[Jake Sullivan]

 Thirty five.  Thirty-five days it has been since Rage last saw or spoke to Sabrina Stevens; the woman who was trying to help him with his anger issues.  The last time he had any contact with her, she was storming out of his apartment for a reason he still doesn't know.  What started out as a civil conversation, ended with Sabrina getting upset over something, and leaving.  And Rage hasn't heard from her since.  Granted, he hasn't attempted to contact her either, but he hasn't had a reason to.  

Everything has been going relatively smoothly for the big man over the past few weeks.  He hasn't been booked in a match since he and Angel Kash were knocked out of the Blast From the Past mixed tag tournament, but he didn't mind.  Normally, he'd be itching for a fight, but since he beat Blade Alexander to become the number one contender to the Heavyweight title, he's been waiting.  He's been watching the man who he will be facing at Blaze of Glory II.  He's been studying the SCW Heavyweight Champion like a hawk.  

He has been preparing for the first time he would meet Spike Staggs face to face in the ring with the gold on the line.  

Rage has never had a problem with Spike Staggs.  While the two are currently in separate stables, there has always been a mutual respect between them.  I guess you could say that part of the reason was because of Jamie Staggs.  Rage's former tag team partner, and Spike's brother.  It was an odd team from the beginning, but it turned out to be a successful one at that.  And while Rage may not have had any friendly feelings towards the woman who Spike nearly married, he didn't hold it against Spike.

The fact is, both men were in this business for similar reasons.  Wrestling is an outlet both men use to unleash their aggression, and in the process, win the title.  Neither ever claimed to be better than the other, and had not caused a problem.

At least, not up until now.

After Climax Control, and the events that unfolded, Rage's mood had reverted back to his normal ways.  He was livid to say the least.  He had hoped to go into his title match against Spike under good terms, but apparently, Spike had other plans.  Regardless of what he says otherwise.  The New XTremes were supposed to be the good guys, right?  Apparently not, as Rage was attacked by three "mysterious" figures who happened to be wearing NXT gear.  Ever since then, Rage has been on a warpath.  In an attempt to get Rage in a better mood, Synn had tried to get the big man to return to his place to talk strategy for the upcoming title match, but Rage had, in his own way, graciously declined.  Instead, he got back into his Hennessy Venom GT, and sped off from the Boys and Girls Club and Carson City like a bat out of hell.

As he was driving back to Las Vegas, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, quickly finding Sabrina's number in his contacts.  He hit send, and swerved in and out of traffic as the phone continued to ring.

"Pick up!  Pick up the damn phone, Sabrina!"

Unfortunately for him, Sabrina does not answer the call.  It goes to her voicemail and Rage leaves her a message.

"Hey Sabrina, it's me.  Look, I know we haven't talked in a while, and I think I'm to blame for that, but I really need to talk to you right now.  Just give me a call back when you get this message."

Rage then ends the call, putting his phone back in his pocket and continuing his way back to Las Vegas.

The Next Day...

The scene opens up inside the waiting area of an office building.  A woman with brunette hair is seated behind the receptionist desk, and she is typing away on her computer, as well as answering calls as the phone rings.  A few minutes later, the door swings open, and the receptionist takes one look at the man walking in and goes wide-eyed with fear and concern.  Rage approaches the desk, glaring right at the woman, who cautiously keeps her hand on the phone just in case.

"C-can I help you, sir?"

"Yeah, I need to speak to Sabrina...right now."

The receptionist glances towards the other people who are seated in the waiting area before she glances back to Rage.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't, but I need to see Sabrina.  Tell her that Ra...Jake is here.  She'll know who you're talking about."

"I'm sorry, sir, but you need to make an appointment to see Ms. Stevens."

"Fuck this."

Rage then takes actions into his own hands.  He walks past the reception desk, and down the hall.  He looks for Sabrina's office and when he finds it, he bursts in the door.  Sabrina is seated in a chair, and a middle-aged man is seated on the sofa.  They are each startled by Rage's intrusion, though Sabrina is clearly more surprised than her patient.  She stands up, glaring at Rage.

