Worse….
She paced back-and-forth, in her hand was a manila folder. Stuffed with papers. A report that she had spent three days meticulously going over to make sure she had all the facts right. Small pictures that she had been able to take on her cell phone, printed out larger. Everything that Johanna had been able to gather over the last few weeks sat in this folder. The corruption ran deep, deeper than Johanna had realised, deeper than she had been able to actually access.
She took a long deep breath in, she had no idea what the conversation she was about to have was going to entail. She had no idea whether or not it was going to be good, bad or indifferent.
She moved around her father’s office, looking over the books, the pictures, the awards. Newspaper clippings set in frames. Highlights from a distinguished career filled with justice and honor. It made her heart hurt. She felt selfish, going on without her father’s blessing. Not just without his blessing but going against his exact wishes. He wanted her to stop looking, to stop probing. But she couldn’t let it go. She couldn’t stop. And now she was standing in his office waiting for him to walk in. With papers and information that could possibly break his heart.
But everything he told her, everything his stuff was what she was trying to accomplish. The department was poisoned, it had cancer deep inside. And Johanna wanted to cure it. She heard her father move down the hallway towards the door, he laughed talking to her mother and the door opened and he stepped in, his small quickly faded. His eyes going from his daughters face looked for them and conflicted, to the file in her hand.
“What is that?” Straight to business. Her father's voice was filled with bass. He always tried to add authority to his tone. Especially when he felt Johanna had done something wrong. She took a sharp inhale holding out the file. He took it and opened it, seconds later he closed it and put his hands on his hips. “Why Jo?” His jaw clenched. Johanna could feel his anger.
She took a step back and sighed, folding her arms over her chest. “I have the evidence da.”
He shook his head and threw the file on his desk, the papers spewing from it. He paced back-and-forth his hands shaking before balling into fists. He turned and made a pivot on the ball of his foot staring straight at his daughter “jo, I told you to let this go” Johanna swallowed hard and looked down and away.
“I found the evidence, I have pic-“
“Enough!” His voice raised into a yell. Johanna‘s father had really yelled at her or at anyone. He was always a measured and calm individual. He always thought better of raising to anger and getting frustrated. This was new, this was terrifying. Johanna had never seen him like this. Never felt the aura around her father change from a respected calm individual to a raging tornado of anger. “It doesn’t matter.” He took a deep breath trying to calm himself, it seems to work as he turned and sat on the edge of his desk.
There was an awkward silence, Johanna swallowed hard and moved around sitting on the edge of the couch near the desk. “Doesn’t matter?” She knew what he meant. It was a nagging feeling in her stomach that she had there when she had started this entire thing. From the last conversation she had after the attack.
Her father shook his head he seems so much older now like you get aged 10 years in the last few weeks. “Everyone involved in this, there’s too many. It’s too big. There’s nothing you can do Jo” she sat there and ground her teeth together, she leaned forward with her hands on her knees she felt tears well up as her heart seemed to break. Her breathing became stuttered, she took a sharp breath in and a long deep breath out before looking up at her father with tears rolling down her cheeks. His face softened and he got to his feet. He moved closer to Johanna and leaned down grabbing her hands pulling her to her feet giving her a small hug.“I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes, she lightly pushed the father back pacing away from him before turning around. “I can’t, I can’t and won’t let this go da…” He went to say something but Joanna walked over to grab the file. She shuffled all the papers and pictures back inside of it. She turned to walk out, her father quickly jumped forward grabbing the file from her hands, and before she could do anything about it he had thrown them into the fireplace. Johanna stepped forward and then stopped her eyes staring at the fire as it slowly burned everything she had worked on. Every piece of evidence, every picture, every theory was now going up in a ball of flaming smoke.
“Drop this Johanna. For both of us…”
She twitched, she backed away from the fire, her eyes wide. She could smell the smoke, and mixture of a paper fire in the chemicals from the photographs filled the air. She swallowed and shook her head slowly looking over at her father. “No”
“No?”
His voice was in a state of shock. He couldn’t believe that Johanna would actually disobey him. She stepped towards her father, her head tilted to the side, the anger took over any feeling of disappointment that she had. “Do you want me to look away because you’re afraid that I will fail. Is that it?. Or, are you afraid that I will succeed?.”
There was silence. Her father didn’t even move. He took a breath and raised his hands up to try and calm her. “That isn’t it. This is for you. For your job. Your legacy.”
