Can't Stop the Top

[Jet Somers]

"This came for you," Sherry steps into the office that Jet keeps. He's seated at his desk, paperback novels stacked on the desk all around him. On the mounted television across the room, the Creepshow sequence "The Lonely Death of Jordy Verrill" plays, with Jordy himself having just awoken to find himself growing a beard of weeds.



Sherry grimaces and hands Jet the envelope, which he takes absently with a muttered thanks. She leans down and kisses the top of his head, knowing that he is engrossed in preparations, and retreats from the office so as not to bother him.



Some time later, as a horror chord in the film signals a swarm of cockroaches erupting from the corpse of Upson Pratt to completely envelop his panic room, Jet is jarred from his reverie, and notices the letter again.



Curious, he reaches for it, removing the folded paper and fattening it on the desk.

Jet,  

I regret to have to bid you farewell in this way. Believe that every good sentiment is behind my words when I say that you deserve better than this. 

In the short time we've come to be acquainted, you've done something that few men could claim, and gained the respect that I could only pay toward a brother, if I had one. The list of people I trust rarely has more than two or three names upon it, but yours is there engraved from this day forward. 

I feel that I needn't explain why. You know well the times you've stuck your neck out and defended my honor, and enumerating the your more tolerable qualities would only swell your head beyond your mane's ability to cover it. I don't look to have an excuse to return stateside anytime soon, so I must do my part to keep your ego in check lest I'm forced to make a special trip in order to humble you again. 

I began this missive by referring to your deserving of better things, and if you'll hear me out without feeling that defensive rage swell inside you whenever someone disparages your closest friend, perhaps my words will come across as the real concern of a true friend, and not that of a bitter, scorned fool. 

You have a beautiful thing with Sherry, and I hope you cling tightly to her with everything you've got. Make your life about her, because it's obvious that hers is about you. That's something rare in this world of selfishness. The two of you have a future together that shines with delirious contentment, but you'll never reach it if you don't remove the poisons in your life. 

It isn't lost on me that what I'm about to say is to a man who at one time was disgusted with the business he now dominates, but if you hope to live out the rest of your life comfortable and happy, you need to find the expiration date for your career. The whole industry is toxic, and will corrode any good thing that comes in contact with it. It erodes better men than we, until they are no longer people, but empty images of who they were once proud to be. I would reference Alan Wallace here, but that might well be sour grapes, and you and I both know that Killian King doesn't eat grapes that aren't seedless, sweet, and peeled by Pacific Island girls. 

Secondly, and perhaps most importanty, I would advise you to get away from Eden Morgan. 

Assuming you didn't crumple the paper and toss it in the bin after that last sentence, then I hope this one last thing will stick with you. 

You are intelligent enough through all your experience building, and sometimes destroying, professional relationships to know when the time is right to strike back out on your own again and leave behind what was once beneficial to your next rise to the top. What I fear you don't see--or perhaps choose not to see--is that she is destined to infect everything she touches, until it sickens, withers, and dissolves. I don't pretend to know how you've remained her most steady defender, perhaps it's because you, unlike everyone else in the world, are unable to fall in love with her. In a way, that's even more tragic. Everyone expects the mantis to eat her mate, but when she kills indiscriminately without benefit to the propogation of the species... 

Eden Morgan cannot feel happiness, therefore she chooses to deprive herself of it. You both understand what you are to one another, and I don't mean the best of friends. You know the effects your closeness has, what always winds up the result. She is content with this, Jet, beacuse it ensures that she remains perpetually in a state in which melancholy and disaster are always poised in the shadows. Is this also the life you envision for yourself and Sherry? 

Cut the cord, Jet. If there were every any sincere and heartfelt advice I could give you, that would be it.  

You deserve better. 

