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Topics - Damon Synn

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Supercard Archives / Synn's City
« on: February 18, 2012, 11:49:55 AM »
 
“Synn’s City”
February 12th, 2012
Just After Camera-Down


Synn lay in darkness. The chair had turned him around, but the repeated blows he wasn’t ready for. He went down after a lucky shot to the chin rattled his jaw together, causing the lights to go out instantly for him. Lying in darkness, Synn felt nothing. He knew what had happened, and he knew why it’d happened; dominance has its price. He was three-and-oh here, and undefeated throughout his career. If you fight that long, that hard, and are that successful, you make enemies. He also knew he should be mad. But here, in this dark purgatory of unconsciousness, he didn’t much care.

Every now and then, he felt a bump, and saw it like thunder. It felt miles off yet, but he was vaguely aware that it was probably a continual series of punches and kicks being rained down on him. He did not care. His body had been through hell and back again, and nothing those three could do to him would come close to what he’d been through already. He’d still be roughly in one piece when he pulled out of this. The question was, how should he handle them?

A huge clap of thunder followed a jolt of lightening the slit the sky in two. In that flash of light, he realized he was standing not in a ring, but on a rocky desert. There were outcroppings of an orange stone all over the place, rising out of the ground like stony fingers. Despite the color of the rocks, everything had a washed-out grainy sort of look. It was like looking at very old color film. The sky was a dark, midnight blue, and Synn wondered, here in the desert, under the dim, starless sky, how he’d arrived at this destination. He understood it to be in his subconscious (or, he amended mentally, perhaps his unconscious, as he was currently lying flat in the ring) but it wasn’t a place he remembered having ever been. Usually when he lapsed into a delusion like this, it was an old house, or an apartment, a jail cell; something he’d had experiences with. Nothing like this arid desert under such an… alien feeling sky.

The lightening returned. There was a jolt of brightness, but instead of it fizzling out with thunder, the bright light stayed. Synn looked around, and realized that it was raining in slow motion. The lightening, too, was so slow it appeared to be almost still. As it sluggishly rolled across the sky, Synn felt his stomach sink when he realized what it was illuminating.

There was one spot on the desert that was dry as bone. The muddy dust wasn’t orange, like the rest of the sand, but a dark, ugly brown. It supported two tiny black rainboots that led up to a pair of enormous, bulbously sausage-like legs which were covered at the thigh by a bright yellow rain jacket. Synn’s eyes didn’t want to reach the face, but he knew it couldn’t be helped. The Voice was in control now. Synn’s eyes lifted slowly to see the rotting, bulbous face of a corpse with sickeningly yellow teeth grinning out at Synn. This man’s eyes were the only thing untouched by rot; they were a steely blue that matched Synn’s in intensity. Below this corpse’s flesh was a creature of unfathomable power. To it, Synn was nothing more than a rag doll. The corpse licked it’s lips, the tongue nearly falling off, just held on by a few strings of skin and a clump on congealed blood. It spoke to Synn inside his head.

THE VOICE
“Ah, I figured you’d end up here, boy.”


The Voice’s voice was like listening to somebody suck snot through a straw, but forming words instead of an awful slurping sound. Several maggots wriggled through The Voice’s teeth, though he was just mouthing the words wordlessly as they appeared inside Synn’s head. The Voice, Synn knew, was part of his mind. He wasn’t real, at least not anymore.

THE VOICE
“You always were a loser, and I knew you’d end up here eventually. You’re getting the shit kicked out of you now, boy. How does that feel?”


Synn lowered his gaze. The Voice’s body, though that of a corpse, had a magnetic property to it; similar to a train wreck, you just couldn’t look away. Synn’s shame at having failed fought with this magnetism, but The Voice won eventually. He always did. Synn looked up at that horrible creature, and noticed that the light was brighter. The rain was still falling in slow motion.

DAMON SYNN
“I haven’t lost—”


THE VOICE
“BULLSHIT!”


Maggots, cockroaches, and scarabs poured out of the corpse’s mouth as these words slapped Synn in a way that no human being ever could. It made him feel dirty, and his skin crawled. The light was brighter than ever, and Synn had to squint to see the Voice. The raindrops caught the light of the slow-motion lightening, and shone like diamonds.

THE VOICE
“You’ve killed before. You were a soldier once, boy. A hell of a soldier. Just like your daddy, and we all know those instincts don’t go away. You’re just getting lazy. fucking pathetic.”


Synn knew this to be true. Where formerly he’d experience such rage when he’d seen, heard, or felt The Voice’s presence, he only felt angry at himself. The Voice was right, and a slurping sound, like human fat being boiled, signaled that The Voice was laughing at him.

THE VOICE
“You never even let someone hit you when you were in Blackwater, boy. You never did, and you never ought to again! These two guys couldn’t beat you on their own on his best day and your worst, so of course this should not be a relevant problem. You hear me boy?”


Synn nodded his head. He did hear him. For the first time in a long time, the psychotic delusion was making a measure of sense. Nick Jones and Kain were nothing; Synn would beat them a hundred out of a hundred times. Synn knew his opponents probably possessed an edge that he had never seen in an opponent before. They probably thought they were better than Synn. They would show no fear, and nothing pissed Synn off more then somebody failing to fear him. That was usually a fatal mistake.

THE VOICE
“I SAID DO YOU HEAR ME BOY?”


The Voice’s yell sounded like a dog being dragged through a wood chipper. Synn flinched, but felt that little spark of anger explode into a full-blown inferno of rage. Synn felt his fists ball, and the light suddenly grew dimmer.

DAMON SYNN
“Yes..I… I understand. I fucking…I FUCKING UNDERSTAND!”


His mind was fading to black, but the Voice kept laughing that maniac laugh that sounded like he was sucking in sewage. Synn didn’t realize it, but he was laughing now too. He was laughing right alongside his own imagination, not because anything was funny, but because everything was serious. He laughed at how in over their heads his three opponents would most likely wade. He laughed at how broken Nick Jones and Kain would be in eleven days. He laughed, because the whole world would cry.

Meanwhile, in the ring that Synn had been brutally assaulted on, right after the cameras have faded out….

JASON ADAMS
“Wow, thank god the other wrestlers have left the ring. Synn’s down, he’s hurt bad!”


And true to his word, Synn was bleeding from the head, under the eye, behind the skull right where the skull meets the neck, his nose seemed broken, and he had a few cuts that bled freely on his arms from where he’d covered up. It had been a brutal assault, one that a normal man might not survive and even somebody with the seemingly godly resistance to damage like Synn might not pull through.

BELINDA SIMONE
“Aw, man I love to see a beat down but that was just too much. Those numbers on one, and with that ferocity? Forget about it. It looks like we’ve seen the last of Damon Synn.”


The crowd, which was emptying out, suddenly seems to shift and sway, as if they’d all been part of the same creature, noticing the same thing together. The soft murmur of the crowd’s excited voices suddenly died out, and all that could be heard (and only to those with good ears) was a soft gurgling sound. Adams and Simone look at each other, and then the jumbotron turns back on. It pans across the crowd, looking for the source of the noise, and the crowd’s attention. The cameraman follows everyone’s gaze to the center of the stage, where the paramedics attending to Synn were all running for the apron.

BELINDA SIMONE
“Oh my god…”


JASON ADAMS
“No fucking way, that ain’t right!”


The camera finally settles on Synn’s massive body laying the center of the ring, a smile on his face though his eyes are still closed. The gurgling is coming from him, though as Adams speaks, it is clear that Synn is laughing. The deep, throaty laugh of a madman is filtered through a mouth full of blood that splashes up on the center of the ring. The eerie sound has brought silence to the whole ring, and Synn’s laughter grows progressively louder. Soon, it’s like a thunderstorm in a far off, alien world. In a way, Synn brought his delusion to all the people in the crowd, and the sound of this huge man laughing through the blood, the sweat, and the broken nose that would jet out blood on each laugh was so unsettling and disturbing on a feral level, several people in the audience cried silently. Single tears would slide down their face, and though their bodies told them to run in the same way that an animal’s body told them to run from forest fires, they could not, because they were so paralyzed by fear. Deer in headlights.

Years later, these people would remember this event as the scariest time in their lives. Even those who had been to war claimed to have never felt close to something so primitively evil.

Backstage, 30 Minutes Later

Synn stood on shaky legs in the inky blackness of backstage. Every 30 feet in the arena concourse, there was an emergency light, but by and large this part of the arena was empty, and deserted. His legs shook not from the blows administered to him by the mysterious figure that had attacked him, but rather, from pure adrenaline. He felt good, felt great, like there was an even bigger person inside of his already gigantic frame just waiting to burst out, like a horrible Russian doll. He felt good again, he felt… alive. It wasn’t the contentment he had over the past few weeks; sure, living the good life was great, and he had thought he was on top of the world then, but he wasn’t.

It took a good strong series of blows to the head to wake Synn up, shake out the cobwebs, and force him to face why he’d been put on the world to begin with: he was a man from another time. He’d be right in place to be raiding villages with the Norsemen, or fighting barbarians with the Romans. He’d had the misfortune of being born into a time where all wars were fought with missiles, planes, and all manner of death that would allow a soldier, if you could even call today’s warriors soldiers, to kill without ever seeing his opponent. Synn had been an exceptional killer as a contractor, but it was rarely a rewarding feeling. When you fought somebody with your hands, you felt their fear, their anger, their strength, and as you broke them, their life ebbing out between your fingers. In war now, all you felt was recoil. That’s why Synn was here; not just to have a belt and money, but to fight the right way. At SCW, it was time for the Bad Old Days to return. Synn knew he was back to where he was most dangerous; on the precipice of madness, ready to topple over at a moment’s notice into a dangerous psychosis that would create, in him, a whirlwind of destruction so fierce that even the attack he’d just suffered would pale in comparison, like a match before a jet engine. He was now ready to jump into SCW, and make an explosion so big it would suck the fire away from Nick Jones and Kain, the same way you’d put out an oil fire. It was time to make an example of these two, and let them know that he was still the sheriff in these parts, and that he would stop at nothing to be called World Heavyweight Champion.

