Complication…
”He can’t be fucking serious”
Johanna growled under her breath. She paced back and forth. Her blood was boiling as she read the e-mail. Her hand shooting forward towards her desk, closing the server. Her arms folded over her chest immediately, her nostrils flared and she shook her head closing her eyes. Where the hell was she supposed to go from here?. As her eyes opened again she looked around her office, the door was shut tight, her windows covered. She felt like she was in prison. Unable to leave her office, no freedom to do as she wished. The depression had begun to mount. All Johanna wanted to do was make the world better. Take bad people off the streets and save lives.
But now she was sneaking around. Spying on her friends, her co workers and the man who had brought her into this life. Frederick Gustav had restored her faith in police work, showed her that there were still officers who wanted and needed to do the right thing and were not corrupt. But, was he really that man?.
The doubts had started creeping in since her father had asked her to look into his dealings.
Then the question swirled through her mind. Could she trust him? Could she trust her father?. All Johanna could be sure of were her own motivations, her own morality and pride. She hated this feeling, she hated the sneaking around and the dishonesty. But what could she do? What if she was wrong about Gustav? What if he was a dirty cop? She couldn’t tell him the truth and then find out he was using it against her. But...the bigger question was…
Could she trust her father?
He already turned her down when she had evidence before. He already walked away only to come back now. And why? Why did he come back? Why did he suddenly want to get involved?
The door opened and Gustav popped his head in with a raised eyebrow. Johanna swallowed hard and tried to breathe deep and calm herself down. She didn’t want to alarm him or make it seem like she was hiding anything. He stepped in and closed the door behind himself before clearing his throat. ”So, how goes the hunt?” She swallowed hard and looked down at her computer before planting her hands on the hardwood table. A long deep sigh escaping her lips. ”That bad huh?”
He moved around next to her, Johanna shook her head and pushed off her desk standing straight before turning to face him. ”Someone is leaking information from this location. Someone is feeding it to head office. And there’s more leaks there than on the titanic post iceberg.” Gustav couldn’t help but laugh, he seemed more relaxed, more free and happy. Johanna raised an eyebrow and smirked. ”You seem more relaxed...everything good?”
There is a moment of silence, Gustav just smiled and sat down on the chair in the corner clasping his hands together. ”I feel like...a cloud has been lifted Jo. See, I….I’ve been going through a divorce….and it’s finally over..” Johanna stayed silent, she didn’t even know he was married, her eyes trailed to his hand, the faint outline of a wedding ring was there, it had always been there. Now she felt stupid. ”I didn’t want to tell anyone what I’ve been going through. I’ve been meeting with my lawyer during my breaks...always being stressed...but now..well now I can focus on the job…” He laughed to himself, Johanna looked down and let out a sigh of relief. The man he met, he was his lawyer.
She looked over at Gustav with a bigger smile and a nod, the weight of the world lifting off her shoulders. ”That’s great...hopefully it means less stress for you Frederick.” He smiled and got to his feet moving closer to Johanna, he swallowed hard and looked into her eye, Jo stayed there, not stepping back, wondering what he was doing.
Gustav gave a small smile, his hands moved down to hers, Johannas heart jumped from her stomach to her head bypassing where it was meant to be. ”It is a release of stress and worry. But, it also allows me to go after what I have wanted for months but never acted on.” His mouth curved into another smile, his wavey brown hair moved to the side to show his emerald green eyes. He was handsome, Johanna had always thought so but never dared think of him as anything more than a superior and a friend. His hand moved up to her cheek lightly brushing her blonde hair behind her ear.
Johanna swallowed as he leaned in, she should pull back, she should stop this. He was her superior, he was also someone who she didn’t fully trust, even with the realisation that he was innocent of wrongdoing. But this, this could complicate things. So, why didn’t Johanna stop hyim? Why didn’t she push him away?. His lips touched hers, she kissed him back and squeezed his hands. This felt right but also wrong. As they pulled away Johanna took a deep breath and turned away. ”That…..should we have done that?”
