6:51am
Honolulu, Hawaii
3 March 2017



The video starts with a camera fixed on Jason Halich. He is sitting in a lawn chair, and the only thing that can be seen around him in the frame is sand. Though we are outside, it is just before dawn, so the low level of light make it hard to read his face. He is not directly facing the camera though, looking above and left of it like the real view the opposite direction.

”Jet City is flying solo this week in a lot more ways than I realized until just now. It started out with just this match. Yeah, two SCW Tag Champions are going to be teaming together, but the person standing on my side of the ring isn’t Kris, so I have a hard time finding a way to get motivated without him out there. I guess that kind of sounds sappy, or even a little disturbing, but anyone that has been around him knows that doing shows is a lot more fun with him than it is by yourself.”

He shrugs, forcing a smile onto his face that can be seen as the sun rises just high enough to finally splash a little light where he is sitting.

”Then his daughter born on my daughter’s birthday. A lot of you can see why that is a little rough for me. We kind of touched on that subject once or twice before now. To push it a little further, he names her after our sister, a second big emotional hole in our lives. Of course, as happy as I am for him, that meant that not only was I going to be flying solo in this match, I was flying solo all together. When that thought came to me, I handed him back his daughter, drove to the airport, hopped on a plane, and found myself here not even twenty-four hours later.”

He laughs, but even people that are mostly deaf can hear how forced it sounds.

”Nothing like a sporadic vacation to a beach to take stock of your life on a random... Thursday… or whatever today is… Friday at this point. Who knows what it will be by the time I actually get around to putting it up. I guess I’m just taking stock of my life and not liking the fact that I see everyone else moving forward, while I stand in the same place.”

He shakes his head, not happy with the way that he worded the thought, and then physically waving it away.

”Talking about Kris as a lead in with that was a terrible segway. That’s not at all what I mean. He can take all of those personal steps for himself without me getting too bent out of shape. The similarities with dates and names is a little weird to get used to, but not upsetting. The rebuilding of all of the bridges he has burned is great for him. Personally, I am perfectly content with being the unmarried older guy that’s not thirsting over every slut on Twitter. The standing still that I’m talking about is professionally. Last time I made a real run of anything, I went to the very top of a company in my first match, and then stayed there until someone literally ended my career for a few years. I came to SCW and history repeated itself. I find myself at the very top of my division from my very first match, and they can’t seem to find anyone to take the championship away from me. This time I even have Kris there to mess everything up, and still cannot seem to lose. The match that Rage technically won? I never did a damn thing to actually get disqualified so clearly someone paid a referee to do them a favor.”

The laugh that follows the words is much more genuine than the first.

”I can’t seem to lose, and the people running this company will tell you at every turn that we aren’t actually expected to do much of anything. Every time we retain it seems everyone is surprised. Every time Jet City does one of these promos, we get all kinds of comments about how we are biting off more than we can chew. Yet, we told you The Elder Bitches would fail. They did. We said The Unholy Alliance was good on paper but a serious mismatch in reality, and nobody believed we had a chance in either match that they failed to beat us in. We literally made fun of how little Dying Breed cared about their limp-wristed shot at the titles, and then proved those words as gospel truth when the bell rang. Their response to every team being a lack of a real challenge is to just throw a bunch of them at us at once. Maybe that is another idea that looks good on paper, but it’s also one that’s going to fail to take the titles away from Jet City. You’re going to hear us say that a lot in the coming weeks, but for some reason everyone will be surprised when it happens.”

He shakes his head and looks away from the horizon line and actually into the camera for the first time.

”But… again… that’s not really the point that I am trying to make. Jet City will handle what Jet City has to handle, when Jet City has to handle it. This week is about something a little different. Last time I did this, I plateaued and it took injury to force me out of my position. I remember thinking that I wish I had done so much more. Why did I stop at the top of one division, or one company? If I was so dominant, why did I not attempt to spread myself across a couple companies and become an even bigger name than I was. The longer I had to think about it, the more I realized that people these days still remember companies that I was part of, and even one that I owned. I’m still a pretty well known guy without really taking advantage when I was the top of my game. The question I have been faced with is, am I okay with just being a tag team champion, or do I want something more for myself. Kris has Blast From The Past coming up, and if he wins that, and then a singles title, Jet City is done for pretty much on the spot. That’s not really a whole lot different from getting injured. The rug still gets pulled out from under your feet in both situations. There are no double champions in SCW.”

He shrugs, holding his arms out to his sides, palms up towards the brightening sky.

”With everyone around me thinking about their future, escaping away to a warm play and a nice beach seemed to be the perfect place to think about mine. What is going to happen if Kris is ready to move on? Before losing that match, I thought that him wanting to strike out on his own might be a while. I thought that I would have a little more time. Maybe that I would be more ready to leave. As it is, this whole ride could be coming to an end and I don’t know whether to recruit a new tag team partner, go after some singles gold, or maybe look to different companies with new challenges, or old grudges. I’ve been straight about being here because this company means the world to Kris. I have a lot of respect for everyone here, but I still kind of feel like an outsider. I know how people like Chelsea Payne feel when they talk about being on the outside of Sin City and looking in, and she seems to be another one of those people that is branching out without a lot of people actually noticing it.”

He winks at the camera, and turns his attention to the horizon line again. The sun raises high enough for him to have to squint when he is looking that direction. More of his surroundings start to be visible, like the stairway leading up from the beach behind him.

”Where does that leave us, huh? I’m flying totally solo on what is supposed to be a two man operation. Just in general, Jet City is possibly coming up on big changes depending on what happens in the coming months. I have a bunch of options, but am almost paralyzed into inaction. Typically it is a good thing to be able to see the big picture instead of just focusing on the week to week. If you have a plan, and a direction, your goals are easier to meet. Jet City had a plan when we first started doing this a year ago. We haven’t lost a match together since that time. This week it seems to be a curse that I can’t unsee the big picture. I can’t stop looking at the big things that are ahead. Even looking forward to facing just about every team in the tag team division in the same night is attention getting. It makes it easy to overlook this week, and this odd little tag match. It is really less of a tag match and more of two singles matches racing to see who can finish first.”

He leans forward in his chair, and brings his feet down to the sand on either side of the chair. The strangeness of it made it more interesting to him.

”Think about it, inside the match, if it were a straight tag match, we would have The Elders vs The Elders. However, Jon is really only in the ring with me. He’s not going to have anything to do with Alana just like I’m not going to have anything to do with Uriella. Aside from taking turns competing, this isn’t a whole lot like a real tag match. As such, I really don’t have to care about my partner. Jet City and the Female Elders get along well enough. But, for me, Jet City and those Elder Bitches are just not going to ever be cool. For me, this match is just as much Jet City vs Elders Bitches as it is JHalc vs Jon Dough. The problem with that is, we already know the result to Jet City vs anybody on this roster goes, let alone the sorry asses we took the titles from to start our amazing reign. So you can bank that this match is not going to go any differently. If I were Alana, I would be pushing myself real hard this week, because if she can’t get the job done against Uriella before I get bored, then I’m going to wreck a member of The Elders right in front of her so that I can jet out of the arena and hope things get back to normal next week.”

He pushes himself up from the chair and crosses the short distance to the camera, picking it up, and spinning it around to see the sunrise across the water.

”If any of you think you have something important to tell me in the next few days, I want you to think about if you would want to be bothered by anybody when this was the view you were trying to enjoy. And then, regardless of what you think, you can just fuck right off anyways. Jon, I might be flying solo, but after a few more days like this, I’m going to be more than ready to get this over quickly so that I can come back to looking at this, instead of you standing across a ring from me.”

The screen starts to slowly fade to black, and then cuts off entirely.

 
The screen starts out black and slowly starts to fade in. We see Jason Halich, dressed in a suit, climbing up the stairs of what looks like the outside of a church. However, as we follow inside the building, it is clear that it is not a church at all, but some kind of mausoleum. There are plaques along the walls, stacked five high from floor to ceiling and each about the length of a coffin. The hallway in front of him stretches down the length of a football field, and there are several doorways leading out both sides of the building. All of the doors were open, the backside of the building leading out to the main cemetery. Jason stops at one of the plaques, but something through the door catches his eye.

”You know, I was thinking that coming here might not have been much of a good idea, but apparently I was wrong. It would appear that someone had the same idea when we did, or at least something similar.”
>He turns to the camera for the first time, and points them to look through the doorway. None of the viewers are surprised to see Kris Halich sitting in front of one of the gravestones most of the way down the aisle. We do not pick up what he is saying from this distance, but can clearly see him turn to the camera. The red haired woman operating the camera turns to Jason and shakes her head. He turns back to the camera and starts to lead them back to the plaque that he previously stopped at. He does not draw immediate attention to it though, gesturing back towards Kris.

”I should have been able to guess what he was going to want to get off of his chest before we did this whole match. I guess I doubted whether or not he was ready to talk about that part of his life. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. In the last year he has slowly allowed himself to become a normal person. By that I don’t mean grow up. In the Peter Pan sense of the phrase, that’s never going to happen for him. He’s never going to let go of that part of himself that half of you probably hate, and the rest of you love. That polarizing, harsh, hurtful sarcasm that he uses to pick at people, or make people laugh is never going to go away. He was like that long before drugs, and long before ever becoming people recognize in a crowd. ”

He laughs, shaking his head. He had tried to force Kris out of that attitude for years, and it had most likely made things worse instead of better. Kris had a way of doing the exact opposite of what Jay told him to do out of spite.

”What I mean is that, for the first time ever, he is not boxing himself off. He swore to me from the first moment he ever considered the idea of marriage, that he was never going to get married. His reasoning being that our sister was never going to get to have her own special day, so he shouldn’t get to either. He told me that he wasn’t going to have kids, because he clearly doesn’t know how to take care of himself, let alone anyone else. I have never seen him willing do a job that wasn’t wrestling related. That is, until now. He does a lot of work in rehab centers, and goes to a ton of groups to try and keep people away from stuff. He cares more about his son than I have ever seen him care about anything in his entire life. He finally fought for and got married to the only girl he ever let really get close to him, and that includes Liz Smalls. He has turned his life around, and doesn’t really carry the burden of our sister’s death anymore. It even has a little to do with the woman out there with him kind of filling in as the surrogate sister he feels like he failed. He’s allowing himself to have a real life, and form relationships with people for the first time. It’s one of the reasons that I convinced him to do this Jet City thing. I saw it happening and wanted to come along for the ride. I wanted to stay close to see all of that stuff happen at the same time that he finally came into this business and really succeeded. I wanted to be a part of that greatness, to bring this whole thing full circle.”

He takes a deep breath, and then nods his head.

”At this point in my career, I can admit a few things without feeling bad about them, or needing any pity after I say them. I have won world titles, triple crowns, and have been inducted into hall of fames, but I’m not that guy anymore. In all, I have had five different surgeries on my right knee. To say I lose a step with each year that I get older is an understatement. The reason that I stayed away for so long, is because I can honestly say it took the majority of the three years I have been out of the ring for my knee to get back to normal after what Blyss Lockhart did to me. That’s not to say that I am not every bit as talented as I have always been. It does mean that I know I am to a point where being a tag team champion is probably the only thing that I have left on the table. I know if it came down to just me having to go full speed for world class matches a half hour at a time every single week, I would be on the injured list in just a few months. I don’t have that kind of stamina anymore.”

Again, he gestures out towards the door where his brother is still sitting.

”What I do have, or better yet what Jet City has, is that kid out there that is a bottomless pit of stamina. For the shortcomings that I have, he has the counterbalance. For every imperfection that he has when the tempo of a match slows down, I have the knowhow to get us out of that situation. Our skillsets are somewhat opposite. Our personalities are somewhat opposite too. I know that you can all tell the differences between us when we are separate. I know that you can all also see how everyone around Kris gets sucked into his little sphere and start to show some of his qualities. I think that’s what makes Jet City entertaining to watch. At the end of the day, we don’t get along all the time. We don’t pretend to, but we can come together and lay both a verbal and physical beating on anyone on this roster. You’re not going to hear Jet City ranting about breaking bones or ending people. If you want that you can turn into half of the SCW roster and hear that. We give people something a little different. Maybe that’s what Mark and Christian saw in us.”