Yours, 

Killian King 

__________

__________

I'm the one on top, I'm the one who writes history, yeah 

You can't stop the rhythm of victory 

And I can feel it all around me 

Give it all you got, the machine it keeps moving, yeah  

Breaking down, while I get down 

You can't stop losing, and I can't stop grooving 

__________ 

Christine - 1983 

12th Level - 23rd Room

Beautiful and dangerous, but, to be honest, kind of hokey. Woe to the careless lover who disrespects your autonomy, or worse, leaves you jilted.  

In short order we've observed more than one man abuse the delicate curves and lines of your passion, and watched as you destroyed yourself as if you'd earned the chemical punishment you were inducing. Behold, however, as your dents and scratches readily repair themselves, month after month, leaving you more than ready for the next attack. 

You're not quite believable, are you? The whole premise smacks of ridiculous suspension of disbelief. You can be unbelievably crushed by an editorial featuring your parents, the revelation of your past hitting you like a two ton bulldozer, but still find yourself fit enough to play mentor-slash-love interest for the next fighter who validates you with attention. You're talented and capable enough in the ring that you've already built a lasting legacy with your Cross Hemisphere Championship reigns, yet naive enough to find yourself hooked time and time again by casual Twitter jabs.  

There's a dichotomy to you that's almost frustrating. Here we see a young, gifted competitor who already can stand toe to toe with anyone in the business, but get her near a microphone, camera, or social media outlet outside the ring, and you'd swear she suffered from histrionic personality disorder. How many times have we heard that you don't care what any of us think of you, but you're thrown entirely out of sorts by the ramifications of a tell-all article featuring your family history? 

Lucy Wylde would have us view her as an aloof and dangerous loner, but her actions and reactions when it comes to image, love, acceptance... she's the neediest person on the roster. 

You don't want a World Champion who is needy, feeding on your adoration while she has it, but barreling down on you like a flaming 1957 Plymouth Fury the moment you aren't worshiping her. 

__________

Spinning round me 

Things are finally happening 

Step up to me 

This dance fight will be legendary 

__________ 

The Running Man - 1987

26th Level - 19th Room

How tragic the case of Ben Richards. A sick massacre pinned on an intelligent and skilled officer. How can he clear his name of the stigma the world attaches to it? Why, by sickly massacring everyone who gets in his way, of course. 

This is the great conundrum of your career. You can't come to terms with who you are. You're drowning in irony. No one, no one see's you as the belligerent, mindless meathead. But you're consumed by the fear that this is the exact image everyone paints over you. That's not the saddest part, though. No, the heartbreaking thing is watching you puff yourself up with importance, a false sense of intellectual superiority. 'Watch me as I smugly rebuff their insults, secure in my own cleverness.' Meanwhile, the world is guffawing uncontrollably at how dense you can be.  

Dense... not stupid.  

The surprising thing about Ben Richards, of course, is that despite proving he wasn't what the world portrayed him as, he did fit another bill. He was capable of great acts of remorseless violence. And you? You're is capable of being the perfect soldier.  

Dammit, Zane. You should be here with us. You've fought alongside and with us for years, you've earned your legacy. Enforcer for the Creative Director? Straight man for the world champion that had to put his career on the line just to prove he still had it... only to walk away? No, you have all the tools to lead this company, man, but you've got to get past yourself first. And then Eden. And then the rest of The Court. 

Zane Scott would have you believe that he sits on a throne of dominance, but the truth is, he sits at the right hand of a farce.  

You don't want a World Champion who is false and can't lead, who is content to fulfill a subservient role beneath his station, because that's the definition of a paper champion there to serve the purposes of the office.  

__________

Their chances are thinning 

I dodge bullets when I'm spinning 

New plans are just beginning 

I've hit the top! 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing  

Don't shoot me when I'm dancing 

Can't stop the top 

__________

Maximum Overdrive - 1986

18th Level - 13th Room

How odd it was to float in the strangeness of your wake? The world as we knew it changed, for a time, but soon we passed out of your tail, and all returned to normal. 

