Post by TheNewBreed on Jun 10, 2018 23:02:04 GMT -5
The silence was astounding.
There, surrounded by thousands and thousands of screaming fans witnessing history in the making, stomping and shouting at the top of their lungs like animals in a frenzy, the lights above beaming hot white light down upon him covered in a slimy sheen of sweat, struggling for air, gasping as best as he could...
Still..
Only silence filled his mind.
There were no fans...
There was no Tristan Slater...
There was no steel cage towering above him...
There was no world at all...
Just the void around him, the silence...
And the door.
His body was aflame. Every inch of him was sore... some inches more than others.
The thumbtacks were still impaling him from every angle, their needle-like points driving through his skin and grinding into his muscles.
The knot on his forehead from the stop sign shot early in the match throbbed dully as he reached his arm slowly towards the cage door.
His knee was dead... too much damage over the course of the last few shows to help him here... but he knew he had to get to the door.
That was all that mattered.
This had been a war... but it was one he was going to win... and the Beast knew it.
Inches at a time, John pulled his way across the ring .
His lungs burned, and his body was going to give out on him soon... he knew that too.
Slowly... John made his way to the cage door, crawling the whole way, struggling to make his arms pull his weight.
After what seemed like an eternity, the silence still pressing in upon him, John rolled through the cage door and tumbled to the concrete floor below.
Finally...
Finally... John had won. He had done it. He had won the WGWF World Heavyweight Championship... and he had made good on his promise to take away the only thing Slater had left in his life... and he had done it.
He had done it...at long last.
Forty-eight years in the making, but the elusive World Title was finally his.
* * *
The blaring of the sirens echoed in his head.
He tried to reach for his temples, but his arms didn't move, were held down... and he panicked.
His eyes shot open, and he strained against the straps holding down... the images of being a prisoner in that stone room flooded his mind, and he pulled even harder against his restraints.
“JOHN!!!” the Citizen shouted at him, but Cable didn't hear him, or see him for that matter.
John was lost in his memories, awash in terror, and fighting to gain his freedom.
One more surge of force, and John freed his right arm from the gurney in the back of the ambulance, and grabbed one of the EMTs by the shirt, throwing him against the back doors and knocking him unconscious as he crumples to the floor in a heap.
The Citizen jumps onto the gurney, and tries to grab John's arm as he reaches for the other strap, but John roars in a frenzy and flails his free arm, knocking the Citizen off of him, and to the floor beside the gurney.
“JOHN! Stop! You're fine! It's me! AARON!” the Citizen yells at him again as he pulls his mask off and the ambulance screeches to a halt on the side of the highway.
John pauses for a moment, and Aaron climbs back to his feet pulling up on the side of the gurney.
“John... Its me! You're in an ambulance. Calm Down... PLEASE?” he pleads as John starts to realize what's going on around him.
* * *
Let's get the small potatoes out of the way first, shall we?
Alyce... Lunacy... Jackdaw... Stevens... Maylock...
Anarchy and their Queen of Mayhem.
The clowniest clowns at the circus...
You're going to get what's coming to you... you are.
One by one I am going to find you... and tear you apart. In your group... with the numbers in your favor... you have strength. But alone... each of you is weak... and vulnerable. I will find you... and when I do... you'll wish you had never signed the contract with the WGWF. I have proven in the past few months I am willing to take things to whatever extremes I need to to protect myself and those I care for... and you bunch of psychopaths are exactly the kind of threat I am talking about.
People who don't give a shit about anyone but yourselves, and willing to hurt innocent people for kicks, let alone to prove a point. I have no doubt in my mind you would hurt everyone close to me to get into my head and do it all just for a laugh.
I know men like you... sick twisted deviants who enjoy hurting others for no other reason then the sadistic glee you get from hearing them scream and beg...
Your days of tyrannical terror are over.
I was your last victim.
The next time you crawl out from under your rock hovel into the light of day... I will be there, and I will crush the life out of you with my bare hands.
That's a promise.
* * *
A Hospital Room – Beijing, China
As the Citizen paces back and forth across the tiled floor of John's room in Beijing, he shakes his head and laughs sarcastically.
“You know... you are the most stubborn son of a bitch I have ever met.” he says.
“I have been told that a few times, I guess. I don't think you understand my situation here. I can't...” John starts before Aaron cuts him off.
“Oh no... I DO understand... and I understand the difference between can't and WON'T!” he retorts.
“You do have a choice. You can take the time off, rest up... get better and then go back and fight for your Title. You don't have to go to France to fight them right now... you WANT to.” the Citizen says in a 'matter of fact' tone that is not lost on John.
Just as John is about to reply, the door bursts open with a crash and Dawn Astor flies into the room in whirlwind.
The Citizen and John turn to see her, and both men begin to mutter something, but Dawn holds her hand up in front of her with a shake of her head and a look on her face that sends both men's blood cool as ice. Both men's mouths snap shut instantly as they watch her stalk across the room, anticipating the worst.
Dawn makes her way across the floor, her heels clacking heavily as she stomps towards the bed, still shaking her head and staring daggers at John, helpless in his bed. He just looks on as she makes her way closer and closer, then reaches her hand out at his bedside, and strokes his cheek tenderly as she smiles at him.
“Are you OK? Like... seriously? What did the doctor's say?” she asks softly, genuine care in her words as John and the Citizen both take a deep sigh of relief.
She looks at John, and then to Aaron, and then back to John as her caring look turns to confusion... then to indignation all in a moment.
