A week off, that’s all Tate took. It was enough time for Tana and Gio to gather more information and begin to piece everything together. None of it was Tate going to like, so Gio was dreading making the call to ask the two siblings to go to the dojo. He had someone they needed to meet, but he was afraid of how it would go. Neither Tana nor Gio knew what Tate had gone through at the diner. Neither knew he was still having nightmares after the encounter. All they knew was he had been much grumpier than usual. Which seemed impossible for him to be any angrier than he already was. Gio knew that once he showed Tate everything he would be absolutely explosive.
Gio sent a text, because in the end he was too nervous to call, and told the Crawfords to meet him at the dojo. Just like them he also had a life outside of vigilantism. Though his life, currently, consisted of interviews for sport magazines and podcasts. He was going to be the next big thing in the NFL, after all. Giovanni Capitani was the up and coming “IT BOY” everywhere — and he despised it. He played into it all, but truthfully all the attention made him feel dizzy and sick. He missed when he was only Alessandro Capitani's mysterious son that may possibly take over as CEO. It didn't feel like the whole world was watching him back then. Now he actually had to dodge the paparazzi when leaving his parents’ penthouse, even if he just wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee from his favorite shop.
He thought about the change that his life had taken the entire drive to the dojo. Days existed once when he could walk to his vehicle without a camera shoved in his face. When he could attend events and go nearly unnoticed, not worrying about his public image. Now, though, he struggled with keeping up with everything. Even with a manager, it was still difficult. Gio thought it was a joke when some of his mother’s friends talked about how they were so rich they had to have people manage their lives for them, but now he understood it. Without Alice keeping up with all the events he had to attend, he’d have drowned a long time ago.
Upon arriving at the back of the dojo he noticed Tate and Tana were both just getting there as well. It was perfect timing, as it meant that Gio had the opportunity to defuse any explosion before it happened. As soon as he parked he immediately hopped out and walked towards them, not even bothering to get his bag out of the trunk. He clapped both his hands on the shoulders of the Crawford duo, grinning down at them as they looked up at him.
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“Hey!” That was an unsuspicious way to begin a conversation, right? Gio hoped so. “So, uh, listen… You two might not be the only ones I asked to come.” He noticed the way Tate glared at him as soon as the words came out of his mouth. “Hear me out, Tana agrees that we needed more help piecing things together. Plus, once you see what I found out the other night you’re both going to want more hands on this.”
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Tate’s arms uncrossed from his chest and he held one fist up, causing it to faintly glow blue before quickly crossing his arms back. “I think we have plenty of hands on this already, Giovanni.” Ouch- hit him with the full first name in that pissed off tone? Tate really wasn’t in a good mood. Gio gave them both a little push by their shoulders, leading them towards the back door of the dojo. He quickly moved around them, getting to it first and opening it for them both.
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“Just… open mind, alright? The person you’re about to meet has saved my life a few times out there.” Gio offered a nervous smile, awkward and toothy. Tana deadpanned as she looked at him, letting out a sigh as she walked past him. Yeah, he agreed with her. This was going to be two large personalities clashing. Tana and Gio would be lucky if they survived the cataclysm that was coming.
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Without missing a beat, muffled music that was already loud enough to be heard faintly outside in the back parking lot got much louder. It nearly covered up the sounds of the person training. If Gio knew her well enough, and he did, she’d probably been there the entire day already. She was unphased as the door opened, music blasting as the final barrier keeping it at bay had just been breached. She moved with the beat, sword in one hand as she danced around and swung it. Always making every fight into a dance, it never failed. If there was anyone in the world with superior rhythm, it was Nia.
She spun around right as the song came to an end, looking over the three that were ogling her during her session. Before the next song started she sheathed her blade and quickly grabbed her phone to pause it. Raising a brow at the three as if she were waiting for them to say something. Tana was too stunned by how attractive the slightly older woman was to speak, Tate was impressed, and Gio still couldn’t get over how short she was. But, Gio decided he should be the first to say something.
“Tate and Tana, this is Nia. She’s a close friend of mine and a fellow protégé of Isaiah’s.” The taller man had probably never looked more awkward in his entire life, trying his best to introduce everyone in an inconspicuous way. "Nia, these are Tate and Tana. Two people I grew up with. People I would consider my closest friends." That last comment caused Tate to roll his eyes. It had become a common occurrence, him rolling his eyes at anything that his former best friend dared to even utter. Gio would have expected it from both of the siblings, but Tana was too busy staring at the short, afro-haired woman in front of them. Her mouth partially agape as her jaw had slackened, looking Nia over as a flush came to her cheeks.