That was it. That is all she was able to hear. Do you want to step forward and her voice raised higher than her father did when he was angry. Her eyes burned, her blood boiled, and she came nose to nose with her father. “Your legacy!. Yours! Not mine!. You were afraid that Me bringing this to our just going to ruin your name with all of your cop buddies. They're gonna know you as the snitches father. But that isn’t what I was raised to be Da. I wasn’t raised to look away….I was raised to respect Justice….by you.” His jaw dropped, he had no idea what to say. But the look in his eyes and his body language was enough. Johanna closed her eyes and shook her head backing away turning from her father and walking out the door.
Rising.
“Well, you’re not really shocked are you?”
Joanna slowly smiled. A grin that was full of confidence and arrogance. Her hair flowing down in front of her face so she moved the front of it behind her ears. She paste back-and-forth with long deep breaths.
“It amazes me, it really does. In professional wrestling you’re always looking for the next big thing. The next marketable star that you can put out in front of the world whether it be on pay per view, in front of a live crowd, or are closed off set due to a pandemic. You still need bankable marketable stars. I walked into this company teaming with the man who is their current reigning and defending world champion. I walked in with an established start standing next to me, ready to be my partner. When a man like Alex Jones looks down a camera lens and says that I am the next big thing, you should all believe him.”
Her accent was strong but not enough that you couldn’t understand what she was saying. Johanna was extremely good at English, having learned it very young.
“I proved it, by becoming a mixed tag team champion. But then the naysayers started to come out and say that Alex was carrying me. That I was nothing more than a pawn. ”
And no matter how many singles matches I won, no matter how many times I beat song, and Bella, everyone would always just think that I was all talk. But I was all hype. So, I push down all of my frustrations and all of my anger. I pushed it down deep into my stomach and got ready for the time when I would be able to explode and show each and everyone of you just how good I am.”
“I waited until it was time to shove all of those assumptions, and bullshit, right down their throats.“
“I beat Roxi Johnson. And no one seems to care. No one seems to care when I brought up the fact I had a winning record I was left out of the number one contenders back while. But then I got put in this will let number one contenders triple threat, and suddenly the world started to notice. I picked up A second win over a former bombshells champion. That is now two on my list. And violent conduct I will be looking to add a third.”
“But part of me wonders, will I get the respect I deserve? All the bombshells divisional recognise that I am someone who should be feared and someone who is taking over?“
Johanna shrugs, she laughs under her breath and step sideways sliding hands into the pockets of her tight black jeans. Her upper body covered by a old and faded black Metallica shirt and a black leather biker jacket over that.
“You see, there is something I’ve noticed about the bombshells division and sin city wrestling as a whole. People are delusional. Look at Roxi Johnson, I beat her and there has been no mention, no show of respect. Nothing from an apparent hero because she is too busy playing footsie with Amber Ryan under the table. She parade herself around like some kind of respected veteran, an old warrior ready to go down on her sword. Yet, when somebody beats her there is silence. And in this case silence is deafening.”
“She isn’t the only one, Mercedes Vargas, the whole of Fame who is also a former champion. Yet someone who for the last few months has failed every single time she has been given even a sniff at success. She has said nothing. But worse than the faded legends and former champions who cannot be bothered to step off their pedestals to actually give respect where it’s due, it is the ones who are delusional and haven’t done a goddamn thing in this business that really make me laugh.”
“The names like Jesse Selco, like Bea Barnhart. Women who have done nothing but stop their feet and make great proclamations about their skill, about their drive, and each time they have been left wanting and clutching at straws because deep down they are not good enough.”
Johanna scoffs and rolls her eyes with a small shrug.
“But, the woman that I am facing a violent conduct is none of these things. You see Seleana Zdunich is what you would call an abnormality . She is not a jaded legend like Roxi, Mercedes or her own wife. You take one look at her promos, her thoughts, her actions. And it shows a woman who is respectful of those who have beaten her, and even more respectful of those of lost her and given her the respect that she so rightfully earned.”
“She also isn’t like the Jesse’s and the Bea’s of the world.”
“Seleana has had success. She is the current Roulette champion, a former bombshells champion. She has earned everything that she has got. Well I guess we won’t actually bring up what happened in the bombshells championship match. But she can’t be blamed for someone else’s stupidity. And this match excites me.”
“And it isn’t just because of the title.”
