The jet black 2020 Ram 2500 rolled up to the villa on the outskirts of Cedar Park. Hanari was renting the property for the week, and it was massive.

"Wow" left Jenny's mouth as they rolled up.

"Nothing we haven't seen before" said a less impressed Chris Chaos.

The truck rolled to a stop, crunching over the rock and dirt combination driveway. The engine cut and the two of them got out, walking up towards the house.

"He texted me, said the front door is unlocked."

"Trusting."

"He'll learn."

The opened the door.

"Hanari?! Eyyo.....you here?!"

There was an eerie silence in the giant villa. Every step they took creaked and echoed. This place was the size of a small school....who lived here?

"Heyy.....Hanari! Where you at?!"

There was no response. There was a couch and chair combination with a big glass table in one of the rooms. A fire place. A big mirror. A TV.

"Oooohkayyy I'm gonna sit here, you go find Hanari. Come get me when you're done."

Chris walked away from here as she plopped down on the couch and pulled out her bedazzled phone.

Chris walked around to a few rooms with no success until he saw a door cracked just a bit ajar. He grabbed the handle and shoved it open.

Hanari was sitting in a chair, looking out the window. He didn't say a word, but Chris knew that Hanari knew that he was there.

"Yo, what the fuck man. You call me over here and then sit here silent, make us walk all over the fucking house. Is this what you people consider hospitality?"

Hanari didn't say anything. Chris put his feet up on the desk.

"If you're looking for sympathy, you aren't getting it from me. Turn that chair around and lets get this cracking."

Hanari exhaled audibly.

He turned the chair around.

"I am no sulking, mang. Chu should know how it feels to be in de position I am in after Savage........Chu have been---"

Chris cut him off.

"First off, cut the shit. We all know you don't talk that way, it is all an act for the camera. Sure, you got an accent, but its not that fucking thick. You wanna know why nobody takes you seriously? Its that's fucking accent. Either talk normal or just speak Spanish and make Vinnie pay for a translator. Nobody wants to try to decifier what the fuck you're trying to say every time you cut a promo."

Hanari sat there for a moment, a bit dumfounded. Chris didn't budge. It was a game of chess, who was going to blink first.

Both men sat solid still, didn't move.

Finally, Hanari broke the silence.

"So this is the prize I get for pushing the Universal Champ to the limit? We team up.....you are my partner this week and seem to think this is all one big conspiracy, but I don't view it that way. I view it as a blessing. I now know how the champions here feel. I mean, look at it.....Shawn Warstein goes from the war that he had with myself and Griffin to getting Calvary in the Main Event? It is almost like his reward for winning--stealing--the title again is a night off. That is the same thing with us. Russian Rose and Tula Kealiʻi. We are being rewarded for our efforts with two new competitors who are just getting their feet wet in the business. It is almost not fair. You have been on the main event scene for years, and I have just been catapulted to the Main Event picture in recent weeks. These two are still carrying bags and filling water bottles.....can't knock them but they have to earn those stripes. I never had that experience. I was in the Television Title match my second match ever, and I won it. I have been a champion since the moment I came in here. Not everyone gets to say that.

The winner of ths match gets an "future" Tag Team Title shot. Future could be next show, future could be next month, hell future could be next year. But like you had with the Hart shot, it is guaranteed at some point. Oh, by the way, I held that tag strap as well.

Never been one to toot my own horn, but I am also a captain for War Games. The world is in my palm right now, and the future of the XWF is in my hands, I feel. I am teaming up with a grizzled vet, a name here everyone knows, and we are looking to make waves. I have become a staple on Saturday Night Savage, I feel like it is my show, and I am going to do my damndest to give all of you another Savage moment to remember.

Not gonna lie I am a little beaten up from my war last week, but I have never been one to make excuses. I have never been one to give up and quit. I am a born leader and I am going to lead my team to victory at War Games.....I look at this week as another stepping stone. When you are a top caliber talent you're supposed to win the "layups". This is a match nobody expects us to lose and all I can do is go out there and prove that Chris and I deserve a title shot.