He looks down again, and chuckles lightly to himself. He had not ever denied that he enjoyed everything that Jet City had done as a group. Everyone on Twitter has seen him brag about how it has been the best time he has ever shared with his brother.

”He chose to talk about this match from out there for only one reason that I can think of that makes any sense. The person that has always kind of steered his life is out there. For a long time he refused to have any happiness that she couldn’t have because he blamed himself. Now, he is determined to be happy enough for both of them. I’m here for the same reason.”

He steps out of the way, and nods to the plaque behind him that we can now see reads EQH. There was no full name, no dates, and no short phrase of who the person was. Those familiar with Jason’s history know pretty well who it is though.

”Kris had an epiphany about a year ago, and decided that he was going to stop running. If I am honest, I am jealous that it happened to him before it happened to me. Granted, he carried the weight about for two decades. For me it has only been a few years. I quit this business once before in order to go try and be normal. I got engaged, had a kid, but we all know that I don’t have either of the above anymore. We have heard the story dragged out on Twitter. We have seen it mentioned in countless promos by tasteless people desperate to win a title, but lacking any real talent to win one. I have heard my daughter’s name brought up so many times by people in attempt to dig at me, that I’m desensitized. She’s the reason that I am out touring with SCW past what I know I should be. That’s why you don’t see me settling down with someone and leading a quiet life. I tried all of the things that Kris is starting to build for himself, and I failed, so here I am.”

He brings his eyes back up to the lens of the camera, but his face fails to show any emotion at all, including the signature smirk that rarely ever leaves his face.

”I’m hiding from life under the guise of wanting to go out with a bang. It’s not without its perks though. I mean, this whole Jet City experience has been the most fun I have had professionally. I would throw away every world title I have ever held if it meant I could go back in time a few years and get this whole thing started back then. I am starting to fear that I have stayed past my welcome as an individual though, at least on a regular basis. The strange thing is, Kris and I have talked about this match. In fact, Christian, Mark, and I have talked about this match before. The day that we got booked in the tag team title match, I went to the two of them and told them that before I left, I wanted to have this match. Regardless of anything else that happened, I wanted to make this happen before I signed off forever. I would have preferred it to come at the very end, or at least after we dropped the titles, but now is as good a time as any.”

The smirk returns to his face, confidence starting to come back to him.

”Two things about this match have become painfully obvious to me. The first of them is the way to win. The second, the way to lose. Kris is the kind of guy that could never shake his tendency to fly over fight. If you put him in a situation where he has to stand toe to toe with you in the middle of the ring, he doesn’t know what to do. More than half of his game is focused on misdirection, and catching people sleeping. The stamina that I talked about early is what gets him out of trouble as quickly as it can land him in it. For my brother it is all about high risk and high reward. The way for me to win this match is to be the one that makes the next to last mistake. While Kris’ style of offense opens him up to making a lot of mistakes, my style is the opposite. The less I do that can be turned against me, the better off I am going to be. The more that I can prevent Kris from flying around the ring, the longer I’m going to be able to hold my own against him.”

He shrugs, trying to laugh it off but knowing that with his slower pace, he is going to end up being a sitting duck a handful of times in this match.

”The way to lose, is to try and treat this match like something that I can plan for. My brother is not like any opponent that I have faced. In fact, if you just look at it from a statistical point of view, he has beaten me more times than anyone else in the world. There are so many people that I have faced more than once, but none of them have fared as well as Kris has. Every time that I thought I had him figured out, he pulls something new out of his bag of tricks. No matter how many times we spar together, it never follows the same format. Our fights never stick to the same script. Kris has no style, because he has no training. The same impulsiveness that he displays in life, he displays in that ring. Being in a ring with him is about trying to walk a tightrope with really bad vertigo. You’re constantly off balance and just trying to keep your feet under you, because if you don’t, you’re done for.”

He laughs at the thought.

”I thought that by the time this match happened, I would be okay with either way that it went down. I was plotting this out to be the last match that I was ever a part of. Jet City being a success story has prevented that from becoming a reality. I am going to be around for a lot longer, because we aren’t letting go of those titles any time soon. If you doubt that, ask The Unholy Alliance or The Elder Bitches. The important thing is, I would have been okay losing if it was my last match. It would be a good way of turning over the spotlight to my brother and stepping out of the picture. I’m not stepping out though, so I’m not about to let him walk away a winner without giving it my best, hardest shot. I’m not ready to look him in the eye and have to admit that he is better than I am. I am not ready to be the brother that has to be in the other’s shadow yet. I have held onto this spotlight since he first fell into drugs. There’ll be a day that comes where he takes it from me, and that day is fast approaching, but it is not Sunday. Sunday is just going to be another in a long line of fights.”

He turns and looks back at the plaque on the wall again, touching the tips of his fingers to it before starting to step away.

”People have been waiting to buy a front row ticket to this fight for years, so I’m not about to let people down. Lots of people on Twitter have been adamant about the fact that because of the things Kris says and does, that they want me to maim him. There are others that want him to put me out of their misery. For all of those reasons, and tons I can’t even start to list, this is going to me the match that all of you want to tune in and see. If you do, you’re going to see two people venting more than twenty years of frustration, and refusing to let the other have any kind of bragging rights. In a normal match, a person will gloat until they move on with their life. When you fight family, you have to hear about the outcome until one of the two of you die. Neither of us want to lose, but more importantly neither of us wants the other to win. ”

He smiles widely, flashing his teeth in doing so, and starts to walk away from the camera. He turns, to face it while walking backwards.

”Do yourselves a favor, and don’t miss this regardless of which one of us you want to see walk away a winner. Rarely do you get a match that means so much to the two people in the ring without a championship on the line. If Christian and Mark were a little smarter, they would have put this thing on a pay per view, and pre-sold the movie rights. It’s what I would have done if I were them...”

He holds his arms out to his sides, and shrugs at their missed opportunity.

”I’ll see you all Saturday. None of you will be disappointed.”

He turns on his heel, headed out of the building, and the feed fades to black.

 OFF-CAMERA
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
PROMISES
3:17 PM PST 1.20.17

Jason is sitting at a small circular table. It was not unlike those found inside fast food restaurants. If he were eating, it would have been much too small of a space to share with the person he came to see. However, he was not eating, and this was not a restaurant. Most of the grounds at Promises were pretty lavish. That is why Jason chose to come to this particular area. Just out of the back door of the main facility is a small smoking balcony, but the thin strip of walkway could not accommodate the couches and comfy looking chairs seen almost everywhere else. He chose this spot so that his brother could not sit back and relax for this conversation. He was going to have to sit close to him, and engage in the conversation whether he wanted to or not. If Jason knew anything about his brother, it was that it was almost undoubtedly going to be the latter instead of the former. He starts to tap his fingers on the table, finding a beat that he was satisfied with only moments before the doors to the facility open behind him and his brother comes out onto the balcony. Kris pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and thumbs open the flip-top of the box before taking one out. He rolls it between his fingers as he makes his way around the table. He does not immediately stop, walking to the next table to grab an ashtray. Kris tosses it to the table, and carefully sits down in front of his brother. For a few moments he continues to roll the cigarette in his fingers, waiting for Jason to look up. When he does, Kris offers him a smile, and then reaches into his front pocket for a small torch style lighter, bringing the cigarette to his mouth and inhaling while lighting the end.

JASON: Old habits, right?

Kris shrugs. He knew that this part of the conversation was coming. They had it every single time. It was even part of the reason that he had waited for his brother to acknowledge him before lighting it.

KRIS: I have never successfully made it through the program without them, and it’s not the kind of habit I take with me when I leave. The only person that doesn’t seem to grasp that is you, even though we have had this conversation too many times to count.

Jason does not stray from meeting his gaze, but shakes his head lightly.

JASON: Yeah, it’s hard to quit cold turkey, right? Going from a substance that will undoubtedly kill you, to nothing at all is a little easier if you sandwich in something that will just maybe kill you.

Kris nods, taking another drag and then flicking the ashes into the tray.

KRIS: Yet we still have to talk about it every single time.

Almost mimicking his brother perfectly, Jason nods, but rolls his eyes afterwards.

JASON: It is because you insist on pretending like you’re some kind of victim every time you are in here. You’re not. You put yourself in these positions. It’s nobody else’s doing. And then we are supposed to unabashedly praise you for being able to leave that crutch in rehab when you leave. You shouldn’t need a crutch, because you shouldn’t be here. I’m not going to pity or applaud anything you do here. You are a grown ass man that should have left this shit behind by now.

There is no response of defense that Kris can muster. They have had this talk yes, but it was never this spiteful. Jason had never been this angry, not even the second time. The volumes that speaks is enough to terrify Kris. After more than a dozen times, Jason should have softened. The second time should have always been the worst. The first time is a mistake, or error in judgement. The second time is a true betrayal of the people that helped him in the first place. He raises his cigarette to his lips, takes a deep breath, and slowly lowers it, exhaling through both his nose and his mouth. This time when he reaches for the ashtray, it is not to flick ashes, but to put it out, not even a third of the way through its burning.

KRIS: So why are you here, huh? Violet told me she talked to you, but you weren’t on board yet. I signed your papers. I haven’t left this god awful place in two weeks. Although, I am impressed that I got them to surrender my phone for a few hours a night.

Jason chuckles, and shrugs.

JASON: It helps keep up the appearance that you’re not in a rehab center. If you were, people would expect total radio silence. This way you get a little taste of the outside world, and I don’t have to answer questions I am way too tired to keep answering. Everyone wins.

Keeping up appearances was one thing, but actually allowing Kris to go back on the road was another. Kris knew that everything his brother and his family had done in the last two weeks was nothing more than a stall. Just because Jason ended up covering with SCW did not mean that Jet City was going to keep going. Even if he made promises to the crowd, it did not mean he had any intention of keeping them. At his core, he never cared about them.

KRIS: So what did you decide then? I can probably guess. I mean, based on the shitty look on your face, the fact that you’re not restraining your love of being a total dick, and the fact that this is the very last possible second to make a decision, it is not looking very good from where I sit. Why don’t you just spit it out and stop wasting your time dragging it out.

There was nothing in there that Jason could argue. He had actually waited to make a decision about the future of Jet City until after Kris sat down. Even better, Kris was completely right: his current demeanor was a complete result of the decision he made. That did not mean that Kris was not wrong at the same time. Jason reaches into the front pocket of his jacket and pulls out an envelope. He slides it across the table and nods to his brother that it is okay to open it. Kris makes short work of the paper, pulling free a single plane ticket.

JASON: I can’t stop you from leaving here and coming to Las Vegas. If I was going to walk away from you, I would have done it by now. I know that every time you do this, you expect that I am going to just stop showing up. That’s not going to happen. There is no changing the fact that you are my brother. There is however, changing the fact that you are my tag team partner.

Kris puts the ticket on the table, but shakes his head. The small glimmer of hope that Kris had in his eye when he opened the envelope is gone, and replaced with complete confusion.

KRIS: I don’t get it. Why would I want to fly out there if you were done? You going to replace me? You going to get Parker to show up with you or something?

The last bit comes out with a little more disgust than Kris wanted. It was only in moments like these that Jason ever got to see that touch of jealousy rise to the surface.

JASON: That is your ticket, but whether you go there to compete, or ask for your release is up to you, because I have a handful of conditions on being your tag team partner for longer than this conversation lasts.

The confusion shifts quickly to annoyance. Jason watches his brother’s lips tighten, and he grinds his teeth together. The rise in his blood pressure flushes his cheeks, but he tries hard to swallow the anger and keep it under control. His tone does not come out as smooth as he hoped it would, and more of a sarcastic whisper than anything else.

KRIS: More conditions… there’s always something.