Johanna puts her finger up with another smirk
”Although, some people see that title as a strange gimmick. As something that should be laughed at. But I see it for what it really is. Pure, chaos. The championship where you don’t know what kind of match you are going to get. The championship where violence can reign supreme, or something silly can happen. Something original or new. It seems like it’s a championship that was, to be honest, made for me. And I beat you in this? I get to add a third former world champion‘s name to my list. I get to face someone who even if she is the more experienced and better competitor in a match is still the underdog. That is what you are and it’s what you’re good at. You are put in this position with people always think that you’re going to get beaten and then you overcome the odds time and time again”
“It allows some people in this company to stupidly overlook you and underestimate you. I won’t do that Seleana. I won’t go into this match thinking that I have you beaten. See, I am the new destruction machine in the bombshells division. I know how good I am, I know how dangerous I am, but I’m not about to make the same mistake that so many others have before. I’m going to go into the smash and give you everything I’ve got. I don’t care what the wheel lands on, I don’t care if it’s a Barbwire baseball bat match, or a fucking pillow fight. You are going to have to deal with Johanna Krieger, agent of chaos. And one of the scariest human beings you will ever meet in your life.”
Drink away the pain.
She stormed into the bar. Patrons scattered looking confused as the shirt, blond tornado breezes through to the bartender. She sat at the end, her hands shaking as they clasped together, she growled under her breath as her mind flashes back to her parents home. The papers and photographs in the fire. The flames engulfing all of the proof Johanna had acquired. Weeks of work, sleepless nights. Stress and anxiety constantly moving through her body. She took a long deep breath trying to calm herself down. Her heart was still broken.
Knowing her father wanted her to drop it, he wanted her to turn a blind eye and forget. That isn’t how her world worked. In Johannas world, corruption and criminal activity was punished. And if you betrayed the code, if you turned your back in the badge, then you were worse than anyone could ever imagine. That is what she was dealing with. The betrayal of trust, the anger of knowing anyone could be involved.
And the paranoia that she could be a target.
She had already been attacked once. Left on the cold concrete. Her ears ringing, her head fuzzy and full of pain. It was a message sent and received. But Johanna was angry and stubborn. She felt as if she was alone. She closed her eyes and took a long deep breath. A bottle of beer sitting in front of her. She took it and took a sip, the feeling calming her down. She was lost. Adrift in a world where everyone was the enemy. Both sides looking to take a knife and drive it into her back.
Maybe it wasn’t worth it.
But, then it hit her like a brick to the face. She had nothing else. Johannas whole life was this. It was being a police officer. She had no hobbies, she had no relationship, no friends outside the force. Her entire life was wrapped up in the Nuremberg police department. Something that broke her and she no longer had faith in. A belief that was now broken.
She finished her beer, motioned for another and leaned on the bar. A sorry sight in any way of the imagination. Her hands ran through her hair, a second bottle of beer finding its way in front of her, she reached out taking it and drinking it in one sitting. A body moved around around behind her, sitting on the other side. Johanna ignored it, until she heard a voice.
”Isn’t it lovely to be off duty, Officer Krieger?” Johanna turned her head and raised an eyebrow confused. She opened her mouth but before she could speak he pulled out his identification sliding it to her on the bar. ”Seargent Gustuv, internal investigations...let me buy you another.” a move of his hand and two beers got put in front of them. Johanna was in a state of shock.
She swallowed hard and kept her eyes on him as Gustuv took a sip and exhaled. ”I’m sorry but, is there something I can do for you?” He laughed and put his beer down before picking up and unshelling a peanut.
”A lot apparently. Since you’ve been working my case” He popped the peanut in his mouth. Johanna stuttered and looked down before he continued. ”We’ve known about the corruption in NPD for years. I was getting close.” He pauses again clearing his throat before popping another two peanuts in his mouth and grabbing his ID. ”Then, last week, I was sitting outside a meeting, one I knew about. And I saw someone moving around in tactical gear using standard reconnaissance moves.
There was a pause. Johanna swallowed and shook her head. Was this a truck to get to her? Should she deny it? Lie? Or be honest. Trust was a rare commodity and she had very little left.
She took a sharp breath in and took a sip of her beer. ”it was me”
He couldn’t help but laugh pulling the beer bottle away from his mouth before he could drink and spray it everywhere. ”Oh, I knew that Krieger” his sandy brown hair moves with his head bobbing from the laughter. He cleared his throat and folded his arms sitting back. ”So, what do I do with you hmm?” Johanna was silent. She didn’t know what to say or what was going on. Why was Gustuv here? What did he want? She finished her beer and set the bottle down before lightly ripping the label ”You obviously aren’t on the take, eh?”