He waited impatiently, five minutes past, then ten. Synn turned and murmured to the darkness:

DAMON SYNN
“Rook, where are you…”


A movement in the dark. Synn’s senses, hypersensitive because of how manic he was, exploded, and he turned to face the would-be attacker. Instead:

SAM ROOK
“I’m right here, brother, you got no patience in you still. Where’s the love? I haven’t seen you in a month!”


Synn clasped Rook on the back, his mentor and elder by five years. The man had aged somewhat in his month abscence, and had somewhat less of a physical edge. He was still big, standing just a few inches shorter then Synn, but he didn’t have his muscles rippling under the designer black suit he wore. His dark skin was almost invisible in the darkness, but Synn could make Sam Rook out by his eyes. It was apparent that Rook wasn’t here to back up Synn in the ring, so what exactly was he here to do?

DAMON SYNN
“Rook, I’m glad to see you, you know that, but what the hell are you here to do? I wanted you here to fight with me, not … I mean, you look out of shape is all.”


Synn was fighting the energy inside of himself. To keep himself under control, he was fidgeting a lot, taping his fingers, rolling his neck, and various other little behavioral quirks.

SAM ROOK
“Nah. My fighting days are long over. I’m here to help teach a little. I taught you, and I figure it’s about time we find ourselves another great fighter. Which reminds me…”


Rook reaches into his suit and pulls out a manila folder, sealed with red wax. And hand’s it to Synn, who looks at it quizzically.

SAM ROOK
“Yeah, don’t worry about it just now, since I can tell you need to hit the gym bad, or have a cigar or something, but I heard that you are looking for a few good men, so to speak. I think I’d like to help, ‘cept I don’t wrestle no more. So I’ll help you FIND a few other good men. I wrote you down a list of the people you’ll want to have your back in this federation. The winds of change are in motion, cool cat. You need to ride that wind stronger than anyone else. You got me?”


He held out his hand to Synn. Synn didn’t fully understand what he meant by winds of change, but he did understand Rook’s proposition. Hunt down and recruit the people on this list, or destroy those who stood in his way. It was a strategy that Rook wouldn’t like, but that was perfect for Synn, and thus he’d designed it. Rook’s problem had always been that he was far too nice, far too kind, and far too fair. Synn had none of these imperfections. He was cruel, mean, and cold. He was calculated, but very rarely compassionate. Synn shook Rook’s hand.

DAMON SYNN
“So that’s it?”


SAM ROOK
“For now.”


Even in the dark, Synn could see Rook’s eyes shimmer. He was expectant, and he knew Synn would go for the plan.

DAMON SYNN
“Alright then. I’ll see what I can do.”


Rook nodded, and the two parted ways. Synn walked the concourse at a brisk pace, nearly stumbling over his own feet. It felt hot, too hot, too crowded; he wanted to fight. He was ready, he needed the action like a junkie needed a fix. He decided he’d need to take a walk, cool his heels on the pavement, maybe see if he couldn’t stir up some local heat. He had a day or so left before he got to mix it up with Jones and Kain, and until then he needed to sap the energy somehow.

Synn pushed the heavy glass doors open, and stepped out into the cooler, night air. The streets around the arena were dark, desolate, deserted places; shadows hid what wished to not be seen in a million corners of a million alleys. In all the movies, people would say something like “my city screams,” or “my city is alive.” This was Synn’s City, and it was very quiet. It was like a carcass in the road; no life left, save a few drops of blood that hadn’t coagulated and hardened onto the hot Texas pavement.

Synn crossed the main street which had not a car in sight. The streetlights were inexplicably off, but Synn didn’t mind. He kept walking until he got to a portion of the street where there was power. Under the streetlamp, he stood like a statue, examining the folder in his hands. He was both excited, and terrified. Synn knew that he’d need these people, and the idea of needing anything other than his two bare hands and pure brutality terrified him. It was a loss of control that Synn had held out of his life for years. The energy inside him, the beast, would burst out soon though. Synn needed to read this first before he gave in to irrationality. He ripped the top off the paper and read down a list of six names. Or at least, that’s what he’d intended to do. His eyes got scanned the first two names and froze, unable to continue onwards. He stood for a time, even more like a figure carved in stone under the light. With his pale skin, hair, and wardrobe of all black, a passerby may have even considered him to be a statue. Finally, he managed to restart his brain with a flick of his head. No, he hadn’t misread it, but he kept trying to re-read it, almost as if doing so enough times would change the text. The implications of this were… deep. Synn coughed to clear his throat. The excitement of the fight had faded back into his head like another delusion ready to pounce. Synn didn’t feel it. All he felt was a sense of awe.

DAMON SYNN
“Damon, my friend, this list might seem strange. Keep in mind, if you want to evolve, you’ll need to make some changes, and band together. Whenever something changes, be it the environment, or the times, those who win, the predators, need to change. They need to become the oncoming darkness that forces the rest of the world to react. If you want to get this Company off the ground, and make yourself the forefront of the SCW for years to come, these are the people you need. Either bring them into your fold, or destroy them utterly. Each represents a dark side and a light side. Each has the power to add tremendous talent and strength, but also has the ability to use that against you. This is the cream, brother. Do with it as you will before it spoils.”


The preface had all the usual metaphoric nonsense that Rook loved, but despite how goofy it sounded, it had a certain power. And Rook was right; these people would certainly bolster his strength. Synn nodded, and tucked the paper into his patchwork leather jacket. He headed out toward his suite, toward home. These streets might be dead and decaying, but he was no longer interested in His City’s state. Synn’s City.

The first two names on the list were Nick Jones and “The King of Kings” Kain. The two and the same that he wanted so badly to destroy, was two of those he needed most to befriend. No, Synn corrected himself, because in this world there were no friends. There were enemies, and then your enemies’ enemies. Synn would sweep these six into his arms, and leave the rest of the roster in ruin. This was the match that would start him on a path to glory, or throw him into one of the greatest tasks he’d ever faced.

He knew he could absolutely destroy the ttwo men that he’d have to face at SCW’s Blaze of Glory. It was really a handicap match, because Mark Ward knew that Synn had no friends, even though he had scheduled this match at the downfall of Kain. It was probably going to end up being Synn against the two of them. As far as Synn was concerned, those were even odds.

He would beat them. And then, he would present the SCW roster with an option with only one real answer.
____________________________________________________________________
And then there were none.

Kain, it seems to me that you have been elected for the job of Patsy in our upcoming match. It would seem to me that you have been elected to be the fall guy, the knock-around guy, the man that I will step over to finally reach my career-long goal. You will be the man I overcome to prominence. You will become a figurehead in the history of Damon Synn. You will be, Kain, the most important man in the history of SCW. You see, it’s not because you’re going to beat Damon Synn. It’s not because you’re going to find a way to somehow pick up the win and go on to become the Sin City Wrestling Heavyweight Champion…

You’ll be remembered for being the trigger on it all. The new revolution. You will be remembered for being one of the men whom Damon Synn defeated to win the champuonship. You will be one of the men that everyone remembers being beaten and broken in the middle of the ring. You will be known as the final step towards ascension in the life of Damon Synn. It’s an honor for you. Make no mistake about that. It’s an honour for Kain to be remembered for something greater than being the bitch boy patsy for every single predictable main event in SCW history. It’s an honor to actually have something tangible and worthwhile to hold on to. It’s an honor to be able to tell your inbred grandkids about how Damon Synn’s revolution all began on February 23rd, 2012. It’ll be an honor to tell all you know, how Damon Synn’s final battle for the championship, had been decided when you or Nick Jones’s shoulders touched the mat for three seconds.

Don’t resist it Kain, don’t. There’s no reason for you to try and prove to everyone that you can hang with the very best. You’ve tried, and you’ve succeeded. You’ve managed to hang with the very best that SCW had ever offered before… but that was before me. You see, as soon as my feet stepped between the doors at Sin City Wrestling Headquarters, everything changed. The rules of the game changed, and the measuring stick had been raised to impossible levels. You were no longer wrestling the very best Kain, you were just wrestling as filler to help round out a show.

Don’t believe me? Think back on it. Think about how everything was before Damon Synn entered the picture. Think about how the most awe-inspiring main event that SCW could throw together would be Nick Jones, Kain, and Casey Williams versus Spike Staggs, Jordan Williams, and Wyatt Peterson in a six man tag match. Think about how Kain managed to get himself thrown into the equation. I don’t doubt that you WERE one of the very best in SCW Kain, but that had all changed when I came aboard.

And now look at the title picture. Now look at the company in general. We’ve got dissention, we’ve got psychopaths, like myself, crawling around trying to seduce man-hating women. We’ve got lesbians representing the company at the very forefront… and we’ve got the true wrestlers being buried time and time again. Yeah, we do. We’ve got real wrestlers who go to the ring and do their jobs, with no flash or sizzle, losing to the likes of Lucian Frost. Lucian Frost.

I’ll let you think on that for a minute.

What has Frost ever done to deserve the piece of tin he carries? What has he ever done to ever go near such a title in the first place? I can’t think of a single thing Kain… can you? I can’t seem to figure out how in a company so rampant with characters and pretty colors and “cool storylines”, that we’ve got… Damon Synn rising through the ranks. What separates me from them, Kain? What separates Damon Synn from Sinful Obsession, The Surf Boys, or “Big” Steve Scanlon?

To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I’m not quite sure whether it’s the undeniable talent, or the fact that I’m damn near unbeatable. I’m not quite sure if it’s because I know how to play the game, or if someone in the office likes me. I’m leaning towards the former myself, but that’s because I’ve never kissed a single ass to get to where I am today.

You on the other hand Kain, have done quite a lot outside the ring to get to where you are today.

Let’s look at the facts, shall we?

Number one; you’re a joke. You always have been and you more than likely always will be. You’re nothing more than a pompous, arrogant kid who managed to stumble his way through a wrestling school. You’re nothing more than some sugar daddy who wooed all the right people into securing your spot within the ranks of SCW. You never did it the hard way, and you sure as hell didn’t do it the right way. What you did SCW, was go from point A to point C without ever earning a Goddamn thing.