Jason smacks the table hard, and it jolts Kris in his seat. He straightens up, and the look on his face is wiped away in an instant. At this point in his life, Kris was only truly afraid of one person, and it was his brother in this state of mind.

JASON: Yes. There is always something. There is always something because no matter what anyone does, you always end up back in this fucking place. So every time we pile on more and more conditions. We take away more and more of your leash, and hope that we can keep an eye on you. Yet, every time you fuck it all up.

Kris averts his eyes, looking at the view off of the balcony. He never knew exactly what being in this place cost his brother, but over the years it had to be more than anyone would say Kris’ life was worth. He had the opportunities to find out, or to look it up thousands of times, but never did. He was afraid to put a numerical value on his burden to his family. The cost of the rehab would have just been a good starting point anyways, and was probably still a big enough number to make him nauseous.

KRIS: I’ll do it. I don’t even care what it is.

It was that same tone of defeat that Jason heard in Canada when he found him the morning after his binge. Kris was not going to give his brother the pleasure of admitting he was wrong, at least not in this moment. He was not going to make himself more vulnerable to attack than he already was. His statement was a declaration that he was still dedicated to Jet City, and really nothing more than that.

JASON: Two groups. Outpatient. Everyday that we don’t have a show until I say you can stop.

Kris thinks it over for a moment, doing the math in his head for how long he thought his brother would hold to it. It doesn’t look good for his immediate future, but he nods silently.

JASON: We leave, compete, and come back all on the same day, on the same flight.

This one is a little more difficult to stomach. At least during the week, and between groups, he would be able to be on his own time. Even though Jason was stopping short of saying it, what he was demanding now was that Kris never leave his line of sight while they were traveling. It meant sharing a hotel room, eating every meal together, and probably an allotted amount of time he could spend hiding in a bathroom. It was the loss of his freedom. It takes longer than the first time, but slowly he nods again.

JASON: You sell the apartment, sign over all your duties at the clinic to Dr. Watkins, and you and Heather move to Seattle permanently. All of your groups have already been scouted and picked by me. You follow the schedule, we get to keep doing this.

Kris’ jaw falls open, and he tries to push out any thought or phrase that would show not only his disagreement, but the degree to which his brain was telling him to do so. He begged himself to spit out objections laced with curses, but no words came. After a few moments he fights his mouth to close, and grinds his teeth all the way through a third nod.

KRIS: Is that it?

Jason’s face softens a little, which makes the younger half of Jet City nervous. Every second of the conversation had been a challenge so far, but now Kris’ older brother appeared to feel bad about whatever it is that he was going to say.

JASON: There’s one more thing and you’re not gonna like it.

His brother had softened, so the sarcastic nature of Kris’ personality is given a little breathing room.

KRIS: Well that’s a healthy change from everything else...

Jason does not give his brother the satisfaction of a laugh, chuckle, or smile. Not even the smirk that made him famous creeps onto his face.

JASON: Win or lose, at the next Climax Control, your opponent is going to be me. If we keep the titles, then you can chalk it up to catching the beating that you deserve for putting everyone through this. If we lose, then consider it me picking my opponent for my final match.

For the first time in the conversation, despite the numerous jabs, Kris is offended. His chest tightens, and he winces like he is in physical pain at the thought.

KRIS: You would really leave if we lose this? That would be it?

The tone of his voice made both questions come out in an undeniably genuine nature. It was a clearly giveaway that Jason’s leaving would impact Kris in a real way. That was the whole point of the gambit. It was the same as the paper that Violet made him sign. Jason was forcing Kris to either step up, or lose everything.

JASON: From where I am sitting, if we lose, there’s nothing worth sticking around for. I showed up to be your partner. Look around… clearly you don’t know what all that entails. This doesn’t work for me. You want out, and you’re going to get out regardless of what I want. In all honesty, you are going to keep touring and falling into the same loop regardless of what I do. What I am telling you, is that if you cannot pull yourself together long enough for Jet City to prove that they are not one hit wonders, then I’m walking away before you drag my name, and my legacy, down to your level. Being a sloppy addict’s tag partner is not how I want to be remembered. If you can’t win this match, then that’s all I am. If that’s all I am, then I want my last match to be breaking that image.

Kris drops his eyes to the table, and is again at a loss for words. However, this time there is no nod to go with his lack of communication. At the same time, he does not shake his head to disagree either. Jason can see him struggling with it, but does not want to push him towards a decision. Instead of waiting, he stands up from the table, and straightens his jacket.

JASON: You don’t have to decide right now, but we do have a timetable here. People are asking where you are, and they need to see Jet City back on the same page by the end of the day. I didn’t come alone today. Heather followed me over in your car. I told her she wasn’t allowed to listen in on this conversation, but that I was going to be in here for a few minutes, and then I would be leaving. From the moment I leave, she is waiting twenty minutes for your answer. You can pack up your things and move forward, or you can stay here and sulk. I’m not going to hold your hand while you figure it out though.

Jason waits for a moment, and Kris finally looks up at him. The younger of the two brother’s nods, not agreeing to the terms Jason laid out, but to the timetable that he was given to make a decision. Without lingering longer than needed, Jason turns and pulls open the door to the facility, leaving Kris alone to process it all on his own.




======================================================

ON-CAMERA
LAS VEGAS, CALIFORNIA
SCW AREANA
9:17 PM PST 1.20.17

The scene opens on the SCW ring. It is a view from the hard camera that viewers at home will become familiar with on Sunday night. Standing in the center of the ring, already dressed for battle and strapped around the waist with the SCW Tag Team Championships. Of course, as seen last time Jet City blessed SCW with their presence, the title belts are inverted, making them impossible to be read by the crowd. However, if either brother were to tilt the championship up, while looking down at it, it appears right-side up. They both have smiles on their faces, and fans have seen this type of setup before. Where they stand, they are almost shoulder to shoulder, with no space in between. However, those that remember their match against The Elders, there is a very large, flat screen monitor just behind them, cut off from view.

JASON: The Unholy Alliance should renamed themselves the Wholly Disappointments. We have laid off, played nice, kicked back, and let them say whatever it is that they have wanted to say.

Jason’s very subtle pause is all that it takes for Kris to pick right up where he leaves off to drive home the point that his brother was trying to make.[/color]

KRIS: We learned a lesson the first time around. We just talked and talked all week long and it was was all a waste of time and energy. Neither of them really engaged. Neither would take place in shenanigans. For a little while, it didn’t make any sense at all. You have these two guys, that have lost to another tag team that have not gotten the opportunity to challenge us, gotten a match against us that the didn’t win, and don’t have the best track records when gold is on the line as of late.

They both shake their heads as Kris finishes, and make shaming ‘tsk’ sounds. It is all obvious sarcasm, but punchlines do not land without solid build up. Right now these two were just putting in the leg work.

JASON: We wasted a lot of really good material to the tune of crickets. Nothing riled these guys, but we didn’t have to wait long to find out why….

The two separate, and reveal the screen behind them. At first, all it displays is the Jet City logo. However, as they both turn to it, it comes to life with a clip from three weeks ago. On the screen, the Jet City theme plays loudly as both Jason and Kris come out to the ring for their match. Kris slides into the ring while Jason climbs the stairs, and steps through the ropes only for both of them to be attacked by The Unholy Alliance. The video continues to play through the first few shots that the challengers to the tag team champions throw, all the way to both challengers throwing the champions outside of the ring. Without pausing the film, Kris chimes in.

KRIS: And if you would be so kind as to listen…..

Just as Kris finishes, through the video the viewers can hear the bell chime three times to signal the start of the match perfectly on cue. It is only at that point that the video is paused. In doing so, the champions leave a less-than-flattering frame of James Tuscini frozen on the screen.

KRIS: I can’t believe my eyes, Jason. I am appalled. I feel cheated. I feel used. I feel downright taken advantage of.

Jason looks at Kris, not buying what he is selling, and shakes his head.

JASON: And by all that you mean you wish we would have come out to the ring first so that we could have done it to them because it was a genius plan?

Kris hangs his head and mock defeat, raising his hands up to shield his face while feigning the sound of sobbing. In jest, he refuses to verbally agree or disagree, merely nodding his head. Jason steps over and places a hand on his brother’s shoulder before offering him some reassuring words.

JASON: It’s okay Kris. We can’t be on top of everything all the time. Would it make you feel better if it only took them two weeks to prove that they are actually fucking idiots?

Kris drops his hands from his face, and snaps his head up fast enough to give himself whiplash. Miraculously, his mood improves, and expression changes. Kris looks hopeful, for some kind of saving grace.

KRIS: Did we at least get that part on tape too?

Jason’s positive and comforting demeanor does not change, but he takes his hand off of Kris’ shoulder and motions back towards the screen. As he does, the still shot of James disappears and after a few moments it comes to life with something the fans saw just a week ago.

JASON: Better yet, we didn’t have to. They did it all for us.

KRIS: How nice of them…

The video starts from the middle of James Tuscini’s promo from the previous week. However, before he actually speaks, Jason pauses the video again. James is in the middle of starting to talk where the video gets pauses, leading to another mouth-open, borderline mentally deficient freeze frame of the man. The older brother of Jet City turns to the camera to give a slight disclaimer.

JASON: Kids, when you make false claims, don’t leave a paper trail. Don’t document it or record it for posterity, because if you do, Jet City will find it, and Jet City will use you, to make you look stupid.

Kris dips over in front of Jason in the frame to move his finger the the same motion as the NBC stars that appear at the end of their public service announcements.

KRIS: The more you know!

Jason presses play again, but only for a moment. It is a single line from James that he wants to pick out for the fans to hear, given all that has been said so far.

JAMES: To start off with lowlights the main one is Jet City, Kris and Jason Halc, making the false claim that Unholy Alliance attacked them before the match, then we deliberately took the match action outside the ring to deliberately obtain a count-out draw…

They stop the video again, and this time it cuts back to the Jet City logo entirely. The camera pulls back from the monitor to show both members of Jet City in the frame again. In true Home Alone fashion, they both have their hands clasped to their cheeks, with their mouths hung wide open in silent screams. Their eyes are wide with fake shock and surprise. Jason is the first to break from it though, turning to Kris with an explanation.

JASON: Maybe he just forgot what happened Kris. I mean maybe it was a mistake. Things happen like that all the time. It had been two weeks at the time….

The only response that Jason gets is just a disappointed and judgemental shake of Kris’ head. He is actually able to summon a genuine looking frown to his face.

JASON: Not buying it?

The question snaps Kris out of it, and the smile returns to his face, launching into a full on attack on their opponents.

KRIS: I don’t think so Jay, and here is why: That promo was littered with shit that didn’t make sense, and false claims with no basis in reality. I mean, we just showed the fine people of the SCW fanbase exactly how our match with the Unholy Alliance started. They attacked us, clearly before the bell, and then threw us outside the ring. If we would have played more, we would have seen them tossing us into the crowd and doing anything that they could to keep us away from that ring. It may have made me a little jealous that I didn’t think to jump them before they jumped us, but there is a singular reason why they would do something like that. We have laid it out before, but now since the proof is in the proverbial pudding, you would care to refresh the fans on exactly why this match is happening.

Turning back to face the camera, displaying a true ability to work together and not talk step on each other’s toes, the second that Kris finishes, Jason picks up the slack. It works to Jet City’s advantage though, because flying solo, most people will pause to gather their thoughts. Jet City switching off so fluidly creates one unbroken narrative.

JASON: The Unholy Alliance came down to that ring with one thing in mind, and that was getting the match that they got handed to them at Inception II. As much as they might want to talk about the fact that we didn’t deserve the title shot that we got, they did almost as little to get theirs. In the very simplest of terms, The Unholy Alliance knew they couldn’t beat us. They knew that after a loss to The Monstimals, a loss to us would have put them at the back of the line, and they were taking that chance without the titles even being up for grabs. Their only chance to challenge us was to invalidate that match, and then make a stink backstage until management noticed and came up with the plan to make money off of the heat. Now, we at Jet City may not be opposed to breaking the rules, but at least we have the balls to be able to admit that.