She lightly shook her head. ”No….”
He chuckled again finishing his own beer before getting to his feet taking some euros out and dropping them on the bar. ”You did an unauthorised investigation and didn’t go through your superiors.” Her heart sank and she held her breath. ”You jeopardised everything..” He turned away from Johanna, she tried to stay calm but was obviously upset. Gustuv moves towards the door and then stopped ”So, you coming or what?”
Johanna looked up and stumbled ”What?!? What do you mean?”
Gustuv laughed again and took a few steps back towards her. ”Krieger, you may have made mistakes but I need people I can trust. So get up and come with me….you’re hired..” She was still in shock, she left a few notes for the bartender as Gustuv reaches the door. ”Move it Krieger” She popped up from her stool moving through the crowd to the door and with Gustuv.
No one cares.
”Of everything you could have chosen to talk about, you chose that?”
Johanna’s voice was low, her hair was tied back, her upper body covered in a black sleeveless workout top. Her arms covered in tattoos. She sat on the steps outside Wolfslair, her hands getting wrapped up as she shook her head.
”Everything you have going on in your professional life. Your championship and the Roulette division, you open with talking about the fact your wife is a complete idiot and social media is toxic. I’m sorry Seleana, but this isn’t news. And if you think it is then I have other breaking news information for you. Water is wet. The sun is hot, the sky is blue..”
“And I am fucking dangerous.”
“And that Seleana is what you need to focus on. If you sit there and worry about social media and peoples overreaction to dumb shit people say then you won’t just lose your title to me. You’ll get hurt. You will walk down to that ring, go face-to-face with me, and I will bury you. I understand being angry and despite what many say I am not a monster. I’m sorry you have to deal with blowback because Christina is a moron.”
“And she is a moron Seleana.”
“There is no sob story here. Your wife cannot play the victim. She said something stupid and while I do agree some people may have gone overboard with it, Christina deserves everything she got for such a stupid statement. Do you know how I avoid anything like that? I do not talk about politics of race relations in my promotional material or on social media.”
“Because I’m not stupid.”
Johanna couldn’t help but laugh and roll her eyes. Her right hand now wrapped as she moves her fingers to increase blood flow. Her other hand wrap around her neck.
”And I don’t want this stupidity to overshadow our match. I don’t want people to sit there and pity you and think about your wife instead of the match that you and I are going to have. The Roulette title is a championship built on chaos and unpredictability. So many amazing things can happen in the name of violence. And yes sometimes are also strange and stupid conditions and stipulations on that wheel. That is what you should focus on Seleana.”
“Me, you, our match.”
“You barely said anything about it. In fact our match, my career and who I am seemed like an afterthought. A goddamn afterthought. You have faced some of the best Seleana. You have beaten and just faced the top names here. Alicia, Mercedes, Candy. You’ve done great things and as I said I won’t take that away from you.”
“You said a few complimentary things about me but it seems like..surface compliments.”
She shook her head slowly finishing wrapping her hand pulling the side around and pushing the velcro together. She got to her feet and moved around closer to the large swinging heavy bag in front of her.
”You are right. I am a warrior. I am a bad German bitch. But have you looked at my accomplishments? The ones in SCW or in the wrestling world? I mentioned yours, I showed that I know you and know what you’re capable of. I am looking down this lens and I am telling the entire world that Seleana Zdunich is an underrated professional wrestler. A former world champion, the current Roulette champion, a woman who has been a world beater and crawled from under her wife’s shadow and someone who has faced every negative comment and failure with positivity and strength.”
“I know the woman I’m facing.”
“I know how good you are and I’m telling the world how and why…”
“Because when all is said and done I don’t want you to have any excuses. I don’t want you to actually think that I didn’t know who I was facing. And I need you to actually look at my past. My past in this company, my past another company, and what I can do to you and I need you to knowledge that I am amazing professional wrestler and that you have never faced anyone like me, because the truth is Seleana, you haven’t. Throughout your career here and in every other place you have been or could be, you have never seen a person like me.”
“And violent conduct, you’re going to defend the championship against me in some weird and wacky chaotic match. You are going to be getting in the ring with the new beast if the bombshells...and may god help you..”