Game on

Chapter 20: Inheritance Arc 4

The Iron Fort had opened his doors for all influential and allied Famiglia's in the biggest event in years, and the front lawn of the elegant Italian manor was filled with arriving mafioso from all over the world.

The safety for such a huge event was a complicated balance between not insulting the volatile temper of important guests and scanning as much as possible said guests in order to avoid any last minute attempt on either generation of the Vongola Bosses.
Which would happen anyway, like each time – by this point, it was nearly traditional between mafiosi to try to kill each other at important events, even if it failed. Most of the time...

In other words, it was a nightmare for the head of the safety detail, who was none other than Superbi Squalo himself, cutting short to all the rumors that said that the new Varia leader wasn't trusted anymore by the Vongola Nono.
Of course, no one out of the Famiglia had any right to know that said rumors had been true for a time, and that the shark and his teammates still were under heavy scrutiny from the ninth' generation Guardians and the CEDEF higher up – and that this was their big chance to make a complete comeback, something the Varia as a whole dearly needed as their position as the top assassination squad was nearly lost with the debacle of the Ring Battles...

The guests had started calling in at nine in the morning, and in the hour that had gone by since, no less than thirteen would-be killers had been spotted and neutralized, proving once more that Varia Quality couldn't be fooled by low-level grunts – and even if he was, like usual, spewing a nearly constant torrent of insults at his men, the truth was Squalo was quite proud of them...

The shark had been somewhat ambivalent toward the tenth generation after they had been taken in custody by Nono's Guardians. In the end, and against all odds, it was seeing Xanxus alive again in their memories from the alternate future that made his, and the rest of the Varia's mind.
Because for all that it had been bittersweet to see the man he had, once upon a time, decided to follow, it had also confirmed that as a loser of the Ring Battles, that Xanxus wasn't anymore the force of nature they had all admired, but – despite all of his, and their alternate self protestations – a tamed beast.
And it could be seen as strange, but for him, and the other Varia, they thought that their proud boss was far better dead than leashed.

Nono had been afraid that the memories of what could have been would reignite their bitterness toward the Vongola X – and most of all, the Shadow, Sawada Kazami. But it did precisely the opposite. After that, the Varia worked even harder to take back their reputation of excellency and the trust they needed to do their job...
And now, as Squalo saw the two limousines smoothly stopping in front of the alley to let out the Vongola X, he was surprised to feel not even a bit of bitterness – but rather, interest.

Today was the brats big day, and somehow he just knew that they would surprise the mafiosi assembled just as much as they had surprised the Varia months ago.
This would be worth seeing.

¤.¤.¤

The first out of the cars, as tradition required, weren't member of the tenth but of the ninth generation who were ready to vouch for them. Silence fell upon the garden, everyone curious to see who volunteered him or herself to introduce the new generation of Vongola to the mafiosi present.

Mutters started anew as Lavande Bruno, number three of the CEDEF just behind Lal Mirch and Andrea De Luca himself were the one to step out of one the two limousine. Squalo barely refrained himself from snorting – after all, he'd seen the recording of the underworld arena, and the idea that the little Shadow had ensnared the famous assassin was just too funny.
Still, he made a mental note to set an appointment with the man that was without any doubt up to Varia Quality and could be the link they needed to work with the X Generation.