The camera is on. Focus in. Ata Tupoi is in the HSI locker room and he has blood on his hands. Not the large amount that comes from taking a life, but another man’s blood is still on his knuckles. He looks at his hands for a long moment before speaking.
Duke: A lot has happened tonight. A war is brewing and I am on the front lines. I have already heard from some of the SCW fans. Some day we have gone too far, some think the level of brutality we have introduced is too much. They say I should be ashamed.
He stands, rolling his neck as he does so and reaching for his bag. He starts to get dressed for the night ahead of him. A night most likely filled with lots of drinking, some women and hopefully another fight or two. All of this in one chaos filled night that he can sleep off tomorrow before getting back to work. His back is still to the camera.
Duke: Let me clear. You will never hear me apologize for the things I have done. Hear this, I will break men of their bones and spirit. I will take what I want from whom I want, inside that ring and outside that ring. I will steal championships and wives. I will end legacies and careers. You all don’t see half the shit I do and you will never hear me say sorry. I have done a thousand terrible things….
The big man turns to face the camera, he wears a sinister grin and is dressed in a tailored suit. He takes a deep breath.
Duke: The only regrets I have are the times in my life I held back. The years I spend as a child trying to be my fathers son. The years I wasted trying to be a good noble Duke of my nation. The years I wasted on rugby only to have some cheap shot take it away. The years I trained for MMA and the months I wasted on failing promotions. That is the shit I regret, not the hurt I put on the sad sacks her in the SCW.
I am not one of those men that claim to be some bad ass or try to act tough. I am not playing the villain only to have some heart felt moment where I win over the fans. I am not playing at anything. I could care less what the fans think of me. I will never be driven by what others want from me. There is no happy ending to this story. I am going to hurt, maim and destroy until someone stops me for good.
Duke grabs his bag and starts to walk out of the locker room. His step seems light now that he has cleared the air and right as he is about to leave he winks at the camera.
Duke: But that ain’t happening any time soon. I can promise you that.
******************************************
Days later and we are with Duke in the rural outskirts of Kinshasa. He is sitting in the back seat of a military jeep that is taking to the road hard and fast. He smiles as he looks out at the poor country ahead of him, the urban center of the city rising to his left. With him in the back seat is Max Burke who seems to be enjoying the bumpy ride a little bit less. In the front are two young men in military fatigues. As they go along the road two locals are getting into a pretty brutal fist fight but the men driving don’t seem to notice. The jeep drives on. Duke lets out a sudden laugh.
Duke: Man this country is fucked up! I love it. I have to respect a place so fought over. I mean do you know how much war has happened here. Hell, they have a legit government now and thousands still die. You can’t control people's brutality. The Congo proves that, man.
Max: Yeah thats great. Where the hell are we going? Kinshasha may not be the nicest city I have been too but at least it was a city. This is just farm land, and poor people, you promised me a good time.
Duke: Don’t you worry about a thing. The city is fine but the cops cost more to pay off. Have you heard from Ward?
Max: Yeah nothing major though. He is making sure things in South Africa go our way. Which would be nice, I am still pissed about Simon getting one over me.
Duke nods looking out at the muddy farmland that seems to go on forever. Growing up on islands he still sometimes get blown away by large expanses of land like this. In Tonga a foot of land is worth a mile of African soil. Ata waves his hand dismissively.
Duke: That bitch got lucky. You will get your chance with him and you will take that belt from him. I am going to make sure of it. I am going to destroy anyone who stands in your way. Just not sure who I want to hurt more. So many targets.
Max: Yeah well the more trouble we cause the more enemies we will make.
Duke: Thats fine. Line all those chumps up and I will destroy them. Kain, Rage, hell I will put the hurt on all of NXT if I have to.
Duke than smiles to Max as he sees the jeep pull up to a razor wire gate on what looks to be a small airfield. The whole place looks abandoned until a shirtless man smoking a cigar walks up from a shack and lets them in. The jeep keeps driving to a hanger. As the jeep gets closer cheering can be heard.
Max: What is this?
Duke: This...this is my warm up exercises.
The jeep stops just outside the hanger doors. A huge crowd has formed inside and in the middle of the crowd two men can be seen fighting. Duke stands up where he is seated to get a better view and as he looks we see one man kick the other so hard in the face that its target spins in the air, hitting the concrete hard. A man dressed in a red suit goes over to check on the fallen fighter and the crowd cheers as they find he will not stand again.
Duke hops out of the jeep and the crowd starts to cheer for him. As he gets closer, Max gets out of jeep, slightly unsure of the situation. The crowd parts for Duke and Max, it closes around them as the scene fades out.
*****************************
The camera is on, fade in on a familiar scene. Just like before Duke is cleaning himself after a fight. Just like before he has blood on his hands, and now blood on his face. He is shirtless getting his arm wrapped up. It looks like he has just been through a brutal fighter or two, but he seems happy. His eyes are alive and wild.
Duke: You should see the other guy.
Duke laughs as his arm gets finished being worked on. He quickly checks the mobility on the arm and gives the guy a wad of bills. Than he says something in French and the man walks away.
Duke: I have a match coming up, if you can call it that. I have such little respect for the team that they have trying to go against me and Wrath, I thought about not saying a word. Those two weak ass punks really don’t deserve the breath I will waste talking about them. But, after nearly beating the life out of one of Conga’s best, I am damn tired. I might as well take a moment to relax and speak some truth.
Duke leans back against the old concrete wall wiping some of the blood off his face.
Duke: Lets talk about Hardy first, I mean he is the one with something to prove. No one expects that Crash kid to be on the winning team but Hardy is different. People cheer him. They want him to overcome all the challenges no matter how much he gets his ass beat. That's fine, I expect nothing less from those people. They are weak and want to imagine a world where guys like me are defeated. And hey it makes it more fun when I shattered some kids dream by kicking their heroes head in.
The thing is Hardy, you’re not bad in the ring. Your fun to watch for a little guy, but you know how hard I hit right? Or maybe you’re having memory problems. I once hit a guy so hard he forgot his own name. Maybe you forgot that my kicks are like a wrecking ball smacking you upside your head. Maybe you forget that when your head gets driven to the ground with the Burning Gata you don’t think about getting up, you just thank your gods that you are still alive. Maybe you forget, but I will help you remember little man.
Duke nods and his sinister smile widens a little bit. He then laughs at his own joke and takes a sip of water from a nearby water bottle.
Duke: As for Crash, lets be honest, you don’t fucking matter. You are new and everyone will be impressed if you are left standing at the end of this match. Now in your sad little promo you talked about not knowing much about me. You said I was a wildcard.
The big man shakes his head and rubs his shaved head.
Duke: As far as I can tell wildcard is a word you use for something unknown, like maybe I will dominate the match or maybe I will suck. You must really not know shit about me to say something like that.
See Matty, I am not just the power house in this match, I am THE powerhouse. I am a pure athlete that has the blood of warrior kings flowing inside of me. When I played rugby I never lost a match, even when I broke my damn leg. I was undefeated in the cage and I have only been pinned once in my entire career. Hell, I lift weights bigger than you son. I could end your life with a kick, this is what you have to look forward to. I am not a wildcard, I am a foregone damn conclusion. I will win this match, I will hurt both of you fools and in the end that will be all there is to say. Now turn off that damn camera.
Fade to black.