You see, a lot of people dislike Damon Synn… they hate the way he looks, they hate the way he acts… but there’s one thing that they’ll never deny, and that’s the fact that I am here and where I am not based on politics, not based on who my associates are, I’m here because Damon Synn is the very best that this company has to offer. Which one of the others can say the same? Can they admit to not knowing someone in the office? Can they admit to not knowing someone who runs the company? I know I can…so how about you?

You can’t Kain, and you never could. You were designed as filler, and will always be filler. You were caught and snagged in hopes that the bookers could throw whoever the champion was a bone and to give them the token first defense. You know, to make them look legitimate. And then, somewhere along the way, you grew an ego.

It could be because you thought since, hey, you’re in the main event it MUST mean you’re good but…

JT—or rather Justin—was in the main event too. Repeatedly.

The main event means shit Kain, it means shit if the ones competing are haphazard jokes that give this sport a bad name. You’re such a joke. Where you got the balls to get an ego, I don’t know… but it ends at Blaze of Glory Kain. It ends on next Sunday night because the real deal is coming into his own. The revolution is at hand, and the man to lead us into a new era of excellence—and dollar bills—is finally going to get what’s coming to him. I’m not doing this solely for me anymore Kain, I’m doing this for the betterment of this sport… and the pleasure of breaking men aparty. The more asses I put in seats, the more money I enjoy kicking asses into seats.

Sadly, that means I’ll have to make some cuts… and you’ll be one of them.

So I say this Kain, enjoy the main event while you can. Enjoy the second glances you get at the Heavyweight Championship while you can, because when I’m wearing that gold around my waist, and when I am rightfully declared the king of all I see in this company… then you, and your haphazard friends will be no more. They will not remember your names as they chant mine throughout the arenas. They won’t remember any of you, save one.

Kain , you’re about to make history on next Sunday night. You’re about to become something greater than you could ever aspire to be. Do yourself a favour, and take it graciously. After next Sunday night when I prove to the world that Damon Synn is their leader. That Damon Synn is their saviour, and, they will look at you with a fondness never before seen through your eyes. They will thank you Kain. They will thank you for birthing their messiah, and giving him to the people… and then they will turn their backs, and they will forget you.

Savor those moments Kain, they will be the greatest in your life.

And that brings me to the current Heavyweight Champion.

Nick Jones… think about what you’ve accomplished now.

I want you to think of what you’ve accomplished to get here… to get to this moment in time. I want you to think about the bodies you’ve hurt, and the people you’ve damaged. I want you to think about all of the beatings you’ve taken, and all of the back stabbing you’ve put up with, and dealt out in spades. Nick Jones, I want you to look into a mirror and realize that the destination is over, and now you’ve finally arrived to where you’ve always wanted to be.

Nick, how does it feel? How does it feel to see that after almost eight years of hard work, you are now being recognized as a champion? How does it feel to be a former X-Champion and GXW World Heavyweight Champion, and only now are you getting what you think you so rightfully deserve? It’d be nice to know, Nick, because I fail to see what reasoning Mark Ward or anyone else could have to put you in this position.

The simple fact of the matter Nick, is that you don’t belong here. You walk these halls and pretend to fit in amongst the champions. You dine at my table and pretend along with everyone else, that you belong with me. You walk into my ring, Nick Jones, and you think that because you can do a few nice moves that it makes you some sort of champion… someone who has a hope in hell of beating me for MY Heavyweight Championship.

It’s quite funny, actually. I find it hysterical every time you walk those halls, dine at my table, and walk into my ring trying to make the world believe that you’re some kind of wrestling machine. It’s funny to watch you try so desperately to convince the world that you have what it takes to carry this promotion on your back. Do you know why it’s so funny, Nick? Do you really want to know why Damon Synn can never take you seriously?

It’s quite simple, really. The reason why Damon Synn cannot take you seriously is because you are nothing but a mere shadow. You’re a beast riding the coat tails of Bernard Jones and Anthony Capicelli. You have these delusions of grandeur. You put on this mask and try to make the world believe that you’re better than your brethren. You try to convince everyone that you’re better than God Himself…

… But that’s not the truth, is it Nick?

Once upon a time, you may have been a good wrestler. Once upon a time, you may have not needed this mask you wear. And once upon a time, you may have actually stood a chance in the ring against a man such as I… but those times have long since passed, haven’t they Nick? Those times are dead and buried, and your ability has been buried along with them. You scratch and claw at the pine box that surrounds you. You scratch, you bite, and you try to force your way out, to the surface above you… but it just doesn’t work, does it Nick?

You can’t seem to break through. You’re weaker now, and you refuse to allow yourself the truth. You refuse to allow the truth to enter your mind… and that truth is, Nick Jones, that you’re nothing but a shell of the man who was.

The truth that you so desperately try to hide beneath your mask of arrogance. The truth that you so desperately shield your brethren and even the fans from seeing… the truth of the matter, Nick Jones, is that you haven’t been this man you claim to be for many, many years.

And yet you fight on. You try and convince that sap Big B that he still needs you. You try to convince Slick Tony that he’s nothing more than muscle, and that he’s useless and directionless without the great Nick Jones to guide them… and yet, that’s not the truth Nick. You know it as well as I do. You know that the truth of the matter is that Nick Jones would be nothing without his bodyguard. Nick Jones would be nothing without his muscle man… and Nick Jones would be nothing without this gimmick of “the Entourage”.

Ah, truth stings, doesn’t it? The truth you have been so desperately seeking to shield the world from, that mask of arrogance… Nick, it has been cracking. That mask you wear, that holier than thou attitude you hold so dear, it’s cracking, and the real Nick is starting to show through. It’s been cracking for awhile though, even all the way back when you lost the GXW World Championship to Matt Seex the first time. Ever since, the cracks have been deepening, and you, the great Nick Jones, have been scrambling around like a wild dog trying to keep the pieces together. You can’t dare to see what the world will really think of you. You can’t dare to present the true, hollow shell of Nick Jones to the world… because then they’d realize something, wouldn’t they, Nick?

They’d realize that Nick Jones is obsolete.

Yeah, they would Nick. They’d realize that Nick Jones is nothing but a shell of his former self. They’d realize that Nick Jones has lost the “it” he had quite a long time ago. And you know what would happen next, don’t you Nick?

Yeah, I bet you do.

You’d be abandoned, Nick. You’d be left out in the cold because slowly, one by one they’d all turn on you. Diana would whisper those magic words into the ear of Big B, and they’d be swept away to riches and perhaps even championships… your championship, most likely—well, actually, mine. Then you’d have Slick Tony. The man you have tried for so long to keep leashed. The threat you’ve known of for so long… if only he were to gain some confidence in himself. He would be gone, too, Nick. He would have broken the collar you keep so tight around his neck, and he would have ravaged all those in his path to get to me. Along with them your accountant Maxwell Emanuel Goldstein would leave as well... and you, Nick? You will have been left in the cold, all alone, and with no coat tails to ride into the big money.

And this is quite a dilemma, isn’t it Nick? It’s quite the dilemma because you realize that your mask will be shattered into pieces. You realize that the moment the bell rings and it’s just you, me, and Kain in front of the thousands I brought to SCW… you will realize just what kind of life of loneliness and despair you’re in for, come the end of that match. You know there is no chance for you to come away with the title. You know that there is no way in hell that you could possibly beat me… and yet there you will be, standing across the ring from the newly-crowned World Heavyweight Champion, and you will be forced to reconcile with the disaster you have wrought upon yourself. You will have to deal with those men you have held down for so long when you step back behind that curtain. You will have to get down on your knees and beg them not to leave you… how you almost had it… how you’d need just one more chance…

And then, your greatest fear will come true, Nick. They will leave you, and you will be alone.

And really, I can’t think of a more fitting end for such a manipulative piece of shit.

2
Climax Control Archives / Blood in the Water
« on: February 03, 2012, 05:17:39 PM »
 
“Blood in the Water”
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Synn’s Home


The soft fuzzy glow that the television screen casts across Synn's face only serves to highlight the imperfections caused by the multitude of scars that made his face into a freak show mask. Synn held a grim expression, with his jaw clamped tight, and his eyes focused on the screen. The background was a edition of “Pro Wrestling News,” and the focus was the upcoming edition of SCW’s Climax Control; his opponent was Old Skool. This man (boy: boy, he reminded himself. This guy was nothing but a boy) was certainly going to lose, as could have never in his life have beaten Synn.

Many years ago, way back before his SCW career, he'd been booked at a dark card match against another no-name who went by the ring name Dante Padilla. The man had some sort of a Mexican wrestling sort of shtick; that's how you could always identify who couldn't fight, by the way, because if you have a shtick, you're just looking to get paid, not to get made. Anyways, Synn had crushed him. Totally dominated him, in every sense of the word. Dante was cut open, bleeding on the mat, and to rob Synn of a victory, he slid out of the ring. Dante let himself be counted out, and let the contest fall as a DQ, and not a win by pinfall or submission. That was his first match for that nameless federation from so long ago, and Synn had been livid. He'd paced the hallway, out of his mind (more then usual, anyways) from rage. He'd been fired from the federation for destroying the locker room, but that didn't bother him. He wasn't the sort of man who fought for the sake of a paycheck; if indeed he was a man at all, he was the sort that fought simply because he had to.

He'd checked into a library, and did a little research. He'd figured out that Dante Padilla's actual name was Anthony Moscatelli, an Italian who lived just a few miles away. It had taken every ounce of his considerable willpower for Synn to hold himself back from jumping into his curtain kicker Toyota and heading over to kick his teeth out right then and there. Instead, he'd played it smart, played it cerebrally, as he always did.

He drove out the next morning, at four A.M, and parked down the street, so he could see Dante's driveway in his rearview. The Toyota Synn drove was a shade of green that was so common, still is common, that he looked like any old car just sitting on the road. He sat, and waited until Dante pulled out of his driveway. Then Synn followed him.

He didn't just follow him to the arena, or to the grocery store, or anywhere particular; he just followed him, careful to keep at least two or three cars between them. Synn would take each opportunity to stop and change the way he looked; he would duck into a gas station, buy a baseball hat or some oversized sunglasses, or whatever he could to keep his very noticeable silhouette different. He would do little things to change the way the car looked, too: he would alternate which sun protector was down, turn the inside lights on at various times, and when he could stop, he would unload bags of laundry into the back seats of the car, making it look like there were other occupants. Dante never saw him coming. Synn did this for a week.

