<center>William Shamrock vs Jason Dante</center>

The room was comfortable, the whole design and decoration lead the eye to believe itself to be transported back to the classic mansions of Great Britain, only the bluish flicker of a computer screen and the sound of a music CD blasting R.E.M through the night killed the notion that this was a true English Manor house.

In fact this room was the "study" (he preferred to use that word as more of a joke then as a real name for the room) of Jason Dante. The clock on the wall told any curious that the time was almost midnight. The room's sole occupant sat at the desk with his feet on them and nodded the beat of "Drive" as the minutes crawled by. Even though he was up late and had been at work looking for things to piece together any theory about what his soon to be born child would look like or be, he was happy.

While "Automatic for the people" is far from a cheerful CD, Dante had a smile on his face as he lazily enjoyed the music. Across the hall Selenia was asleep in their bed, her pregnancy couldn't be seen on her yet but here eyes had a happy glow most soon to be mothers seem to have.

Dante smiled again...a father, in some ways he owned a lot of people a debt of gratitude for this, Jay for being his friend, Selenia for being the greatest woman alive, Freya for helping in waking him up and...he even had Darkness to thank for this. As he sat there musing on his future parentage, the phone rang. He gave it a puzzled look and paused the CD player to pick it up.

"Dante almost asleep..." He answered the phone expecting it to be Jay.

The voice on the other end of the line had a sharp tang to it, the female voice was accentuated by a tone that suggested annoyance and that Dante somehow was responsible for that.

"I have one question Dante...You and ms. Alighieri was booked on a 4:15PM flight to Los Angeles...that is now..." she paused.

"...8 hours ago, may I ask why..."

"Her name isn't Ms. Aligiheri any more..."

"What?"

"As of...72 hours ago her name is Mrs. Selenia Dante..."

"What?"

"I have married her?" Dante offered as Stern seemed unable to get his subtle hint.

"Oh, well congratulations then." Stern offered without actually sounding as if she meant it.

"Thank you...now about that flight to LA."

"Yes, you are scheduled to take part in some PR work in...10 hours, and unless you leave NOW you won't make it to the site."

"I thought Darkness was the big boy now?"

"He doesn't want to take part in PR events..."

"Can't say I blame him..." Dante replied.

"No matter, you are to leave now, I will send a Taxi to your home and ..."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no, no taxi, no cab, no nothing."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Listen to me Stern, for one year I carried the flag for the TCW...one year, in that time my friends have been attacked, I was put into a wheelchair and now some nuts are stalking me at every damn show...as long as YOU can't keep security working well enough to ensure the safety of me and my wife..there will be no Dante at any TCW show."

"Do you suggest I pay for special security measures for you and...your wife?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Dante, you AND Selenia are under TCW contracts, if you no show on purpose I will have to terminate your contracts and file a lawsuit against you."

Dante laughed.

"Go ahead, let's see how has the biggest lawyers, TCW or me!"

"Mr. Dante..."

"No, Ms. Stern...unless you take measures to ensure my safety and that of my wife...I will not show."

"Mr. Dante...you have been booked to take on William Shamrock...it is the first round match up in the Majestic tournament..."

"So?"

"If you win the tournament...the contract for any match includes a shot at the world title..." She said in a voice that was trying to sell then idea.

Dante paused, he did feel empty after losing to Darkness. He did feel that the loss of the limelight of being the champion has taken it's toll on him, memories of the night in 2006 when he won the belts came flooding back to him. He felt the sweet sound of the bell declaring the match over, he remembers the handshake with Darkness after the match...but he also remembers the year or trouble and trials that followed it. The thought of this years End Game shakes him from the dream.

"No thank you Stern, find yourself another Rocky Balboa to coax back to the ring, good night."

He slammed down the phone and pulled out the chord. This phone call had ruined his good mood so he gave up his research of genes for the night and crossed the hall to his and Selenia's bedroom.

He paused in the doorway and watched her sleep, her every breath was like a fresh burst of enthusiasm into his heart. She laughed as he approached. Without turning she said.

"I always feels o safe when you stand and watch me like that, I feel so warm and sheltered."

Dante sat down on the bed.

"Is that so Mrs. Dante?"

"Yes, Mr. Dante it is."

"How about sharing some of that warmth?"

An hour later they both slept.

*****

"Mr. Shamrock?"

William Shamrock turned to face the man he had hired to seek out information about his TCW opponents, in Shamrock's mind an opponent with weaknesses was the best kind a man could ask for. He didn't quite remember the man's name and to be honest he didn't much care, the man provided some dirty work for him and the less he knew about him, the better.