Jason stops abruptly to put emphasis on his last statement, but Kris does not let it sit without piling on.

KRIS: Every word that the two of you spewed out to the public a week ago had one thing in common: it was all part of some kind of fucking fantasy that you two live in. You very clearly misrepresented the happenings of our match, so it kind of makes everything that you say after that invalid. You can’t blatantly lie against video evidence, and then expect us to put any stock into your claims, can you? Is that how you think that this works? How can we take seriously that you are going to take our titles, embarrass us, or prove that we were fluke champions that arose out of a situation where there were no other viable challengers? That is the problem with building your argument on a lie, the foundation of it crumbles under the slightest scrutiny.

Jason again places his hand on Kris’ shoulder, which stops him from talking even though everyone watching can clearly tell that he has more to say. He bites his tongue though, and Jason steps up from the center of the ring, moving closer to the ropes and therefore the camera.

JASON: We at Jet City, would have applauded you for what you did. In fact, we did so, publicly, the same night that you two were gifted this matchup. You saw a situation that was a total loss, and setback for your team if you went at it straight-up, so you improvised to get what you wanted. Then you have to go and ruin it all by refusing to take responsibility for it. Overnight you made yourselves formidable people, worth playing our games with, and then the very next day you were right back to being the disappointment we thought you were at the beginning of Climax Control 168. We thought, momentarily, that despite the loss to The Monstimals, that maybe we would at least get an intellectual battle heading into Inception II.

Kris comes up to stand next to his brother and rests his forearms on the top rope, leaning over it.

KRIS: Instead we got our hopes up only to realize that neither of you are anything special. You had a plan, but your follow-through was garbage. You had us on the ropes at first, only to go silent and lose the advantage. You wouldn’t have gone the route that you did in that match if you thought that you could legitimately beat us, and you were even too afraid to own up to that very clear fact. What hope do you have of beating us with no count outs and no disqualifications? You gained an advantage last time by bending the rules before we could. You got this match by forcing a count-out situation. Newflash, this time there are no rules. This time you can’t push a count-out to get another chance down the road. This time, before you come down to the ring, one of you better make a phone call to one of the many fine hospitals in the Las Vegas area.

Jason looks over to Kris, faking total confusion, even though everyone already knew what was coming.

JASON: Why would they need to call a hospital?

Kris shrugs, completely taken off guard by Jason’s inquiry.

KRIS: …. Because that is where they keep the ambulances…

Jason, still playing dumb, shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head, still not putting two and two together.

JASON: Why do they need an ambulance?

A smile crosses Kris’ face that goes from almost ear to ear. He mimics his brother and claps a hand onto his shoulder. The tone of his voice is joyous, and almost singsong.

KRIS: ….because without a shadow of a doubt, there’s gonna be an ACCIDENT!

The two turn back to the camera, and share an eerily identical shrug.

KRIS: Jet.

JASON: City.

BOTH: OUT!

With that the video cuts off to the Jet City logo, and then to black.

 December 30, 2016
Seattle, Washington
[OFF-CAMERA]

When Jessica landed in Seattle, she walked off the plane swaying her hips effortlessly in her skin tight jeans and much too revealing top. She wanted to make an entrance. But as she looked around through the sea of people, she noticed that Jason wasn't watching. He had his back to her as he was talking to someone. Probably a fan or something. As she made her way over there, Jessica spoke when she got close enough.

Jessica: "Hope I'm not interrupting anything...."

Jason spins around, handing off whatever the fan had given him and asked him to sign without another word to the person. As he turns, his eyes drop down her body, and then come all the way back up to meet her eyes.

Jason: “You are more impressive looking in person than you are in all of those pictures that you are always posting.”

He offers her a wide smile.

Jason: “Hopefully you were not expecting me to be anything like my idiot brother. He told me you guys worked together a little. Something about hitting you in the face. Nobody ever accused him of being smart.”

Jessica: "Your brother's alright."

She said it with a laugh, but Jason knew that she thought more highly of him than that. The two of them had never met before, so she was essentially coming out to talk to Jason based on her opinion of his brother.  

Jessica: "He did his best to make it up to me by getting me drunk afterwards."

It was funny. Jason had heard about that exchange, but knew it as a very different story from the one that Jessica probably thought she knew. That was not a conversation for this meeting though. He would only push her away by telling her the truth, and that was the last thing that he wanted.

Jason: "Sounds like something he'd do."

Jason laughs, trying to make it sound genuine.

Jessica: "Is that so?"

Jessica questioned as she tilted her head to the side. She could tell that he was not being completely open with her, but could not put her finger on exactly what the issue was.

Jessica: "He might have told me a bit about you that night. Not that I remember. As I said, I was pretty drunk. So maybe, you can refresh my memory."

He laughs, and they start to walk to the baggage claim area of the airport.

Jason: “I imagine that anything he said about me would be less than positive. For the most part we don’t get along. We got our shit together to win the SCW Tag Team Championships though. He likes to tell people that I am less fun than he is, but that is because half of the things that he thinks are fun involve making people uncomfortable, or whipping his dick out in public. He is a strange guy.”

She, herself, thought Kris was a pretty cool dude. But then again, he could have been just trying to impress her. It was their first night out, after all. Jessica thought about what Jason said for a moment, then asked.

Jessica: "So what makes you less strange?"

She listened for his answer as she waited for her luggage to come around.

Jason: “I have a little more restraint is all, and just a shitload more common sense.”

When her bag got to her, she reaches out to get it, but he stops her, and pulls it off of the carousel himself, extending the handle and trailing it behind him as they walked towards the door exiting to the parking area.  

Jason: “Kris does nothing but run his mouth, get into trouble, and act without thinking. He is impulsive and reckless. Most importantly, deep down inside he only cares about one person, and everyone else can be damned.”

He shrugs as he finishes. It was a definition of his brother that he had given several dozen times before, albeit not being entirely true. Again though, this trip was about luring Jessica into the fold, so total, brutal honesty was not going to be the best way to go about doing that.

Jason: “He is not someone to trust. Not that he isn’t really fun to be around in small doses.”

Jessica: "Well, I only had drinks with him the one night. So I can't say one way or another for sure. But you obviously know him a lot better. So you might be right about that."

As they reached his car, Jessica watched as he went over and put her luggage in the trunk before coming back over and opening the passenger side door for her.

Jessica: "Quite the gentlemen. That's always nice to see."

Jason offers her a smile as she drops down into the seat, and he gently closes it once she is situated. He walked around what should have been the passenger side of the car after she gets in, and sits down in the driver’s seat. He looks over at her with a wide smile on his face.He pulls each strap of the seat belts over his shoulders, and snaps them together in front of his chest.

Jason: “I learned all on my own to treat ladies the right way, and they won’t flake out or be overly bitchy to you. Being that you flew all the way across the country to be here, I wouldn’t want to piss you off.”

This draws a light chuckle from her.

Jessica: "Keep treating me like this and I might not be in any hurry to leave."

Jessica hoped it came off more as a joke. She chuckled as she reached around for her own seatbelt. He lets her off the hook easily, choosing not to comment and instead starting the car. He backs out of the parking area, quickly following the exit ramps onto the highway, and speeding off towards his house.

Jason: “So why are you calling off all of your traveling just because one place closed?”

Jessica:"It's not like I'm against it. Just haven't found the right offer."

She shrugged her shoulders from her seat. It was almost exactly the thing that Jason wanted to hear.

Jessica: "If something comes along that is worth my while, I'll definitely go for it. However, it is nice to have some downtime. It allows me to do things like this. Come to Seattle on a whim."

The way she puts it makes it sound like a social call. Jason could work under that guise. It made segwaying into what he actually wanted much easier.

Jason: "I am glad you decided to come out. There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

They do not make it far away from  the airport before he pulls off of the highway, not quite outside the city. A few quick turns after they pull off, and they are sitting curbside in front of a sizable house. Jason stops in front of it, and taps at the security panel to open the gate and garage so they can pull in. He kills the engine on the car, and pops the trunk before stuffing the keys into his pocket.

Jason: “As promised, the hot tub on the back balcony from the second floor is already on and waiting in case you were interested.”

He pushes open his door, and shrugs his seatbelt aside before getting out. He moves around to her side of the car and opens her door for her, even going as far as to extend a hand to help her to her feet.

Jason: “Not that we have to use it at all. I mentioned it when you were thinking about coming out, so I thought I should make it ready.”

She laughs, but waves off his attempt at backtracking away from it.

Jessica: "I'm sure we'll be putting it to good use once I get settled in."

Jessica takes his hand to get out of the car, but he releases it as she stands so that he can move to the back of the car. He stops there briefly so he could grab her luggage.

Jessica: "...but how about a tour first."

Jason nodded as her lead the way inside. After entering from the garage, the first room they step into is an oversized kitchen that never gets used. The two make their way around the house, from the giant gym in the basement, to all of the handful of different guest rooms before finally coming to a living room on the second floor. Along the wall are giant bay windows that point out towards the city, giving it a beautiful view at night. There are no lights on the balcony attached, but on it sits a hot tub that is bubbling already. Jason had turned it on and uncovered it before heading to the airport. He opens one of the doors leading out to it before turning back to JJ, and motioning for her to follow.

Jason: “Last stop on the tour is the view.”

She gives him a once over before heading out the door he held open for her.

Jessica: "The view is lovely."

She made her way over and crouched down as she put her hand in the hot tub.

Jessica: "And that is nice and toasty."

He smiles, and looks back over into the living area. Her bag was positioned on the couch at the other end of the room.

Jason: “If you want to hop in, you can change in any of the guest rooms. It won’t really matter which one, someone else has to clean up the house, and I am indifferent.”

She seems to think it over for a second, before nodding.

Jessica: "Hmm, I might just have to do that, but…. you might want to change yourself as I'm not going in alone.”

With that, Jessica headed into the house to collect her bag before walking off for one of the guest rooms Jason had showed her along the way. He did not have to go so far, moving along the balcony to a set of cabinet drawers.He pulls two towels from it and places them close to the hot tub before removing his clothes, and stuffing them into the cabinet. He pulls shorts off of the top shelf, and slides them on before closing the cabinet up. He is already stepping into the hot tub by the time she returns. When Jessica walked back out onto the balcony, she was wearing one of her bikinis that left enough of herself exposed to catch a cold chill from stepping outside. To cure this, she moves quickly across the balcony, dipping her toes into the water before sliding all the way in.

Jessica: "So, I guess I should thank you for the invitation. Wasn't sure about all this at first. Still seems kind of sudden to me. But I'm glad I came."

He laughs.  

Jason: “I am glad that you decided to come out too. It was a lot easier than me trying to get out there, and…”

He gestures out at the view they have from the balcony.

Jason: “... it may not be the ocean or anything, but I think it is still pretty nice.”

Jessica: "....but now that you got me here, the real question is...why were you so intent on getting me to come out here?"

She finished her question with a little devilish look of curiosity. He offers her a shrug, not blowing her question off, but trying to figure out exactly what she was wanting from the evening before showing any hint of why he had asked her here.

Jason: “In very uncharacteristic fashion, I had not thought that far ahead. I thought we could get to know each other possibly. You are the guest here, I assume we are just going to talk about what you want to talk about, and do whatever it is that your heart desires doing. I am just a host trying to figure you out.”

Just because Jessica was a bit taken back by his answer doesn't mean she showed it.

Jessica: "Getting to know each other doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Most people would tell you I'm hard to deal with. But I don't think that's entirely true. Just got to know how to handle me. I think you'll do just fine as long as you give me an honest chance."

Jessica let that sink in for a moment before going on.

Jessica: "... but what would you like to know about me? I'm willing to answer anything."

Jason raises his hand to his face, scratching at the beard starting to take over his face.