When the next Monday came around, Synn had known this man's schedule. He'd known when he would turn, where he was going, when he would try to make a light, where he would slow down to avoid police. Synn had tried to take stock of every person and car that was in the parking garage Dante used when he went to visit his friend each morning before he went to the gym. He noticed that today, there was approximately the same number of cars around. When Dante turned into the space, Synn drove past him, and parked one level up. He went to the farthest elevator right and signaled down, and entered the elevator car. As the door closed, Synn felt his heart accelerate just the slightest bit. He reached into his pocket and took out a coffee cup, and laid it on the ground, allowing the contents to spill out across the floor. Then the car stopped moving, and the unmistakable "ding" sound that elevators made when they stopped at a floor signaled time to slow down.

The doors slowly opened, and in front of Synn stood Dante. His eyes were down, and he had pursed his lips, ready to nod his head and shuffle past the stranger in the elevator to get on. When Synn didn't move, Dante looked up, and for just a few seconds, all the reward a human being might need was the dumb, shocked look on Dante's face. He leaned back on his left foot, as if to turn to run, but in addition to being incredibly smart, horrifically persistent, unnaturally patient, and absurdly strong, Synn was also remarkably quick. One arm was around Dante's throat, choking off any sound he might have tried to make to alert anyone. Synn was fairly sure nobody was around to hear, but he didn't need to take chances.

He dragged Dante in to the top floor, and as soon as the door closed, Synn grinned his horrible, sickening grin.

DAMON SYNN
"Sorry, old buddy. Nobody runs away. Not from me."


One move is all he had, and Synn made it count. Synn released his grip on Dante for a fraction of a second, and as he gasped for air, Synn put both hands behind Dante's head, and with the force of a bus hitting a concrete wall, slammed Dante's head into the side railing of the elevator. There was a crack, and a whole mess of blood almost instantly. Synn knew he'd done some serious damage to the man, and his heart was pounding like a hammer. The door made it’s “ding” sound again, and Synn stepped out, over Dante who was twitching, but still alive, on the floor. Synn dragged Dante by the collar of his shirt so his head would stay in between the elevator doors, keeping this particular car on this floor until somebody made the discovery. Synn took a hankerchief out from his pocket, carefully rubbed the buttons all down to make sure there were no prints, and walked out.

He’d proceeded down to his car, and got onto the freeway, then the highway, until he’d made it to his new home in Cape Cod, planning on jumping the border in case he’d actually killed the man. He was exhausted, and when he finally got to a bedroom in his home, he flicked on the news as he lay, drowsily in bed. The face of a young woman came into view, broadcasting the New York news. In the little box in the corner, where they labeled their stories, Synn read “Caution, Wet Floor.”

ANCHORWOMAN
“—the news today is a man who warns of the dangers of wet floors. A man by the name of Anthony Moscatelli took a nasty fall in an elevator today while visiting a friend. He slipped in a cup of coffee that was spilled, and ended up in the emergency room and is still listed as in serious condition. Police initially suspected assault, however Mr. Moscatelli refuted the allegation.”


The screen filled up with Dante’s face, swollen, encircled by a neck brace. His mouth was horribly puffy, and he looked wired from fear.

DANTE PADILLA
“No, there was no attack! I just… I slipped.”


POLICE OFFICER
“You… you slipped? You have a broken neck, you’re missing three teeth, have a crack in you skull, and subdural bleeding, and you’re saying you got all of that from a slip?”


The man clearly knew more, but he lowered his head and nodded in the affirmative. Synn had achieved the desired outcome; not only did he put the man in the hospital, but he’d also made him so terrified of Synn that he wouldn’t even go to the police. When you know enough about a man that you could tail him in his sleep, and you make it known to that man, he will not be able to sleep at night, or go out to take the trash out after dark. Breaking somebody’s mind is so much more effective then breaking somebody’s neck. Though, Synn supposed, that was a nice side-effect as well.

Synn snapped himself back to reality. PWN had long since finished airing, and he reluctantly turned the television off.

He was going into this match against Old Skool, so his violent nature would be put into this match. Synn knew that even a mouse, when agitated, could bite pretty hard, so Synn would finish Old Skool for good immediately after the match. Synn was an unmovable object, and when in motion, and unstoppable force. If he had to, he could beat the entire SCW roster if the need presented itself. As such, he was going to be merciless to Old Skool, just as he had with Steven Kline and Saint Patty.

The Lantern Diner
Early Next Morning


The Lantern looked like about a dozen other dinners in America, which in turn looked like about every other dinner in the United States. The mirror paneling, the bar that looks like it’s on a train car, and the booth seating could be found replicated across the world. Synn had sat down after a long night of studying that one match on his opponent, and indeed, the rest of the SCW roster.

The waitress walked by, a cute little blond thing that was a wisp of a body and long wavy blonde hair that was obviously dyed. She smiled at Synn as she poured him his coffee, and then squinted as she turned, and paused half-way back to the kitchen. She turned around and approached him.

WAITRESS
“You’re like, that wrestler, right?”


Synn looked up at her from his seat at the bar and smiled a he chewed on his eggs. He swallowed what he’d bitten and put his napkin down on the table.

DAMON SYNN
“You know, you’re gonna have to be a lot more specific then that.”


She smiled at him in a bit of a flirtatious fashion. SCW was actually a pretty big deal in Nevada, so even with his ugly mug, he’d gotten a bit of attention lately.

WAITRESS
“That new one. You beat somebody last week, you’re up against… New? Old Skool? Shouldn’t you be like, working out or something? That’s just a few days away!”


DAMON SYNN
“Hah. Look at me; do I look like I need to work out? Hell no, I don’t need to work out. You may not know it, but Old Skool is just some guy off the street who just happens to have a cheap, handy gimmick. It is the first and last time we’ll be locking up, because I'm taking him out on Sunday.”


She squealed a little with delight. Synn knew her type; he could say almost anything and elicit the same reaction. She was so impressed by him that he could do no wrong in her eyes. She was incredibly unintelligent, and markedly uninteresting. She twirled one of her wavy locks with her finger.

WAITRESS
“Well, I was wondering, since you seem like such a nice guy and all…”


DAMON SYNN
“Hold it. You think… I’m a nice guy?”


He arched one eyebrow at her. She hadn’t expected the interjection, and wrinkled her face up at him, trying to think on the run, and failing to do so.

WAITRESS
“Well, yeah. You are nice to me, so far, and you talk really well. You aren’t like some of the other wrestlers, a lot of them come in here you know! Most of them come in acting all rough and tough… not you though. You seem sensitive. You seem… nice.”


She ended the sentence with a smile, and Synn held back tossing the coffee on her. He smiled and looked down, then back up at her quickly.

DAMON SYNN
“Lemme ask you something, darlin’. Who would you be more afraid of… a man with a gun, or a man with a smile?”


WAITRESS
“Um, the man with the gun, obviously!”


DAMON SYNN
“Well, I think that makes you an idiot. You see, you know what the man with the gun’ll do to you if he wants to get rough. He pulls that trigger, and a little piece of led makes your brains into an abstract painting on the wall behind you. The man with the smile though, he’s not a nice guy. No, he’s even worse then the man with the gun. He’s the guy who stays awhile, gets to know you, and seems pretty unthreatening, even if he is a big, ugly bastard like me. He builds you up, and in the end, he turns out the Ted Kaczynski or Hannibal Lector or Marilyn Manson. He tears the skin off your bones with a potato peeler and makes you eat your own family.”


The waitress had lost the color in her face. She backed away slowly, but Synn stood up, slowly advancing on her, like a big cat stalking it’s prey.

DAMON SYNN
“You see, he smiles because he’s looking forward to not just killing you, and not just hurting you, but hunting you, and slowly, carefully, and precisely breaking you down the way a butcher cuts up a cow. You got that?”


She had run into the wall, and nodded, clearly terrified. She dropped the coffee pot, which shattered on the floor. The place hadn’t been busy, but those who were there were focused in on this conversation/confrontation intently. You could hear a pen drop in the room. Synn tore a hundred dollar bill from his coat pocket and dropped it into the spilt coffee. He stepped to the door, turned and stated in a flat, chillingly calculated voice:

DAMON SYNN
“If you need some confirmation, just ask Old Skool in a week. Baby, there’s blood in the water. And I’m the shark. Don’t think for a second that I’m anything else.”


And with that, he was gone.
____________________________________________________________________
Sin-Sational, are you?

You’re sin-sational.

You’re nothing but a joke, Old Skool. You’re nothing more than a ghetto child from the projects who fantasized all day about King Midas and how even his shit turned to gold. You want to be like him. You want to look around your faux kingdom and pretend to be the ruler of all you see. You want to act as though you’re something special, something worthy of the status that you were HANDED.

You didn’t earn your position, Old Skool. You didn’t earn a damn thing. All you did was manage to sneak your way up the card. All you managed to do was make yourself look good by surrounding yourself with the bottom of the barrel. It shames me to know that you could be facing me—Damon Synn—when you’re better off knocking knuckles with that Canadian prick or that chick with the plastic face. You know, the one who needs to see the shrink.

So here we are, stuck at the third match on, and while I’m not complaining, I can’t help but wonder why it is that I’ve been dispatched once again to face another nobody who thinks he’s something special. Last week it was Saint Patty, a punk ass who thought that beause he was making his return to the SCW, that he had a hope in hell of defeating Damon Synn last week. I think it’s kind of suspicious, you know. It’s kind of suspicious that Damon Synn earns his right to be pushed up the card, forevermore towards the Heayvyweight Title, and yet the first order of business is to extract the waste of skin, the bag of bones, the no-talent schlock from the upper echelon of the SCW Roster.

Is there an agenda here, Mark?

Are you somehow making me work for you?