The question lingered in the air, Gustav stepped back and turned pale. He shook his head and leaned against the wall. ”If that was inappropriate I apologize, if it was something you didn’t want I-”
”No!.” She turned around and faced him, her eyebrows raised and she cleared her throat moving towards him. ”It….it wasn’t unwelcome. But….we should seriously think about this, what it could do to us and our careers...and...we should take anything..slow.” He smiled and gave her a nod before grabbing her hands again kissing them softly. He turned and moved towards the door, sending another smile her way. As he closed the door behind him Johanna collapsed on the chair. She was shocked at what happened. She wasn’t used to this back then.
This wasn’t the Johanna we know today.
This wasn’t the tattooed, martial arts loving, hard as nails professional wrestler. This was a softer, younger, more naive girl. She sighed heavily and smiled to herself before turning on her laptop, she opened the e-mail from her father typing furiously. Her father needed to know, he needed to know Frederick was innocent, it was a misunderstanding. She hit send, she closed the e-mail, she shuts the laptop and smiles before relaxing.
The color purple…
Her nostrils flared, anger and frustration burned under her skin. A feeling that she had known all too well the last few months. Johanna sighed heavily trying to keep herself calm and not explode.
”You’re all laughing aren’t you? You all think it’s hilarious that I lost to that little blonde bimbo. A “former great” of this company that had been dragged along by Kris Ryans to championship glory. She got in the ring with me and was able to get the win and I know what many of the other bombshells are thinking. I just lost to a woman who still has most combined days as the Bombshells champion, I just lost to a woman who has beaten nearly every single big name in this company and the bombshells division. So, I have nothing to feel bad about right?”
“Right?”
A small smile comes across Johannas face, but it isn’t one of happiness or laughing at some sort of ironic joke. This was a smile put up as a mask, a mask to hide her anger and pain. But while the smile was able to hide it on her face, her body language and movement betrayed her. Johanna shot up and kicked her legs back, shoving the wooden chair straight backwards.
“I am a new breed of Bombshell. I’m not like Mikah or Sam Marlowe, this prissy pretty little types who worry more about their looks than their in ring skills. And somehow, I lost to her. And I now have to live with that. And hey, I’m not naive here, losses happen. No matter how good you are and how talented or driven you believe yourself to be you will lose min this business. Whether nit’s through mistakes you make, or through simply not being as good as your opponent. And those losses, losses where your opponent was better are things that drive you to be better and they are losses that are easier to swallow. But, ones where you know you’re better...and you still lose?..”
“They can poison you, get into your blood and never leave. Losses where you feel like you beat yourself are the kind that sit in the pit of your stomach and rot. That is the kind of loss I just had against Mikah. Those are the kinds of losses that make me want to headbutt the damn wall. I had that kind of loss against Jessie Salco and that, well that lose was easier for me to avenge. But the one against Mikah? I don’t know if I’ll get the chance and now with all that weighing on my mind I will be rolling on into Inception 4 to go one on one with Royal Purple. And I have to defend my roulette title against her.”
“Someone who isn’t technically on the Sin city wrestling roster.”
“You know, last year I heard my stablemate, Austin James Mercer ask why we were giving TV time to members of SCU’s roster. And as they split and had members of GRIME pop up I had to say that I agreed. Sin City Wrestling is a shining light of professional wrestling. A place where the best men and women in this business put their names on contracts and beat the hell out of each other to find out who is the best and where they rank in the world. SCU and GRIME, are not a part of that.”
“They come on our shows, compete for our titles and seem to believe they belong in the ring with us.”
She rolls her eyes and folds her arms over her chest.
“If they believe that, then they should commit, sign the deal. Cause I keep turning around and seeing women like Royal Purple coming in and doing well yet never really embracing this company like the rest of us do. And I’ll be honest, she has impressed. She came in to SCW in december and has worked her way up to a roulette btitle match against me. And to get there, to get that opportunity, Royal Purple beat Alice Knight, Krystal Wolfe and Mercedes Vargas. An eclectic mix Purple.”
“You have the woman who made her name outside SCW in Alice Knight who never actually crossed over to be a threat. Krystal Wolfe the newbie who keeps bumping her head on the glass ceiling.And Mercedes Vargas, the legend who keeps limping along instead of just admitting she doesn’t have it to be a top star anymore and is just taking up a roster spot…”
“And hey, that’s great, really it is. You beat three women to earn a shot at me and yes, you are the one who should have won because you are the most talented by the looks of it.”
