The home of Vincent Lyons Jr is impeccably neat, almost sterile. If one didn't know better it would appear that nobody lived here at all. Vincent sits on a lounge chair staring at the roulette championship on the table in front of him.
“They're about to realize who the true dominant champion in SCW is.” Vincent said to nobody. “I already dropped Miles Kasey on his fat head, now I'll get to take his better half out as well. The so-called world champion who doesn't even have his championship.”
Vincent smirks and laughs to himself.
“They've labeled me as unstable.” he continued speaking to himself “But that's a fairy tale they created. I'm the only one who tells the truth. Now the Kasey Brothers get the sympathy, and Alexandra Calaway gets to be seen as a heroine and everyone cheers them for it.”
He scoffs and shakes his head, disgusted.
“Now they're putting me against HB Carter.” said Vincent “I should have seen this coming, that family is desperate to get one over on me But they don't realize they've made their biggest mistake because now I'm going to take out Carter and show that whole damn family that none of them are on the level of The Chosen.”
He runs his fingers along the gold plate of his championship.
“This is where you send your biggest message of all Vincent.” he continued speaking. “You take out Carter and you can shut that whole family up for good, and leave the scraps for the raven to feast on."
He chuckles to himself, finding his own analogy amusing.
“They really have no idea what they've done.” said Vincent. “They've given me the perfect stage.”
Then he heard the voice, and rolled his eyes.
“Hello father.” Vincent grumbled. “So what is it this time?”
“You tell me.” his father replied from his perch on the couch “You're the one who calls me when you walk too close to the edge.”
“I'm not close to any edge.” Vincent said “I'm right where I belong.”
“Confusing vengeance with purpose?” his father said with an eyebrow raised “Because you have a match with the world champion and you should look at that as a privilege, not an excuse to settle your personal scores.”
“I don't give a damn about privilege.” said Vincent “This is about finishing what I started and putting down the last of the Kasey's.”
“You're letting your obsession cloud your mind, son." his father said. “It's not healthy.”
Vincent stands slowly looking at the vision of his father on the couch with calm eyes.
“What do you care anyway?” he said “Victoria was always your favorite. What would you understand about what I'm going through?”
He folded his arms and shifted his gaze away from the couch.
“I told you before.” his father said, “That's not true.”
“Is it not?” Vincent snapped back “If Victoria stumbled, you were there to lift her up. If I stumbled you told me I had to stand up on my own!”
“That's because you never needed me the way she did.” his father said “Your sister has always been headstrong and reckless. So maybe I did give Victoria a bit more of my attention than I should have but don't act like your mother didn't balance it out with her baby boy.”
“Mother has nothing to do with this.” said Vincent.
“She loves you.” his father said “Maybe she was too easy and I was too hard on you, and we created something unbalanced with you and your sister, but none of it was meant to break either of you.”
Vincent scoffs.
“Whatever.” Vincent said “All I know is right now, my goal is to take out HB Carter for good.”
“Vengeance isn't the way son.“ his father said
"Oh you're one to talk." said Vincent "Don't act like you didn't build your reputation on fear. You left people broken and humiliated. You know exactly where my violent streak comes from. Don't sit there on my sofa pretending you're some saint.”
“You're not wrong, I did terrible things." his father said. "I had a darkness that consumed almost everything I built, but I pushed past and learned from it. I want the same for you. You asked me earlier, what do I know about what you're going through? Well it sounds like you've answered your own question. It's because that used to be me.”
“So what? You want me to be tame and polite?” Vincent said in a mocking tone
“I want you to be better.” his father said. “Nobody said you had to be polite, look at your sister she's far from polite but she's not out there holding on to any vengeance or old grudges.”
“There you go putting her over me again.” Vincent said
“I just don't want you to repeat my mistakes.” his father said “You should fight for respect, not fear. You have the chance to build something stronger and something better than I did.”
“You asked me to be better.” Vincent said in a low voice “But you were never better, you just learned to hide it better. Maybe I like it, maybe I like the chaos.”
“That's what I'm afraid of..” his father said.
“Well I'm not afraid.” said Vincent “Embracing the chaos inside me has helped me grow. I am better because of it.”
“Is that what you truly believe?” his father asked.
“It's what I know..” said Vincent “And I don't need to hear any more from you. The chaos will guide me and you are nothing but a figment of my own imagination.”
Vincent closed his eyes and when he opened them moments later his father was gone, this was the silence preferred, letting the chaos in his mind speak the loudest and it had one face on its mind.
Helluva Bottom Carter.
__________
Vincent sat in his favorite little corner of the Lyons Den wrapping his wrists, preparing for a training session, his gears thrown about on the floor half spelled out of the gear bag next to him.