Even so, it doesn’t matter. I’m getting what I want out of this, and Old Skool, King of his Own Mind, is nothing more than another step, another body to be piled in the back. Old Skool’s destiny is not to be Sin-Sational, his destiny is to be another back to be broken in for Damon Synn. I hope he got the memo this week.

And yet, on February Twelfth, he will no doubt try to come at me with all he can. He will no doubt be looking to make his name, to finally prove to the world that he’s something more than a lost cause, on the name of Damon Synn. He will walk into the ring with a cocky grin, he will look across the ring to see his opponent… and he will see me. He won’t realize what’s coming though, his kind never does.

Old Skool’s kind never realizes the ass kicking they’re about to receive, until it’s too late. They never realize that they’ve stepped in way over their head until they’re left on the ground, bloody and broken, spitting teeth and desperately trying to pick out the chicklets from the goop of blood that surrounds them. That’s your fate, Old Skool. I will make sure of that.

And so here we are. I will watch with glee as your faux kingdom crashes to your feet, as you break your crown. I will sport the greatest grin in history as you watch with horror as your court is crunched to bone dust. I will cackle as you try to flee me, as you try to scrape and crawl with what will be left of your nails, to try desperately to get away. I will watch, and I will take immense pleasure in the fact that you will be just another body to be disposed of.

Old Skool, your funeral is at hand. I suggest you live well, a life fit for a king… because when you step into the ring with Damon Synn, the dream you have lived, the faux kingdom that you pretended to rule over while the drool dribbled from your chin and your mommy wiped your ass with a fresh diaper…

Old Skool, on February Twelfth…

… The dream is over.

3
Climax Control Archives / Unmasked
« on: January 24, 2012, 08:50:37 PM »
 
“Maskless”
Another Hotel, El Paso, 1/22/2012


This isn’t how a human is supposed to be.

He dropped his bags onto the well-worn carpet of yet another string of hotels. The carpets in hotels all looked the same; each one might have different colors, or patterns, but they all shared the short fibers that were easy to clean. They were all extremely generic. He flipped the light on, his eyes scanning over the expected floral print bed, the white window shades, a headstand that probably had the hotel-issue bible, and the minibar. There was an old tube TV, and a radio. Skull had never understood the radio thing… nobody really listened to the radio anymore.

Just another room.

And it was just another room in a long string of other rooms. Not a place to call home, but a place to put his head down and dream those horrible dreams night after night. Just like him, each place had a past that wouldn’t be remembered, each place was just… temporary. That’s how Skull felt. Temporary. No friends except Sam Rook, who still wasn’t much a friend since he wouldn’t reveal Skull’s identity. No family that he knew of. Nothing to call his own except what he’d bought since he left the hospital. And some dog tags with no name. Some help they were. His hand unconsciously went up to the tags and he felt their comforting metal weight. It was strange, but he really liked having them, despite their apparent uselessness.

Skull kicked his bags a little further into the room and shut the door behind him. It clicked and whirred as the automatic card-lock enabled. Then the room was silent. He didn’t really want to be alone with his thoughts; after all, ghosts from the past seem a lot louder, and though he could hear the voices, he couldn’t understand what it was that they said. He looked at the black radio, taking in how cheap it was. It was a 15-dollar job that they probably sold at CVS or Walmart. He flicked it on, and there was only the soft sound of static.

Better then nothing.

Nothing, of course, being exactly what he had. He turned to sit on the well-worn bed, just to think, and felt something beneath him. It crackled light paper, and felt like an envelope. He pulled it from under the covers, and saw that it was an envelope with “John Doe” written across the front neatly in blue ink. He smiled a half-smile, realizing that it was handwriting belonging to Sam Rook. Why did he always need to be so cryptic? He couldn’t just show up here in person? The envelope had no stamps, so Rook must have dropped it off by hand. Skull shook his head; even now, he recognized that Rook meant no harm, and whatever he was doing, he was doing for a good reason. At least that was how Skull was going to rationalize it to himself. The envelope felt heavy.

Another symbolic gift, perhaps?

Skull ripped the top off the envelope and dumped the contents out on the bed. It was just two things: a letter, folded neatly as always, and a golden key. Not some nice, old, ornate key, but the kind of key one might access a house with. He furrowed his brown and lifted it, feeling the weight in his hand. Then he read the note out loud:

THE YELLOW SKULL
“Yo Skull, you want to know who you are, here you go. This is the key to your house; there are answers there. Who you are, what you are… but man, I gotta at least ask… don’t go. Just toss the key. It’s your decision, but make your choice before you head to the house. It’s in Cape Cod, Truro, MA. If you go, there is no turning back.”


Skull read it again. Then again. His lips were set firmly together; this was a tough decision. Until this moment, every fiber in his being had yearned to know who he was. He wanted to know where that desert was, who that woman is… could she have loved him? The questions came fast and furious, and he felt a little overwhelmed. He deliberated mentally for just a few seconds, and then grabbed his jacket.

THE YELLOW SKULL
“I need a drink.”


Ground Zero, Blues Club in El Paso

He’d left his mask back at the hotel. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but it was late, and very few people were out. The bartender, Charli, liked Skull, and was happy to open the place up for him. The club itself was owned by THE Morgan Freeman, and actually had good food, good beer, and great live music, during the day and during the reasonable hours of the night. Now, quiet except for the TV playing a made-for-tv sci-fi flick, it was dark and quiet. That’s just what he needed. Charli had tried to engage in conversation, but Skull had politely noted that he wanted to think. Charli had nodded, left the bottle of something about the same age as herself, and sat down, watching the film with rapt fascination.


Something about fighting… it just feels right.

It did, too. In the ring, he was beyond good. He’d known when he started that he had some hidden capability, but now, he knew that he was almost unstoppable. Steven Kline couldn’t take him down, and he knew his opponent this week would have the same fate. He flew high when he wreaked some destruction, and now that it was over, he felt low. He felt like he had a hangover, like he was in withdrawal. He’d once told somebody that fighting was like a drug, and now he was finding out that what he said was more then just words. It almost hurt for him to not be digging his fists into somebody. It felt like something was inside him, an animal or a beast, aching to get out.

And this week, it will.

It was true. They’d booked him against some one-off called Saint Patty. He’d won a few matches in his career, sure, but as far as Skull was concerned, this was a streak that he’d be happy to put down. He shivered as he thought about it; he was not a violent man… or he hadn’t been. It was all very confusing. This was a situation so far out of the norm that there wasn’t a self-help book or a website in existence to tell him how to feel. All he could do was look to Rook for guidance.

Part of him wanted to trust Rook, but it was feelings like this, feelings of violence toward others, that made Skull wonder who he was. If his past self was the one responsible for this need, this hunger for violence… maybe it would be best to know. He could make amends, put it behind him and be cured of this need for bloodshed. He reached his hand into his coat pocket and felt that gold key, and wondered what home was like.

Cape Cod
January 24th, 2012


The taxi dropped him off near the beach. This house, his house, was on the water. It was a weathered wood with black shingles, and the crash of the waves reverberated around him. The salty air brushed across his face and hands, and the occasional cry of a gull was all that broke the serenity. It was nice, but Skull thought it’d be something magical, some kind of a feeling of being home. All he saw in front of him was the traditional cape-cod house. He stepped across the sea-shell driveway, his boots crunching the shells as he stepped on them. He climbed the three or four steps to the red doorway, and stopped. He couldn’t see in the door’s window, as it was dark inside. He could make out a bit of dim light coming from a curtain being slightly apart, but that was it. The doorknob actually had a bit of wear on it that came off on his fingers as he held it.

There isn’t any going back.

There was no time for second thoughts though; he needed to know, and he had to get on a plane tomorrow morning to get all the way to Nevada. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open. Inside, it was pleasantly cool; a soft 65 degrees or so. It was dark, and Skull felt around for a light switch. His hand brushed over a dial, and he rotated it to the right, and pushed in. A bright light lit up overhead, showing a staircase in front of him, a kitchen with a slightly open window across what seems to be a very nice living room with a black leather couch. There was a 60 inch flatscreen sitting in the middle of a rather nice entertainment center as well. Skull whistled.

THE YELLOW SKULL
“Wow. I guess I did pretty well for myself.”


Skull started to wonder how he'd find out. There was documents strewn about the room, but this was just all so overwhelming... how did Rook expect him to know? Knowing Rook, he'd have set something up...


The light in the kitchen.

Skull strode into the kitchen, and pulled the heavy black blinds aside, flooding the room with light and a gorgeous ocean view from a large bay window. Skull turned around, and sure enough there was large stack of manila envelopes, a black macbook, and various documents.

Skull lifted one carefully, marked "Tax Returns, 2010." He opened it up, and looked instinctively in the top left corner.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Damon Synn?"


What kind of a name was Damon Synn? Still, it rolled off the tongue nicely. He smiled a bit at that, before looking down to see an embarrassingly big number. He shut the folder, feeling almost ashamed as to how much money he made then, before realizing that it was foolish; that was his money after all. He picked up the next envelope, which read simply Blackwater. He opened it, and read. And read. And read. His eyes glazed over, and the smile died on his face.


I was a mercenary in Iraq. A soldier. I killed.

The thought should have disturbed him, but his face felt dead, heavy, like iron. He couldn't bend his cheeks into a frown. He set that aside, and picked up the last folder he'd need to read. It was marked "SCW History."

SCW History? But the SCW was just founded... how could this be?

He opened it slowly, a creepy feeling causing him the shiver a bit. He felt almost sick at the thought that he could now possibly be involved in some kind of Bourne Identity shit. There was a sticky note on the first page, penned by Sam Rook.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"The SCW has been open for three or so months. Don't worry."


The relief was palpable, and he actually let out a short laugh in the quiet air. It sounded too loud. He took the note off, and read the first sentence of what appeared to be a photocopy of a newspaper.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Damon Synn, former World Heavyweight Champion in various federations, sometimes called The Monster, has extended his streak to an astronomical 37-0. Can he be stopped?"


And then, the world turned. Skull hit the floor hard, and everything went dark.

Three Hours Pass

His eyes shot open. He felt numb, as though he'd been in a deep sleep. He felt his face pressed on cold linoleum. The kitchen. The cicadas were out in full force, chirping in the crisp night air. It was cold this time of year in Massachusetts, and he'd left a window or something open. He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs.