Jason: “Well it is not easy for just anyone to get an invite to be here. I like to think that I was giving you an honest chance just by doing that. But I think it would be less than honest of me to give you the impression that this was a personal call. I am way too selfish for that.”

He laughs, and shrugs lightly. The smile on her face shortens, and her eyes narrow a little, confused by his words.

Jason: “See, you hit it off with Kris, which is a feat unto itself. I wanted to see if we would get along. You have been around the business, but find yourself not up to much now. I was thinking that maybe I could fill your schedule.”

Jessica: "Oh, what did you have in mind?"

Jessica questioned as she joined him in looking out towards the city. She pauses, almost long enough for him to respond, but adds a little clarification to her motives here.

Jessica: "...and just so you know, things haven't exactly gone my way in the personal sense. If that was all I thought this was, I wouldn’t have come out. I've been engaged twice and never made it down the aisle. The first time, my fiance left to deal with his own demons. The second time, he turned gay on me."

He turns his attention back to her, his eyes wide.

Jason: "Seriously?"

Jason sounded almost stunned by that.

Jessica: "Yeah, it baffles me too. Then as it turned out, he went back to being bi and got engaged to a redhead I had fought a time or two in the ring. Not to mention, more recently I dated someone who left me as soon as his ex resurfaced."

Jessica sighed in disgust.

Jessica: "But it is what it is. Can't really say I'm in a hurry to jump back into anything serious, just yet.”

Jessica let that hang in the air for a moment, then added.

Jessica: "...so what were you saying about filling up my schedule?"

He takes a few moments, running over everything she said. It was not so different from a few of his own stories. He smiles.

Jason: “I have some experience with bad relationships. I have had a handful of them as well. That is why I have become a very private person. What I do is nobody’s business but mine. It is Kris that likes all that confrontation and attention.”

His words on their personal lives seem to lead right back around into actual business.

Jason: “...and speaking of confrontation and attention is exactly what I think we can use you for. Someone to hang out with Jet City. Look out for our interests. Point us in the right direction, and look damn good doing so. That way, maybe I have to do a little bit less of the whole talking part.”

She was clearly taken by surprise.

Jessica: "Hmm..."

Jessica seemed to be thinking this all over.

Jessica: "...I don't have a problem with that. And Kris shouldn't either. Like you said, we did hit it off well enough. It really should work out just fine."

Jessica nodded before switching gears again.

Jessica: "I understand the part about wanting to keep your life private more than anyone else. I've been there. So if you ever need to tell me to get lost for awhile, feel free to do so.”

He sighs.

Jason: “There is kind of one major hangup that I have about all of this. If we are going to work together, then we really cannot have anyone thinking that this is the kind of conversation we are having in a hot tub. That kind of completely undermines everything that we would do in a ring. At that point you are a possible distraction instead of a help. Another talking point to be used against us. Even worse, a possible point of contention between myself and Kris.”

He shrugs.

Jason: “...so I guess that leaves the decision up to you.”

He searches her face for an answer in the pause between his finishing, and her answer. To his surprise, she does not give him much.

Jessica: "Well, the whole purpose of me coming out here was hear you out, and I’m not hating the idea.”

Her eyes sparkled with a certain mischief.

Jessica: "...and don't worry, I know how to be all professional when I need to be."

He nods, liking the sound of that.

Jason: “Then this will work out pretty well for the three of us.”

She gives him a weird look, so he clarifies.

Jason: “Me, you, and Kris. If we can make this whole thing work, and there is really nothing that can get in the way of Jet City being something worth writing down in a record book. I cannot say that there are going to be a lot of hot tub meetings in our future. I had to sweeten the deal with something this first time out. I’m glad it is something you are at least a little interested in though.”

He shrugs, looking back to him, and smiling.

Jessica: “It’s something new for me. At the very least it will be a good learning experience.”


=====================================================
=====================================================


[ON-CAMERA]

The scene opens with with Jet City standing in front of the camera. Both of them are brandishing their SCW Tag Team Championship around their waists. They would not normally garner so much attention other than the fact that they are both upside down. They are surrounded by the obstacle course in the basement of what has been referred to as "The Jet City Compound" which was, in reality, just a house. They are both smiling widely, and Kris brings up his hands to slowly, and sarcastically clap. Jason does not break his gaze from the camera, and is the first to talk.

Jason: Congratulations James and Dmitri. As much as both bosses seem to hate us, they must really like the two of you. First you come out and lose to The Monstimals, and yet, you still get an opportunity in the ring against us. It may not be for a championship, but it is one hell of a way to leapfrog people that have already beaten you, right? I mean, you lose a match to a better team, it would make sense that those guys get the match with the champions. Yet, here we are. Jet City against what cannot even be described as the second best team in the entire company.

Kris stops his sarcastic slow clap as Jason finishes. He shakes his head in disappointment, but does not necessarily agree with his brothers words.

Kris: On the other hand, maybe they do not really like you guys at all. First they put you in front of The Monstimals, and you got your asses kicked. Now they put you in a match against Jet City, without the titles on the line. Once you lose this match, you have to imagine that the two of you get shuffled way down the line. With new teams forming, and new teams coming in to challenge us, maybe they are just trying to remove you two from the conversation all together. I mean, SCW has already had to sit through Dmitri challenging for, and failing to capture gold on several occasions. They were just treated to James doing the same thing as the last thing they saw from SCW in 2016. Maybe you two have been given this match, because SCW has already written you off as individuals and this is their way of writing you off as a team as well. It is almost sad if you think about it.

Kris offers a shrug, and a genuine frown of sadness as he finishes. Jason breaks his gaze from the camera to look over, and clap his hand on Kris' shoulder for reassurance.

Jason: It is okay Kris, because the way that SCW seems to handle things, they will probably get more opportunities even if they do lose. I mean, they recently had a former world champion, past his prime, come into the company with a junkie, and they gave those two fools a shot at the SCW Tag Team Championships before they really even had a chance to prove that they could function as a team. Of course, after they won, management pretended like they did them a favor by "handing" them something they did not deserve, and then didn't even let them compete together for over a month.

Kris' face scrunches up a little bit as he thinks it over.

Kris: Are you talking about us?

Jason's smile fades, and his eyes narrow on his brother. There was silliness, and then there was taking it too far.

Jason: Is that really all that you took away from that?

The sadness fades from Kris' face, and he smiles, his eyes widening.

Kris: Nah, what I took away from it, is that The Elders called themselves one of the greatest tag teams that SCW has ever seen, and at this point, we have managed to hang onto the titles longer than they have. Not only that, but since we came here, neither of us have even been pinned. The only match that we did not get our arms raised at the end of, was when that choad J2H got you disqualified because his overgrown man-child couldn't hack it. At the end of the night though, you walked away unscathed, and without a broken jaw so he looked like a damn fool.

Jason nods, thinking about all of it from Kris' perspective.

Jason: I had not thought about it like that, actually. If you think about it, we probably are the only two people, holding championships, that can say that they closed out 2016 without an actual loss. We won these...

He pats the title that hangs, inverted, around his waist.

Jason: ... in our debut, and so far nobody has pinned us, made us tap out, or even gotten us counted out.

Kris interrupts to add an addition to the list.

Kris: And we have not gotten our asses kicked so badly that someone had to throw in a towel on our behalf so that we do not literally get murdered in the middle of the ring.

Jason snaps his fingers and points to his brother.

Jason: You know? I had actually forgotten about that. That is a good point.

Kris smiles, and nods, proud of himself.

Kris: I know. You're welcome.

Jason peels his eyes away from his brother to turn back to the camera.

Jason: Of course, it really does not matter what we say here. We can go on and on about our point of view, but I doubt many people on the roster, and likely nobody in management, will agree with us. If you take what we did in 2016 at face value, it seems impressive. It becomes a lot less so when you talk about the fact that we have been here for almost two months, and have had three matches. Kris won his. We won these titles. Then J2H's man bitch skated on a technicality. If you look at that, Jet City didn't really do anything worth talking about. We beat a team for these tag team titles that probably only won them because the last team was on the way out. After all, Team BJ have not competed as a team since, and have had a match against each other in the mean time. Come time for this match between Jet City and the Unholy Alliance, they may even be retired for good.

Jason pauses, and Kris takes over from where he stops.

Kris: We are champions of a depleted tag team division, and we have not put in the legwork to actually make being champions mean anything worth talking about. Not that it is our fault though. Both Mark Ward and Christian Underwood have been straight forward about the fact that we didn't deserve the chance for these titles and they were gifted to us. They try to invalidate us at every turn. We are casualties of some feud over which one of them is the bigger bitch. Here is the problem with the things they say though: If these titles were a gift, why are they stopping us from earning them? Why is it that we have only had three matches in two months? Why is it that the two of you are okay with shitting all over two of your champions, while denying them the opportunity to make something of themselves?

Jason looks down, shaking his head in disgust.

Kris: And before you two get all up in arms about this, and talk about the match that we have right now being an opportunity, just stop. Jet City signed contracts with SCW at Halloween. Our second match as a team didn't happen until the turn of the year. Do we not have a right to bitch about that a little? We have been sidelined in order to sit on commentary, throw parties, and act like assholes backstage in order to provide some additional time in between matches taking place. That is not what we signed up for. Granted, we are not to people to shy away from the opportunity to steal a little spotlight, and we love hearing ourselves talk, but that is not exclusively what we signed on here to do. We signed here to be in the ring. We signed here to be real champions, not two people just to hold something backstage while management spends a couple months measuring dicks.

Jason looks up, and holds up an index finger, interrupting just momentarily.

Jason: And we realize that saying that may be more offensive to Mark than it is Christian, so we will just level the playing field by saying, from out perspective, Mark has the lead, albeit both measurements being short and disappointing.

It is Kris' turn to interject.

Kris: Short and disappointing, but not to be confused the SCW Tag Team Championship reign of The Elder Bitches.

Again, Jason interrupts.

Jason: The Elder Bitches, not to be confused with The Female Elders.

Kris nods in agreement.

Kris: Because God forbid we call them bitches and people get bent out of shape on Twitter, and flood our timeline with shit trying to make us feel bad.

The two turn away from the camera, and share a laugh with one another before Jason tries to get them back on track.

Jason: The fact remains that Jet City came here to make something of themselves. We have held up our end of that bargain. Anyone that has been put in front of us has either lost, or cheaply swindled out a way to walk away.

Kris interrupts a final time, but this time Jason does not find it funny.

Kris: You didn't even get to hit him with that title did you? Totally got disqualified without the satisfaction of actually doing it. Does that not grate on you?

Jason sighs, frustrated, but does not turn from the camera or acknowledge Kris' words.

Jason: Jet City has not gotten the opportunity do to anything worthwhile. The jokes that people make, the insults that management throws at us, they all kind of ring true. 2017 is going to be the year that all of that changes. We at Jet City, are going to be making those changes, starting right now.

They stop, looking off camera, and nodding for their silent partner to step into the frame. The fans are treated to a sight of a blonde woman in a blue dress that sinks almost too low on her chest and ends nearly unacceptably high on her thing. She steps around the two of them, coming to rest between them, in the center of the frame.

Kris: Since SCW is not going to look our for the interests of Jet City, we are just going to have to do it ourselves. If people want to get involved from ringside, then those people are going to do so in our favor. If someone is going to go into the office and nag at the people making the matches, then we are going to make sure that person is about as high maintenance, demanding, and unrelenting as they come. If we cannot change the image that you people get in your head when you think of us by ourselves, then we will just give all of you a little something else to look at while we do our thing.

The three of them exchange glances, all showing a similar smile on their faces.

Jason: It was dangerous enough to allow my and my brother to work in the same company, at the same time, as a team. Since that wasn't taken seriously, we decided to up the ante a little. Jet City now has all of the same maliciousness...

Kris: With a walking bombshell of a distraction to help it all happen so much more smoothly.

The two brothers unstrap the SCW Tag Team Championships from their waists and hold them up.

Jason: We are....

All: Jet City!