"What do you think you are doing?  You can't just barge into my office--"

Rage walks over to the patient sitting on the sofa and stands directly in front of him.  He towers of the now terrified looking man, and he points to the door.

"Your time is up.  Get out."

Rage speaks in as calm a tone as he possibly can, though the look on his face tells the man not to make him say it again.  The man looks to Sabrina as if asking her what to do, but she takes the situation into her own hands by stepping in between Rage and her patient.

"Whoa, wait just a damn minute!  Rage you can't just waltz right in here and order my patients around like this!  What is your problem?!"

"Rage?  This guy's name is Rage?  What kind of name is that?!"

Rage attempts to take a step forward, causing Sabrina's patient to cower further into the sofa.  Sabrina puts her hand on Rage's chest and holds him back.

"Why haven't you been answering any of my calls or text messages?  I've been trying to get a hold of you!"

"So you wait over a month to try and get a hold of me, and then when I ignore your calls and texts, you get angry?  I've got nothing to say to you.  I suggest if you don't want me to call the police, you get the hell out of my office."

Rage shakes his head, looking down to Sabrina.  The look in his eyes is almost pleading, and it throws Sabrina for a loop momentarily, but she points to the door, ordering Rage out.

"I'm not leaving.  I need to talk to you, Sabrina.  It's important."

"Oh now you want to talk?!  Well, sorry, it's just a little too late for that.  Get out of here, Rage."

"Sabrina...please."

Sabrina has her arms folded across her chest, giving Rage a stern glare.  She can tell he is being serious, but she still doesn't want to listen to anything he has to say.  Her patient saves her the trouble, as he stands up and looks at the two.

"Ok...clearly you two have some things to work out here.  I'll just go and schedule my appointment for next week and I'll see you then, Dr. Stevens."

The man then slowly sneaks his way past Sabrina and Rage.  Rage glares at him from the corner of his eye, but doesn't move.  When it is just Sabrina and Rage left in her office, she glares at him, her nostrils almost flared, before she heads over to her desk without saying a word.  Rage keeps his eyes on her, waiting for her to say something.  When she doesn't, he breaks the long awkward silence.

"You're really not going to say anything are you?"

Sabrina starts rummaging through some paperwork on her desk, pretending as though she doesn't hear Rage.  Rage walks over to her desk, taking a seat in the chair in front of it.

"C'mon Sabrina.  Would you please say something?"

Sabrina sighs and stops what she is doing.  She folds her hands in front of her on the desk and finally looks at Rage.

"What would you like me to say, Rage?  You came here to talk to me, remember?  You want to talk?  Talk."

Sabrina then picks up her phone, dialing her receptionist's extension.  When her receptionist answers, she tells the young woman to reschedule the rest of her appointments for today, before she places the receiver back down, and continues going through all of her paperwork.  Rage continues to look at her, giving himself time to think about what he is going to say next.  After a few minutes of silence, he growls in clear frustration.

"You know, I wish you would tell me what the fuck I did!  You stormed out of my apartment last month and haven't talked to me since.  Would you tell me what that was all about?"

"Figure it out for yourself."

"Damn it, I've tried!  You can't give me a little help here?"

Sabrina looks at Rage and laughs.  She sits back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other and keeps her eyes locked on Rage.

"Oh, I tried to help you, Rage.  You just don't seem to want it bad enough.  You can't admit a damn thing, so how am I supposed to help you if you don't want it?"

"What are you talking about?  I was letting you help me!  Why the hell are women so damn confusing?!"

"Oh so now you say you were letting me help you, but before you couldn't even admit it?"

Rage shakes his head and waves his hands around, showing his complete confusion over the situation.  He places his hands on Sabrina's desk, and closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath before he speaks.

"Okay, look...Let's just take a step back, or maybe even a few steps back here.  Whatever you're pissed about, I'm sorry.  Okay?  I'm sorry for whatever the hell I did, but I didn't come here to dwell on that shit.  I came here because--"

"You're sorry?  You're sorry?!  How do you expect me to believe that?"