"Yes, what do you have for me?"

The man who was dressed in a G-Man style black suit put a file on the table and placed a photo on top of the file.

"Jason Christopher Dante, born Jason Christopher Mann...place of birth unknown to I assume all but himself and his parents. He is A TCW Grand Slam champion having held every title the fed has at some point. His reputation used to that of a loner until about a year ago when he started to work with a man going by the name Darkness. Dante and this Darkness recruited a number of TCW stars to form something they called the "New Hellfire club", which seems to be the continuation of the original group using that name."

"Any connections between the old and the new group?"

"Yes, Sir...Dante is the connection. He was recruited by the wrestlers Bruce-666 and Bleeder to become the third member of the Hellfire Club, he seems to have been the founding force behind the current group...or should I say the former group."

Shamrock lifted an eyebrow.

"Former?"

"According to Mr. Dante the NHFC is a thing of the past, him and Darkness finished their association around the time Darkness defeated Dante for the TCW world titles."

"I see, any non-federation info on him?"

"Very little, sir...he recently lost control of his company, it was a multinational Corporation going by the name Dantecorp, it specialised in medical and computer science research, it was taken over by a man called Thomas Novamori"

"Novamori, eh?"

"Heard of him, sir?"

"Yes, I don't know what Novamori and his Christian moral would want with a medical research company."

"I could look for the reason, sir..."

"No, don't bother...losing the company is Dante's headache not mine...anything else?"

"Well nothing part from the pact that he got married in a private ceremony three days ago."

"I see, a wife..."

"Yes, sir."

"That would be all...I'll send you your fee as usual."

"Thank you sir."

As the man left the room Shamrock looked at the picture of his future opponent.

"So Jason "Albino" Dante, they have you booked against me."

A polite knock on the door caught Shamrock's attention.

"Yes?"

"There is one thing i almost forgot, sir."

"Yes?"

"Apparently he refuses to take part in the upcoming show, sir."

"Is that so?" Shamrock said with some anger creeping into his voice.

"Yes , sir." The man said and left.

"Refuses to take part?" Shamrock half screamed at no one in particular.

"Refuses to take part...is Mr. De-throned champion too good to face me?"

Shamrock knew that the typical modus operandi in the wrestling business was to book a raising star against a former champion to legitimize the new guy, he had started out elated to be facing Dante, now he was beyond angry that Dante had dodged him like this.

"Pasty faced bastard!" Shamrock yelled waking up anyone who was asleep within hearing distance.

He was upset that Dante tried to get away from passing the torch to him, he was after all the logical successor of Dante, rich, handsome and talented. Shamrock let his rage shake him for a few minutes before he calmed down.

The he sighed and got up from his seat as he picked up the file on Dante, a note fell out of it.

He bent down to pick it up. The note was scribbled in letters that were far from neat and orderly, it was obvious that the writer had scribbled in this way to hide his identity.

[quote]

You want to coax Dante to face you?

Come to the overpass about 10 miles out of town, come at 2AM...alone.

[quote]

*****

Dante swung his legs out of bed and took a deep breath to fill his lungs with the fresh morning Illinois air. Selenia let out a grunt and fell asleep again, his now pregnant wife was far from interested in his early morning habits and grunted a short mornin' before returning to the arms of sleep.

Dante smiled and caressed her before he got up. He got dressed and decided to go for an early morning jog. As he passed by his car parked outside the entrance to his home he stopped, something had been painted on the windscreen, he walked around the car and saw the message.

"See you soon, Dante!"

Dante swallowed hard as he saw the writing.

*****

Shamrock's watch said 2AM and he stood under one of the many freeways of Los Angels waiting for god knows who. He sighed and wondered if this was just a joke when someone spoke.

"So you came..."

Shamrock turned around and saw a man standing hidden in the shadows of one of the pylons.

"That's close enough Shamrock..."

"Just what the hell is this and who the hell are you?"

The man's voice had a sharp tang to it as he short back his reply.

"For this to be of any use to you, you listen while I talk, you need the help and I can provide it...you have been looking for a weakness in Dante, I know what it is."

Shamrock nodded unsure if the man could see his nod.

"They say all men can be traced by either their bank accounts or their women, most men leave their women behind leaving the bank accounts as the only trace...Dante is different. He has left him company in Novamori's hands, he fortune to a man who did nothing to earn it...guess why he gave all that up?"

"For his wife?"

"Indeed, his wife...now Mr. Shamrock, if you want to carry the torch Dante dropped you may want to hear me out as I have a plan, a plan that involves the truth and Mrs. Dante...and her "removal"."

