Under New Management
Word Count: 3,267
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: I'm actually going to call this gen. At least... I tried to make it that way.
Spoilers: up to 1x11.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just break things.
Summary: Everything changes when the Hawks get a new owner.
Author's Note: This story... it's just very fun to do. :) The situation, the characters, it's just been a blast. Now if only Jeanette was around...

New Player

"Yes, I understand they think they're making a 'generous' offer. What they don't seem to understand is that I don't agree with their idea of 'generous,'" Mrs. Pittman snapped as she walked through the hall. She snapped her fingers and the man behind her rushed after her, trying to keep up.

Dani made a face as she waited for the woman to pass. She crossed the hall and went into Matt's office. She closed the door with a smile. "It's working."

Matt looked up at her, confusion on his face. He looked exhausted. "What is?"

"The plan."

"Oh, that," Matt said. He let out a breath. She watched him with a frown. He should be more excited by this—she was, and she had less than a week before she was no longer employed by the Hawks. Maybe that made her desperate, maybe it gave her too much of a reason to hold onto Nico's idea like it was the cure for cancer. Still, if Laz had been a cancer—then Mrs. Pittman was more like Ebola. "You know, I really hope that Nico manages to come through with this because he certainly managed to screw us over with everything else."

"Matt—"

"Look, you've been working from home lately, so you probably haven't met the new pit bull that she hired in Nico's place, but he is making everyone's life hell lately."

Dani winced. "I'm sorry. Nico warned me that she would do it, but I hadn't realized it would happen so fast."

"Nico warned you. And you didn't see fit to pass along this warning?"

"Matt, what am I? Omniscient? Omnipresent? I can't be everywhere at once—and no comments about how Nico seems to manage that," Dani warned, holding up a finger. "Xeno quit two days ago. Did I expect her to replace him so quickly? No. Besides, when Nico gave me that warning, I was almost asleep. I didn't really think about it until now. I have been going almost nonstop since I talked to Nico. I had sessions with half the team in the last two days."

"I'm sorry," Matt said. He ran a hand over his face. "The pit bull has been on me, making my job and my life miserable for the past two days. I don't know—maybe she's got it in her head if he keeps harassing me, I'll take her side. I've been firm. The players can't play like this. They can't practice like this. We're supposed to leave for spring training soon, but no one's going to go at this rate."

"I thought there was a pit bull now. He might not be a sheep dog, but I bet he could herd them there. I haven't met him yet, but I'd bet anyone hired to replace Nico wouldn't be half as understanding or generous as he has been, and most people live in fear of him."

Matt nodded. "I'd go with that. I'd even say that she went and found someone ten times worse. I'm due another visit from the creep any minute now. You should go."

"I know. I'm just here—at the stadium—to get the last few of my things from the office they let me use. I'll be working almost entirely from home. Feel free to come by and see me, though."

"That an invitation?"

"At least if it is, it will no longer be an issue within this workplace," a voice said from the doorway. Dani looked over. Her first look at the pit bull. She had to admit—the description fit. His face had frown lines that made a pit bull look happy. He was shorter than Matt, barely taller than Dani, and the brown coat that he wore looked like he'd stuffed it, only she doubted that was anything other than his own muscle. He reminded her of those old fighters in the movies, the ones who were never someone themselves but who hung around the ring, teaching the new guys the ropes. "I'm here to escort you out, Ms. Santino."

Dani forced a smile. "Great. Let me just get my things."

"What do you know about this guy, Nico?"

"Stay clear of him." Nico ordered, shifting papers around the table he was using as a temporary desk and stacking them into a pile as he reached for a file folder. He had switched residences after his resignation, knowing that he would have several unwanted visitors if he stayed, and he'd changed it a second time after Santino had managed to find him. He knew that one of Duggan's tasks would be to locate him, and the man was good at what he did.

"That doesn't tell me what you know."

"It's enough, Dr. Santino. Stay clear of that man, do you hear me?" Nico asked, hoping that he was getting through to her. She was in a dangerous position, and Nico did not like it. Duggan had replaced nearly everyone on the security staff immediately after he got hired. Nico's network was scattered, and he had very few people he could trust and no one to watch out for the people taking all the risks. "He has a nasty reputation as an enforcer, was rumored to have fixed several fights and even made a few fighters disappear when they refused to take the fall."

"You make people disappear."

"With money," Nico disagreed. He was not in the same category as that man, nor had he ever been. Santino might not approve of his methods, but they were not nearly as nefarious as she thought. "Duggan makes them disappear permanently."

"How worried should the team be, realistically?"

Very worried. Nico was not about to tell her everything he knew, but he wanted her to be cautious. She could be entirely too reckless with her own safety. "Early in his career, he earned himself the nickname 'Never.'"

"Never?" she asked. He gave her a moment, certain she would catch on quickly enough. She was a very intelligent woman. "Oh. Never Duggan. Like Never Do It Again, right?"

