The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia

Epilogue (Rogue): Absolute Perfection

"First ritual of an outsider becoming part of the Body is you fight one of the top three men in the organization," Lucio had said to me. It was the weekend I was to become an official part of the Body. "Santo, me or Nico?"

I looked at the three brutal-looking men standing in front of me.

"I'll take on all three of you at once."

Lucio stared at me, probably trying to determine if I was serious, but I didn't back down and met his gaze calmly. Growing up in the MC, we'd been taught how to fight taking on four or five men at a time.

Part of what was driving this decision was the realization that even when I completed all of the prescribed Body rituals, I still would be viewed as an outsider to some extent since I hadn't been raised in the Body...unless I made a huge statement. This was going to be my statement. 

"But you three have to promise not to cry like little babies when you're all on the floor writhing in pain," I taunted him.

"Three of us to one of you is hardly fair odds," Santo said, rolling his neck so it cracked.

"You're right," I agreed. "You want to call in a couple more guys to help you out? Even up the odds a bit for you?"

Santo flashed a rare smile at me. I would be willing to bet that very cold smile was the last thing many Body enemies saw before they died at his hands.

"I promise not to laugh too hard when you're the one crying on the floor," Santo said, rolling his sleeves back. "This is supposed to last five minutes, and you won't even last five seconds."

I looked at Lucio. "You got a problem with this, Feroce?"

He shrugged. "It's your funeral."

"How about you, Di Spirito?"

Santo shook his head. "Like Lucio said, it's your funeral. We'll get you a nice flower arrangement."

I turned to Nico. "Marchetti, you in?"

"Sure," Nico agreed. "Looking forward to making you eat your words."

I gave them all a big, feral smile. "Then set the timer for five minutes and let's go."

We went.

Those five minutes were brutal, and they didn't hold back but neither did I. Before the fight, I had no doubt they thought hey, he's a lawyer so how well can he fight? I quickly answered that question for them, and I also fought as dirty as they did -- I knew in the Body, the only thing that mattered was winning and so I set out to win.

When the timer went off, the three of them were still standing, but more importantly, so was I.

Dripping blood and sweat, breathing like I'd just run a marathon, but I was still standing. I was feeling a bit smug that the three of them were also bloody, sweating and breathing hard.

"HR is gonna be on our fucking backs when she sees this shit," Santo grumbled, wiping the corner of his bloody mouth with the back of his hand. "Probably get my ass called into her office a-fucking-gain."

Lucio barked out a laugh and even the corner's of Nico's mouth twitched briefly. All Body men were stoic, but Nico seemed to take it to an extreme.

The four of us went out drinking that night, and the next night, I made a blood oath from a knife cut across my palm. That was followed with getting my neck tattooed with the bloody Feroce F, and then another night of celebrating with at least a hundred Body men who'd already heard about the three-on-one fight. 

I was in. I belonged to a family again, but the Body, I knew, wouldn't let me down. Which meant they'd never let Euphemia down and that, above all else, was job one.