We watched the rise of the machine, the betrayal of that which we had created--this very company--turned against us. It was meant to be the end of my kind, but my kind doesn't go so easily. 

You set the Rhea-M into motion, Rogan. You've made it very clear that you're to blame for the invasion of the Engine of Chaos, for inspiring the influx of talent that even now refuses to pay respect for those of us who laid the groundwork for their opportunities here. Thank you for that. You've given us a reason to prove The Court is the convenient Russian weather satellite that just so happened to be equipped with Class IV nuclear missiles and a laser cannon. 

Thanks for the laser cannon, by the way. He's proven very handy during this endeavor. 

Here's the thing, Rogan. We run toward crises. It doesn't matter how much force you bring to bear to threaten our existence, we'll continue to escalate further and further until that threat is neutralized. This is our world, and we'll defend it until we're dead.  

I know you're trying really hard to prove this wrong lately, but when it comes to escalation, you have a terrible tendency to step quietly out of the headlights. I'm not accusing you of being afraid, don't misunderstand me. You've put yourself in enough situations, stood against enough challenges, and taken enough risks to prove that you're no coward.  

Now that the rest of your brood have abandoned your cause, and Gabriel shot your Western Star out of the sky, right through his grinning green goblin face, you're trying to pick up the pieces left behind and assemble them into something vaguely resembling the war machine you marched against us before. 

Rogan MacLean would have you believe that he is a mastermind man in black, capable of assembling and disassembling his Dead Hand at will, but in reality, he's simply a pragmatist, only capable of championing his allies and cause for as long as the resistance doesn't mount too powerfully against him. 

You don't want a World Champion who is a pragmatist, when what serves his purposes is enough to represent the best interests of this industry one day, and enough to want to burn it down the next. 

__________

How am I gonna lose when I'm rocking all the skill? Yeah 

You can fight these cats till you get your fill 

When I get my turn, these moves, they're gonna kill 

We've hit the town, spin up the devastation, yeah  

It's time to crown the new robot nation 

So get on with your blasting, 'cause I can't stop dancing! 

__________ 

Cat's Eye - 1985

1st Level - 23rd Room

Look at this master of disproportionate retribution. This hero of the people, dashing and witty, with a sly tongue to unleash the lashes he deems you deserving of. He's no hero, oh no. He's the worst kind of the villain, one who denies the very stain of iniquity that the rest of us can see like a badge.

  

Cressner is beloved by his employees and followers. He has to be, he demands it. You'd be hard pressed to find a more exciting party, or a more generous host, than to tag along in his wake. Always a consummate entertainer, the man will bet on anything that presents itself to his passing fancy. He prides himself on never welshing on a bet... but defeating him gets you the monkey's paw as a prize. 

You sure give a grand speech, don't you? You're everything people want in a champion. Good looking, charismatic, funny, you get to know every single competitor by rote, and can easily rattle off their histories, accomplishments, and connections. You are just as quick to illuminate their weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. You entice our schadenfreude by forcing your opponents to swallow the bitter honest about themselves, and we love every minute of it.  

But behind that winning exterior is a bitter, sore loser. 

I bet you expected me to give you some hell about being past your prime, didn't you? Honestly, the only reason anyone says that is because it's hilarious to hear you rattle off the same list of accomplishments over and over again to try and prove them wrong. It's time for some new material, Alan. But... you haven't earned any new material lately, have you? 

Yeah, it's all a great time with Alan Wallace: best friend, brother, partner. But you cross him once, get the better of him, make him look bad even a little, and the real Alan Wallace comes out.  

Cressner discovers Johnny Norris is sleeping with his wife, so he bets him he can't walk around the perimeter ledge of the skyscraper penthouse. Cressner's prize, of course, would be Norris' death. Norris' reward is that Cressnar will give him his wife. Norris accepts the wager, and completes the breathtaking walk around the edge, only to receive his prize when he re-enters the penthouse: Mrs. Cressner's head. 

