Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 239: Golden Shield

Michael Sterling stood in the corner of the room. His suit was wet. His hair was messy. He looked like he had been thrown into a swimming pool with his clothes on. But he did not care.

He watched his team.

Diego Nunez was sitting on the floor in the center of the room. The giant defender was holding the Community Shield. It was a large gold plate. Diego was trying to use it as a mirror to see his own bald head.

"I am beautiful," Diego said to the gold plate. "Look at my head. It shines like a diamond."

Vladimir Petrovic sat on the bench next to him. The Serbian giant was calm. He was carefully cleaning his boots with a small cloth.

"You have a smudge on your nose," Vladimir rumbled in his deep voice. "It is dirt."

"It is war paint!" Diego shouted. "I am a warrior! Warriors do not wash!"

"Hygiene is important," Vladimir said. "I wash my roses every morning. You should wash your face."

On the other side of the room Lorenzo Ricci was looking at his phone. The Italian defender looked horrified.

"What is wrong Lorenzo?" Arthur Milton asked. Arthur was holding a bag of leftover gummy bears.

"The photos," Lorenzo whispered. "The photos from the match. In minute seventy my hair moved. It went to the left. It should go to the right."

"You played ninety minutes against Manchester City," Arthur said. "Nobody cares about your hair direction."

"I care," Lorenzo said sadly. "I look like I woke up in a wind tunnel."

"Okay everyone!" Michael clapped his hands. "Pack your bags. The bus is waiting. And I promised you pizza."

"PIZZA!" Kaito Tanaka shouted.

The Japanese sprinter jumped up. He was so small and fast that he seemed to teleport from the bench to the door.

"I want pepperoni! I want mushroom! I want fish!" Kaito shouted.

"Fish?" Jean Luc Dubois asked. The French tank looked disgusted. "Fish does not go on pizza. Only cheese. Seven types of cheese."

They walked out of the dressing room.

Diego Nunez insisted on carrying the shield. He did not carry it under his arm. He wore it on his back like a turtle shell. He tied it with his shoelaces.

"I am the Golden Ninja Turtle!" Diego announced to the security guards in the tunnel.

The guards did not know what to say. They just stepped aside and let the giant human turtle pass.

Michael walked at the back with Arthur.

"We did it Arthur," Michael said softly. "We beat them. We beat the final boss."

"It was just the shield Boss," Arthur said. "Pep will be angry next time. He will buy three more robots."

"Let him buy them," Michael smiled. "We have the Bear. And the Bear is hungry."

The team bus was luxury. It had leather seats. It had blue mood lighting. It had a coffee machine.

But tonight it was a party bus.

Jamie Vardy had taken control of the music system. He was playing loud techno music that went thump thump thump.

Vladimir Petrovic sat at the back. He took up two seats. He was reading a book about gardening.

Kaito Tanaka was sitting next to him. Kaito could not sit still.

"Mr Bear," Kaito chirped. "Do flowers run? If you chase them do they run?"

Vladimir turned the page of his book slowly.

"No little mouse. Flowers stay. They have roots. Running is for people who are afraid."

"I am not afraid!" Kaito said vibrating. "I run because I have zoom zoom in my legs!"

"Zoom zoom is good," Vladimir agreed. "But roots are better."

At the front of the bus Michael sat with his laptop.

He was not looking at tactics. He was looking at the schedule.

Game 1: Chelsea (Away)

Game 2: Tottenham (Home)

Game 3: Liverpool (Away)

"Arthur," Michael said. "Look at the start of the season. The computer hates us."

Arthur looked at the screen. He choked on a gummy bear.

"Three big games in August?" Arthur gasped. "Boss that is not a schedule. That is an execution."

"It is a test," Michael said closing the laptop. "If we survive August we can survive anything."

Usually a Premier League football team eats pasta and chicken after a game. They eat healthy food.

But Michael Sterling believed in rewards.

The bus pulled up outside a large Italian restaurant in North London. Michael had rented the whole place.

The staff were waiting outside. They looked nervous. They had heard stories about the Misfits.

The bus doors opened.

Diego Nunez ran out first. He was still wearing the gold shield on his back.

"FEED ME!" Diego roared running into the restaurant. "I WANT DOUGH! I WANT TOMATO BLOOD!"

The waiter dropped a menu in fear.

