Motherly Love
The roar of the engine announced their arrival in the small suburban area of Atlanta Georgia that was the former hometown of one Alicia Lukas. Austin looked around and couldn’t help but laugh. It was a beautiful summers day, right before the end of summer before the beginning of fall, and Georgia was still hot, the sun beating down as the black car came to a stop out the front of a large stately home. Large white pillars going straight up. A path leading to a small staircase and a patio.
And in the middle, a door. Large, double doors made of redwood, gold trim on door knockers and handles. Austin took a deep breath and shook his head before looking over at Alicia. She was nervous, he could tell. Normally she was the picture of confidence. When she was in the ring, backstage or at the gym barking orders to eager trainees and rookies. Hell she even ordered Austin around. But right now, she was silent. Her eyes staring right past Austin to the doors.
Her heart was beating fast,, Austin looked up to the door then back at her with a smile, he reached over grabbing her hand and it slowly calmed her. Alicia took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. ”Sorry, this is just…new to me I guess. It’s been a long time since I brought a man home to momma.” In that moment Alicia slipped back, back to her southern accent and drawl that she normally tried to hide. Especially around everyone in New York.
But they had to be here. The last week or so Alicias mother had been spending time with the boys. Rory and Ryan, her only grandchildren. She spoiled them, doted on them. She was an excellent grandmother. Austin simply smiled and sat back in the drivers seat, Alicia took a deep breath and Austin nodded slowly. ”It’s ok, everything will be fine…I promise.”
”How can you be so calm? I thought you might be getting…I dunno…a little intimidated?” She motioned toward the house.
Austin laughed, scoffing and shaking his head before bringing one hand up to his chin, letting his elbow sit on the armrest of the car door. ”Ali, have you ever known me to be intimidated. By anyone? Or anything?” She thought for a moment, then shook her head. Austin chuckled, flashing a grin and motioning toward the door. ”And that? That isn’t going to intimidate me. I grew up around things like that. Large, gaudy monuments to past luxury. It’s not going to impress me or tower over me…neither will your mother….not with the man I grew up with for a father…” Austin trails off and sneers before pushing the door and getting out.
He slid his sunglasses over his eyes as the sun came right fown across the white roof and the pillars casting a bright glow. Alicia moved next to him, dressed in a red and black sundress, her makeup impeccably done as Austin toward over her, a bright blue button up shirt with the top few buttons undone and black dress pants making him look a little classier than his usual leather jackets, shirts and jeans. They moved up to the door and Alicia knocked before stand9ing back, as it opened they were greeted by Barbara Maxwell, Alicia and Zoeys mother. She smiled warmly, with a hint of judgemental focus at Austin. ”The boys are out the back dear, but we made afternoon tea, come on..”
Austin raised an eyebrow, no introduction, no handshake or formality. Yet, they moved through the house, Austin taking his sunglasses off and sliding them into the top of his shirt as he looked at the various artworks leading into the kitchen and to the back onto the patio overlooking the grounds. As they stepped out Alicia moved down onto the grass to see her boys, Austin stopped near the top of the landing looking down across the lush green grass. Barbara poored herself an iced tea and stirred it before looking up at Austin ”Can I offer you a drink Mister Mercer?”
Austin shot her a small smile and a nod. ”Thank you, that bwould be much appreciated.”
He sat down, reaching over the table with ease to take his glass, letting out a deep sigh as he took a sip. ”When my daughter told me she was dating someone I wondered if it was going to be yet another business minded gentleman or another wrestler. Seems as if she has slipped back into her old dating ways.” Austin chuckled, not knowing if that was meant to be an insult or a compliment. ”It seems as if a good man is hard to find…I really tho0ught Micheal was the right one for her.”
Austin gave a small nod. ”I think a mans occupation has very little to do with it. It’s always someones character that should be put above all else.”
He eyebrows raised, she sat back and drossed one leg over the other. ”Hmmm…so you’re not just a mindless brute or redneck like others my daughter decided to give herself to. Tell me…Mister Mercer. What do you plan to do with your life? You can’t wrestle forever.”
