.

"Forget about them, Stella. Focus." Topo tells me, gripping me by the shoulders. I step out of my shoes, taking my socks off and pulling my sweats off. I unzip my hoodie jacket and hand it to Annalisa, who stuffs my things in my bag. 

An official comes and runs his hands over my arms and sides and checks my nails to make sure they're trimmed. He asks if I have my mouth guard and I smile showing him, I have it. I hug my friends before I enter the cage.

I swing my arms out and in to warm them up and then do windmills to loosen up my shoulders. I jog around the cage and start doing some other warm up exercises.

I try not to focus on the cameraman as they follow my movements while I shadow box. Another song plays through the speakers. The yells and cheers from the crowd are thunderous. 

I smile as I hear the opening line, which happens to be the title of the song, "I'd Love to Knock the Hell out of you!" My opponent named Savage is making her way to the cage. She walks in and starts warming up keeping her eyes only on me as she warms up.

I hear Topo giving me some instructions before the ref walks in and the Emcee quiets the room down. He does the formal introduction as the cameraman comes up to each of us, once our names our called out. I hold my fist up in the air, smiling as I wink into the camera when I'm introduced.

The ref yells over the crowd asking if I'm ready; I nod. He turns asking my opponent the same; she nods in return. The bell rings and we rush each other. She quickly gets me in a hold and does a Judo throw on me. 

We scramble on the mat trying to gain the upper position over each other. I realize my mistake as she cinches her legs over my head and upper body, while holding onto my arm, putting me in a triangle.

The crowd is going crazy over my potential loss. I can barely make out Topo's and Zeeko's yells over the uproar. I focus on what I need to do and remember a move Santino worked with me on. I lean over putting as much pressure as I can on the my opponents inner thigh, then push my way through her legs.

I take advantage of getting out of her guard and move to side control and pin her right arm in between my legs as I place myself across her chest holding down her other arm, putting her in a crucifix hold.

Zeeko and Topo yell out for me to rain down punches on her. I follow through as well as landing some elbows. One of the elbows I land, cuts her above her eye. She won't be able to stay like this much longer, with both her arms pinned, she's not able to defend herself but the bell rings signaling me to stop my attack.

Zeeko puts an ice back on my neck and brings a water bottle to my mouth. While Topo rubs my legs down to keep them from cramping. I swish the water around and spit it out in the bucket. Annalisa yells out her words of encouragement from behind the cage over the noise from the crowd.

The next round begins. We start out trading blows back and forth, and fight over the clench hold position. She hooks her ankle around my calf and takes me down. Since her head is tucked down near my elbow, I move my arms around and put her in a guillotine hold. 

She punches my sides, in hopes that I'll loosen my grip on her head. I squeeze my legs around her as I arch my back and crank on her neck until I feel her tap. 

I let go of her immediately and stand up as Zeeko runs in, his pride and happiness evident on his face. I laugh as he lifts me up carrying me around the cage.

When he puts me down, I hurry over to the other fighter, thanking her for the fight, shaking her hand. She thanks me too and pats me on the shoulder, congratulating me. After declaring me the winner, they announce my opponent will be the fighter of the next and final fight of the night. 

Several people congratulate me, high-fiving me or patting me on the shoulder as I make my way through the crowd. Another song starts playing Go Getta by Young Jeezy,  I look up at the screen and see a fighter named Violence enter the cage. 

Once we get back to our seats, a second song, Amazing by Kanye West, starts playing for the current reigning champ, Lightsout. Some of the spectators around us start making bets on whether or not the fight will end in the first round.

The fight begins and sure enough, living up to her nickname, Lightsout  knocks out the other girl within the first 30 seconds of the first round. The crowd erupts in approval of the quick and brutal ending. I watch as the fighter named Lightsout  jumps on top of the cage and scans the room. 

Once her eyes lock with mine she runs her thumb across her neck. The crowd reacts with their "Oohh's" and look back at me. I smile up at her and give her a thumbs up, she chuckles and jumps off the cage as they do the official announcement of her fight. 

I'm slipping on my socks and joggers back on, when one of the staff members comes over to me.

He hands me an envelope, "Nice job. Your winnings for tonight." I take it, thanking him. I pull out a little less than half and put it in my bag. I hold the envelope with the remaining amount, out to Zeeko. He looks at me confused with wide eyes.

"What you doing, Stella? I only joke about parking."

"Take it, Z." Still holding it out to him. He shakes his head at me. "No, no. You worked hard for it." I walk up to him, giving him a stern look. 

"I worked hard with your help all these months, leading up to today. Please take it. You can get a better door and install a proper security system with it. The rest you can use for other fixes the gym needs. Please?" He keeps shaking his head and his hands at me.

"Okay, fine. If you don't take it, I'm just going to start throwing it around here, you know people will take it." I open the envelope and thumb through the money and act like I'm going to throw it in the air.

"Okay, okay." He grumbles. He hugs me tight and says something in his native language.

"What was that?" I pull back, looking up at him.

His eyes glisten as he looks down at me. "It means: 'The greatest gift in life is friendship, and I have received it.' Thank you, Stella." He places a kiss on my forehead.

