Post by Lord Hastings on Oct 28, 2017 15:04:03 GMT -5
Forged from flame and crimson stone
In this deep hell I’m not alone
In my mind I hear the voices cry
I’ve made them a promise that your dream will die
Can you feel the fire?
Can you see the cities burn?
From the depths of hell I call your name
Can you feel the heat?
In this deep hell I’m not alone
In my mind I hear the voices cry
I’ve made them a promise that your dream will die
Can you feel the fire?
Can you see the cities burn?
From the depths of hell I call your name
Can you feel the heat?
Donovan sits in his locker room after Synergy, looking at his half of the Cooperative Championship in his hands.
Voice: Another for your collection?
Donovan looks up to see Phrixus Deimos leaning on the wall.
Hastings: Another championship, yes. I wonder if you remember what that is like.
Deimos: Not what I meant.
Donovan snorts.
Hastings: Tell me then, “Fear,” what do I collect?
Deimos: People.
Hastings: People?
Deimos: Partners.
Hastings: Sure, let’s go down this rabbit hole.
Deimos: You have had a number of championship partners over the years. Somers. Roberts. Dredd. Rydell. Now, Zane Scott.
Hastings: You make it sound like I did it all on purpose.
Deimos: You forget with whom you speak. Everything you do is on purpose.
Hastings: I got partnered with Dredd because Cypress was too drunk to make a real card, and I got stuck with Rydell because of a fan vote. You actually chose to team with Pierce that time.
Deimos: You endeavor to fill a void.
Hastings: Don’t you have anywhere to be?
Deimos: All of them, simply filling a void.
Hastings: You think I tried to fill the void of Travis with Dave Rydell.
Deimos: That argument could be made, considering your relationship with Wallace a year ago at this time, your budding relationship with Zane Scott at present. But no, you tried to fill a void with Roberts, and you failed. Travis Roberts, who has abandoned you time and again, where is he now?
Hastings: And what void am I trying to fill?
Deimos slowly smiles.
Hastings: And people think I’m self-absorbed.
Deimos: I took you under my wing all those years ago in LWF because I saw potential in you, and it is true that you have gone on to achieve great things, but you have faded, perhaps as I have faded. You made your move earlier this year, but it was all sound and fury, significant of nothing. Is there a fire left for us, you and I? Or are we simply dust in-
Hastings: I’m going to make this simple. I’m going to turn around now and finishing packing up my gear. When I turn back around, you’re not going to be here. You’re going back to wherever you go when you’re not here, which is going to be anywhere that isn’t where you can bother me.
Deimos actually chuckles.
Deimos: Go ahead. Attach a silly consequence to that. Perhaps you can poke me and call it a leg lariat.
Donovan stands and positions himself directly in front of Deimos, staring at him.
Hastings: The pain I owe you is a debt that could never be paid in full.
Deimos: Ever theatrical and dramatic. I wonder where you learned it from.
Deimos gives a mocking half bow before he slinks back into the shadows.
Deimos: My lord.
Larry walks through the hallways of the Dungeon of Pain and Paradox, whistling a tune to himself as he reads something that he holds in his hand.
Suddenly the sprinklers in the ceiling switch on, soaking him. He stares up at them, and fire extinguishers activate on either side of him, dousing him as he slips and tumbles on the ground.
A neon sign begins flashing on the wall, which reads: “CLEANSE THE PLAGUE!”
JK sits at his desk in the trainer’s room as Donovan barges in.
Hastings: There you are!
JK: I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here! What can I help you with?
Hastings: It’s an emergency.
JK jumps to his feet and grabs his to-go bag.
JK: What happened?
Hastings: Well, the celebration started small. We were having Oreos and Hostess Cupcakes, that segued into a Cheese Whiz fight, and then I had Owen soak up the floors and we used them as a giant Slip and Slide. We had a celebration cake, but I figured it would mean more if it was a celebratory volcano, so I had it made out of meat loaf and it shot out nacho cheese.
JK: Hold on.
Hastings: To top it all off, I had gotten Zane a celebratory chicken, and when I ordered it I asked for a gaggle, because I thought Owen said that made them extra delicious, but now we just have a shit ton of chickens clucking about, and they keep slipping on the soap.
JK: How is any of this an emergency?
Hastings: Our locker room is a mess, obviously. I need it cleaned up.
JK: What does that have to do with me?
Hastings: You’re the janitor.
JK: I’m the janitor?
Hastings: Sorry, I suppose “custodian” is the proper term now, isn’t it? Everybody is such a sensitive dolt these days, aren’t they? If you want to be a snowflake, you’re going to find you melt pretty fast.
JK: I’m not the janitor OR the custodian.
Hastings: I think the terms are interchangeable, really.
JK: Whatever, not my job.
Hastings: You took over for Jason Ingalls, didn’t you?
JK: This used to be position, yes.
Hastings: So you’re the janitor.
JK: He wasn’t the janitor!
Donovan frowns.
Hastings: I think you’re confused.