What happens if you catch a whim to challenge a career-long best friend, and someone else defends him? You cripple her. What happens if your brother and partner, who can see the pitiful shell you've slipped into since your greatest loss, sacrifices his own goodwill and credibility to give you a new career defining moment? Yes, you cripple him, too.  

Alan Wallace would have you believe he's the people's choice for the most deserving and wholesome champion possible, but can you really forget the time he nearly murdered Martin Graber by drowning him during a match? 

You don't want a World Champion who wears a veneer of righteousness and philanthropy, but is as likely as not to maim the next challenger who is able to best him on a given night, stealing another bright talent from a dwindling roster. 

__________

Spinning round me 

Things are finally happening 

Step up to me 

This dance fight will be legendary 

__________

Cujo - 1983

4th Level - 18th Room

See this vicious dog of war, one who we should shower with respect and adoration, caring for him as he has given his life to serve. How can we be repulsed, disgusted, ashamed of him?  

Oh, Dave, a true American hero. In the old days, a man of you valor would have been showered with lands, holdings, bannermen, titles, riches, and married off to some young, hot princess to secure your loyalty beyond the days of warring. It sickens me how our soldiers are treated as tools instead of heroes in this modern era.  

Of course, it was your dogged, incessant chasing of a dream you once lived in this industry that led the business to sink it's poisoned teeth into you. You should have retired to some peaceful farm when your service to both careers had ended. 

It's distressing to see you foaming at the mouth, overcome by your instinctive rage, as you throw yourself headlong against barriers you simply can't break and toward enemies you can't touch.  

I know, Dave, I know. You've had some victories, but you were so crazed with bloodlust you failed to recognize your victims for their state of weakness. Congratulations on putting down Alan Wallace when he was dehydrated for attention and starving for relevance. 

Dave Rydell would have you believe he has always been the purest, most honorable fighter here, but he's a broken and dangerous dog that should be put down. Mostly dangerous to himself. 

You don't need a World Champion who is out of control. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect him to one day finally win the championship, and immediately seek out the biggest threat to his life to prove he's worthy of defending it. Do you really want to watch Dave Rydell impale himself on his own misplaced sense of pride? 

__________

Their chances are thinning 

I dodge bullets when I'm spinning 

New plans are just beginning 

I've hit the top! 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing  

Don't shoot me when I'm dancing 

__________

 

__________

The Shining - 1980

7th Level - 2nd Room

All work and no play makes him a dull boy. If he can control the chaos on which he cut his teeth, he'll control everything. 

Between the three of us, which has the most "red rum" on their hands? Some would argue that you’re the most twisted out of this group, simply because the lives you’ve taken were done with the surgical detachment of a businessman. We’ve learned better than that, haven’t we? 

You might say we’re guilty of punishing or sacrificing what we love to our goals. You? Your entire path to the goals is carved in stone, and if anyone you care for should jeopardize that, you won’t hesitate to… correct them. 

While the two of us wander the skeleton of the Overlook, you alone have already embraced it, become part of it, and intend to use what you've learned there to bring the whole world to heel. You were personally acquainted with the very spirit of chaos, and now you've made it your vicious living topiary, merely a decoration in your well-kept estate. It remains quiet and poised, but what about when you need it to strike? 

You've come a long way toward getting me to think it over, and you've been very accommodating to the singular needs that the people I care about have. We have miles to go in this hedge maze of a partnership we've set up, Gabriel, but I can't help but continue to keep my eye on the Snowcat, praying for your sake and mine that you don't strand us here, isolated in a delusion you've created. In the meantime, as long as you continue to show the side of yourself I've come to respect... come play with us, Gabriel. 

Gabriel Baal would have you believe he spent all that time immersed in chaos in order to learn how to stamp it out, but what he doesn't often admit is that he is still the Engine of Cruelty in full control of his chaos. I feel sorry for the person he turns that focus on. 

