Lucky Luciano’s Disastrous Descent into a Hopeful Hell

by Ivan Martinez

Part III: Match

“We have a first for all you folks here tonight!! In this corner, making his debut match in Babylon tonight is the luchador, Lucky Luz!!” The crowd cheered as Luciano dashed towards the ring. It wasn’t his style to walk up normally, no he ran out as fast as he could and jumped up the steps, flipping over the ropes and into the ring. The crowd went wild. “And in this corner we have a returning veteran, you all know him! You all hate him! It’s Dane Salazar!!” The mood of the crowd immediately went sour, boos could be heard from across the stands as Luciano’s opponent walked out. Contrasting his flashy trunks and mask, Dane walked out in a white t-shirt and jeans but what really caught Luciano off guard was his face. Dane’s mouth extended past the normal amount, his deathly grin reached almost his ears but was sewn shut past a point. Luciano watched as Dane climbed into the ring, not responding at all to the jeers of the crowd. One lone voice stood out from the crowd, a woman from the front row jumped up and down, cheering for Dane’s victory. He promptly spat her direction, but her cheers only got louder from then on. The referee gestured the two men to the center of the ring, as he read out the rules to them, Dane simply stood there looking anywhere except at Luciano as he muttered obscenities to himself. “-Alright fellas let’s have a good fight noooow, G-” Right before the ref started the match, Dane let out a furious kick straight to Luciano’s jaw and he crumpled right there and then. The ref stood there, stunned as Dane walked toward Luciano’s crumpled body and began grinding his head into the mat with his heel. The pressure woke Luciano up from his daze, in that moment he grabbed Dane’s other leg and pulled it forwards causing him to fall. Using this chance, Luciano bounced to his feet. The damage he took was minimal, Dane was practically unhurt as he got up from the mat. The ref was confused during this exchange but when they finally got on their feet he regained his composure and finished his sentence from earlier “GO!” Luciano charged at his opponent but instead of meeting him halfway, Dane ran back, jumped off of the top rope back toward the center of the ring. He unleashed a fast kick angled downwards at Luciano who dodged to the side. Dane landed and turned back towards his opponent as Luciano charged at the ropes, at the last second he turned around and leaned on the ropes, using the momentum to propel himself back towards Dane. Luciano drove a hard lariat straight into Dane’s chest, the two men turned back towards each other and launched straight rights at almost the same time. Luciano’s was a little faster and landed right on its target whereas Dane’s hit nothing but air. Luciano struck again and again until Dane fell flat on the canvas, now it was time for him to get to work. Luciano climbed the turnbuckle closest to him, he yelled into the crowd and they responded in turn. Luciano’s job here wasn’t to be a fighter, no, he was an entertainer. Luciano worked the crowd as best he could and when he noticed Dane start to get up, Luciano leaped off the top rope and body slammed him back into the earth. The crowd roared. Luciano got back up and on his feet and posed for the crowd. For a second, he got lost in the rain of applause and cheers happening all around him. He didn’t hear as Dane got up from the mat and kicked him into the opposite set of ropes. Before Luciano could recover, Dane hailed down a thunderstorm of punches onto Luciano. Each more powerful than the last. Luciano was able to shield himself from it however he could only block so many of the punches, from the crack in his guard he could see Dane’s face amid his flurry. Dane’s calm indifference had turned into a crazed fury, his skin seemed to almost flake at the corners of his mouth. Soon enough Dane’s attack began to slow down, seeing his chance Luciano dashed away back towards the center of the ring. Dane followed after, he threw two jabs in Luciano’s direction, both missing their mark. Just when he thought he could go for a counter, Dane jumped at Luciano, his mouth opening far past what a normal person’s should. His teeth sunk deep into Luciano’s shoulder and wouldn’t let go. Panic welled in his chest and fear began to grip his mind, this was an attack Luciano had never encountered before. His opponent's body had been mutilated in order to make this type of attack possible, for a moment Luciano’s mind succumbed; however his body did not. Without thinking, Luciano’s fists flew into a flurry. Thunderous blows crashed into Dane’s abdomen until finally, Dane’s jaw loosened. Luciano ended his barrage with a crushing right to his opponent's jaw. Dane stumbled back almost crashing into the turnbuckle behind him. Luciano grabbed at the bite marks in his shoulder, the blood flowed down his arm as he began to go numb there. In one final push, Dane rushed at Luciano. He threw out a wild punch aimed at Luciano but his damage had taken its toll. Luciano ducked under Dane’s attack and his own landed square on its mark.

Dane’s head twisting in an instant and the next, he crashed onto the canvas. Almost instinctively, Luciano jumped onto Dane’s limb body and pinned it to the ground while the ref went to check on Dane. Finally, the referee announced Luciano as the winner of the match. The crowd roared as Luciano raised his fist into the air.

“So that's him eh? He doesn’t seem very special.” In a small box in the corner of the venue with a good view of the ring sat two shadowy figures. “Yeah well, he’s not much but I thought a masked fighter might drum up the attendance. Y’know everyone loves a good gimmick.” “Maybe so but a gimmick only gets one so far.” “Tch, you’re no fun y’know that right?” “I’m just here to make sure all things run smoothly boss.” At that moment the doors to the room opened, 3 men entered. One of them being one of the bosses bodyguards, he spoke first. “Boss, here is Mr. Callieri and his son.” The man named Callieri spoke after. “Wow this is a pretty nice place you got here Enlil. I guess it was a good idea to put you in charge of this business huh?” Mr. Callieri walked in with a swagger unlike any other. He looked around the place, evaluating it as if he were a land inspector “Ah Mr. Callieri, it’s great to see you!” Enlil bowed to his boss, Kristopher Callieri, the head of the Callieri Mafia Family and Enlil’s benefactor. “It’s to see the generous donations I’ve given you haven’t gone to waste Enlil, I see you’ve even got your own employee’s here. Now who might he be?” Callieri motioned to the man whom Enlil had been speaking to earlier. “Ah, pardon my rudeness Mr. Callieri. This man right here is the head referee of this ring and man who enforces the rules down here, one might say he is my right hand. Vlov Belyayev.” Vlov bowed towards Callieri. “It is a pleasure, I’ve heard much about your generosity from Mr. Enlil.” “Well now Mr. Callieri, might I ask what brings you down here to my humble ring?” Callieri laughed. “Ha ha ha, you always were one to cut right to the chase eh Enlil? Well you see my cute little son Dominic here has recently gotten into some trouble at the Family headquarters.” Callieri motioned to his neither cute nor little son. Dominic was in fact taller and slimmer than his stout father, his gaunt face heavily contrasting his father’s, however in spite of this Callieri continued. “While I don’t necessarily agree with them, some of the higher ups think that Dominic’s, rather… haughty demeanor should be curved before he inherits the Family. So I thought that you should take him under your wing. I see that there are plenty of strong fighters down here and I’m sure some of them are willing to teach Dominic… the way things work down here.” Dominic blew a raspberry. A creepy grin came across Enlil’s face. “Of course! Of course! How could I refuse a request from you!” Callieri smirked, “Well I’m glad that we could work things out, Enlil.” He turned around and began to walk out the door, “Well I hope all goes well, Dominic will be here again on Monday!” As the father and son walked to their car, a slimy grin fell across their faces.