”I’m not sure. I’ll do this as long as I can do it at a high level, then? Well, I enjoy training the next generation…passing on knowledge.”
She took in a deep breath and waited a moment, studying Austin before shaking her head. ”Maybe you will. But from my experience, men of your ilk never know when to stop. And it costs them everything.” She pauses, Austin sits back, allowing her to continue. ”The problem I have with that, is costing you everything, means it will cost my daughter and my grandsons everything too…and don’t get me wrong, I don’t want that to happen…but I’m skeptical.”
Austin gave a small nod, taking another sip of the iced tea before clearing his throat and rolling up his sleeves, showign both scars and tattoos. Barbera looked him up and down, a disapproving scowl on her face. ”Well, Barbara, and I will call you Barbara since you felt it so necessary to be so forthright with me then I believe we know each other quit well, I want to say I respect your candor.” He nods again and takes a deep breath before giving s small shrug. ”However, you should know that I am not Jason Maxwell.”
Barbara rolled her eyes, gave a small tsk sound and sat forward ”Thats not what I sa-”
”Stop, you’re projecting.” Barbara was shocked someone would talk to her like this. Austin sat forward, clasping his hands together and leaning on the table. ”You believe, because you were abandoned by Alicias father that I am going to do the same thing to her as Jason did to you. All because we’re dirty carnies right? Thing is your choice for her..Michael Reynolds…he was a compulsive liar and a gambler…and a criminal. And that was your choice for her.”
Austin pauses again and shakes his head. ”Here’s the thing, you believe I’m an idiot like Travis was, or a redneck like Chris was….but, I was raised by my father who headed multi billion dollar corporate deals as well as him being from a wrestling family. I’m not stupid…” He shakes his head and leans closer. ”Now, I’m not perfect, far from it. But I’m also a good man..believe it or not…so take that how you will..”
Barbara was speechless, Rory and Ryan came running up the stairs, grabbing a few cookies from the table and talking amongst themselves as Alicia moved up and around beside Austin. ”So…everything good up here?”
Alicia smiled wider, Barbara snapped out of it and sho0ok her head. ”Yes. Everything is just peachy dear..” Austin raised his glass with a smirk, Barbara smiled back, nodding in defeat, raising her own glass to Austin as they both took a much needed drink.
Kryptonite
”Sometimes, the words “I told you so” need to be said.”
Austin laughs to himself leaning forward into the light as a lit cigar sits in his right hand, the smoke from it drifting upward toward the singular light above him.
”Did you hear it? The discontent and complaining? When I won the King for a day I heard it right away. Just another feather to add to the cap right? And what a collection of feathers I have. See, most of you tend to forget, since I haven’t been as focused on adding things to my legacy, just how much I’ve done in this company and this business. But winning the King for a day? It’s a fun th9ing to add to the resume. To show you can win something for the basis of control in this business that is so consumed by chaos. And when I told the world I was going to win, I also told everyone what I was going to do when I became the king for a day…but make no mistake, I’m not just a king for a day…”
“I just am a fucking king…”
“Look at me, think about what I’ve done and what I’m capable of. If this was ancient times I would be at the head of an army swinging a battleax to take territory. I would be leading men, dragging them to glory. But, in the modern day I am taking myself to those heights and winning that match? That was just the beginning. Even as the other three seemed to have no idea what they were getting themselves into…”
He reaches out with his left hand, grabbing a small glass of whisky and taking a sip as the smoke from the cigar keeps drifting across.
”Like Jack Washington, going with the “what have you done lately” approach. And how did that work out for you Jack? Your aspirations on winning and getting a championship match for yourself fell on deaf ears and failure. So, what have you done lately Jack? Cause winning King for a day? That wasn’t it. But, what was more satisfying than stopping Jack was shutting up Alexander Raven. See he and I have history and the fact is up until that match he had the advantage over me.”