"Oh come on, Sabrina!  Do I look like someone who apologizes to anyone...ever?!"

Sabrina sits there for a moment and just studies Rage.  She watches his facial expressions carefully, and looks at his eyes.  It is as if she is trying to read him.

"You know, I thought I knew you Rage, but I really don't think I do anymore.  You've got so many sides to you, and dealing with them all honestly makes me dizzy.  How am I supposed to believe this supposed apology, when tomorrow you could act like it never even happened?"

Rage grows increasingly frustrated as his attempts to get through to Sabrina continue to fail.  He leans forward, burying his head in his hands.

"Forget it.  I give up.  I'm sitting here, trying to apologize to you, but you just don't give a shit and you won't believe me, so I'm done trying.  I came here because I need you right now, but you can't even give me the benefit of the fucking doubt!  So just forget it Sabrina.  You want me to leave?  Fine!  I'll fucking leave!"

Without another word, Rage shoves his chair away from Sabrina's desk and storms out of her office, slamming the door behind him.  Sabrina sits there for a few minutes, shocked for a moment.  She hears Rage's car speed off away from the building soon after, and it snaps her back to reality.  She shakes her head and quickly opens a drawer to her desk, taking out her purse and keys.  She grabs her jacket off the hook on the wall and quickly runs out of her office.  On her way out of the building, she tells her receptionist she has an emergency and doesn't know when she'll be back, and she dashes out the door and to her car.  Sabrina speeds off in the same direction that Rage went, presumably back to his apartment, and the scene fades out.

********************

A short while later the scene fades in to just outside of Rage's apartment building.  Sabrina's car pulls into the parking lot, parking directly next to Rage's batmobile. (What?  It stuck with me! ) As soon as the engine shuts off, Sabrina quickly exits her car, and dashes inside the building and up the stairs.  

Inside Rage's apartment, we find the big man heading into his room, with his duffel bag in hand.  He is clearly in one of his usual angry moods, though it has been a while since anyone has seen him this angry.  He disappears into his room to pack his bag, and various things crashing and breaking throughout the room.  As Rage is too preoccupied with destroying his apartment, that he doesn't hear the knocking coming from his front door, no doubt it being Sabrina.  She only knocks once, and when she hears the loud crash inside the apartment, she lets herself inside.  

Once inside she tosses her purse and her keys on the table next to the door, and quickly heads towards Rage's room with a concerned look on her face.  Once she makes it to the doorway, she just looks inside, keeping her distance for the moment.  After tossing a few things into his duffel bag, Rage turns around to see Sabrina standing in the doorway.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you after you stormed out of my office like that.  What are you doing?"

"I'm fine, okay?  I'm packing some clothes together because I'm heading over to Synn's place later."

Sabrina takes a step inside the room, looking around at the mess he's made.  His television, laptop and a few other things are all on the floor, seemingly broken.

"And you're destroying your room in the process?"

Rage growls loudly and spins around, glaring at Sabrina.  His hand is clenched to a fist at his side.

"You made your point in your office, okay Sabrina?!  I fucked up and you don't even want to give me the time of day anymore.  I'll leave you alone."

"Did you mean what you said?"

Rage looks confused but he turns around, grabbing a few more pieces of clothing from out of his dresser and tosses them into his duffel bag.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Before you left you said...You said that you needed me.  Did you mean that?"

Rage slowly zips his duffel bag closed, but he doesn't turn around right away.  He lets Sabrina wait for his response, as he takes in a deep breath.  He slowly turns around and looks at Sabrina and the expression on his face.  Rage remains silent for a long while before Sabrina takes a step towards him.

"I...I never said that."

Sabrina walks up to him, obviously disappointed with his blatant denial.  She grabs his duffel bag out his hand and throws it across the room, and glares at him, fuming.

"For God's sake, Rage would you just STOP lying!  Quit lying to me and more importantly, quit lying to yourself!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes, you are.  You just don't see it.  Look at me."

Rage ignores her, and instead looks down to the floor.  He has his hands clenched into fists at his side, and he suddenly flinches, as Sabrina places a gentle hand on his chin, forcing him to look at her.