The rest of the team followed.

Lorenzo Ricci walked in. He looked at the tablecloths.

"Red and white checks," Lorenzo noted. "Very rustic. It hurts my eyes a little bit."

They sat down at a long table.

"Order whatever you want," Michael announced standing at the head of the table. "Tonight we do not count calories. Tonight we count trophies."

"Can I have five pizzas?" Jean Luc asked seriously.

"If you can eat five you can have five," Michael laughed.

The pizzas arrived thirty minutes later. The table was covered in food. It looked like a feast for giants. Everyone was happy. Until Diego Nunez opened his box.

Diego had ordered a pizza with ham and pineapple.

Lorenzo Ricci looked at Diego plate. The Italian model face turned pale. He looked like he was going to faint.

"Diego," Lorenzo whispered. "What is that yellow fruit doing on the pizza?"

"It is pineapple," Diego said happily picking up a slice. "It is sweet and salty. Like me."

"It is a crime," Lorenzo said standing up. "You cannot put fruit on pizza. It is against the law in Italy. My grandmother is crying in heaven right now."

"Your grandmother is wrong," Diego said taking a huge bite. "Mmm. Tropical."

Lorenzo looked at Michael.

"Boss! Make him stop! It is disrespectful to the dough!"

Michael laughed. "Lorenzo. We are Misfits. We break the rules. Diego breaks the culinary rules."

Vladimir Petrovic looked at the pineapple pizza.

"I eat roses sometimes," Vladimir rumbled. "So I cannot judge the yellow fruit."

"See?" Diego grinned with cheese on his chin. " The Bear eats flowers. I eat fruit. We are nature boys."

Lorenzo sat down and covered his eyes. "I cannot watch. I will eat my Margherita with my eyes closed."

After the food was gone the mood became calm. The players were full. The adrenaline was fading.

Michael stood up. He tapped his glass with a fork.

"Gentlemen," Michael said.

The room went quiet. "Look around this table."

He pointed to Vladimir wiping tomato sauce from his beard. He pointed to Kaito who was asleep on the shoulder of Mateo Vega. He pointed to Diego who was trying to balance a spoon on his nose.

"They say we are a circus. They say we are lucky."

"Tonight you beat the best team in the world. You did not do it with luck. You did it because you fought for the man sitting next to you."

"Vladimir protected Diego. Kaito ran for Mateo. Lorenzo passed to Victor."

"We are not eleven players. We are one organism. A purple monster with twenty two legs."

"Next week the real war starts. The Premier League. Thirty eight games."

"Chelsea is waiting for us. They have spent one billion pounds on players. They have a new manager. They think they will crush us."

Michael leaned forward. His eyes burned with that familiar blue fire.

"Are we going to let them crush us?"

"NO!" Jean Luc shouted banging the table. "We crush them!"

"We will eat them like pineapple!" Diego shouted.

"Please do not use that metaphor," Lorenzo begged.

"We go to Stamford Bridge," Michael said. "And we show them that money cannot buy heart. We show them that the Dynasty is not a fairy tale."

"We show them the Empire."

Michael raised his glass of water.

"To the Misfits!"

"TO THE MISFITS!" the team roared.

Michael walked to the counter to pay the bill.

The manager of the restaurant looked at the receipt. It was very long.

"That is a lot of pizza Mr Sterling," the manager said. "And forty seven bottles of sparkling water."

"My boys were thirsty," Michael smiled handing over his card.

Arthur Milton walked up to him. Arthur looked sleepy.

"Boss," Arthur yawned. "I am full. I feel like a stuffed bear."

"Go to the bus Arthur. We are going home."

"Home to Barnsley," Arthur smiled. "It is raining in Barnsley."

"It is always raining in Barnsley," Michael said. "That is why we love it."

They walked out into the London night.

The cool air hit Michael face.

He looked at the bus. Diego was trying to fit through the door with the shield still on his back. He got stuck. Vladimir had to push him from behind.

"Push harder Bear!" Diego shouted. "My shell is too wide!"

Michael laughed.

This was his life. This madness. He would not change it for anything. He took out his phone. He looked at the picture of Baby Gabriel on his lock screen.

"One trophy down son," Michael whispered. "Three more to go."

He stepped onto the bus.

"Let us go home driver," Michael said. "We have a league to win."