“But, that’s really the lesser of four evils Purple.”
“You are the best GRIME bombshell. Congratulations. But I’m one of the best professional wrestlers in the world today Purple. I’m not like Krystal Wolfe, I’m not like Alice Knight or Mercedes Vargas. I am a relevant star in this company and I am someone who will lead and dominate the bombshells division in the future. See, everyone believes Alicia Lukas is the greatest female wrestler to come out of Wolfslair, and as good as Ali is and the things she’s accomplished, well, she was the prototype. I’m the finished, polished product…”
She points to herself with a smirk on her black painted lips.
”And you Purple, as good as you are, as much as you want people to believe you can be the one to take this title off me, well, I know not to become complacent now. I was complacent facing Jessie Salco, I laughed her off. And I paid for it. So I won’t be making that mistake again. I wi9ll watch the roulette wheel spin, I will wait for the stipulation and then I will walk down to that ring and beat the living hell out of you. I will rip that mask off you and beat you down with that too. And unlike others, I have no idea who you are under the mask and I don’t care.”
“No one cared who I was until I put on the mask...right?”
“Some might think that way, I don’t. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care where you represent. Or what you represent. I don’t care about SCU, I Don’t care about GRIME. What I do care about is me, my title reign and my future and proving time and time again why I am the future of this division. Inception 4 will be a gear night and now I have to go and keep preparing for it. Meanwhile I’ll also sit back, fold my arms and wait to see what you have to say…”
My life
The sun was not yet up but her eyes flickered open. Her long blonde hair fell down in front of her face. Everything started to come into focus as her phone started to buzz. Johanna sat up and moves her hand over grabbing it, it was her father. She sighed heavily and looked down next to her. Gustav was asleep, thoroughly passed out and in a deep sleep. Johanna moved fast, sliding from her bed making her way to the bathroom closing the door behind her before swiping to accept the call before sitting down on the toilet seat.
”Hello father.”
There was a long silence on the phone, she could hear his breathing as he took in a deep breath and started to speak, his voice was low and had a gravelly tone. He was upset about something, disappointed even. ”Johanna, we need to meet. This dossier you sent. I’m not sure I can trust it.” Johanna sneered behind the phone, she stayed silent for a moment as her father could be heard flipping through pages. She started to grow angry, she knew what he meant by his comments. And it got under her skin right away.
She swallowed hard, breathed in deep and attempted to calm herself down, but instead she spat her words fast and hard with venom behind them, with a certain amount of disrespect. ”You mean you can’t trust me...I wrote every word of that file. And it’s all true.” There was another pause. As if her father was trying to find the correct words and way to say what was on his mind.
”Who’s truth Johanna? The real truth? Or your truth?” How dare he?” Johannas brain was on fire, her heart beat faster and she tried to control her breathing. Her father sat there on the other end of the phone silently for a moment, waiting for her reaction. But after a few moments he broke the silence, digging the hole deeper, making Johanna seethe in a furious fashion. ”I know it might be hard to see the faults in the man who brought you into his taskforce….but they are there.” Johanna growled, his hands clasped into fists as she felt herself squeeze her phone.
She closed her eyes and tried to speak plainly, calmly and not start an unnecessary fight. ”The man Frederi-...Gustav was meeting with, is his lawyer. I got the documentation, his diploma, the bar exam. What more do you want or need?”
Her father cleared his throat and took a deep breath. ”You are too close to him, I know he’s there now Johanna, he has been coming to your apartment the last three nights and not leaving till the morning…” Her heart beat faster, she pulled the phone from her ear and popped up from the toilet seat pacing around the bathroom before stopping infront of the mirror looking at herself.