"I said look at me.  Now, tell me what happened.  I haven't seen you this pissed off in a while, so talk to me."

"It doesn't fucking matter, Sabrina.  Talking about it isn't going to make one bit of a difference."

"It never hurts to try."

Rage closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath.  Inside, he can feel his blood begin to boil as he goes over in his mind the events that led up to this.  His arms begin to shake as he clenches his fists tighter.

"I take it you didn't watch Climax Control..."

"Honestly, no.  I haven't even paid attention to it since we last spoke.  What happened?"

"Spike Staggs."

The tone to Rage's voice turns resentful and slightly furious.  He holds back a growl, but Sabrina just keeps her eyes locked on him.

"Care to elaborate on that?  I thought you two were friends in a way?"

Rage lets out a laugh, and the tension in his body seems to ease up just a bit.

"Ha!  Friends...right.  We were on friendly terms at least, but that bastard made a big mistake last night.  Him and three of his NXT assholes attacked me not only with the Heavyweight Title, but a steel chair, too.  He's no better than Nick Jones if you ask me."

"Why would Spike do that?"

Rage shrugs and leans against his dresser.

"Fuck if I know, but he turned into one big hypocrite by doing that.  He wanted to go into our title match with honor, but he just said all that to make himself look good.  He threw honor right out the fucking window, and now, he deserves every bit of pain that is coming to him.  He made this shit personal."

"Wait...You've got you match against him?  When is it?"

"Not soon enough.  That asshole is lucky to even make it to our match, let alone to his precious NWA World title match at Wrestleclassic.  If he knows what is good for him he better stay the hell away from me at Wrestleclassic or--"

Sabrina holds her hand up causing Rage to go immediately quiet.  She shakes her head in confusion.

"Whoa, slow down, Rage.  I'm just a little lost.  What the hell is Wrestleclassic?"

"SCW is part of the NWA, the National Wrestling Alliance.  Wrestleclassic is this month's big alliance wide show in San Juan."

"And do you have a match?"

Rage laughs and shakes his head.

"Hell no.  Not everyone is involved in the alliance stuff, and I am one of the people who isn't involved with it."

"Okay, so why are you going to San Juan for Wrestleclassic then if you're not involved?"

"Don't you pay attention to shit, Sabrina?  Gabriel and Despy are the NWA Tag Team Champions.  They've got their first defense at Wrestleclassic, so I'm going to show my support."

Sabrina nods as she tries to process all of this information.  She folds her arms, and takes in a deep breath.

"Right.  But again I have to ask, when is your match against Spike?"

"In two weeks.  March 3rd.  We'll be back from San Juan a day or two before, and I've got some fan convention to deal with at that point.  I'm almost tempted to say to hell with this damn match, find Spike and just beat the hell out of him before it."

"Why the hell would you do that?  Just beat him in the ring."

Rage shakes his head and walks past Sabrina.  He goes and grabs his duffel bag, picking it up off the floor and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Like that will fucking matter?  Like I said, he made this personal.  He wanted to piss me off to distract me from the title--"

"No, YOU did that, Rage."

"The hell I did!  That motherfucker attacked me!"

"And did you ever stop to think that maybe it wasn't him after all?  Maybe he had nothing to do with that attack?"

Only then does Rage actually stop to think about that possibility for a moment.  It is a quick moment, however, as his expression turns angry and menacing.

"Bullshit he had nothing to do with it!  They were all wearing NXT crap and the Heavyweight Title was used in the attack.  It's got Spike's name written all over it."

"Right, because people are never set up for something they didn't do?  C'mon, Rage, I know you're smarter than that.  Think about this will you."

"I have thought about it, Sabrina.  It's all I've thought about since Sunday.  To hell with Spike.  To hell with the Heavyweight Title.  If Spike wants a fight, he's getting a damn fight!"

Sabrina is about to respond, but Rage lifts his hand up, stopping her.

"Don't Sabrina...just don't.  I'm done talking about this shit.  You should go.  I'm leaving for Synn's soon."

