Unfinished Business Part III: Gang Culture

Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico City; Sunday, July 3rd 2011.

The plane taxied up to the terminal quickly, much to Ruben's relief. The flight had been relatively smooth and had passed without incident, which both Ruben and Maria had been very glad for. Ruben hated flying, and jetting between cities was his least favourite aspect of being a professional wrestler. Initially he had tried to take the bus or train everywhere, but it was uneconomic and meant that he was always getting to where he needed to be just in time, and he always liked to take a couple of days before a match to relax and prepare himself physically. A train didn't allow you to do that, so a few months in to his NLWF career he had bitten the bullet and started flying.

Maria was relieved because when Ruben flew, he was a nightmare to be with. His way of combating the anxiety he suffered when the plane was in the air was to drink as much tequila as he could get his hands on. And, given that he was a celebrity and had the money to fly first class everywhere, was a shitload of tequila. To make matters worse he almost never drank otherwise, bar the odd beer whilst watching soccer, which meant that he got drunk VERY easily. And the more he drank, the harder he became to deal with.

Initially it had been amusing, seeing Ruben, normally a very closed and guarded man, at his most open and vulnerable. After the third or fourth time she had accompanied him on trips to watch NLWF shows, however, it had become very tiring. It was the main reason she hardly ever went to see Ruben fight these days, unless the show happened to be in easy travel distance of Houston, which wasn't very often. She couldn't bear to bring herself to tell him that was the reason though, so she had told him that her workload had begun to pick up. As a lawyer, she could get away with that sort of thing.

It took the customary few minutes for the seatbelt signs to turn off, which caused the usual rush of people to be first off the plane. Thankfully because they were in first class, they didn't have as many people to muscle up against in order to get the bag down from the overhead storage locker. And, due to the relative easiness of the flight, Ruben hadn't even needed too many tequilas, so he was capable of walking off the plane under his own power.

Fifteen minutes later they had collected Ruben's suitcase and had cleared customs. As they walked out in to the arrivals section of the terminal building proper Maria spotted a man dressed in a smart suit and a hat holding up a sign reading 'LEÓN' and dragged Ruben towards him.

Maria: This guy must be here to take us to the house.

Ruben Ricardo León: ...Have I told you how much I love you lately?

Maria: Yes, five times since we got off the plane. Come on, the chauffeur is waiting.

Maria was excited. Not once in her life had she been chauffeur driven anywhere before. Sure she had been in more taxis than she could count, seeing as how neither her nor Ruben drove, and when they had started dating it was almost impossible to get between their houses on the Houston public transport network, but a chauffeur was different. They walked up to the man who smiled as he recognised Ruben and silently gestured to the doors of the airport terminal before walking off in front of them.

The pair followed him outside to the car park where a long, gleaming stretch limousine was parked up. Maria almost dropped Ruben when she caught sight of it. It was absolutely beautiful. The chauffeur walked over and opened the door, as Maria turned and hugged Ruben tight.

Maria: If this is how we get treated here I think I could get used to living in Mexico after all!

Ruben Ricardo León: Only the best for my baby...

With some effort, Maria managed to pile Ruben in to the open limousine door, and quickly followed him in. It was exactly as amazing as she had hoped and more. It was at least 20 feet long and was equipped with plump leather seats and even a refrigerator. She settled in quickly as Ruben righted himself. Maria opened the refrigerator and found all sorts of food and a bottle of champagne, which she pulled out. Out of nowhere Ruben produced two champagne flutes and took the bottle of Maria, popping the cork as the driver pulled away from the car park.

Maria drank from her flute and turned to Ruben.

Maria: Is our house as nice as this car?

Ruben smiled.

Ruben Ricardo León: I've only seen pictures, but what I have seen is very nice. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, cinema room, sauna, jacuzzi, outdoor heated pool. You name it, this place has got it.

Maria: Sounds good.

Maria drained the last of her champagne and snuggled up close to Ruben in the comfortable seats.

Maria: How far away is it?