“Raven had beaten me, more than once. And I was always man enough to admit it, but deep down I knew I could beat him, and as talented as Alexander Raven is in the ring, and trust me, he does have talent, he is also a rambling lunatic, incapable of forming a coherent thought. So he wouldn’t be the type of man you wanted in charge of SCW, even if it was for half a show.”
“But, someone who needed the win, who needed to step up and show us all he wasn’t just talk was Miles Kasey. And I have to ask. How did you likie my surprise Miles? See, I had a choice when I was planning your match. I could have given you a SCW title match, told you to go face J2H or Michael Harris or whoever was the champion on that spinning wheel of mediocrity. But, the truth is you needed to learn something.”
“So I brought in Finn Whelan. And I do so hope you enjoyed my surprise.”
Austin took another sip, closing his eyes as a hand slides in from behind, through the darkness, a female hand, red painted nails. The hand slides across Austins chest nand back up to his shoulder.
”What shouldn’t be a surprise, is my choice when it comes to matches for myself. I told everyone what my plan was going to be. I could have gone back on that, and given myself a world championship match against Michael Harris, but in the end, I know what I wanted. See, this isn’t so much about rewarding myself. it’s about rewarding tempest. I want to share personal story with you all. And I hope you will indulge me for this moment. Because it is relevant to why this match is taking place.”
“See, when I lost my wife, when Lisa passed away, I had friends who were there for me. Most of the gym was there, people who are known for years were there, but there is one person who went above, and beyond everything. And that was tempest. while my personal romantic relationships are certainly a matter of public record, people knowing what Alicia and I have gone through, no one really knows the support that I got from tempest. She is more than just my tagteam partner, more than someone who I have gone to war with so many times over the mixed tagteam championships, Tempus is my best friend.”
“And she and I deserve a shot at those mixed tagteam championships”
“She deserves so much more. And part of me wanted her to be facing Courtney Pierce for the bombshells championship, but with what happened last week and the championship already being defended, I couldn’t do that. So instead tempest and I are going to try and reclaim championships that were hours once upon a time. And in doing so, heard some demons from our past..”
Austin lets out a deep breath and shakes his head, his hair slicked back away from his face, a face that is still covered in a five o clock shadow instead of growing back the beard he once had.
”As much as I hate to admit it Eily and Oliver have been doing those titles proud. I might nnot like Olivers attitude, thinking that his win over me was something to be proud of, when I lost for kicking his ass too much, but he has carried himself as a champion, as has his partner Eily. Now, last time we were all in the ring together Eily and Oliver walked away with those titles. And since then Tempest and I have been focused on ourselves. The King and Queen matches, our personal lives and other things.”
“But Eily and Oliver? They have been focused on holding and keeping thoser titles. And trust me, I know how much that weighs on you. Especially two so young and inexperienced. That pressure is exhausting isn’t it?”
“That feeling of weight on your shoulders.”
“The air becoming so heavy that you almost choke on it.”
“It almost feels like you’re underwater, drowning and you can’t breathe.”
“So, Tempest and I are graciously going to help you both. We are going to give you some veteran advice and relieve you of that burden. See, pressure is a funny thing. It can either break you down and destroy you, like a hydraulic press pushing down on your body till it cracks and breaks. Or, it can fuse you and make you a diamond from a lump of coal. And who knows, maybe the pressure that Tempest and I put on you bo0th will turn you into those bright shiny diamonds you both seem to believer you are.”
“Or, you’ll break. I’ve been trying to do a similar thing with Miles and so far he has cracked. EVERY. SINGLE.TIME. So I wonder, what will you two do? Maybe you’ll subvert expectations and be the future stars we all hope you’ll be. Leading the company from the front as champions and doing your gym proud.”
“Part of me hopes you will. But then again there’s that other side of me.”
“There’s that side of me that looks at Oliver, and just wants to punch him in the face as hard as I possibly can. That side of me that wants to try and break you Oliver. Take everything from you. That same feeling Tempest has for Eily. And taking everything from you doesn’t just mean beating you, it means taking those championships from you, holding them high and being better champions than you. To show you the way.”
“And if there is any team on this roster that can do it?....it’s me and Tempest.”