Damn. It's freezing in here.

He dragged himself to his feet, feeling a bit uneasy. He didn't remember how he'd gotten here, but after getting back from Iraq he'd gone on one hell of a bender. That wasn't so surprising. Before he'd left, he'd got a contract offer from the SCW. He smiled a bit, his twisted, scarred face curling in a look that was very painful.

He dragged himself over to the counter and hit the light switch. Light exploded into the room, and he glanced at the calendar. He squinted and saw that he had a match coming up; the days were crossed off sloppily, so he'd been keeping track at least, but he hadn't even remembered the match. That happens sometimes. If he didn't keep a belt, or take his meds, he forgot things. He'd do things out of character, out of sorts; he'd get mad, and he'd hurt people. Or hurt more people then usual. He smiled at this thought, and looked into the hallway. He'd packed his bags; he probably had planned to get going, since the calendar said the show was in Henderson, Nevada. He smiled, noting that he'd need to give Rook a call. He hadn't spoken to him in ages.

Grabbing his cell, he set off, picked up his bags, and strode out the open door, closing it with a soft kick once outside. His big boots crunched across the sea-shells as he made his way to the two-car garage. He put his bags down, turning on his phone as he did so.

Strange, it being off.

As the phone booted, he slid the garage door up manually and smiled at his own, ugly reflection on the hood of his well-polished black Dodge Charger.

DAMON SYNN
"Well hello, beautiful."


Damon Synn tossed his bags in the trunk and slid into the drivers seat. He brought the car to life with the turn of a key, and while shifting into drive, checked his phone. A text from American Airlines asking to confirm his flight. That was odd; he tried to fly as little as possible. Loved driving too damn much. He flipped the phone up to his ear, dialing the AA number.

AA
"Hello, this is American Airlines! My name is Shelly, can..."


DAMON SYNN
"Shelly, listen. I booked a flight. Cancel it. I'll give you the number, my name is Damon Synn, don't care about no refund or nothing. I got some driving to do, a long trip, and one hell of a fight. I know this ain't your job to listen, but let me tell you something..."


AA
"Wait, like the Damon Synn?"


He assured her he was who he said he was. He gave her the ticket numbers, and she canceled them gladly.

DAMON SYNN
"Now, listen; it feels like I haven't talked to anybody in ages, so I just need to tell somebody, and that somebody is you: Saint Patty is going to get torn in half this week on Climax Control. I guarantee it."


He smiled his wicked smile, and hung up the phone. With that, he knowingly reached into the glove compartment and removed a well-packaged Edicion de Silvo tubo cigar. He popped the cap off, taking time to savor the smell of old tobacco. He cut the cap off the end of the stogie, and lit it up. As he puffed that gorgeous, luxurious smoke through his nose, he felt complete. It was like he'd been asleep for a long time, and now that he was awake, he was going to tear into whoever they put in front of him.

DAMON SYNN
"Saint Patty... I'm coming for you."

____________________________________________________________________
This is what I am offered?

I’m laughing, I know you can’t tell, but I am. I’m laughing because to be honest, I expected something a little more… challenging. I expected something with a bit more kick, perhaps a bit more flavor. I expected, to be honest, a real challenge. Someone to fight. Someone who can show me what it means to be this… professional wrestler. So far, all I have gotten is two nobodies who do not have two dimes to rub together.

Typically, they are archetypes found within the so-called “sport” of professional wrestling. They’re two men who can be found in any promotion in the world. They’re usually working the first or second match of the card, a quick warm-up for the crowd before fading off into the sunset. They work hard, this is true, but are they truly golden material? Do they display an art of craft in the so-called “squared circle”? No. They’re workman like, their hands are callused and sweaty. They have no skill, and thus, they’re merely on the roster because someone needs to fill the void.

Is that an accurate description… Saint Patty?

That is truly your name?

A walking cliché… perfect.

I bet you’re going to talk about this in a “promo”, about how you’ve got what it takes to go all the way, to beat the wrestling monster in a match of pure wits and skill… and maybe that’s true, in some alternate universe. Maybe in Earth 616 you’ve got the edge, you’ve got the world championship and you’ve got women begging for your gentle caress… but sadly, that’s not the case here, Patty. In this reality, in the reality we inhabit, you’re nothing more than a broke-back shit who is cannon fodder for the newest rising star’s push.

Did you wince? Did that sting a little? I’ve often found that when you’re a worthless wreck of humanity, that is often the case. When you’re not only flawed, but ugly as sin and lacking in any real talent, you wince at such truths. No doubt you’re going to try and bury me under assertions that you’re better than that, that you’ve got it all planned out. That your road to a particular jobber championship is all paved and merely awaiting the asphalt to harden, and you will traverse that road.

But the truth is much simpler, isn’t it Patty?

The truth is… you’re never going to walk that road to glory… but I am.

The truth is, Patty, that you’re merely the second of many to fall before my awful gaze. You’re merely a lonely hitch-hiker, a wanderer who is sticking his thumb out for any kind soul to give him a ride to the next stop, to the next resting place. The truth is, you’re walking in place, Patty. You’re still staring down that freshly paved road, and you’re struggling to take the first step. Every time you try, someone knocks you down. Someone gets in your way, someone forces you back to the back of the pack… and really, Patty, it’s a surprise you haven’t given up hope yet.

So really, what hope do you have, Patty, when confronted with these truths? What does the Mighty Saint Patty plan to do in combat? What do you plan to do when I’m staring you down in the middle of that ring, and you’ve got nothing on your side but a blank expression and the dear hope that you don’t wet your pants in frustration?

The truth is, Patty, that you have nothing.

You had nothing before I was added to this match, and you definitely have nothing now. You may think you have a faint light at the end of the tunnel, Patty, but that’s not light. That’s merely the hand of God Himself before I deliver the death-knell on your silly ass.

But… all is not bad, is it? There is still some silver lining for you. You’ll be able to say—when you retire in six months—that you were the second man to take on Damon Synn. You were the second man to be given to The Yellow Skull—excuse me—Damon Synn to break—or rather return—him into this professional wrestling business. You’ll be able to look back and say—with a twinkle in your eye—that you were proud to be destroyed by a man as dominant and wreckless as I.

Make no mistake about it, Patty, I will destroy you. It’s only a matter of time, really. So book your plans, take care of your personal affairs, because when it comes to Climax Control you’re going to be left with nothing but a broken body and a few fond memories. I’ll make sure of that.

Pleasant dreams, kiddo.

4
Climax Control Archives / Awakening
« on: January 11, 2012, 08:38:07 PM »
 
Scene One
"Awakening"
December 31st, 2011


She reached out to him, one slender, white-skinned hand reaching. Her face... he tried to focus on her face, but no matter how hard he tried to focus on it, it seemed hazy, distant, and distorted. He was falling, and her arm was getting further, and further away. She yelled something, but he her voice fades along with her image. Soon, all there is is darkness.

His eyes shot open, deep brown spheres darting about a darkened room. There was a steady whir of machinery in the background, and a few soft lights, including a slow beeping noise coming from his side. He let his eyes adjust to the opaque gloom; slowly, the room around him comes into focus as the moonlight seems to intensify. The room is cast in a deep blue hue, and he is able to more closely examine his environment: a plastic gray chair, a sink, several jars, and a bio-hazard container. This was... a hospital room? How had he gotten here?

He sat up suddenly, brought his hands to his face. Never mind how he'd gotten here... who was he? Panic spread like an octopus' tentacles, wrapped around his body, his heart and his brain. He started to shake, his big frame wracked by convulsions. He fell back against the pillow, breathing hard; the beeping at his side got faster, the numbers on the monitor climbing in time with his heartbeat. Then suddenly, it occurred to him that if he was in a hospital, he should have a chart. He threw the covers off himself, and shifted his legs painfully under him, finally grabbing the clipboard on the foot of the bed. He looked upwards, and around, before finding a bedside lamp, a cheap industrial one with stainless steel all about, and turned it on.

JOHN DOE
"John... Doe?"


He rolled the word over his tongue slowly, as if it didn't taste quite right. And in a way, it didn't. This wasn't his real name, John Doe was the default name for a homeless person or somebody with no ID. He looked at his nails; they were clean, and neatly cut. That indicated that he was from at least a fairly well-off position in society; he wasn't a bum. His hand reached up toward his face, feeling for a beard. What he felt was bandages. As his hand explored his face, he felt many bandages; and the skin that wasn't covered by them was rough, and uneven. He shuddered, not wanting to know what he looked like; he must look like a monster.

JOHN DOE
"What happened to me?"


His question comes out in a deep, muffled tone. Nobody answers; the machines beside him whir and hum, the steady beep of his heart monitor just kept going. Slowly, he swings his legs over the side of the bed. Expecting them to be weak, he is surprised to find that he is easily able to stand. As he did, something fell onto the floor, just out of his reach. He couldn't quite make it out through the darkness, but it looked like a manila folder. Doe reached down, rethought his actions, and stood back up. He ran his hand along the side of the monitor until his fingers rubbed against a switch. He turned the monitor off, and then sank to one knee to retrieve what had fallen. It was a manila envelope, and as he turned it over in his hands, a message scrawled neatly in black magic marker appeared.

JOHN DOE
"To Mr. Doe. Open ASAP."


He mouthed the words one last time before undoing the tied-fastener in the back, and shaking the envelope over the bed. Out fell a packet of papers, a pair of photographs, and a folded-up piece of legal paper. One photo was, presumably, of him; he was standing outside, his hand to his face, a shadow obscuring from the neck-up. He was wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans, and was leaning on a black car.

JOHN DOE
"Huh. Apparently I like black."