JK: Listen, if I’m the janitor, what am I doing in the trainer’s room?
Hastings: This is UGWC. I’m sure it’s a regular dumpster fire back here after shows. Somebody’s got to clean all the blood up.
JK: I’m here here BECAUSE I’M THE HEAD TRAINER!
Hastings: They let a janitor be the head trainer now?
Donovan shakes his head and mutters to himself as he leaves.
Hastings: This place is going to hell in a handbasket under Hans…
The time has come for the world to burn
This time you’re all gonna learn
The countless slain scream out in searing pain
Their souls and their ashes are all that remain!
Can you feel my heat?
This is the breakdown.
Can you feel my heat?
Apocalyptic meltdown.
This time you’re all gonna learn
The countless slain scream out in searing pain
Their souls and their ashes are all that remain!
Can you feel my heat?
This is the breakdown.
Can you feel my heat?
Apocalyptic meltdown.
Donovan is stretched out on a couch in his living room, staring up at the ceiling. Owen strolls casually into the room and hesitates when he sees Donovan.
Hastings: Where have you been?
Peterson: Sorry, it was karaoke night.
Donovan reaches back and points at a chair positioned a few feet away, with a clipboard on a table next to it. Owen takes the cue and has a seat in the chair, and he picks up the clipboard and looks at the paper on it.
Peterson: Is this a Sudoku puzzle?
Hastings: I imagine that’s what they do.
Peterson: Who?
Hastings: The people that sit over there.
Peterson: Right. Okay. So, uh, how was your day?
Hastings: Not too bad. The twins apparently learned how to stop, drop, and roll at nursery school today. They showed me a few times before they went to bed.
Peterson: That’s cute.
Hastings: It was. Never would have thought I’d find something like that so fascinating.
Owen studies the paper on the clipboard.
Peterson: I think this is actually a Kakuro…
Hastings: You know that this is what Baal did, back when he wasn’t leading some bizarre cult, or systemically destabilizing and undermining a group from within, or just ruining the lives and careers of people? He talked to people on couches?
Peterson: When you say ruining people’s lives, you mean-
Hastings: I mean when Rogan MacLean was poised to be the next big thing, and then he got tangled up with Gabriel Baal and quickly became an afterthought and a footnote. I mean when a new faction made a power grab and tried to present themselves as a relentless machine, a solid unit, except for Gabriel Baal, who made certain to have a special entrance every Pay-Per-View because of his need to have the spotlight focused on himself. I mean when Lucy Wylde allowed herself to get involved with Gabriel Baal, and now her marriage is over. Gabriel Baal destroys everything he touches, a walking kiss of death for anybody he gets involved with.
Peterson: Somebody is a little fired up.
Hastings: You’re damned right.
He sits up, moving his legs off the couch.
Hastings: This year UGWC has been forced to endure a string of mediocre, undeserving, or otherwise disappointing champions at the top. Mil Vidas. Eden Morgan. Gabriel Baal. Now, Rogan MacLean. And it’s my fault, all of it. I’ve allowed this to happen, and now UGWC needs me to save it.
Peterson: How do you intend to do that?
Hastings: I’m going to win Battleground.
Larry is on his hands and knees in the hallway of the Dungeon of Pain and Paradox. He has a lit candle attached to a lengthy pole, and he slowly extends it ahead in the hallway, cautiously and ever, ever so gently.
Nothing happens.
Owen Peterson walks past, stopping a moment to watch Larry, and he shrugs and continues on his way.
Larry watches him walk down the hallway, and he stares at the candle for a few moments before retracting the pole and putting the candle out. He stands up and walks ahead.
The fire extinguisher trap immediately goes off and douses him.
Donovan and Zane sit together watching the doused Larry flail on a monitor, and they share a hearty laugh. Donovan actually leans on Zane for support for a moment, and Zane wipes a tear from his eye.
Zane: I must admit, I am enjoying this.
Hastings: Of course you are. I have to say, your manservant is no true Owen.
Zane: He has his uses.
Hastings: He does, we’re looking at one now.
Zane: Look, look, he’s going to bite it.
On the monitor, Larry slips on the foam and falls flat on his back.
The duo laugh again, and as the laughter subsides they sit for a few moments in silence.
Hastings: So...we’re sitting here like a couple of regular fellas, I mean, you do what you do, I do what I gotta do...if I’m there, at Battleground...it comes down to us, and I got to put you away...I won’t like it, but if it’s between you, and my dream at Horizons, brother...you are going down.
Zane purses his lips and nods.
Zane: What if you do got me boxed in, and I got to put you down? Now that we sit here face to face, I would not feel good about that. But I won’t hesitate. Not for a second.
They stare at each other for several seconds, and Donovan extends his hand.
Zane shakes it.
You are the hero
I am the fire
This is the meltdown
Of your desire
Your fight for justice turns to ashes, Vain.
I am the fire
This is the meltdown
Of your desire
Your fight for justice turns to ashes, Vain.