“OH... so you think that because the first thing I was concerned with was your well being that I'm not pissed off that no one called me to tell me you were in a hospital in China???” she growls at John before turning towards the Citizen with her death glare on full blast.
“Well there were...” Aaron starts to explain before she puts her back up in front of him to stop him dead in his tracks.
“I didn't ask if there were complications. I am sure there were... there always are with you guys. Either it's the Royal Family or some whack job fan in the parking lot... it goes with the territory of being in the camp... I get that. After EMTs had John on a stretcher headed for the ambulance, you should've had me on the phone. I could have been here this morning instead of tonight. I was worried sick. I am a part of this team... and if you can't at least call me and tell me John is hurt... then what am I doing here?” she rails them both with some scathing looks as she makes her case air tight.
“Now... what did the doctor say?” she asks as her face calms and she smiles at John, taking his hand in her own comfortingly.
“Concussion, some tearing in the knee, lots of bruising and I hurt. Otherwise, I am the picture of health” John jokes.
“How bad is the knee, really?” she asks plainly.
“It's not going to be a hundred percent for a while. I am going to have to keep it in the brace,and it needs some time to heal.” he answers truthfully.
“So, when are we leaving for France?” she looks at them both in turn, John smiling at Aaron and the Citizen shaking his head in disgust with them both.
* * *
So... Slater.
What kind of twisted bullshit story are you going to come up with to tell the world how I won by chance, or a fluke, or some other thing that demeans the achievement I unlocked by taking away your World Heavyweight Championship? What kind of crap is going to fly out of your mouth about how I still didn't prove anything, or how I still don't deserve it?
Are you going to post up your defense of your character solely on the fact that Alyce smashed your head in with the cage door while I was on the other side of the ring and it caused you to lose the match?
If that's the best you got kid, then hang it up now.
Go back and look at the last year of WGWF Television.
If you didn't see that one coming, then you're dumber than you look.
The whole world saw it coming... and it didn't stop me from tearing you apart inside that cage, and giving you everything I had to give.
You came with your game Tristan... and in the end, it wasn't enough.
I told you I was coming to China to take away your Title... and I did just that. Now... what are you going to do about it... that's the real question.
If I take my guess... you go after MDK instead of proving to the world my win was a fluke and facing me again.
That's the kind of man you are Tristan... you always have been, and you always will be.
It will never change with you, and I intend on making sure you never put your hands on the WGWF World Heavyweight Championship again, Slater.
See you on Monday.
* * *
The New Breed Foundation jet taxis down the runway, and lifts it's massive frame into the air as it flies off of the tarmac in Beijing and sets its sights on France to the West, flying higher and higher before disappearing into a glint of sunshine as the scene fades inside the plane, with John Cable, the Citizen, and Dawn Astor in the Board room of the upper floor.
The deep blue carpets and upholstered roller chairs were a nice contrast to the dark wood grain finish of the table and wall accents. The sheer white walls framed in dark wooden corners reflecting bright white halogen lights from the fixtures in the ceiling gave the room a crisply detailed glow.
“I still think we should just give you some time to rest up and then go after the Title again in a couple of months. You have been tearing your knee apart, and after the bloodbath in Beijing with Anarchy, I think you should take the advice you have given fighters for years for yourself. Take the time... the fight isn't going anywhere. It will be there tomorrow, and maybe you won't.” the Citizen says, sadness filling his words, knowing they're falling on deaf ears.
Ever since Dawn seemed to take his side in the matter, Aaron knew he was doomed. Her support was all John needed to justify his own decision. He had made his mind up already... and without her to convince him otherwise, he was going to be dead set on showing up in France no matter what.
“Look... I have already gone over this with you... at least a hundred times. I am not about to sit in a hospital bed in China while MDK runs all over Europe with MY Title and Tristan begs to get the first crack at the new Chump, OK? I'm not gonna do it.” he says through gritted teeth, hating that they are even still having this conversation.
“OK... I get that. I do. What I don't get is why you took the booking for Erik Josten on BRAWL? You want to show up and confront Tristan and MDK? Fine! You want to toss yourself around the ring with the two of them in a spontaneous triple threat for the World Heavyweight Championship... FINE! But why the hell do you want to take a match with Erik Josten in France for no reason? What possible motivation do you have for not taking the week off and just handling business as usual? WHY?” the Citizen pleads with them for answers.
“Because I need to help Erik. Something is going on with him, and he needs help. Erik was a Dream-A-Maniac... and the Dream-A-Maniacs are New Breed. Erik, Terry, Sebastian, the chicken... they are all New Breed because Sebastian is my brother... maybe not legally like us... but he is my brother. I need to help Erik... and I think Connolly is in way over his head on this one and Slater is going to fuck him over. He's gonna need someone to have his back when it matters, and it sure as hell ain't gonna be Tristan, and we all know it. Also, I need to be in France to confront MDK and Tristan about MY damned Title before they go splitting it up over weekends and holidays to appease the courts, OK? If that weren't enough reason to be in France... I'm pretty sure our friend Chris Dorling will want to have a chat with me. I would hate to miss that too... so really, I AM handling business as usual.” Cable answers plying at Aaron's loyalty to buy him some slack from the masked man.
“Besides, we already called ahead to a gym there in Paris, and we have a few of the Foundation Doctors on call when we land to come and check John out. It really is the best option all around Aaron. I know you're worried about him, but is it like he really has a choice?” Dawn pipes in.
“I get it... I do. I just think there has to be another way to handle all of this without putting John in the ring right now.” the Citizen says, exasperation with them both just crushing him.