He flipped over the photo, but nothing was written on it. The next photo was of a young man, maybe twenty-two or twenty-three. He had short, crew-cut, brown hair and was clearly a wrestler. Doe flipped it over, to find a bulls-eye drawn in black magic marker. Below it, in neat handwriting: "Boom." Doe dropped the picture, and picked up the note. He unfolded it, to see that same, neat handwriting. He read it out loud to himself:

JOHN DOE
"Dear Mr. Doe, my sincerest apologies for your accident and loss. You and I were not acquainted previously, but due to a vast body of work and a perfect resume, I would like to extend an offer on behalf of the SCW. Enclosed in this packet, you'll find two photos. One is you. The other, with the bulls-eye, is your first opponent, if you choose to accept the contract, which is the final thing enclosed in the folder. You'll find it to be industry standard, and you'll be paid small bonuses for wins. However, your contract will have one provision you will NOT find standard; I'm sure you want answers; who you are, how you got to be in the situation you're in, questions about your past, etc. I will make it all clear. You want answers? If you can manage to rise to the top, I'll answer every question you have."


Below that, the paper was signed XM. Doe held the paper, read it again, and finally, laid it down. He picked up the packet of papers, and without even reading it, turned to the last page. He grabbed the attached pen, and without hesitating, wrote John Doe on the dotted line. If this place had answers, he had to go. No questions asked. It wasn't about money, it was about the truth.

SCENE 2
"Genesis"
January 1st, 2012


Doe kills the engine to the yellow Ford Fusion he had rented. It was 10PM, and it was unseasonably cold in the usually warm city of Austin. As he opened the door, Doe pulled a black canvas duffle bag from the passenger seat and slung it over his shoulder. He closed the door, locked it with the remote, and struck off toward the darkened arena doors. He had received in the mail a key-card with his name on it, and used this to open the usually closed back-door. The hallway was still lit with buzzing halogen lights. He proceeded straight down the hallway, reading each room number until he found his; room six. The door swung open, and the lights flickered on. The room smelled like smoke; not the bad sort of stale smoke, but a strange, murky smoke that, for some reason, made Doe feel right at home. He laid his bag out on the lone folding table in the room and unzipped it. Even in the gloom of the room, with nobody around for probably miles, he spoke to himself. He had tried to stop himself from doing it, but in a strange way, it was comforting.

JOHN DOE
"And so long as nobody is around, why not?"


He reached into the bag and pulled out some black under armor, a black Everlast shirt, and a brand new pair of black cargo pants.

JOHN DOE
"If black was my color before, it's only fitting that it be my color now."


He took out a few other things; a pair of big Arrogant Bastard Ale bottles, a water bottle, and a digital camera. And then, finally, he pulled out a black, spandex mask. He pulled it toward himself, and into the light. It was a black mask with a yellow skull motif on it.

JOHN DOE
"I'm not really sure who I am. To find out, I need to become somebody I'm not. I know I can fight... I just feel it in my blood."


He pulled the mask tightly over his head. The mask fits well, and he turned to view himself in the full body mirror. At 6'10'', he was already a hell of an imposing figure. His arms were riddled with scars, probably from doing this very career; with the gleaming yellow skull mask on, he looked downright frightening, like something out of a child's nightmare.

JOHN DOE
"So; if The Mystery is the first step on my path to revelation, so be it. I am not who I was, and I am not John Doe. From now on, I'll be The Yellow Skull."


Skull walked toward the door, pausing to turn back and look at his new visage. He was very glad he wasn't his opponent. He turned the light off, and there was darkness.

"Things Come Together, Things Fall Apart"
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
Backstage, Post-Show


It was well past closing time, everyone had gone home but the cheers still rung in Skull's ears as if the show was still going on. It had been nothing like he'd imagined; when he got in that ring, he'd be nervous, confused, excited, his mind would have gone gone blank. It'd be like... like whoever he was before, had taken over his body. He wasn't living it tonight, it was more like watching a movie. It had been scary, but utterly exhilarating at the same time. He'd watched every single match match, and had seen every victory and defeat.

Skull has his black patchwork leather trenchcoat slung over one of his broad shoulders. His mask was still on, and gleamed brightly in the corridors. He passed a few of the behind-the-scene types (hair, makeup, etc.) and waved to them, basking in the wrestling atmosphere. His inner dialogue was working overtime as he though of scraps of things: maybe it didn't matter who he was? Maybe this was a good enough life? Maybe all he needed was this company? He wore a smile beneath the mask, and just shook his head. He'd sort the emotions and the details out later. For now, he was just going to enjoy himself.

As he reached his door, suddenly, he felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The door looked inconspicuous enough, but something was different, something was almost certainly out of place. It was almost a de ja vu feeling of certainty. He pushed the door, and sure enough, it swung open. There was no damage to the door, and Skull was certain he'd looked it. It'd been picked, expertly. Skull tapped the door all the way open with one leg, and stood on the precipice of darkness. He looked down both ends of the hall, and seeing nobody, called out:

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Who's in there?"


The darkness, as expected, didn't answer him. He stood for a moment longer, scenes from horror movies running through his head, before finally taking a step into the door. He lashed out at the wall and flicked the light-switch up. As the lights buzzed to life, he couldn't see anything amiss: no other person, no masked murderer, nothing out of place... no, it wasn't that anything was gone. Something new was there.

Skull walked over to the card-table and stood over it, peering down. He picked up the envelope and held it up to the light. It was a big manila envelope with internal bubble wrap. It was a bit heavy, and it was clear to Skull that there was more then a message inside. He flipped it over, and written on the front in neat blue ink: An Old Friend. Skull's heart skipped a beat as he read that over, twice just to make sure. An old friend? Skull knew nobody in his past except for that woman in his dream. And it was concrete that she was even from his past.

All of a sudden, the hugeness of it all overtook him. His hand started to shake, the envelop dropped back onto the table. His knees buckled, and the big man fell down with a thud. He shook uncontrollably, tears coming to his eyes. The waves of emotions, first sadness, then panic, then despair, swept over his fallen body like a tsunami. The emotional pain ravaged his body, wiping his mind blank. In the blackness of this panic attack, Skull found himself confronting the questions one at a time. It was the fear; he'd compartmentalized it, stuffed it far back in his mind. He'd refused to acknowledge the damaged to his psyche that his amnesia had inflicted, and now, he was paying for it with interest. The shaking slowly subsided. He had drooled, he realized, and slowly moved his hand toward his mouth to wipe the fluid away.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Get up."


He mouthed it to himself, thinking it louder then he murmured it. Get off the ground. He pulled himself to his knees and the world swayed around him.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"No. I will not pass out."


He said this louder, with more resolve. He pulled himself together, and the world stopped spinning. Skull dragged himself off the ground, and steadied himself on the table. He dragged his eye-line back to the envelope, and picked it up. His hand began to tremble again, but he forced himself to steady it. He pulled the top off the envelope with a soft rip and a few pops as the bubble wrap tore. He turned the envelope upside-down and poured the contents onto the table. The first thing to fall out was a note. The second thing was a black ziplock bag, a blank black book of matches, and the final object was a silver chain. Skull picked up the note, and read it out loud.

THE YELLOW SKULL
“What’s happening, cool cat… cool cat?”


Who writes ‘cool cat’ anymore?

THE YELLOW SKULL
“…you’re in it pretty deep. Not sure if you know this yet, but that kitty cat you'll be rustling up is part of big-time money. Word among the nation is that you don’t remember who you are, either. I think you need a helping hand, and rest assured, I’m gonna be there. Sit tight, see you soon… Sam Rook. PS I got you something to celebrate early with. Enjoy!”


Now Skull had a name. A name, no face, and no more details then he’d had, but he had a name. And this guy said he’d be here soon. If he thought that Skull was in trouble in this next match, he’d probably be here this week. Skull tossed the note aside on the table and picked up the black baggy. He opened it, and dumped out a pair of cigars. He picked one up, inspecting it in the light. The wrapper was a dark brown, almost black. The band was a colorful and iconic X, with the words Fuente y Fuente on the bottom. On the cellophane, in gold lettering, “Opus X” was written. Skull furrowed his brow, set it down on the table, and picked up what he thought was a silver chain. It turned out to be dog tags.

THE YELLOW SKULL
“On…”


He couldn’t make out the whole name, but On was part of it. On… what started with On? Maybe Jon? Skull couldn’t be sure, but he had a good feeling about these. He pulled the tags over his head and around his neck.

Skull snatched the cigars up from off the table and slumped into the big leather chair he’d brought into the room. He looked at it for a bit more, and then roughly bit the end of the cigar off. The tobacco taste flooded his mouth along with many little flecks of dried tobacco leaf; he loved it, curiously; it had a peppery, leathery nuance that was incredibly pleasant and soothing. He lit two of the matches and scorched the stogie to life.

As he drew the smoke deep into his mouth and breathed it out, it swirled through he murky room. The smell was intoxicating. Skull looked through the smoke, savoring the fantastic taste the smoke left in his mouth. Things were coming together. Soon, he’d have answers.

Monday, January 9th, 2012
4:00am


Porcelain skin. She had porcelain skin, somehow still gleaming white even in the too-close, too-hot sun. There was a horrible whirring noise, like rotor blades chopping the air around him. He was falling… falling… falling… and she was reaching for him. It all slowed down to a crawl. He saw her green eyes, her red hair, her beautiful, full lips; she was an angel of the desert, for there was no other place he could be. In this desert, there was just two people; her and him. He was dimly aware that shots were going off around him. Men screamed as they died; blood making their shouts gurgle sickly. Skull found that he didn’t care. All he could see was her.

Time stopped. Was this death? Was it heaven, or a much more sinister hell? He could stair into those deep green eyes forever, but an icy feeling washed across his body. He heard a sick sound, like walking through a tub of melted human flesh, and then a voice, like a million smokers dying words:

VOICE
“Hahaha… Oh looky here, boy… looks like I’m gonna get to come out and play… Boo!”


He jerked into consciousness; from the hot war-torn desert to a warm bed in a dark room. He was breathing hard and perspiring harder. His heart was pounding away like a jackhammer inside his chest, and it showed no signs of slowing down. This dream, or maybe a nightmare, had haunted him. It had played again and again, like a highlight reel of the only memory he had. Since he’d woken up in a hospital bed, he’d only seen these images when he slept, not a variation or a different scene. Just the same girl, that same sensation of falling, night after night after night…

But that voice was new. That ghoulish, flesh-peeling voice was something he’d never experienced before. It felt more lucid then a dream, more vivid, almost tangible. Skull shuddered; it felt almost as if it was still lurking, somewhere under his skin.