The sound of a door opening behind him caught his attention but he didn't turn to face the person.
“So this is where you're hiding.” the voice of Cleo Phillips entered his ears.
He laughed to himself.
“I'm not hiding, I'm training,” he said, still not looking in her direction. “And I prefer to do it alone. Got a problem with that?”
“Nope.” said Cleo “But I do gotta problem with you.”
That caught his attention and he turned to face her, standing to meet her gaze.
“Oh don't step to me little lion boy.” she said “You know I ain't the one, you going to sit down and listen.”
“I'll stand thank you.” Vincent said not backing down
Cleo smirked at him.
“You're lucky I'm trying to control my temper.” she said “Cause there was a time you'd get your jaw cracked for stepping up like that.”
“So what exactly is the problem?” Vincent said.
“You are the problem.” Cleo said “You got people walking on eggshells when you're around. Your hostel nature is leaking into this school and it needs to stop. I'm the one that had to calm Alexander down after your fight last week. You're supposed to be the heir to this place, you need to start acting like it.”
“What's it to you?” Vincent said crossing his arms
“What's it to me?” Cleo replied firmly. “This place is the reason I ain't sitting in a jail cell right now. The Lyons Den is what helped pull me out of the mud, and the way you're acting you're dragging that very name right through it.”
“Don't preach to me like you know anything about the Lyons name.” Vincent replied.
“Yeah well maybe it means something more to those of us here who don't carry the name.” she said. “You, Victoria hell, even Eddie can walk around like it's just another gym. But for people like myself this is a place that saved us. So I take it a little personally when you walk around poisoning the air with your vengeance. You're not going to make the den your little war zone every time you feel someone disrespects you.”
“So what you're supposed to be some moral compass around here now?” said Vincent with a laugh. “That's rich.”
“I ain't trying to be nothing.” Cleo said “I just know what it's like to lose yourself to anger. You think I don't understand what you're doing? I might understand it more than anybody else around here. You think vengeance gives you control, but you can trust me that it don't. It's going to eat at you piece by piece until there's nothing left.”
“Look I don't need life lessons from a convicted felon.” Vincent said with a sneer.
“Yeah?” said Cleo with her own sneer “Well, this convicted felon is trying to help you not become one. You know I got a year for an assault charge, broke a girl's leg because she had been running her mouth about me. So I hunted her down and took care of business.”
“Well that's your story.” he said Vincent “I'm not a reckless thug looking for revenge I know exactly what I'm doing.”
“That's what they all say before they lose control.” Cleo said.
‘The difference is..” Vincent grinned “I am control. You let your own rage control you. I harness mine, that's what makes us different.”
“You can tell yourself that.” Cleo said “But you sound like me ten years ago. When all I really cared about was making sure nobody made a fool out of me.”
“You think your little redemption arc makes you wise?” Vincent said “To me you're nothing but a thug with a lucky second chance.”
“So it's really like that…” Cleo said nodding her head “You know what good luck to you. It's a dangerous road ahead of you, if you continue doing what you're doing. All I can really say is don't say I didn't try to warn you.”
“Are you done preaching?” Vincent said arms still folded, raising an eyebrow "Because I'm done listening.”
“See that's the problem with you.” Cleo said, shaking her head “You think every piece of advice is someone trying to keep you down.”
“Maybe because every time someone gives me advice…..” said Vincent “They try to tell me to be more like Eddie or Victoria, or even Alexander these days. I'm tired of people telling me who I should be. Now I answer to myself.”
“I don't give a damn about none of your family drama bullshit.” said Cleo “What I care about is this place. I care about The Den and I care that you're running people off with your outbursts.”
“If they leave, they weren't good enough to train here in the first place.” Vincent said.
“Naw.” said Cleo “You ain't taking this place down with you, not on my watch.”
“Whatever.” muttered Vincent.
“Yeah whatever…” Cleo said, rolling her eyes and turning to the door.
“You walk away and you prove me right.” Vincent said
“No.” said Cleo “It proves that I still got control. Walking away ain't weakness. It's one of the strongest things I've ever learned how to do. Sometimes you need to just let things go.”
“What you think you're better than me or something?” Vincent snapped
“I'm just done being my own worst enemy.” Cleo said, stopping at the doorway looking back at him. “One day all your chaos and control is going to burn out and you're going to be left with nothing.”
With that she left through the door and it shut behind her.
“I'm not going to burn out…” he muttered to himself “I'm just getting started.”
With a frustrated exhale, he grabbed his gloves from his bag and began angrily wailing on a nearby punching bag.