"Good god man. You been watching the draft or something? That sounded like a PR speech where you're trying to prove yourself to the new team that just drafted you. Where is the edge you had last week? The grit, the venom? One thing that is never going to endear you to anyone around here is being the nice guy. You may be new to all this but I have been getting fucked over in this place for the better part of four years. I know how it works around here with the hive mind mentality. This isn't a reward, this is a test. We aren't supposed to just beat these two, we're supposed to cripple them. We both had our titles in the palms of our hands and had them ripped away. For me, this is nothing new. We are now given a tag match against Russian Rose and some Hawaiian bitch? If the EMT's aren't rushed tp ringside post match, then we didn't do our job."

"Jeez...."

"Hanari.....you didn't lose that match. Sure, on your resume it is tallied as a loss but you had that match won. Shawn Warstein took a short cut, as usual, and stole your pinfall after you did the dirty work. I had Mastermind dead to rights and Centurion swooped in and stole it. Now you want to sit here and talk about earning stripes and new competitors and all that. GET ANGRY. Where is your killer instinct? I saw it last week but right now your a limp dick in the wind.

I expected better."

Hanari looked down at the floor.

"Do you think Robert Main is going to show respect? Show mercy? One half of the tag champs whose flamed fizzled like a candle in the wind who had to turn heel to stay relevant.....you really think he gives a fuck about anyone but himself? He's gonna tear you apart at War Games unless you can figure out how to turn it on."

"Turn it on?"

"What I see in the ring. That fire. That tenacity. That kill or be killed mentality. You turn it on in the ring but when you leave the ring you turn it off. What you are right now? This isn't going to work. Robert Main is going to tear you apart Wednesday Night......."

"You don't know me, Chris."

"Excuse me?"

"I said you don't know me, chico."

"Elaborate...by all means."

Chris crosses his legs with a smirk on his face. "Humor me."

Hanari looks up from the floor. His eyes were narrowed. Chris raises an eyebrow.

"The hatred I feel right now for Warstein, its unparalleled to anything I've felt before. Me and you, we are not in the same place. You've been to the top of the mountain, you've held every title here at one point or another. You're back now and you don't care anymore....you are the one with no drive. You just want to watch the world burn. You just want to create havoc and chaos, you want to hurt people. You claim its "baby steps", bullshit. If that is your agenda, great, but its not mine. I want to be the best. I want to get to the top but unlike you, I want to stay there. But I am going to earn it. You want to take short cuts, force people's hands, hurt everyone else until you're the only one left. I want to be the best by beating the best.

But you don't think I have that venom? That killer instinct? I am going to break an arm this week, maybe two........I am going to force them to tap out. And if you get in my way, maybe I'll break three."

"THAT'S IT! THAT! Right there! THAT is what we need!"

"We?"

"Well, yes. WE. We are going to win this match and get that tag title shot, so as much as you may not wanna be, you're stuck with me."

Hanari stares into Chris's eyes.

"Annnnnnnnnnnnd, you're gonna draft me ti your War Games team, too."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well..I mean, who else will?"

"I think we should focus on the match at hand. War Games is still a good ways away."

"Focus on the walking condom known as Russian Rose and that 6 piece Chicken McNobody called Tula Kealiʻi? Okay, lets focus then."

Hanari slid his chair closer to the table, and pulled out a DVD containing film on the two opponents in this match, He also pulled out two cigars.

"Cigar?"

Chaos waved it off.

30 minutes later, since there is about as much tape on these two as there is penis on Barney Green

The door opens, and Chaos walks out with a grin. Jenny is sitting in a chair in he next room, legs crossed, typing away on her phone.

"Is he joining us?"

"He wants to focus on this week first."

"Are you serious?!"

Chris sighs, slapping her on the thigh.

"Come on, lets go. We'll get him, we're just gonna have to wait."

As the two of them walked out to Chris's truck, Jenny looked back. She could see Hanari looking at them out the window. Watching them. Staring a hole through them.

She shivered a bit.

She knew this wasn't just another match, and Hanari Carnes was not going to let them lose.

She smiled as she got in the truck and the engine revved.