Shamrock nodded as if slightly spellbound by the man's voice.

Seconds after the screen went black; Dante's foot smashed it to pieces. Shamrock truly had some nerve; he broke into their home, struck down Selenia...a pregnant woman...his wife.

Feeling at a loss on what to do next he sat down on his couch and let panic grab hold of him for a while. He sat there and stared at an empty spot on the floor for minutes, his mind felt blank, his world had collapsed, one minute he was having the time of his life the next his wife had been taken and he was blackmailed into taking part in the federation he had left after losing the world titles to Darkness.
He cursed his bad luck...then he remembered something, something Darkness had once told him.

"It was as if as soon as I did anything for me, for myself things went ballistic. As soon as I settled in with my wife and child, things went awry."

Dante shook his head at the notion; Darkness carried a triple heritage... Angel, Demon and human. Surely the duty that now kept him unselfish was tied to the Angelic part of his being, not to the demonic. Even if a demon had a duty it was very much to fulfill his or her wants...wasn't it?

Wasn't it?

He sighed as the truth began to rear its ugly head, he was the son of Lucifer...a traitor...no, THE traitor. As much as Lucifer was the arch-demon, the master of hell...he was also an angel, one of the condemned of the host of heaven...Dante realized that he had duties, that he had certain obligations he couldn't dodge.
He turned his gaze towards the phone that sat on his desk and sighed again. He left his seat and walked to the desk, picked up the phone and dialed a number he thought was a part of his past.

Seconds later a voice replies "TCW Commissioner Stern's office."

"I'd like to speak to Ms. Stern."

"Yes, sir...who am I talking to?"

"One of her employees, I need to speak to her."

"Certainly, sir...you will...as soon as you tell me your name."

Dante swallows a "Fuck you!" and spits out his name.

"I'm Jason Dante."

"Ah, Ms. Stern has been expecting your call Mr. Dante."

"She has?" Dante asks without any real interest.

"Yes, sir...she asked me to patch you to her phone the instant you called...sir."

"How "nice" of her."

"One moment, sir."

The moment turned out to be about five seconds as Stern's voice greeted Dante.

"Yes, Mr. Dante?"

"Count on me for the match..."

"What?"

"The match with Shamrock...he wants it so bad, he'll get it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that Mr. Dante..."

"Of course you are...I'll just leave you with a warning...not for you but for Shamrock or ANYONE who decides to cross me from now on."

"Yes?"

"I want this warning printed on the TCW website; I want every damn dirtsheet and website to see it...I want the entire fed to read my warning."

"Very well, I'll arrange for that to happen."

"Good, this is the warning...."

Dante paused and took a deep breath.

"My return is based on necessity not a true desire to return to the ring again, some people have taken actions that have forced my hand to take this step, and those people would do well to avoid my ire. William Shamrock has provoked me and I will use the match I have with him at Havoc to show him and any other luck-seeker what happens when you inject yourself into the personal affairs of Jason Dante...let the blood of Shamrock be a warning, cross me and suffer."

"That is all." Dante said and slammed the phone down.

As he turned around he saw Jay Ecks standing in the door way.

"What?" Dante asked in an annoyed tone.

"Jas..." Ecks began.

"...It's not my business; she is your wife after all. But I like her and you are my friend."

"I'm not sure I like where this is going." Dante replied in a low tone.

"Tough...how long have you and I known each other Jas?"

Dante shrugged.

"12 or 13 years?"

"14 actually..." Ecks replied.

"That long?" Dante asked trying to avoid what he felt like was a severe dressing down.

"For 14 years you and I have been friends, for 14 years we have learned about the basest parts of each other's personalities...and in those 14 years I have never seen you back down with your tail between your legs before. NEVER."

Dante sighed.

"You don't understand Jay..."

"Yes I DO. Remember the Chemistry dean who wanted to fail us both because he didn't like us?"

"Wollkmer, right?"

"Yeah, Fredrik Wollkmer...remember what you did the instant you learned that he would fail us?"

Dante smiled.

"I do, I got in his face and yelled at him in front of the whole class and his colleagues."

"Yes, you took a stand...any student would have cursed ad at most filed a complaint against him...you on the other hand went on tilt on his ass...where did that Jason go?"

"He died in the desert of Nevada." Came the reply in a weak voice.

"Then you better go back and dig him out...because the Jason in front of me can't get Selenia back..."