 “Growing Concerns”
[Off-Camera]
Monday
November 14th, 2016
Los Angeles, CA -- Kris’ Home


The door of Kris and Heather’s loft opens, and the oldest member of their social circle, and growing family, steps into the living room. Looking around at its emptiness, he finds himself happy that he had been given a key. Jason had clearly expected kids running around, and people to be here, but it was, from what he could tell, devoid of life. He drops the bag, hanging from his shoulder, to the floor, and then pushes it against the wall with his foot, before turning to the large room. His eyes fixate on the floor for a moment, the very same place that he had found Kris faced down and overdosed nearly two years ago. He tries to shake that visual image out of his head before calling out.

Jason: “Is anyone home? I was pretty sure everyone knew I was coming….”

He speaks loud enough for his voice to carry throughout the rooms, but not loud enough to be startling, or cause a sleeping baby to stir. However, he is not met with a verbal response. Instead, he hears movement in the kitchen, and sees one of the only lights in the loft beaming from it. He moves across the living room, and pushes open the door slowly. Inside he finds his very pregnant sister-in-law, her back to him. He knocks twice on the counter next to the door he walks in to get her attention. Heather had earbuds in, and they were blasting loud enough for Jason to hear their muffled music from across the kitchen. She had clearly not heard Jason enter the apartment, nor call out, but the knock on the counter startles her slightly. She turns from the sink of dishes, in a panic, a large metal ladle in her hand, with soap running down both it and her arm. The lowers it and relaxes when she sees who is there. She turns off the music player and pulls down the headphones.

Jason: “Were you planning on scooping me to death?”

She drops it back into the soapy water and shrugs, not dwelling on it. She turns from the water and dries off her hands on a towel hanging over her shoulder.

Heather: “Jay... I thought you weren't getting in until tomorrow.”

She replaces the towel and walks over to place a chaste but still warm kiss to his cheek.

Heather: “I figured you would want to spend as much time as possible with Jules.”

She gives him a knowing smirk.

Jason: “She has studying to do. I think she is flying out for the show, but I did not want to keep her away from class or anything. Besides, I am easy to get tired of, and this is a new thing. And I have to get your idiot husband prepared for a tag team championship match. That is no small feat.”

The topic change tacked onto the end of what his statement demonstrates everything to her that she needed to know on the subject. Jason kept his personal life almost completely separate from his circle of friends and family until he knew a person was worth bringing in. There were kids, and years of friendships that would be challenged by a new person. He was not the type to do so recklessly.

Jason: “So where is he anyways? Leaving you unattended and pregnant seems rude.”
Heather chuckles and folds her arms in front of her chest. Jason knew almost immediately what the words that were about to come out of her mouth were.  

Heather: “He is taking KJ to Liz’s. He will probably be back soon enough.”

Heather bites her lip, playing nice when it came to her was hard. But Heather being the sweet girl she was, often held her tongue when it came to her step-son’s birth mother.

Heather: “You can go hang out in the living room and wait for him. It is boring in here.”

He looks around the room for a moment and shakes his head, before turning to the counter next to him.

Jason: “I’m good to hang out here and annoy you.”

He pops up off the floor and sits down on the cabinet closest to the door. She smiles, going back to the sink of dishes.

Heather: “You couldn't possibly annoy me more than Kris does. I'm desensitized to anything less.”

His eyes narrow on her, even though she is not facing him to see so. He surveys the counter around him, looking for something, anything he could use.

Jason: “I am pretty sure that anything Kris knows, he learned from me, and I am not dumb enough to give away all my secrets.”

Reaching at the drawers next to where his legs hang off of the cabinet, he finds silverware, taking a spoon. He looks up, reassuring himself that her back was still to him. Silently, he starts to peer into the cabinets behind him, finding it full of cooking spices. He reaches in, grabbing one at random and smiling before pouring it onto the spoon. He leans forward to shorten the distance it would have to fly, and prepares to fire.

Jason: “Wait, what is this?”

The question was meant to get Heather to turn towards him, and works flawlessly. Before she can even turn most of the way, he accurately launches the contents of the spoon to hit her before she can even see it flying through the air. The spice gets into her face in a small cloud of brown. Heather immediately starts coughing as it enters her nose and mouth. Immediately her eyes start to water as the cinnamon settles around her.  She sighs, grabbing a dishrag she tosses it at Jason's head.

Heather: “You can clean this up while I wash my face.”

She walks past him, patting him on the shoulder but there isn't even a hint of anger in her face. He mocks her in his best impression of her voice, along with a stereotypical bobble of his head that children use when they talk back to parents. He hops from the counter, brushing the cinnamon off of the island counter in the center of the room, and into the palm of his hand, before shaking it in the sink. He dampens the rag, and then drops it to the floor, moving it around with his foot to clear the mess on the floor. As he finishes, she comes back into the room.

Jason: “I almost don’t even want to know what Kris does to you on such a regular basis that a face full of cinnamon did not phase you.”

She re-enters, there is however still cinnamon in her hair. She sneezes into her arm.

Heather: “Living with him is like having two children, and the baby is easier.”

She laughs, and he silently nods in agreement.

Heather: “But the good times are well worth his moments of impishness.”

Jason: “You have to savor those good times, because the majority of the time he is a pain in the ass, or much, much worse.”

Heather: “He makes life interesting. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's this unexplainable feeling like even though so many have said that I could do better, no one is or was.”

She bites her inner cheek for a moment before looking into Jason's eyes earnestly.

Heather: “You're going to keep an eye on him right? When I'm not there? I support anything he wants to do but if I’m honest it scares the shit out of me that he is going back.”

Jason drops the smile from his face slowly. His expression twists to show his debate in contemplating being brutally honest, or supportive. The former loses out to the ladder, but not by much.

Jason: “Kris is difficult, impulsive, reckless, and self-serving. I struggle to find any other way to describe him. However, he is not like that when you are involved. He is less like that now that you two are married, and there are kids on the line. He has these little brilliant flashes of acting like a real functioning adult, and they are happening a lot more often than they used to.”

He shrugs, and moves back around the kitchen to where he was previously sitting on the counter, but leans against it instead of hopping up on it.

Jason: “I am terrified about where this whole tag team titles thing lands us. It is all fun and games in front of a camera, but he is just starting to wrap his head around being back at all, let alone being the champion of an entire division. I don’t know if he is ready for something like that. We kind of do not have a choice but to find out though. The important thing, at least for him, is that he knows if he falls back into it, I am gone, and likely you are gone. If Liz asks for a drug test through the court and he fails, KJ is gone. I am hoping that the things riding on him staying on this side of the line are enough to push him away from anything else.”

Heather takes a deep breath.

Heather: “I never pretend that we have a perfect life. We are addicts and typically people have trouble trusting us for the rest of our lives even if we never touch the source of the addiction ever again. My sisters are always watching me. I am not naive enough to think that everything is going to be perfect. I never expect that I am enough to keep him sober but I do hope I’m enough to have him at least think twice.”

She's still looking a little unsure, her blue eyes wide and almost fearful for the unpredictable future. Jason nods, but does not look up at her.

Jason: “For a long time, I sat around hoping that my relationship with him would be enough to keep his head out of his ass. Every time I thought he was turning a corner, he would slide back down to rock bottom. It was never enough. I have started to think that coming back is one level of pressure on him. Maybe if I was there with him, we would be able to push through it together, when he has failed to do it himself. This whole championship thing is another whole monster altogether. I am not sure he can handle it.”

He does finally look up, and the genuine comedic nature of their conversations is completely gone from his expression.

Jason: “I can’t tell you that it is all going to work out. I can tell you that sharing hotel rooms, and not letting him out of my sight while we are on the roads means that if things start to spin out of control, I will notice it pretty quickly, and try to contain the explosion before it goes nuclear.”

He shrugs again, and folds his arms across his chest.

Jason: “That’s the best I can do.”

Heather nods, the disappointment starts to set in that there is really no way to soothe her fears any time soon. It will just take sitting and hoping that Kris makes the right decisions.

Heather: “I appreciate that. Not that I don't trust him. I like to think I trust him more than anyone else but something he doesn't like to admit is that he is sensitive to how people perceive him. When he does get upset he can lose hope.”

Jason actually laughs at her words, but not in the typical condescending way that he normally would. It was very much the opposite.

Jason: “That is something that not a lot of people understand about Kris. People think he has this thick skin because he gets in all kinds of arguments on Twitter, or battles in promos. The truth of it is, outside of an argument that he provoked, or a narrative that he has pushed about himself, he cannot handle people talking about him. That is why he pushes the addict thing too hard. If people talk about that, he can brush it off. However, if people started hitting him about not being a good enough parent, or having been so shitty in past relationships that it is almost assured that you will eventually leave him, it destroys him.”

He shakes his head, the thought of it was actually pretty saddening.

Jason: “You know him better than most, so you see these things. It is reassuring to me that you do. It took me twenty-seven years of knowing him to get to this point.”

Heather: “I gave up on him too easily before. When he said he wanted to try and make it work with Liz, I walked away. I won't make that mistake again. So rest assured Jason, there is nothing that will make me leave. Even if he falls off that cliff again. Some might think it's foolish. I call it being so deeply in love that there isn't anything you wouldn't do to keep him around.”

He laughs, but he knew that she was not wrong. He could see it every time that they were in the presence of one another.

Jason: “Which is better than the reason that I do it. I just do not think that I could handle seeing him dead, but even I have gotten to a point before where I was ready to just walk away. If he destroyed himself, fine. I was not even going to be around to see it.”

He looks back down at the floor.

Jason: “And then my daughter died, and everything changed.”

Heather moves forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Heather: “I can't even imagine that kind of pain Jason. I am really sorry.”

As soon as the last word comes from her mouth, the door to the kitchen pushes open, and Kris steps through the door. His eyes are down, and on his phone as he reads through the messages from his brother.

Kris: “Heather, have you heard from…”

He looks up to see his brother standing in his kitchen. His eyes dart back and forth between them, before narrowing on Heather.

Kris: “Why do you two have a look like you were talking about me?”
Jason laughs and pushes away from the counter, moving past his brother, and back into the living area.

Jason: “Delusions of grandeur I tell you. The kid thinks the world revolves around him. Like we wouldn’t have other interesting things to discuss. Like the long standing affair we are having, and we are afraid to tell him the baby is actually mine.”

The door closes almost perfectly at the same time he finishes his sentence, and Kris looks back and forth between the door and his wife, waiting for her response. She shrugs, a perfect expression of nonchalant on her face.

Heather: “Gotta keep it in the family, right?”

She breaks too easily though and a wide smile breaks over her face.

Heather: “Uh... Jet City!”

She raises a hand before slipping through the swinging door and leaving Kris alone and baffled.


====================================================-
=====================================================


“Championship Moments”
[On-Camera]
Thursday
November 18th, 2016
Los Angeles, CA -- Galen Center

Jason and Kris are standing in the middle of the SCW ring that is already set up and ready for High Stakes, just 48 hours away. If the camera panned in either direction from the ring, fans would be able to see people still assembling the stage, and working to get the arena itself set up for the show. However, it does not pan. It stays locked on the two brothers, in ring gear, standing side by side. As we zoom in though, the two separate, revealing a large flat screen hanging behind them at about shoulder level. The screen is currently off, but Jason holds in his hand a tiny remote to control it. Before he does, Kris speaks up.

Kris: “Now as two guys that are typically late to everything, I’m sure you all are wondering exactly what we are doing here two days before the show is even going to kick off. To answer that, we could say that we were scouting, or preparing ourselves, by familiarizing ourselves with the arena, and the ring, and the size of the crowd….”

The older of the two brothers interrupts, throwing on his best Rain Man impression.

Jason: “It’s definitely the T.V…. defin--.. Definit--.. Definitely the T.V.”

Kris closes his eyes and shakes his head in frustration.

Kris: “If I have to tell you one more tim--”

Jason interrupts him.

Jason: “We just wanted to use the monitor hanging from the rafters shtick. No more. No less. We never get to do it. It looked like fun.”