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“Don’t take this the wrong way, Nia, but-” Tate couldn’t even finish his sentence before Tana was elbowing him hard in the ribs. He reached up and rubbed his side, whipping his head over to glare daggers into his sister. “The fuck?” It didn’t take but a moment for him to notice the look on her face, especially as she turned to glare back at him. Tate deadpanned at her before returning his attention back to Nia. “Like I was trying to say, I don’t think we need any more hands on this. It’s personal for us.”
Nia didn’t seem phased by Tate’s words, nor by Tana’s gaping. Instead she brought a hand up to rest it on one of her hips, smiling as she looked right at Gio. “You were right, they are a pair.” Her hair bounced as she tilted her head and chuckled, returning her gaze between both Tate and Tana. “It’s personal for me, too. Leviathan’s been running against the Clifford syndicate. It escalated their activity because he keeps attacking every warehouse, apartment building, or tiny corner on the board that was owned by Sullivan Clifford.”
Nia took her hand off her hip as she walked over to a bag that rested against a wall, a sway of her hips with every step she took left Tana staring right at the woman’s ass as she did so. Tate rubbed a hand over his face when he noticed how blatantly his own sister was staring at this woman. She put her sheathed sword into the bag before turning back around to look at the three still standing in their same places. “I’ve been going after the Cliffords since before Sullivan died. They’re dangerous enough without being provoked.”
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“So, what? You wanna work with us and stop Leviathan from pissing them off more?” Tate nudged Tana to make her stop staring, it was ineffective.
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“Yes, but I also know I could do it alone.” She was cocky, that was for sure. Cocky enough that Gio noticed the way Tate’s shoulders tensed up at her words. “Which means before I give you any of the information I have I wanna be sure you got the moves.”
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“This is fucking pointless…” Tate scoffed, starting to turn around like he was going to leave. He had only taken one step before Gio stuck his arm out in front of him, as if he was going to stop the shorter man from leaving. “Move your arm before I take it off.”
That was a very real threat, Gio knew his friend would make good on it if he wasn’t careful. Nia, however, was very intrigued by the hostility that was pent up in Tate, especially towards Gio. She’d told him once before, after he explained the rift between the two, that he just needed to throw a punch at Tate and spar with the guy. See if they still had irreconcilable differences between them when they were through. The only problem was that there may not be anyone to stop the superpowered man from going overboard. Gio didn’t want to lose his life because he chose to pick a fight that he wouldn’t win fairly.
It was almost like Tate could read the room. He looked down at the muscled arm that was sticking out in front of him and then back up to the face of the person to whom it belonged. The pair’s eyes locked and for a moment it seemed like those bright amber brown eyes lit up. A small spark. Pupils dilated before nostrils flared. Gio’s own eyes went wide as he noticed the hand come up, fingers bent at the middle knuckle to expose the palm for a perfect open strike. It hit the taller man square in his chest, hard enough to both stumble him and knock his air from his lungs.
This got a rise out of Nia, making her cheer as she watched Tate stare Gio down. Both of the men took their jackets off and tossed them to the side, but Gio took it another level and took off his shirt. Typical fighting etiquette, for a man. If Tate had taken his shirt off, it’d have surely distracted Gio momentarily due to all of his tattoos. He’d covered himself in them since their last fight. There was hardly an inch of his pale skin that seemed untattooed on his torso and arms at that point. Tate slid one of his feet to the side to widen his stance, slightly bending his knees to prepare himself for either a strike back or to strike again. Gio mimicked him, but kept his entire body turned slightly to one side.
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Both of them were at a standstill for a moment. Silently staring each other down as they waited for the other to make the next move. When it seemed as if neither of them were going to commit, Nia took the initiative and turned her music back on before she picked up a bo staff from its holder and smacked it onto the floor.
“BEGIN!” She shouted over the music, watching as Tate was the first to charge after Gio. Every strike he threw at Gio the other countered. Flowing easily, dodging the attacks and stepping around Tate as if he were the air in the room itself. He kept his palms open, fingers tightly together to help deflect and guide Tate’s closed fists away from him. He was using Tate’s own momentum and steps against him. Eventually, as he stepped to the side of Tate again, he slid one of his feet between the other’s and caught his wrist as he dodged another punch. All it took was slipping his foot behind Tate’s and he pulled it forward, not allowing Tate to catch his balance as he yanked his arm to the side and sent him toppling over.