Dante's head slumped, he knew Ecks was right. When he threw out his arrogance and enormous ego he threw out his killer instinct too, he opened himself up to neuroses and angst that would make an Emo look like Happy the wonder clown.

"Bring back the old ruthless Dante, bring him back so you can unleash him when you need him...bring him back, because you sure as hell need him now."

Dante looked up at his friend and nodded and for the first time in a long time, Jay Ecks saw a fire in his friend's eyes, a fire that burned with the heat of a dying sun.

*****

Shamrock was pleased, he had achieved his goal. To him succeeding in duping Dante to return to the ring was only further proof that the albino was slipping and that his legacy would be the starting point for his own. Dante was weak and had grown into a man obsessed with a family and with peace. Losing the company to Novamori had turned Jason Dante into a Joe Average, and Shamrock knew that there was one thing he was truly excellent at was beating Joe Average. He got up from his seat to pour himself a new drink, this success was cause for celebration. He grinned and hummed a jolly tune as he poured his next glass of Whiskey. As he walked across the room he planned how he would hand Selenia over to Dante, how he would feel superior as he saw his already defeated opponent grow all emotional. He was about to actually laugh when a bump on his front door alerted him to something be amiss. Before he could open the door, it flew open on its own...well not on its own, one of his bodyguards had been used as a battering ram.

"Perkins?" Shamrock asked.

"He...he found us, sir...we couldn't stop him...he...he seems almost possessed!"

"Who? Who seems possessed?"

Perkins eyes grew wide as he stared at the person in the door, to the seasoned bodyguard this man had become the very essence of fear. He reached out a trembling hand and stuttered.

"Hi...Hi....HIM!"

As the bodyguard crawled away from his apparent worst fear Shamrock turned around, the man he saw was far from who he had expected, the man who stood in the doorway with a number of beaten down bodyguards behind him was a man he had seen as defeated and broken.
He stepped into the room and walked up to Shamrock.

"Where is she?" The voice was calm but held a hint of barely repressed anger.

Shamrock scoffed.

"You have one chance Shamrock, swallow your pride of I will make you swallow that couch."

"I'd like to see you try...Dante."

Dante's grin was completely void of any kind of joy.

"Somehow I doubt that..." He said and grabbed the man he hated by his throat.

"You know, Shammy? I used to see you and me as equals, men of courage and honor, but all that changed when you broke into my home and kidnapped my WIFE! And to make matters worse, you struck her down...you struck a pregnant woman down!" As he unleashed the last verbal blast he pushed Shamrock against the wall.

"You have one more chance Shamrock...Where...is...she?"

William Shamrock had by now regained control over himself and pointed to a door leading to the next room.

Dante let the still jarred Shamrock down and suppressed the urge to say "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?". He walked over to the door and opened it. As the door slid open he felt his spirits rise, but as he gained a full view of the room they sunk back into the pit of his stomach.
With an animalistic sneer on his face he walked over to the still woozy Shamrock and grabs him.

"Where is she "funny man"?"

"What are you talking about, she is in the next room...I gave her dinner not 15 minutes ago."

Dante pushed the door so it was open. Shamrock stood there staring at the empty room.

"I...I..."

Dante looked at the room. This time he saw something he had missed the last time he looked into the room. In the corner someone had spray painted a letter...the Letter "H".

Dante cursed.

Shamrock couldn't contain he glee.

"Looks like you didn't get what you wanted...but I did, isn't life strange that way sometimes?"

Dante said nothing; he simply struck Shamrock with a straight right hand to the jaw.

*****

Ten minutes after he had thrown a punch at the arrogant Shamrock, Dante was on his way home when the phone rang.

"Yes."

"Jas, thank god I got hold of you...they have found her!"

Dante felt his stomach turn into a knot, he didn't like the way Ecks had phrased what he had said.

"Is she ok?"

"She's fine and so I gather is the future Dante jr...She turned up at the hospital about 10 minutes ago, she was tired and a bit sore from waling but she was ok."

Dante breathed a sigh of relief.

"She wants to see you Jas, right away."

Dante hung up the phone and made a dangerous turn and headed back to town.

*****

"JASON!" Selenia called out as the albino entered her hospital room.

Dante said nothing; he simply hugged her and held her close. For a long time they said nothing, they were just elated to be together again.
After a long silence Dante whispered.

"Shamrock will pay for this; I'll make him pay dearly for this bullshit."

"Jason, I'm not sure Shamrock is the real villain here."

"Huh? Not the real villain?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Not 100% sure Jason, but I have met" him"..."

"Met who?" Dante asked.

"The Hunter." Was Selenia's reply.