I smile at all of my friends, "I couldn't agree more." I hook my arms in Annalisa's, smiling, as we make our way out of the room. "Anyone feel like pancakes?" I ask. They all laugh at me.

"Its almost two in the morning, Stella." Topo says laughing. I shrug. "Let's go to Samantha's diner, it's open 24/7."

They all agree and we head out for an extremely early breakfast.

**************

The next morning--well later in the day, actually--I wake up sore as hell. I'm glad I took some Ibuprofen that Annalisa gave me before going to bed, I'd probably feel worse, if I didn't.

I find her in the kitchen, making a sandwich. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

I grumble which makes her laugh. She reminds me to stay hydrated.

"Yes, mother." I tease.

"You hungry?" She asks me. I nod and she slides the sandwich, she just made, towards me and starts making another one for herself. A few minutes later, Topo walks in the door as Annalisa sits down next to me at the counter to eat.

"Good news. We can roll on your plan tomorrow. We just need to go today and set everything up at the location I told you about. You'll need to make sure Samantha will be ready, too."

I nod as I chew the last bite of my sandwich. "Will do!" I salute him. He shakes his head at me as he starts making himself a sandwich and then sits at the couch to watch TV.

After I'm finished, I change out of my pajamas, grateful I decided to shower when I got home. While I'm brushing my teeth and my hair, I text Samantha.

*Hey Sam. Monday. Midnight.*

She responds with a thumbs up and smiley face emoji's. I walk back out as Topo's loading up his guns and puts one inside his shoulder holster and one in his back. I'm carrying my knife in my back pocket and one of my guns in the waistband of my pants.

Annalisa picks up some of the equipment we need to take with us and stands near the door. Topo leads the way out and I follow. I'm both antsy and excited to finally be able to do something after all this time.

The location is about a half hour away an industrial sector of the city. There are several abandoned buildings and houses in the neighborhood. Topo's men have a house they've set up for us to use. A couple of them have been keeping an eye on the place, making sure squatters don't come in, during the night until we can use it. We go in and make sure everything is set up and ready.

"Can I come with you, when you grab Ken?"

"Me too?" Annalisa asks him. Topo shakes his head at us. She pleads with him telling him we will keep quiet and won't even know we're with him.

He shakes his head again. "No, if something goes wrong, I don't want either of you there."

 Anna and I both try to give him our best sad, puppy dog faces. He groans. "Fine. But if either of you make one sound, I'm having one of the guys take your asses home and I'm not talking about here, in Chicago."

I grin back at him. "They'd have to catch us, first."

"Stella..."

"I'm kidding! Sheesh!"

"Okay, you're sure we have everything we need?" He asks me as he looks around the room.

"Yes, besides Ken; we've got everything." I assure him as I look around, too.

"Alright, let's go over the plan with the guys, again, make sure everyone's on the same page and work out any kinks now, before tomorrow comes." He says. 

After the guys show up, we go through the detailed plan on getting Ken, what will be happening in the house and how we get him back.

Topo goes over the contingency plans as well in case something goes wrong. All of them end the same, with getting Annalisa and I out safely, which I try not get annoyed at. I understand he wants to keep us safe, but considering the work I've been doing, I think he'd have a little more confidence in me.

If we succeed, we will strip Sofia from the power she thinks she has. Taking the upper hand she feels she gained by taking out Bobby Cardinale, in order to get to Isabella and Timo.

My thoughts go to Timo, remembering how he didn't believe someone would betray him, to give me up to his enemies. Nothing has come of that, from what Enzo has said, so it only makes me look like an idiot but I know I'm not wrong.

There's a two-faced rat, living in that house and it kills me not knowing who it is, after all this time. I guess it's possible they had a change of heart and are not going to betray Timo, more than they already have. But something tells me that is not the case.

Later that evening, I decide to go for a jog. Annalisa has been on a baking kick most of afternoon and currently on her third attempt of making cookies. I really hope this will be the last try...at least for the day. I don't know if my teeth will stay intact much longer.

Topo tells me to be careful as he watches a baseball playoff game on TV, drinking beer. He tells me to make sure I have my knife on me, which I do, inside my hoodie pocket. I lift my hood over my head and walk out.

The fall night air is cool, compared to the heat wave we've been having the last few days, which is rare, considering we are in the middle of October. I observe my surroundings and see I'm close to the gym and decide to stop in on Zeeko.

As I round the corner, I can see his windows to his apartment above the gym, are dark. He must be out. A loud banging sound catches my attention and I head toward the back of the gym, where the back entrance is. I see a hooded figure prying at the recently repaired door handle.

"Hey!" I shout.

They look over their shoulder at me, their face hidden by the hooded sweater. They drop a pipe or crowbar and start running. I don't know what compels me to go after them but I do. 

Obviously, in hindsight it's not the brightest ideas, but it was more a reactionary response for me. This must be the same person who had already broken into Zeeko's gym and here they are again. Unbelievable.

They turn down an alley but there's a fence at the end of it. I catch up to them as they jump up on the fence and grab on to their backpack, yanking them down. I turn them around and push them up against the fence. I shove them back hard again and push my forearm onto their throat. 

I can't hold in my surprise as I discover who's staring back at me.

***************