"Yes. And trust me, no one ever did," Nico told her. He got up and crossed the room. "I know that you have been working with the players to organize them into buying the team, but you need to stop. Do nothing further. I'm already the enemy. Let it all fall on me. I'll be in contact with the players to continue the process."

"I can't do that, Nico. You've always been the behind-the-scenes guy. You need to stay that way. We need you to be the ace up our sleeve."

"You and the team have already been hurt enough by my absence."

"Fine, I'll put it differently. Given what you said the night we met, I am not sure you're prepared to go head-to-head with Mrs. Pittman yet," Santino said, and Nico stopped before he reached the kitchen. "That silence says it all, Nico. You know it, and I know it, and I'm sorry. She's already fired me. It can't get worse."

"If Duggan is involved, rest assured that it can."

"Then give her another face to put to it. Corporations have lawyers. I assume you had that part figured out already, didn't you? You do have a lawyer who is going to represent the team when they make their bid, right? I know you've got the overseas lawyers making offers, so... what about the in-house one?"

Nico smiled slightly. Her grasp of the things he was arranging was more than he'd expected and yet not anywhere near the whole picture. "She'll have a name when I have the confirmation I need. Trust me, you do not need to do more."

"Nico—"

"You're going to have to trust me, Dr. Santino," he said, hanging up. He grabbed his coat and left the apartment.

TK opened the door to his kingdom and stepped inside tiredly. He'd never figured he'd be the one taking charge of the team, getting the guys together to do anything. He was used to being the one who stirred up the team, who got them riled and divided, not the one they turned to for a leader. That was supposed to be the quarterback's job.

He turned on the light and dropped his keys on the counter, going to the fridge to grab himself a beer and heading toward his couch.

"Hello, Terrence."

TK jumped, dropping his beer. The bottle shattered on the floor. "Damn it, Nico! What the hell?"

"You are aware that now that Duggan is in charge of security, you are watched whenever you are not in your home, are you not? There was no possibility of approaching you anywhere else."

"So... you broke in? You scared the hell out of me."

"Calling you was also not an option. I could give you no advance notice," Nico told him, adjusting his position on the couch. "You'll forgive me if I keep myself where the watchers will not see even my shadow."

"Damn, you look like a shadow, Nico. The hell happened to you?"

"Were I to have made this visit to your home wearing the same clothes as I did before my resignation, I would be entirely too recognizable. This way I am not."

"Sure, tell yourself that it's all part of your big plan. Doctor D said you were dealing with some personal crap. I thought she was full of it before, but now that I've seen you, dog, I think... She wasn't."

"Enough about me. Santino tells me that you have been talking to the other members of the team. I need to know how many of them are on board and how willing they are to commit. In other words, how much money they can contribute."

"Always money with you."

"Not always. This situation is simple. We have the money to make the offer or we don't. Without the money, this is impossible. I can continue to cultivate foreign interest, but everyone knows that the team's value has plummeted. No one wants to be a New York Hawk. The buyers know they stand to lose most of their team. They would have to build from scratch. Some people find that appealing, but not businessmen. They're after a finished product. Always. The team no longer is one. No one else will pay what she will want."

TK nodded. He'd pretty much heard that already from Doctor D. "Basically, we're going to be the only one that wants us, but we ain't got enough. Not yet. A few of the guys, they're all in, but they're also the ones that are tied down with the wife and kids, yo. They don't got the money to mess around with. They just want to stay where they've made a life and a home."

"That's natural," Nico said, like he wasn't surprised at all. "What about the ones with more flexibility?"

"Anyone that's been helped by Doctor D, they're in. They'd follow her to hell and back. So you got me, you got Booz, and you got Bobby Caldwell. Though I have to say, I think Bobby's just trying to keep his money from his wife 'cause she's gonna get it all with that kinky shit he was up to. He made me look tame."

"No others?"

"Got a few on the fence, but they don't think that we can do it. They don't think that we can get the money and they're worried we'll lose it all. I gotta say—it doesn't help when they don't think they can trust the money man."

"You want guarantees? I can put the return of the money in writing for all of them. The idea was for me to be entirely behind-the-scenes, and it is Dr. Santino's position that I remain so, but things have changed with the arrival of Duggan."

"Duggan? That fu—"

"Leave Duggan to me," Nico said, rising from the couch. He started toward the door, not even noticing when he walked through the mess from the broken bottle.

"You got a plan for that? Because he's a pretty scary mo—"

"Leave Duggan to me," Nico repeated, and then he left through the front door.

Damn, TK thought, that was one scary voice. Duggan had nothing on Nico.

"Things are getting kind of ugly," Matt began, taking the seat Dani offered him at the table in the dining room. It was a bit formal, but they weren't really doing a social visit tonight. She had a few of the players that TK said were on the fence coming over, plus TK and Matt. The kids were at their father's, and the house felt empty without them. Dani knew it wouldn't last, but she'd been glad when Matt showed up so that she wasn't alone.