__________
The cameras come to life at dusk in a forgotten churchyard, slowly following the cracked path to an old altar where three candles rest. Two sit extinguished, their wax still dripping down their sides, the last one still burning bright. Sitting right in front of the candle is the SCW roulette championship in full display.
Behind the altar stands Vincent Lyons Jr, keeping his head bowed, letting the silence linger just long enough to become uncomfortable when he finally speaks, it comes in a low unsettling tone.
“The funny thing about faith is…” he begins “People only cling to it when they're scared. When things start falling apart that's when they begin to pray.”
He lifts his gaze to the camera, an unsettling look of confidence rests in them.
“So what happens when there's no one left to pray to?” he says “When your idols crumble and your saviors run, then you're left with men like me. Ones who don't beg for mercy, but ones who take it.”
He walks around the stone altar, running his fingers across it circling it like a predator.
“I've been watching things real closely.” he said “Watching my family continue to claw for scraps, I've been watching cowards play hero and I finally see it for what it really is. Greed.”
He stops behind the altar once more, a faint smirk on his face.
“HB Carter's the latest to wear the mask.” Vincent said “The big hearted world champion who wants to stand tall and defend his family's honor.”
He shakes his head with a soft arrogant chuckle.
“I probably should have seen this coming.” he said “That's how it is with the family like the Kasey's. There's always someone trying to step up and be the hero. L.J. Kasey tried to make his statement and I silenced him. Miles tried to step up and I ended him. Now here comes Carter puffing his chest with something to prove not realizing he's just another lamb walking straight into the slaughter.”
He shifts his gaze slightly to the single lit candle.
“Have you already forgotten Carter?” Vincent said “Have you already forgotten what happened the last time? When I cracked your skull and quite possibly gave you a concussion? I'd let you off easy that night. This time I won't be so forgiving.”
He smirks.
“But you haven't forgotten have you?” he said “You remember exactly how it felt. You remember exactly how loud that crack was when that chair connected with your skull, and deep down it scares you, because you know part two is coming.”
That smirk on his face grows to grinch like proportions.
“You probably think this match is going to be some sort of redemption for you.” Vincent said “You're coming to stand up for your family, it's a real cute story but to me it's more than a story, it's just worked unfinished.”
He pauses shortly.
“I already broke one half of your little happy home.” he said “Now I'm coming to finish the other. They say things come in threes, so I guess this is where I complete my trinity. L.J., Miles, and now you. I will expose you as the holy family of failure.”
He laughs slightly to himself, somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
“Raven…” he said “Now there is a man who gets it. See, Alexander Raven didn't ask for help, or beg for anybody's approval. He just took what he wanted without remorse and that's something I can respect.”
He laughs again.
“And you just let him, didn't you?” Vincent said “You let him take your championship and expose you as the little punk bitch you are. If someone dared to try and steal my championship, they wouldn't be walking anymore.”
He exhales heavily.
“When Raven took that championship I laughed.” he continued “Because it reminded me what it looks like when someone refuses to bow. It reminded me what separates men like us from the men like the rest of you, we don't fight for acceptance, we fight because we we know destruction is the only honest thing left in this industry.”
He looks to the candle on the altar for a moment.
“Raven punked you, plain and simple.” Vincent said “And I'm not about to let you get any redemption against me. When I crack your skull open for the second time, you'll finally understand, all the applause and adulation you fight for are worth nothing.”
He continues looking to the candle as he speaks.
“I am more than just your challenger Carter.” Vincent continued “I am the standard, this company chose me to be one of its champions. I beat LJ, and then I beat Miles, and now when I beat you, I'll be the man who beat the entire Kasey family in a matter of weeks. Who else can really say that?”
He smirks again, keeping a gaze on the single lit candle.
“You're all that's left, Carter.” Vincent said “The last ember, you've got heart sure, but heart won't be enough when the air runs out. That's what I am Carter, the wind that will take your fire away.”
With those words he blows out the candle.
“I will complete the trinity.” he said “I will extinguish the final flame of the Kasey family that's plaguing this company. I have to wonder how long it will take Alexandra Calaway to come protect you as well.”
He pauses for a beat watching the smoke of the candle dissipate into the air.
“You hear that?” he said “The silence. That's what it will sound like when the Kasey's are finally gone and the noise fades. Until all that's left is me. Then everyone will realize that Vincent Lyons Jr didn't just win. They will realize that…”
His voice drops to a more unsettling tone.
“He erased a bloodline.” he grins.
He lifts his championship off the Altar and rests it on his shoulder before looking at the camera one last time.
“HB Carter…this is your final warning.” he says in a low, almost whisper
With that he walks away from the altar down the stone path into the darkness, the camera zooms to focus on the single extinguished candle, sending its final wisps of smoke into the atmosphere.