Kris looks over at his older brother, clearly annoyed.

Kris: “Do you want them to think that we are unprepared idiots? Because that is how you make them think that we are unprepared idiots.”

Jason holds up his hand, and disagrees.

Jason: “If we were unprepared, would we have heard everything The Members of the Elders said about us last week?”

Kris tosses over the idea, but is forced into agreement.

Kris: “No…”

Jason’s smile widens.

Jason: “If we were unprepared, would we have put together our own counter-strike on their intelligence?”

Kris looks down, and this time shakes his head, almost looking disappointed in himself.

Kris: “No.”

Jason’s voice raises to a comically loud, and fake offended tone.

Jason: “So how dare you say that we are unprepared!”

He reaches over his shoulder, and points at the screen with the remote. Nothing happens at first. When the screen does not come to life, Jason looks confused, and smacks at the remote a few times, and starts mashing the buttons. Kris looks up from the mat, his voice low enough to not want to infuriate his brother.

Kris: “Did you remember the batteries for the remote?”

Jason turns his death glare to Kris, infuriated at the thought. He turns the remote over and claws at the cover, only to find the compartment empty. He shakes it in his fist before tossing it out into the arena. The sound of it clanging around in the seats echoes through the arena a few moments later. Kris takes a few steps over to the screen, and then clicks it on. The image that appears is a freeze frame of a tweet that Jason sent out the day they signed contracts. People paying attention notice that it is the same tweet that The Members of The Elders used. Kris turns back to the camera, and Jason reads off his words.

Jason: “Oddly enough, I do not think that SCW is going to be graced with my presence, or my brother’s, but a genuine Jet City appearance….”

Jason sighs and looks down in disappointment.

Jason: “I thought that tweet was pretty clear.”

Kris turns to him to offer him some reassuring words.

Kris: “I thought you expressed yourself beautifully. I mean….”

Kris closes some of the distance between them, and holds his hand out in front of his brother’s chest. He looks directly into the camera and speaks slowly for those that may not have followed the content of the tweet.

Kris: “Not just Jason.”

He moves his hand over, and pats his own chest.

Kris: “Not just Kris.”

He then moves his hands back and forth between the two of them, trying to signal both of them together.

Kris: “But Jet City.”

Jason snaps out of his disappointment and nods, albeit rolling his eyes at his brother’s delivery of the explanation.

Jason: “Thanks for the rundown, short bus.”

He walks to the ropes closest to where the camera is focused on them and leans forward, resting his arms on them.

Jason: “Elder Bitches….”

He feels that his words need a little clarification after hearing them out loud.

Jason: “Not to be confused with the female half of The Elders. I am referencing the members with dangly parts.”

Jason holds out his hands to his side, and shakes his head in disbelief.

Jason: “How could you fuck that up? You took this tweet, which was my demonstrating that we were coming in as a team, and not as two individuals, and messed up interpreting it, so badly that I am starting to wonder if I should allow myself to step in a ring and hurt you two. I find myself lying in bed, kept awake by the thought of having to smack around people that may not be mentally capable of knowing what is happening to them. How do you two wake up, put your pants on in the morning, and go into the world to make big boy decisions without the ability to process the content of a Tweet correctly? It is not like I was being misleading in any way. If you take out the parts about me and my brother, essentially the tweet says that SCW is going to be graced with the presence of Jet City. We were bringing a new and exciting tag team into this company, because we thought Jet City, as a whole, would be better than the sum of its parts. That is the idea behind tag team wrestling, is it not? Two people forming a team that makes them more dominant, more balanced, and more successful than they are as individuals?”

Kris steps up to join his brother by the ropes, picking up almost right as Jason finishes his thought.

Kris: “You seem to think that this tag team was thrown together last second. One of the reasons we came to SCW specifically was because we wanted to do something as a team. It was Twitter that announced us separately. It was people talking about me coming back, and my brother considering signing on for the first time. It was reported that we were individuals. So to correct the record, Jason decided to set everyone straight. This isn’t about Kris Halich. This isn’t about JHalc. This is about Jet City. Stepping foot in the door for the first time was all we needed to see the sorry state of the tag division. We decided what our plan was before we ever even put our names on the dotted line.”

Kris shakes his head, his disappointment with The Elders very evident.

Jason: “We were not blinded. We were not overlooking the clearly vacant spot in the tag team division. That is why when we showed up at Halloween, we did so connected at the hip. The first glimpse that SCW got of us, was as Jet City. That was before Kris ever got a singles match here, but definitely not before Jet City made landfall.”

Kris holds out his hand and taps Jason on the shoulder to stop him before he moved on.

Kris: “For you two to think that this is not exactly what we wanted to happen, shows us you may very well be clueless. Before I stepped away earlier this year, this Jet City thing was what we were doing for the foreseeable future. Shit happened to prevent that. Life happened. Companies closed. New homes needed to be found. We found that home a few weeks ago when we showed up to Climax Control and were nearly ripped apart by a big undead bitch.”

Jason holds up his hands in the air. They start close together, but then he moves them apart, mimicking a big billboard marquee.

Jason: “Jet City, making their debut to take on the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest SCW Tag Team Champions Ever’ at High Stakes.”

He drops his hands and the two enjoy a good laugh.

Kris: “True story. I was in such disbelief that it came out of your mouth that I had to have it read back to me to check it for accuracy.”

Jason: “The fact that you two make such a bold claim, given the circumstances, is laughable. You have not held the titles for any significant amount of time. You have not defended them against anyone at all, let alone anyone intimidating. You won them from a team that evaporated the moment that they lost the titles. To top it off, you expect people to actually commend you. How can you expect us to believe that a team that bailed right after, actually gave you anything close to all they had in that fight?”

Kris interjects with the truth, as they see it.

Kris: “You two were given an early Christmas present from a couple of guys that wanted to unload the straps. You were just the first in the queue when the time came.”

Jason: “The difference is, that kind of thing only happens once in a lifetime, not twice in a year. We are not going to do you any favors. We are not looking to get into this division for just a single night. Last time I joined a company, I took a title that nobody had defended more than twice, and held it exponentially longer, and defended it multiple times more than anyone before, or after me. That is the story that Jet City is about to write into the SCW tag team title history.”

The way that they transition between which one of them is talking is seamless, but does not sound over-rehearsed. As soon as one of them stops, the other immediately launches into a continuation of the verbal assault.

Kris: “We are not going to foolishly claim to be anything that we have not earned. We haven’t been in a title match as a tag team, let alone won one. What we have had is a handful of matches as a team, where we worked out the kinks and never suffered a loss. From the sounds of it, the record for The Elders doesn’t have such a favorable win/loss ratio.”

Jason allows the quick jab to hang in the air for a second before he takes over.

Jason: “What does all of that mean? Not a goddamn thing! We may never have lost as a team, but we haven’t done anything great. The Elders may have beaten a lot of teams here in SCW, but that list does not include us. Our records, history, accomplishments, and problems as individuals, and as a team, have no impact on this match. It is all just background noise. The same way that The Elders running through tag teams in SCW before now means absolutely nothing to us. You are the tag team champions at what can only be described as a low point in the SCW tag team scene. You have said it yourselves. You need fresh faces. We are the fresh faces.”

Kris holds up both hands in innocence and tries to walk back a little of the hurtfulness of Jason’s comments.

Kris: “We are not trying to take anything away from your title reign. You have done something that we never have. That would be impressive, except for we have never had the opportunity before now. You beat a great team to get those titles, but a great team on the way out is hardly something to brag about. You have beaten all the competition, but you have blatantly said that you were refreshed by us showing up and injecting some real competition into a stagnant division.”

Jason: “Your current situation works to contradict everything that you say. In forty-eight hours, one of two things is going to happen. You could go on to validate your title reign with a win over a fresh team. You do that, and you take a step towards maybe becoming one of the best teams that SCW has ever seen.”

As usual, Jason brings the positive only for Kris to deliver the negative.

Kris: “Or you are going to lose, and your greatest contribution to SCW is going to be the awesome jokes that we lay out in our promo next week as the new SCW Tag Team Champions. Believe me, it’s true, we have already been writing them….”

Jason reaches out and slaps Kris for giving away too much.

Jason: “You say that the pressure is on us to prove ourselves. You could not be more wrong. See, as the new team on the block, not having wrestled a match in the last six months, going against the tag team champions, we have no chance…. On paper.”

Kris: “We are unproven, rusty, and as new as we could possibly be. How embarrassing would it be for you to lose to us?”

The two now wear almost identical smiles, that grow wider with each passing comment.

Jason: “On the other hand, when we beat you, you look incredibly silly. All of those things about running the division become punchlines. Your names in history become a placeholder between teams that actually mean something. The things we said about The Elders beating a team on the way out, become fact, not opinion. You will go down as a team that dropped the titles without having the ability to defend them, at a time where the tag team division was at its weakest point. When you two lose those titles Sunday, you lose everything.”

They both look at each other, nodding before staring back into the camera.

Kris: “And when we win, we hit the ground running and become the team that is going to lead this division out of the dark times and back into the spotlight.”

Jason laughs.

Jason: “Strap in guys. We are taking SCW for a ride.”

Kris holds out a closed fist to his brother, the smug look on his face telling everyone what he is going to say before he says it.

Kris: “Jet.”

Jason hits his brother’s closed fist with his own.

Jason: “City.”

 October 29th, 2016
Los Angeles, CA
Kristopher Halich’s Loft
[Off-Camera]

Heather opens the oven and enjoys the wafting smell of her lasagna. It had been a while since they had a family dinner. Before it had been difficult given that Kris and Vi were not speaking to one another, and, of course, Xandor’s very straight forward approach to expressing his thoughts often caused rifts with just about everyone. However, Vi and Kris had buried the hatchet and Phillip was happy if his spitfire of a wife was happy. Tragically, Xandor’s death had been nearly a year ago, but everyone seemed to have turned out better for it. Surprisingly it was not at all awkward to see the oldest Cooper girl with Parker Wayde now. More than likely, anyone that had the pleasure of holding very adorable daughter would agree. The food, however, still needed a few more minutes, meaning the hosts were once again keeping everyone waiting, as per the tradition of every time they got together. Kris pushes his way through the door and into the room, rubbing his hands together in front of his mouth, wide-eyed.

Kris: “Lots of kids, and lots of people that I guess are technically family in there. How did I get to this point?”

He crosses the room to his pregnant wife, and places a hand on her lower back as she continues to work to get everything ready.

Kris: “Tell me that there is something that I can help with in here so that I can make an excuse to get away from all of the love in the other room.”

Heather rolls her eyes, and leans back against the counter next to the oven.

Heather: “Are Vi and Phillip still making goo-goo eyes? It's almost too sweet, like it's an act but I know it's not.”

She smiles, but shakes the image of them out of her head before it brings back the morning sickness.

Heather: “You can tell me how pretty I am, that always helps.”

He shivers lightly. It was more of a mental reaction that a physical one.

Kris: “You are insanely pretty. I still maintain that you are the best looking of all three Cooper girls, and that includes being pregnant. You have not lost the top spot. And you can trust me on that. I was just in there with the other two. They are fresh in my memory.”

He motions back towards the doorway.

Kris: “As for the people out there though, I do not know which couple is more strange. Violet and Phillip are so in sync that they are like one person. Which is weird considering that she is actually a few people all on her own. Parker and Amanda though, it is like they know how they feel about each other, but do not necessarily have to show everyone. It is like both ends of the relationship spectrum out there. Then again, you know Parker, so that should not surprise you.”

Heather smiles again, not being thrown off guard by Kris backhandedly bringing up their past relationship.

Heather: “Parker is more reserved and as much as we had chemistry, I think in the end I would have probably stabbed him in his sleep. He is the definitive boy scout of your group of friends. Amanda is the mature one, so it kinda fits. Parker was so sweet when X died. Everything...”

She puts a hand, not realizing it, to her small rounded belly.

Heather: “...happens for a reason.”