Her hair flowed down over her face, she tilted her head sideways studying her facing expression and the anger that was clearly in her eyes. ”You have been spying on me? On your own daughter? I did what you wanted, I gave you all of the evidence I had. I did the research, the legwork and I have never hidden anything from you. And you do this?. This conversation is over...lose my number father…”
As she hung up a shot of pain ran up her spin and to the back of her head. Johanna turned and sat on the cold tiled floor, her phone sitting beside of facing up as it started to ring again. She flipped it on it’s face and pulled her knees to her chest trying not to cry or let it all out.
The door opened.
Frederick Gustav stood there, an eyebrow raised looking confused, half asleep and worried. His eyes trailed down to the floor, he swallowed hard and ran a hand through his wavey brown hair. ”Jo?. What’s wrong?” He moved through the door, sliding down on one knee infront of her, his hands sliding up her arms and taking her face in his hands. They were warm, softy and comforting. The last week or so had been a dream since he kissed her, it was then after seeing the pain he’d gone through with his divorce, the hard work he’d put in and the looks that he gave her that her feelings for him had been unlocked.
But this was still wrong. He was her superior in the task force, her boss and he was someone her own father had asked her to look into as a person of interest in all the open cases he had. But what now? I should tell him The thought ran through her mind as he stared into her bright blue eyes. She took in a fast but deep breath and bit her bottom lip before letting it out and giving herself a small nod. ”Frederick I...I have something to tell you.” Her eyes trailed down to her phone and to the tiles.
But before she could say anything his hand moved up and his finger touched her lips softly, she looked back to his face and he smiled warmly before shaking his head. ”I know, your father isn’t subtle Jo.”
Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped. He knew?
Frederick moved and sat next to her, leaning his back against the bathtub, he moved his left arm up and over Johanna, holding her close. ”My lawyer called me, said his files had been accessed, I knew what happened. I’m fine with it. I know it didn’t look the best but, I have nothing to hide.” She exhaled and smiled, it made her feel better, knowing that he knew and was fine with it. That he understood.
She sat up and grabbed her phone turning it over. ”My father needs to know, he needs to understand you are on the right side Frederick.” His hand moved over taking the phone from her hand.
”That isn’t important right now. What is important is that I have to know. I have to ask. Do you trust me?. I don’t care about anyone else Krieger. Just you, your trust and your understanding…” All the weight lifted off her shoulders. This was as relaxed as she’d felt in months.
He smiled again, leaning over to kiss her cheek as they both sat on the floor. Suddenly there was the sound of an engine revving from below. Johanna pushed to her feet and moved to the window looking down. A large black van pulled out from the parking area and sped off down the street. Johanna shook her head and leaned on the window with a sigh. ”Well, atleast now we’re not being watched.”
They both laughed as Frederick leaned on the door frame with his arms folded over his chest. m”Oh I’m sure we are...just nnot by your fathers men...remember Jo, everyone watches everybody…” She shivered and wrapped arm arms around herself. Frederick moved from the door frame closer to the bed. ”We could give them a show, eh?” He winked, his mouth twisted into a chuckle. Johanna couldn’t help but laugh, the feeling that she was right all along making things so much easier…
For now...
Pay attention
Deep breaths make staying calm easier. It is something Johanna Krieger learned in her time as a police officer. To stop a situation filled with pressure, it was best to calm yourself down first before working on others. Heated engagements only led to more anger and frustration. And in that anger and frustration, heated egos made stupid statements. Something that, after listening to Royal Purple talk, Johanna knew all to well.
”Time is counting down now. We are approaching Inception, one of the supercards that everyone should look forward to. You see SCW’s biggest shows aren’t just these fun, entertainment filled card. They’re events. They are where issues are settled, it’s where everyone puts in their best performances. Unless, well, you’re me. See I had a horrible thing happen to me when I lost to Jesse Salco, it opened my eyes and it made me realise I cannot and will not wait for the supercards to be the best, I’ll do it every single week, every match, every moment. That is the difference between myself and many many others in this business.
“I make that effort no matter the stakes. Because I learned my lesson about going into matches half hearted and complacent.”
“It is something I refuse to do with you Royal Purple”There is a small flash of a smile.”Despite the fact you clearly do not sdo research on your opponents nor do you have a proper grasp of the wrestling business in front of you. I suppose I shouldn’t expect that much from a nineteen year old spot monkey who where’s a mask and has a drinking problem. But I guess I’m a dreamer”
She smirks and shakes her head, her long blond hair flowing down in front of her face, Johanna left it down, isn’t even wearing her trademark warpaint. It’s just natural little ol Johanna Krieger, her large arms folding over her ample chest showing off her tattoos.