As his feet swung across the bed and onto the soft carpeting of the floor below, Skull sat up and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. After something like that, there was no way he’d be able to get back to sleep tonight. He peered to his side, noting the pathetically early hour in which he’d awoken. There was absolutely nothing that he could do now. Texas seemed to close around 10:00PM. All he wanted was a drink, a smoke… something to clear his mind. Maybe he could focus on the match he had this week. Skull ran a hand through his short, black hair.

THE YELLOW SKULL
“Not much to focus on, really.”


And it was true. His match was straight forward in a very unconventional sense: a standard singles match with him and a young boy named Steven Kline. Skull welcomed that.

Skull pulled himself out of bed. He glanced out the window, deliberating his immediate course of action, before grabbing his mask off the night stand.

Mere minutes later, Skull had wrapped himself in a black SCW sweatshirt featuring Gabriel, his teddy bear Angel, Despayre, and Synn. He wore his black and yellow mask and a pair of white, beat-to-rubble sneakers. As he opened the door, he welcomed the faintly-warm air as it breathed through his mask and clothing. The weather was nothing like this in New York, in the hospital he’d been in. No, this was quite nice for January. He checked his watch: 5:00am on the dot. He pushed his legs into motion, and took off on a brisk jog. The movement, the mindless momentum, the thoughtless footsteps all really helped him think. All of the tiny bits of cognition it took to keep from tripping or running into traffic gave him a nice controlled stream of thought. He had too much to think about; and you can never have too much cardio.

The dream; Skull had gotten to thinking that perhaps it was all symbolic. He hadn’t put much stock into dream interpretation, but perhaps that was what he needed to do: find a dream interpreter. He’d been through a lot lately, and it would make sense of psychological phenomenon to manifest themselves through dreams.

He let his mind stick to that, though there were too many loose ends with that explanation. For now, a simple answer was all he needed, and truth didn’t even need to be a part of the equation. His mind wandered to the next big thing in his cognitive que: the match against Steven Kline.

Kline was going to be easy. He was a twenty-year-old with a parent complex, he was a fan-favorite, he was beloved, and he was violent. He was fearless only because he had yet to find a cause for fear; he’d yet to been in the ring with somebody capable of utterly and totally breaking him. That would be something that could be easily changed. After all, the leading cause of behaving stupid is not knowing any better.

Skull rounded a corner as the sun began to rise. He headed up a hill, past a school, his legs chugging along as his mind followed suit. He was close now. Close to the hotel he’d been calling home a day. He was as close, too, to figuring out the pain he would inflict on Steven Kline.

He reached the hotel and slowed back down to a walk. He was sweating hard; he hadn’t realized it, but he’d done a three mile jog in twenty minutes, which was faster then he’d intended. He brushed the sweat from his brow as he entered the elevator, and headed up to his floor. The brushed-steel doors slid open, and he stood face to face with his room.

Then it happened again. That feeling of the hairs on his neck standing on end: something was out of place. He froze, eying the door, peering each way down the hall. Nothing looked wrong, but this feeling in his gut was a learned instinct; in the weeks he’d been awake, he’d trusted it, and it’d served him well. Skull rattled the door handle and sighed a bit as he found it to be locked. He slid his key-card through the lock, and pushed the door open as the light turned green. The light was on, and in the middle of the room sat a black man in a white suit.


Monday, January 9th, 2012
7:00am


THE YELLOW SKULL
“So wait wait wait, let me get this straight, Mr. Rook, you know who I am, but you won't tell me?”


Skull looked at the man who’d identified himself as Sam Rook incredulously.

SAM ROOK
“Yessir, you got that right my old friend. But you don’t know why, why don’t you let me explain that first, then you can ask questions. Sound fair, cool cat?”


THE YELLOW SKULL
“Cool cat… okay, so you’re the person who sent me that note? What’s with the cigars? And what’s with these?”


Skull grabbed at the silver dog tags that now hung around his neck and pulled them out to show Rook. The man simply smiled a big, toothy but friendly smile and laughed.

SAM ROOK
“Yeah, I wrote that note. As for these…”


Rook ran a finger down the body of one of the dog tags, right along where the text was scratched badly.

SAM ROOK
“Well, these are yours. You were in Afghanastan for a couple of months. Not USA though. Blackwater, private contractor for the US. Seeing as how you got no family, they sent your stuff to me. Not to mention your assets, home, etc. which you’d left to me. All of these things are yours again of course; I couldn’t believe you were dead, my brother, after all… nothing alive or dead has managed to drag you down to hell where you belong. And I say that, Mr. Doe, as a friend.”


Skull took all this in silently. Rook gave him a few moments, then:

SAM ROOK
“So as for why I can’t tell you, or rather won't tell you who you were, I guess I got a gut feeling about this one. You were a troubled man, Mr. Doe. That’s why Blackwater wanted you, you were big, bad, and a killer, straight up and down. You were angry and had demons, real and within yourself. You need to understand that you were more of a beast then a man! I’m afraid that if you discover who you truly are, you’ll go back to that. And you seem plenty happy now.”


Skull stood up, angrily rising from his leather chair. He was furious at this man. How dare he come to him and tell him how he should live his life?

THE YELLOW SKULL
“That should be MY choice! Who I am is MY choice, I have the right to know who I was, who I really am! You think I’m happy? Every morning I wake up sweating, seeing nothing but this… this girl in the desert. What does that mean? It’s haunting me, Sam, it’s indescribable!”


SAM ROOK
“Mr. Doe, I understand how you feel, but trust me; a time will come when you will learn, regardless of what I say or do. When that time comes, you will be the hand that moves your destiny along. Until then, there are more immediate and more important problems at hand, which actually leads me to my reason for visiting you so abruptly...”


THE YELLOW SKULL
“Hey, wait, you need to tell me who the fuck I am!”


Rook looked at Skull, annoyed.

SAM ROOK
“Well you know what, Mr. Skull? I’d like my house back from Katrina, but yelling about it ain’t going to get me anywhere. You want to find out? You win this match. Win this match, and I will pull that opaque curtain away from your eyes, cool cat. I’ll make you see what you wish you ain’t NEVER saw. You can’t see it the way I do now, but my guess is after this match, you’ll understand why the person you were before was so powerful. You’ll understand why I am trying to keep it from you now. But, should you want to find out after, just say the word, and all shall be revealed.”


Skull looked down toward the floor. Despite being more then five inches taller then Rook, the man commanded tremendous respect. He could somehow make himself seem bigger then he was, and Skull was feeling like a kid who’d been severely chastised for doing something wrong. He wasn’t happy, but he kept his lips closed. Seeing this, Rook nodded before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a note.

SAM ROOK
“Read this, John. This is… well, this is something I think you will need to help you succeed.”


Skull looked back up, actually a little shocked. Help? Skull didn't really know how to react. He didn't really have any friends. He smiled a little beneath his mask, and nodded.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Uh... thanks, Sam. I appreciate that. Were we really good friends before this accident?"


SAM ROOK
"Don't assume it was an accident, but yeah, we were."


THE YELLOW SKULL
"...are you going to keep being cryptic like this? Cause it's going to get real old real fast."


Rook smiled sadly. It seemed as if the weight of what he knew about Yellow Skull was incredible. He looked up to Skull one last time:

SAM ROOK
"Old friend... you have no idea how much you'll wish you never knew who you were. No idea."


Sunday, January 15th, 2012
10:00PM, Dressing Room


Rook had left shortly after that. He said that he'd meet him just before the beginning of the match. Skull had been glad to finally have time to himself, to process what had happened. But shortly after, he'd regretted letting him go. That man was a link to his past, a link a self that he could only dream of being again. Skull turned and leaned on the bathroom mirror, staring into the blank, black eye's in his mask. The mask he'd chosen was ironic; it was custom-made, but it was still a skull, something that every person has. His mask represented the soullessness that a person experiences without knowing who he is. Skull yanked the mask off suddenly, and stared into his own deep, sad, brown eyes set in a pitted and scarred face.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Who am I?"


Suddenly, a cold feeling washed over him. The color seemed to fizzle out of the world, as the paisley wallpaper and blue carpet faded to a murky black. His head hurt, badly. It wasn't a migraine or anything even close to what he'd felt before. Then that laughter... like punching melted fat, like crunching small animals under your bare feet, that laughter! It was horrible.

VOICE
"Do you really want to know, boy? Will knowing make it easier to deal with? Or harder?"


Skull's mouth twitched hard. He collapsed to one knee. The pain was so, overwhelmingly bad.

THE YELLOW SKULL
"Who... who are you? Are you real... it can't be possible... you're in my head..."


Skull's head hit the floor. As the world spun into the empty, black void of unconsciousness, a last sentence was uttered by The Voice:

VOICE
"I am The Monster that you always feared, boy... I am you, and you are me... you will soon know the truth, and the truth is horrible..."

______________________________________________________________________
Do I really think I'll be great again?

Do I really think I can get to where I was?

... I don't know.

Honestly, I don't even know who I truly am.

See Steven I was preparing for this match and I was thinking to myself. I was thinking about how I'm not quite sure of who I am. I was thinking about how coincidental it was that I had ended up in Sin City Wrestling with the help of the newly aquainted Sam Rook. I was thinking how I would absolutely tear your body to shreads. But then something got me thinking.

Just what do I expect from this match?

Do I expect to win? Of course I do, I obviously have the size and skill advantage. Do I think it's going to be easy? Sure. From what I have been informed, Steven Kline, you are one of the most dumbest, heroic employees on the roster. But most of all, I am looking to reveal just a little more of the secrets to my past.

Steven, the main reason I came to this company was to kick ass. And the reason I want to kick ass is because I want to know the truth. I mean, it's unavoidable. I MUST find out my past, so I can start a greater future. And that's where you come in.

You're going to get destroyed, and the sad thing is, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. There's no way around it. Because at the end of the day... you're still standing in a ring staring across into the eyes of one pissed off Monster. A 6'10", 300 pound ANIMAL. You're just going to be the first of many in a list of broken bodies. Really, it's an honour. And you're going to be the first one to help me find out who I really am.

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