Ruben Ricardo León: About a twenty minute drive I think.

Maria: Just time for a quick nap...

She nuzzled further in to Ruben's body and was asleep in seconds as Ruben stroked her hair. She dreamed about her new life here in Mexico, lounging by the pool, investigating the new city and most importantly making their new home their own. It felt like she had only been asleep for a matter of seconds when Ruben whispered in her ear.

Ruben Ricardo León: Time to wake up, we're here.

Maria slowly opened her eyes, sleepily, and saw the door of the limo had been opened by the chauffeur. The driver helped them out of the car, and after Ruben tipped him, quite handsomely Maria noticed, he drove off again. Ruben put his arm around Maria's shoulders and walked with her up to the front door. The house was huge, way bigger than even Ruben had expected. He fumbled with the keys in the lock for a second before the door swung open in front of him.

They both looked on in wonder at the entrance hall of their new house. It was, to put it simply, huge. The floors were tiled in a traditional Meso-American style and there was a small fountain surrounded by a large flowerbed in the centre of the room. There were countless paintings on the walls and plants and sculptures dotted around.

Maria: This...is incredible! How can you AFFORD this place?

Ruben smiled and kissed Maria on the forehead.

Ruben Ricardo León: You saw the size of the contract that they offered me. Anyway, property prices are a lot cheaper down here in Mexico than they are up in Texas.

Maria hugged Ruben tightly and planted a huge kiss on his lips.

Maria: I love you, Ruben. It's perfect. I'm going to explore!

With a childlike grin on her face, Maria ran off and opened a random door that led off the hallway. Ruben chuckled to himself and realised that he would have some exploring to do himself. The Liga de Luchadores bosses had told him that the cupboards and fridge were fully stocked so they didn't need to see to that. Ruben was especially excited about the pool, so he followed the path he vaguely remembered from looking at a plan of the house out to the back yard, where the large swimming pool was situated.

He took one look at the size of the pool before taking a running jump and leaping fully clothed in to the water. As he resurfaced, his clothes soaked, he laughed to himself.

Ruben Ricardo León: It feels so good to be back!

---

Portales de los Mercaderes Shopping Mall, Centro Histórico, Mexico City; Monday, July 4th, 2011

The next morning, after Ruben and Maria had fully explored their new house and seen all it had to offer, they had to go their separate ways for a while. Ruben had to go and meet with the owners of Liga de Luchadores to finalise some of the small print details of his contract, and he had recommended that Maria go and explore some of the city.

Of course, being the woman that she was, Maria took that to mean 'find a mall and go shopping'. She had consulted the internet on their fancy new net-ready television and discovered that there was a huge mall in the historical centre of the city.

She strolled down the long, wide avenues inside the mall building and wondered at all the stores. She had been to malls in America of course, but they were completely different to this. While American malls were busy, this one was packed to the rafters with women doing their weekly shop, kids running around or playing soccer in groups, even in this indoor environment and all sorts of other shoppers hustling and bustling their way around from store to store.

Maria was somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing, and without any real shopping agenda she let herself get lost in the maze. The building was absolutely huge and on several floors, and eventually her wandering led her to a bit of the mall that was less crowded than the rest, which was mostly populated with old, decrepit looking shops, or ones that seemed like they had long since closed down.

She became immediately and acutely aware that there were hardly any people around and wondered if it would be best for her to turn back the way she came, but before she could, four men, all around the age of 25 with leather jackets and slicked back hair rose from the makeshift seats they had made of old packing crates in front of her and wandered towards her, an unpleasant grin plastered across each of their faces. One, who appeared to be the leader, walked right up to her and said something she didn't understand.

Gang Member 1: Hola, cariño, ¿no es una cosa bastante poco?

Maria: I don't speak Spanish...

The man made a grab for her waist, and Maria tried to wriggle away, but he pulled her in close enough that she could smell stale beer and cigarettes on his breath.

Gang Member 1: ¿Por qué tratas de escapar? Estoy teniendo un poco de diversión.