Tate recovered quickly, rolling over and getting back to his feet. He watched as Gio used that to put distance between them again, slowly standing again as he looked at the way the martial arts master carried himself. Now it was clear that all those years of Gio’s own training had truly paid off. It didn’t take Tate long to perfectly mimic Gio’s stance, unclenching his fists as he motioned for Gio to charge first this time. Obliging him, the two clashed again. This time, however, Tate was easily the one leading the fight. He was not only blocking and knocking away most of Gio’s hits, but he was getting in hits himself.
One thing Gio always knew about his friend while growing up was the fact he took Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and Jiu Jitsu. That led to Tate being able to quickly and efficiently mix the three together. He could do rotation kicks and powerful low kicks, but he would also throw in an elbow or hook jab to the liver. It left Gio open to lose his knee cap if Tate kicked hard enough. Although it seemed where the former had been floating around like he was air itself, the latter was now leading the dance like water. It ultimately lured Gio into a false sense of security, causing him to lower his guard as it seemed like there wouldn’t be any low kicks — until Tate changed his open palms to clenched fists and hit with his left, then his right, and caused Gio to shift his weight on his feet to adjust and try to block the hit just under his ribs. That’s when Tate brought his foot around and kicked just above the bend of Gio’s knee, in his thigh. It had enough force behind it that it almost brought him down to the floor, but when that failed Tate lowered himself almost into a squat and lunged.
Grabbing Gio low and forcing him backwards onto the floor, the larger man knew exactly what was happening. Tate was going to attempt to mount a submission against him. It was a side control, and he brought one knee in close to Gio’s body and slid it up into his armpit which trapped his arm in place. He wrapped an arm around the back of Gio’s neck and grabbed Gio’s opposite shoulder before bringing his other knee onto Gio’s stomach. Despite being larger and taller, he was clearly not stronger than Tate as the shorter man stepped over and brought Gio’s arm up while quickly wrapping his leg behind his head. It trapped Gio’s head and arm between Tate’s knee and opposite calf, and all it took was Tate slightly pushing on that arm before Gio tapped.
By the time Tate untangled himself from Gio and sat back, both of them were breathing heavily from their sparring. Lying flat on his back, trying to catch his breath and starting to feel the jabs and kick that he took, Gio eventually glanced over at Nia. She had a brow raised and was grinning back at him. He looked back up the ceiling shortly after, having his view obstructed by a hand. Reaching up to take it, he was easily wrenched up to a sitting position and then to his feet.
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“Alright, I see you two.” Nia laughed as she cut the music back off. “If you’re both done flirting now,” Gio felt his cheeks start to heat up at her comment, and was really glad that he was probably flushed from the workout already. Tate scoffed again, looking away from both of them due to the teasing. “I think there’s another person here that I’d like to see.”
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Now all the attention was on Tana, who looked around as if she weren’t the person Nia had just been speaking about. Once she realized that she was supposed to show off her skills as well, she just shrugged and walked over to one of the large concrete support beams that helped to hold up the building. She knocked on it before nodding, then doing the exact same strike that Tate had first hit Gio with, she hit the column. Half of it in a radius around where her palm hit crumbled from the force. Dusting her hands off, she stood back and showed off her vandalism proudly. “I could have taken the whole thing out.”
Gio looked like he was about to explode from the damage she’d just done. Probably because, first of all, how in the hell was he going to explain that to Isaiah? The man was going to have his head for sure. Part of the building’s structural support had just been damaged with a single strike. Nia, on the other hand, seemed pleased with that alone.
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“I think you two would definitely be helpful. C’mon, let’s go back to sensei’s little lair and I can show you all what I have on the Cliffords and how Leviathan plays into it.” Nia motioned for them to follow her, and they all did.
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Now the team’s all together! Adding Total Eclipse to the roster was a smart move, as Nia is great at being the glue to hold a group together. She may have picked up a new admirer, though, as young Tana has become completely infatuated at first sight with the fierce woman. Tana doesn’t have to worry about being the only one with a crush, though, as Giovanni himself is about to have some old feelings dredged back up.
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