"Can't it wait--"

"Just go, Sabrina!"

Sabrina flinches as Rage yells at her.  She seems almost hurt, but she shakes it off and walks past him.  Before she heads out of the room, she has one last thing to say to Rage.

"Call me when you get back from San Juan next week then.  You're crashing and burning, Rage, and I think you know it.  Have a good time in San Juan...and for God's sake...don't do anything stupid to Spike.  Don't ruin your shot at getting the Heavyweight Title back."

Rage just nods his head, but seems to ignore her warning.  Sabrina just sighs and walks out of the room, then out of the apartment.  Rage stands in the doorway of his room, shaking his head.  His cell phone starts ringing inside his pocket, and he takes it out with a growl.

"What do ya want, Shane?...Relax, I'll be on my way in a minute...No, I had an unexpected visitor...Shut the fuck up, man.  I'll see ya in a few."

Rage then ends the call, putting his phone back in his pocket.  He looks around the room at the mess he made, and shakes his head.  He shrugs before walking out heading for the front door.  He grabs his keys, then leaves the apartment, heading to Synn's, and the scene fades out.

********************

Silence...that's what you all have heard from me the past two weeks.  On the eve of one of the biggest matches of my career, aside from facing Nick Jones a multitude of times, I shouldn't be so quiet.  I should have a hell of a lot more to say.  Especially considering I have the opportunity to do what Nick Jones has done.  I have the opportunity to become a two-time Heavyweight Champion.  

So why am I sitting back, relatively quiet?  Why haven't I done what every other man would be doing in this instance and rip Spike Staggs apart as I go on to take the title away from him?  Your guess is as good as mine, honestly.  Don't get me wrong, I want the title back again.  I want to be known as the SCW Heavyweight Champion once again.  It's what I've been working for my entire career.  But, at the moment, something takes more presidence.  There is one thing that is more important than the Heavyweight Title, and admitting that could very well be the one thing that costs me everything.

I've never had a problem with Spike Staggs.  I've respected the guy ever since I've known him.  He's had one hell of a career.  Anyone can admit that.  But his decisions outside of the ring haven't exactly given him the best track record.  His choices in women...his choices in friends...The list goes on and on.  But his biggest mistake of all?  Bringing three of his NXT assholes with him and attacking me from behind.  He pissed off the wrong guy, and that decision is going to come back and bite him in the ass.

I was more than happy in this match just being business.  I was perfectly fine with putting on a respectable match between to respecting opponents, but the minute Spike and his piece of shit buddies attacked me, all respect went right out the fucking window.  All bets are off, and come Sunday, Spike Staggs is going to get what is coming to him.

Allow me to take the opportunity to congratulate Spike right now, however.  He's now a two time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and a double champion at that.  Congratulations, Spike, you put on one hell of a show at Wrestleclassic.  But this Sunday, it's not about the NWA World Heavyweight Title, is it?  It's not about the fact that you are a double champion, as you now carry the SCW Heavyweight Title along with the NWA's highest title.  No, Spike...This Sunday is about one thing...

It's about me kicking your ass in the worst possible way!  You just happened to make my job a little easier, because you're walking into the match injured already.  You took some big risks in that cage match against Chris Xtreme, and lucky for you they paid off...for that match at least.  They've done you no favors for this fight against me, though.  I plan to take advantage of the pain you are currently in.  I plan to focus on every cut...every bruise...every single ounce of pain you feel, and I'm going to intensify it ten fold.  

Do you understand what you've done, Spike?  Do you understand what you've gotten yourself into?  I don't think you do, but after Blaze of Glory II, I'm going to make you regret ever pissing me off.  I'm going to make your time as a double champion the shortest in history, because once I'm finished destroying you, I'm going to pin you and I'm going to have my hand raised in victory as I am declared the new SCW Heavyweight Champion.  You can count on that, Spikey boy.  Only one man is going down in a Blaze of Glory, Spike...and it's not you.  

The Sin of Wrath is coming for you, Spike...and it isn't going to be pretty.

**END FEED**