You may not think you want someone this powerful as your World Champion, but I think you'd find that Gabriel is a perfect balance of the ambition and skill needed to command the top seat at the table. Where you see a lunatic, I see a mastermind who perfectly understands every room in the vast hotel of his mind, even if he occasionally entertains guests there who can be monsters. 

__________

Now, I've been told I can cut a rug, but tonight it's gonna bleed 

Tonight, it's gonna bleed 

Let's make it bleed 

Make it bleed! 

Tonight, it's gonna bleed! 

__________

Firestarter - 1984

5th Level - 13th Room

How they wish they could harness your limitless power! As if your ruthlessness could be honed into a weapon that any of them could hold. 

There's an entire Shop of men and women who have sought to manipulate every aspect of your life and career since your fiery mind was first revealed. As deadly as you are beautiful, they each assume they are the singular force to bring you to heel. 

What's sad is the desperation revealed when they think they're close enough to close the trap. It's heartbreaking how many of them believe they're incomplete without your sponsorship. Whether they fall head over heels for you, or, inevitably, wind up turning sour toward you, the end result is always the same, and they revert to primitive manhood; anything they can't fuck they intend to kill. 

That's when the paradox of your power is really put on display. The casual observer, even after half a decade of watching you work, still sees you as a fragile child in this world. A petulant pupil begging for instruction, if not a submissive paramour. The longer time goes on, the more cracks they see form in your surface, and the easier they think they can flatter your cooperation with wheedling praise and pseudo-respect.  

They miss the entire core of who you are. That damaged face hides an unbreakable and uncompromising center that is more powerful than any spirit I've come across since I've been doing this.  

Eden Morgan would have you believe she's an emotionally unstable victim incapable of forming the one personal bond that will finally leave her in happiness, but that's only because she's marked you as the next sucker, and you won't realize you're in the web until she's wrapped her silk around you. 

You may think you don't want a black widow as your World Champion, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better leader to guide us through this convoluted, gossamer network than the queen spider herself. 

__________

Spinning round me 

Things are finally happening 

Step up to me 

This dance fight will be legendary 

__________

The Dead Zone - 1983

10th Level - 19th Room

The majority of you would try to use the tragedies I’ve been through as ammunition against me. You relish in reminding me of the friends and family I’ve failed, hurt, betrayed, and destroyed. You see me as a selfish corrupter of people’s trust, manipulating those who are foolish enough to hitch their fates to my own and then disposing of them when an impossibly convoluted plot seems to serve my interests better. 

Another portion of you see my legacy of cooperation and association with others as a testament to my inability to find success without relying on the support of people to whom you assume I give my deference. Where I find motivation and contentment combining my talents with those I respect, you see a crutch. 

I have a gift for playing the Wild Card, not because anything could happen, but because I intuitively know what to expect no matter who I touch. This makes me a boon to anyone who has the foresight to throw their fortunes in with mine. It is only by ignoring or denying my vision that these alliances are met with disaster.  

Once in a while, fate gives me a window of time through which I can change this company for the better. When people watch my decisions, the actions I take, they are baffled by the path I choose. After all this time, they don't have enough faith in me to believe I know what I'm doing, that I am one of the few who knows what course this ship should take, despite steering it away from the rocks on more than one occasion. 

UGWC is facing a very challenging period. We've managed to survive the plague of chaos, and we've abolished the majority of invaders who breached our shores last year. I went to the front lines once again at Horizons, that event's most consistent fighter, and painfully cut another measure of dead weight anchoring us to stagnation. But as we move forward, my unique vision foresees a year of atrocity and narcissistic self indulgence in our new Creative Director. Would you, being given the knowledge of the atrocities of some future dictator, eliminate him before he can come to power? If it was in your power, you'd have no choice but to destroy him. 