"With Duggan, you mean?" Dani asked, resisting the urge to go back into the kitchen and get herself some wine.

"He broke some poor kid's fingers today. One of the assistants to someone or other. He didn't even hide it. The kid was crying, and he just gave him this look, told him to see the doctor and shut up. He didn't even care."

"Well, he didn't get his nickname for nothing," Dani said. When Matt looked at her blankly, she explained. "Never Duggan? That's his nickname. Because no one ever does it again. Whatever it was."

Matt sighed. "I just feel bad for the kid. He probably had no idea what he was getting into, agreeing to be the guy's tech aide."

Dani nodded unhappily. The doorbell rang, and she went over to answer it.

"Yo, Doctor D. I brought the guys here for a party," TK said, barging in. He was followed by more than half the team, and Dani stared after them. There was not enough pizza and not enough drinks. This was crazy.

"Well, I was going to have everyone go in the dining room, but I'm not sure there's enough room," Dani began. "Okay, new plan, living room. Matt! We're moving into the living room. And I think we may need some more supplies."

"Supplies?" Matt asked, coming out of the dining room. He saw the players and his eyes got a bit wide. He nodded, moving back into the other room. Dani shut the front door behind her and went into the living room.

"So, TK says you want to talk to us about this crazy-ass idea of his."

"Okay, yes, almost," she agreed, going into the middle of the room and forcing a smile for the group, "only it's not TK's crazy-ass idea—"

"It's mine."

Dani almost jumped out of her skin. She whirled and stared at Nico in surprise. What the hell was he doing here? And how had he gotten in? He should not be here. This was exactly what they were trying to avoid. He stood in the doorway, looking more like his old self—dark suit, dark coat—but she didn't understand what he thought he was doing.

"Nico?" Matt asked, coming up to him. Nico let him pass into the room but did not move. "Damn. Long time no see."

"I highly doubt anyone is that hungry," Nico observed, looking at the pizzas in Matt's hands. "And the living room has too many windows. It's problematic."

" Problematic? Nico, you shouldn't even be here. The whole idea was for you to be the man behind-the-scenes, the one behind the curtain."

"Yes, and pay no attention to me," he said, reaching into his coat. He took out some papers and threw them to TK. "Those are the clauses that I mentioned before. Everyone's money will be fully refunded if the purchase is not made."

"That's great," Alvarez said, getting to his feet. "But why the hell should we trust you? You walked away and left us."

"Because no one knows more about Pittman and his wife and how to outmaneuver them both than me," Nico answered calmly. "It is your choice. There is no reason that you have to be involved."

"What about Duggan? He broke a kid's hand today."

"Yes," Nico agreed. "William Decke. The fracture was clean. He should recover just fine."

"You know about that? And what, you let it happen?"

"Duggan broke three fingers. Try and figure out what three things I took from him," Nico said with a smile, turning to leave. Dani rushed after him, barely catching him by the arm.

"What do you think you're doing? You're risking everything. And now you're... what, playing games with Duggan after you told me so many times to stay away from him? Nico, listen to yourself. You're acting crazy and reckless and this isn't like you. You need to stop before you get yourself hurt. I know you think that you should be the fall guy if something goes wrong, but—"

He put his fingers over her lips. "You asked me to come back. Trust me to play this the way it has to be played—or forget about it."

He let go, and she tried to figure out when they'd gone from her holding his arm to him holding her. She had no choice but to call after him. "Nico, just because you think you have nothing left to lose doesn't mean you do."

He turned to look at her. "You know the thing about poker, Dr. Santino? Most of it is all one big bluff."

"I'm going to kill him."

"It's Nico," Matt reminded her. "Try not to take it so personally. You have to admit, he put on one hell of a show. And he won them over. You saw that. They all signed the papers and committed themselves to this thing."

"The big N, I think he figured it out," TK began. Dani and Matt looked over at him. "I told him they were having trouble trusting the money man. All he needed to do was give them someone to trust, like you said. We all know him. We know what he can do. None of us know why he left, but we want to trust him because he's come through for all of us in the past."

"And if word of his involvement gets back to Mrs. Pittman, the whole thing could be over before it starts."

"The guys aren't gonna snitch. Every one of us would rather have Nico back than do anything to help Super Bitch," TK insisted. "Trust us, Doctor D. It's all good."

"Besides, it's Nico. I'm sure he has like... three back up plans that he's not telling anyone about," Matt said. "That's just how he is. Try to stop worrying about it, Dani. Nico knows how to take care of himself."

"And he looks a hell of a lot better than he did when I saw him," TK added. Dani frowned, not entirely reassured by that. She really didn't like the risks that Nico was taking. She also didn't know how she could do anything to stop him.