”I know it might be considered tacky bringing up your little drinking problem. But since you made such a big deal out of it and have ingrained it in your personality I felt right being able to make a comment on it. And I think it’s great you’ve been able to overcome it and be sober enough to get excited and hype up the match between you and yourself. But some of your comments dear. They kind of come off as if you have been sipping the sauce.
“Now there is the old saying, it is better to be thought of a fool and stay silent than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. And while you went on your good fifteen to twenty minute n unhinged rant about your problems and beliefs there were parts that I listened to and they hurt my head. You stood there and called me a brute, a bull in a china shop and yes, I am on the muscular side. I do take great pride in my body Royal, and why shouldn’t I?”
“You see, when I was younger, when I was a member of the police force I was a skinny little girl, I barely got to triple digits. Five foot five, maybe a hundred pounds. And when I decided to become a professional wrestler I also wanted to become stronger. So I did. I put on twenty five pounds of muscle. And I know I can hit hard, I took up kickboxing and amatuer wrestling to accentuate the base I already had…”
“And since you seem like a bit of a simpleton let me explain. Accentuate means to add to as a complimentary skill.”
Was that a little on the bitchy side? Probably. Johanna didn’t care though, she snarled and rolled her shoulders and neck obviously frustrated at People's stupidity.
”You know what my skills where? What my base was coming into professional wrestling Purple? Brazilian jiu jitsu. I’m a submission expert, a wrestling expert. Highly fucking skilled. Hence why I use a rear naked choke. But, I don’t have as much opportunity to use those skills in a “technicians world” as you put it. And why Purple? Because of the unique rules I find myself being forced to compete in weekly as the Roulette champion. These aren’t standard wrestling matches. These are stipulation matches that are chosen on a fucki9ng wheel…”
“It means chaos…”
“It means brawling, weapons, cages, fire. Little chance to get in the ring and put on a technical wrestling clinic you fucking masked goofball. That is the world you are stepping into, that is the division that you won a title shot for. Or do you even pay attention? I’m guessing not. You sat there talking about my lack of technique and skill when I already showed all of that. Just like I did as a mixed tag team champion…”
“Or did you forget that happened to?
She growls and steps forward.
”How would you know what it takes to be champion? You stood there and rambled on nonsensically for 20 minutes, it was all bu7llshit one liners hidden in rambling muffled voices. You think you’re going to get far by making stupid comments about myself or wolfslair as a whole? I mean...largely irrelevant Occasional title wins? Occasional? Ok, we take out the rest of the wrestling world, which for arguments sake we will, lets just look at SCW.”
“Between the four of us we have had, two world title wins, a mixed tag title reign, mens internet title, womens roulette title and three world bombshells title wins that also included Alicia being the star of the year. We, as a group have beaten the best of the best and made titles matter. And you could have told the truth. You could have praised that, given us some respect. See, there is no shame in giving respect when it’s due, showing that you atleast did your homework and understood the level of opponent you were about to face…”
“I could have respected that, I could have understood that.”
“Instead I get someone who decides to travel the road traveled by most, someone who refuses to stand out from the pack and didn’t even bother to pay attention. Someone who doesn’t know who they’re facing, doesn’t know what they are up against nor the championship they are competing for. I don’t care what you did in SCU I don’t care what you have done anywhere else, nor should you care what I did in Union battleground or Iconic or any other company I was in before SCW.”
“Because this is about the Roulette title, this is about a skinny little high flying child in a stupid mask stepping in the ring against a versatile killer. A woman who can brawl, a woman who can use any stipulation or weapon to her advantage and a woman who...if she wanted to...could snatch a little bitch out of the air, lock her in a submission...and break every single inch of her stupid little body….that is what you’re up against little girl...that is the game you are playing….and it is very very dangerous.”
“So the wheel will spin at inception, it will land on a stipulation...and in the end you will feel pain…”