One of the other men said something to the gang leader, who turned to him and laughed, still holding Maria, who was struggling to get away, tightly.

Gang Member 2: Este tiene una pelea en ella!

The gang leader chuckled.

Gang Member 1: Bueno, así es como me gustan!

Using his free hand, the gang leader pulled Maria's head in to his, as if to try and kiss her. Maria, who's eyes were streaming with tears by this point, struggled as best she can. Fortunately, just before their lips made contact a mall security guard walked around the corner, and called out to the man, presumably, Maria guessed, to tell him to stop what he was doing, because his grip released and, after scratching him across the face she pushed herself free.

The guard could clearly see that Maria was in some distress, so he moved over to comfort her, as the gang members all scrambled as quickly as they could.

Guard: Está bien, se han ido ahora. ¿Estás bien?

Maria tried to speak through her tears, but she spoke almost no Spanish and her brain could only process English right then.

Maria: I don't...speak Spanish.

The guard stared at her for a few seconds, as if trying to work something out.

Guard: Are...you OK?

Maria simply nodded in response, and wiped the tears that were drying on her cheeks.

Guard: Is no safe here. You go now?

Maria nodded again, and the guard smiled. A few minutes later she was back outside the mall and had hailed a taxi to take her back to the house. Ruben was already back by the time she arrived, and he opened the door as she was halfway through fumbling for her keys in her bag. He could tell instantly that she had been crying and as ashamed as she was of it, she had been again in the taxi on the way home. He instantly wrapped his arms around her.

Ruben Ricardo León: What's wrong, baby?

Maria: The mall...these guys...this one guy...they attacked me!

Ruben Ricardo León: Shh, calm down honey, you're safe now.

Maria burst in to tears again and buried her face in Ruben's shoulder as he stroked her hair.

Maria: I want to go home...

Ruben Ricardo León: Don't worry, this was just bad luck. People are never normally like that down here. Just give it a bit more time.

Maria: O...OK.

Ruben Ricardo León: I promise you, it'll work out just fine...

---

Ruben Ricardo León: Steel Angel, we meet again for the second week in a row. Except this week it won't be me with his shoulders on the mat going down for the three count. Hell, it won't even be you. Because you know what, I know Corey hates counting that 1,2,3 shit, so I'm going to make it interesting for him this week.

This week I am going to make you submit. I am going to lock in the Tequila Slammer and I am going to make you beg for mercy, because I fancy shaking things up a bit.

Now Steel, you can talk about Upper Limit all you want, but the simple fact is that we are all, each and every one of our little group, better than you, or we wouldn't be in it. Face it, Brandon and Corey picked me because they knew how good I was. I've fought and beat both of them in the past, and what have you done? Failed at every hurdle.

What I'm trying to say is that there's a reason I'm in Upper Limit and you're not, Steel. I think you can work out what that reason is.

Actually, you remind me a little bit of a younger version of myself. Not much younger, mind. Perhaps even a couple of years older. I was once like you. I can see so much potential just waiting to get out, just like I had. But the only thing holding you back is yourself.

Almost one year ago I was in exactly the same spot as you are right now. Boundless potential; I was headed for the top, but I couldn't figure out why I failed every time I reached the final hurdle. I thought it was a glass ceiling, but it took a dressing down from a certain Nick Ridicule for me to realise that the glass ceiling was in my head, and until I overcame that I would never be considered one of the best.

And would you look at where I am now? One year on, I'm the first IWF Battle for the Briefcase winner, I'm a former IWF Champion and I'm the current IWF Tag Team Champion. My stock has risen because I stopped holding myself back, and you need to start doing the same soon or you're going to tip over the edge of the precipice and will never be heard from again. If you don't, be prepared for a life of crippling mediocrity.

But you know what? I can see it in your eyes, and this week isn't going to be your week. Sorry pal but you don't get any favours from me. I'm sure that starting next week you'll be fine though.

One thing you said last week was right though. No-one will be expecting you to win this match either. Not even you will.

Best of luck pal, cause the way I see it you're gonna need it.