I would have you believe the track record I've left behind, and remember the easily researched history of this company to find the evidence of the integral role I have always played here. But I also know that it takes a nearly impossible measure of trust for you to look the other way from the more questionable tactics I must resort to from time to time in order to accomplish the things UGWC needs from me, whether she knows it or not. 

You want Jet Somers as your World Champion. I am the defender of this company's legacy and the protector of her future. I alone know what's best for her and all of you, even if you don't. 

__________

Their chances are thinning 

I dodge bullets when I'm spinning 

New plans are just beginning 

I've hit the top! 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing 

Don't shoot me, I'm dancing  

Don't shoot me when I'm dancing 

Can't stop the top  

You can't stop it 

[Zane]

That was fun. You always come up with creative approaches and this one is no different. Using well known films as symbolic representations of your opponents was a really cool approach. Admittedly I don't completely get the "Level/Room" thing and I'm going to have to read this again to see if I can pick it up a little more clearly. Also, I loved the letter from Killian because I think it described Eden perfectly and highlights the possible outcomes for Jet.

Your movie character comparisons for each person he's facing were excellent. I enjoyed them.

I enjoyed his "damning with faint praise" approach to Zane as I think they have a bit of a complicated relationship at this point. (Aside from being enemies at the moment). I think his perspective about Zane as a follower is wrong at its core (that's the "damning" part of it), but he's hardly the only one who thinks that and it shows me that I have more work to go to add depth to Zane as a character and I enjoy that challenge.

You've knocked it out again. Excellent work and good luck.

[cooltubesource]

This piece is a great example about why I have not only enjoyed my time here but have also pushed for my friends to come here. This is innovative and creative and a lot of fun to read. ANYONE can just write a shoot, but you show why this place is awesome with the movie comparisons. And on a personal note, I need to make sure that Kenzi reads this. We like to talk about King books and movies and their variety of success going between the mediums.

[Eden Morgan]

I really enjoyed this and how you managed to put this much detail and thought it without it getting mired down I’ll never understand. We see the final in the trio of letters, and I think together they now tell a full story for Killian and the rest of the Court and how they operate together.

Your choices for everyone involved were spot on, and If there was any question, that was allayed as you systematically and efficiently ticked off why each movie applied to the opponents.

Fantastic work, and good luck!

[Gabriel Baal]

This is why I enjoy working with you so much - I've watched you building to this from the first week we returned. The 80's movies were your idea from day one and whilst Britt and I fialed to find a comfortable way to build it in to our work every week, you committed with aplomb.

Your choices were on point and your descriptions were fantastic. You managed to create a visual that made your opponents seem incredibly real using imagary that we're so familiar with as concerns the movies.

I love seeing you work and working with you - and it's certainly helped me to up my game.

[Rogan MacLean]

Great work, B. I know you were eager for me to read this last night, and I managed to get a start on it. But I was really able to focus on it this morning, and I thought it was fun as hell to read. I loved all the references (my personal favorite was Gabriel Baal and the overlook comparison). I'll miss working with you as an ally, and I truly enjoyed the brief time Rogan and Jet spent as co-op champs, but I imagine we'll get to work together as enemies, which will probably be just as much fun. This was one of those pieces where I read it and thought "man, I wish I would have come up with something like this. This is great stuff." Just a fantastic job, B. Great work and best of luck to you.

[Lord Hastings]

Another fun concept from the mind of B. My original thoughts for Jet were either "Walk Away From Light" or "Harder Than Steel" (the latter being reflective of how he might view himself, the former reflective of his choices over the past year or so) and instead you took a song that I thought wouldn't be used by anybody and ran with it.

The letter from Killian is an interesting story beat, eager to see where it leads.

Also, nice to see you've sorted out the spacing issues that you sometimes have. They drive me nuts lol.

[Dave Rydell]

Fantastic song choice. Very fitting for the mission Jet is on. And of course, you didn’t disappoint. As a man going after the prize he just lost, the determination and drive is always still there.