She moves forward, into him, putting her arms around his neck.

Heather: “As much as people have criticized our relationship. Given us both grief for the things we've done to finally be with each other, no one could compliment me the way you do. Arguably we are blind leading blind but on the other hand, you just... get me. In a way no one else but another addict could truly understand.”

She leans her forehead against his.

Heather: “It is all pretty easy to understand when you have been there yourself. I don’t think that it is just that though. We have both been through rough spots as kids, and as adults. We are haunted in eerily similar ways. We have the same kind of sense of humor. And we can occasionally blow up at each other, and understand that it doesn’t have to destroy everything.”

Kris nods in agreement with her, but gestures back towards the door.

Kris: “Then again, I am pretty sure that everyone out there could say the same thing about their relationships. I kind of wish that Jay was here to balance the equation. He can kind of play moderator to all of the couples with his drive to fly solo. It has been like two years since he and Haley separated, and he shows no sign of wanting any of the things that all of us have.”

Heather narrows her eyes, picking up on the way his voice changed as he neared the end of his sentence. It was eerily close to what happened when he was lying. Almost a dead giveaway that he was not telling the whole truth instead.

Heather: “What's in Boston though? He mentioned going there when I talked to him last week. He likes to check on me and the pregnancy.”

She then smiles, rubbing her belly again. Kris’ eyes widen a bit in surprise. He was caught in the net, and if he tried to wiggle out of it, her mother instincts would pick up on it immediately and she would rip him apart while the rest of the family listened and laughed at his misfortune.

Kris: “I was not actually sure that he was going to be going. And, try not to mention it out there. Violet might break things, because of the family ties. It is Jules’ birthday thing. He threw her a huge party for her 18th a couple of years ago. Then they kind of hung out for a while. I don’t exactly know what did or did not happen there. I guess that means he is leaving the house for once. Impressive.”

Heather giggles at the speed at which the near-confession comes out of his mouth. Despite the words, she had been around long enough to read through all the bullshit and hear the real story.

Heather: “Wow. I know you mentioned that he seemed to have more than a ‘brotherly’ relationship for her but you know what, good for him. And Jules isn't so bad. Kahlan’s the one with the temper.”

Kris shrugs, knowing that this time he could blow off the conversation without sounding like he was lying. If his brother was notorious for one thing, it was playing all of his cards very close to his chest.

Kris: “I do not presume to know how Jason feels about anyone other than myself. That dude is a puzzle, inside a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, locked inside a rubix cube, and kept inside Pandora’s box. I have no interest in trying to solve or open any of those things, let alone all of them. He is like the polar opposite of me.”

He does let out a heavy sigh though.

Kris: “I mean; the dude is 30. This is her 20th birthday. It is weird enough without him paying attention to what anyone else thinks about it, and that includes me, but he still sounded undecided about even going this morning when we talked.”

He seems to reconsider his line of thinking though.

Kris: “I was invited, but had to decline. Not that Jules probably even wanted me there. Probably thought it would be easier to get Jay there if I showed, but we had these plans for a while now. Parker and Amanda had already driven down. No point in ruining everyone’s night. Plus, I will see him soon enough either way.”

He surveys the kitchen full of food that is now starting to be close to finished.

Kris: “So, need help carrying this stuff into the other room? At this point, I assume that everyone in there is thinking we snuck away to have sex. Or maybe just bailed on them entirely.”

He seems to think over his words though.

Kris: “Which neither of those things seem like a bad idea. Think you could fit the pregnancy belly out the window in order to get down the fire escape?

Heather smirks, running her hand down his chest.

Heather: “Ummmmm… no. But, maybe the second of those two things could be possible before dessert. I might need help with the pie.”

He laughs for a split second, but then his eyes read hers to gauge if she is being serious or not.

Kris: “Don’t play with me woman. You know I will hold you to it.”

She reaches up with her palm and smushes it against his face without a response before turning to check on the food in the oven again. He moves away from her and to the food on the counter.

Kris: “What should I take in first?”

Heather: “The garlic bread. I gotta take the lasagna out of the oven and I will follow. I think everything else that we need is out there already.”

He grabs the two baskets containing the bread in one hand, and moves towards the door back into the dining area while muttering.

Kris: “Hopefully with sharp enough knives to end the night swiftly….”

Before he pushes through though, he grabs two bottles of wine off of the counter.

Kris: “Just in case….”

He pushes through the door into the dining area packed with members of the rest of the family. Parker and Amanda were sitting on the far side, with Phillip and Violet closest to Kris, albeit with their backs to him. He reaches between the two of them to drop the bread on the table, and then nods to Parker before tossing a bottle of wine across the table that Parker catches without effort.

Kris: “Food is coming. Then again I did just leave a pregnant woman alone with lasagna, so maybe it isn’t, and if not you’re all chipping in for pizza.”

Amanda shakes her head from the opposite side of the table.

Amanda: “Don't let her hear you say that; she'll probably kick your ass.”

She reaches forward to grab two pieces of bread, putting one on Parker's plate. She smiles.
Amanda: “You don’t want to wait until she comes in or it will all be gone. This is her mother's recipe and it's amazing.”

She gives Violet a wink and the other red head laughs loudly. Phillip immediately shifts in his seat when he notices that Kris has stopped, and is standing right behind him. He looks back over his shoulder to the co-host of the get together.

Phillip: “Do we really have to play this game every time we see each other?”

Kris fakes total innocence, and tries hard to focus on opening the bottle of wine in his hand. Parker, on the other hand, has popped the cork on the bottle he was handed and fake coughs to get Kris’ attention. Kris looks up, and then tosses the second bottle to Parker over Phillip’s head, which makes him even more uneasy.

Kris: “Relax Phil, I am not going to stab you or anything. You can trust me.”

The shortening of his first name grates on him for a moment, but he lets it pass. He had become slightly more accepting of it now that he hears it over and over again from Jason, Parker and, most often, Kris.

Phillip: “Trust you? And end up drugged and on a bus to middle America again?”

Kris shakes his head disappointed.

Kris: “I thought we chose to forgive and forget, huh? Why do you always have to try to hurt me?”

Heather: “Okay, okay boys.”

Heather enters carrying the pan with oven mitts.

Heather: “Play nice or not at all.”

She sets down the perfect pasta dish in the middle of the table, and beams.

Amanda: “It looks perfect Heather; you really have grown up.”

Amanda gives her sister a motherly smile.

Violet: “Yeah, I remember when she used to burn everything and set the place on fire, so good job.”

Kris cannot help but give a chuckle, and even joins in on the jokes.  

Kris: “She has to set multiple timers, in multiple rooms, every time the oven is on, or we would be eating some unrecognizable black mush from outside on the curb while firefighters tried to save people from the building.”

This brings an even wider smile to Kris’ face.

Kris: “Maybe that would be a good thing for Parker though. Looks like you packed on some baby weight there, dark chocolate.”

Parker does not miss a chance to fire back at the man who was practically his little brother, despite the fact that Kris was older by more than two years.

Parker: “You one to talk? Jay told me about your little comeback tour together. If you want to pull that off without looking like an idiot, you need to lose some of that sympathy baby weight.”

Phillip, who was learning how to play this game pretty well decided he could also chime in.

Phillip: “And you cannot really turn to drugs to shave off the pounds quickly. You will have to do it legitimately this time.”

The whole room seems to freeze in shock, everyone’s eyes moving back and forth between Phillip and Kris. Phillip turns in his chair to face Kris with a smile on his face, which deflates all of the tension in the room. Kris cannot help but smile, and points a finger at Phillip.

Kris: “You only get one of those a night. One more and I am going to hug you.”

The room erupts into laughter; however, one person remains stonily focused on Parker. Heather clears her throat.

Heather: “Comeback tour?”

Parker looks up to lock eyes with Heather, and then over to Kris who very gently shakes his head no. Parker looks over to Amanda, who eyes him, perfectly able to tell if the next thing out of his mouth is a lie, because he is terrible at it from lack of practice doing it. Violet turns from Parker, to Kris, knowing she could get any information she needed off of his face. Phillip sinks in his chair, suddenly wanting to be anywhere other than in between everyone. Parker stutters over a few words before finally spitting out the truth, unwilling to throw himself under the bus to save Kris.  

Parker: “SCW, right Kris? You and Jason are planning on kicking the dust off of Jet City. Or at least that is what he was trying to tell me before he got called for boarding the plane this afternoon.”

Before Heather can turn to see his reaction, Kris mouths some very curse-ridden threats at Parker as he speaks. Violet seems to catch part of them and they bring a slight smile to her lips before she presses it away. She could have stayed quiet to watch it play out, but instead chooses to poke a little bit.

Violet: “So I guess no one told Heather huh?”

Vi leans back in her seat, an air of smugness as she crosses her arms over her chest. She then leans into her husband, linking her fingers with his, in silent reassurance that he does not need to panic over the situation. Heather locks eyes momentarily with everyone, working her way around the group before getting to, and stopping on, Kris.

Heather: “So they all knew? Everyone knew and nobody said a damn word to me about it? You told my sisters before me, Kristopher?!”

She stood, shaking her head she drops her napkin on her still empty plate and storms off. The sound of the bedroom door slamming rattles pictures on the walls. Amanda is the first to break the silence.

Amanda: “Should we... leave?”

Kris moves around the table, holding up his hands to everyone.

Kris: “Nah guys, I will go talk to her. We have all this food though. No use in all of you leaving. Go ahead and start without us. I don’t want anything to go to waste. I will be right back.”

He announces he is leaving the room, but oddly does not make for the door. Instead he rubs the palms of his hands together, and moves around the table until he is within striking distance of Parker and quickly slaps him in the back of his head. Parker turns in his seat and shoves Kris backwards with one arm. He stops short of rising from his seat, as they both break into laughter. It actually draws a chuckle from Phillip, who seems to take Kris’ side.

Phillip: “I actually heard from Violet that it was happening.”

Kris eyes Violet next, who says nothing, but points across at Amanda. Following the path, her eyes lead him right back to Parker, who had announced getting the information from Jason in the first place. Kris points around to all of them, with a kind of ‘told you so’ look on his face.

Kris: “And you people wonder why I never tell you anything. You are the most gossiping mother fuckers I have ever met.”

He shakes his head, and now does move towards the door,

Kris: “Damage control time…”

He pushes the door open with his back, but stops, as Parker is still looking at him.  

Kris: “And don’t think you were just getting off with the one slap. Imma beat your ass.”

Parker: “Keep dreaming Q-Tip.”

Parker waves him away, as Kris exits and the four remaining in the room try to get on with the evening. Kris moves through the loft, to the master bedroom, and tries the handle, only to find the door locked. He had no idea why she still bothered doing so. He quickly produces a paperclip from the top of the door frame and twists it into the lock, pushing on the single cylinder that works the lock and then turning the handle. He makes sure to put the paperclip back on top of the door before slightly cracking it, so she does not see it.

Kris: “I would just like to point out the fact that I did not tell any of them anything, and would appreciate not being hit with any flying objects when I open the door. Deal?”

Heather: “Fine, whatever.”

He can hear the sob in her voice when it cracks though. He pushes the door open and steps through, sitting on the end of the bed whereas she has taken post at the top, with a pillow on her lap.

Kris: “I have not mentioned anything to you, because nothing is set in stone. If you recall, not even ten minutes ago I told you that I was talking to Jason this morning. That is what we were talking about. We were kind of tossing around ideas, but it is not anything more than that right now. It would be at least a week before anything solid happened. Plenty of time for us to discuss it before any papers get signed.”

Heather: “How is it that this information got around my family this quickly yet neither of my sisters said a word to me? Do all of you still think I'm so fragile? I would never dream of breaking sobriety, pregnancy or not.”

He shrugs, and tries to find words to blame the people outside of the room, and even on the other side of the United States. He slams his mouth closed though, knowing that it will all boil down to it being his fault in the end anyways. He should have said something, and hadn’t, but it was not without reason. Instead of making excuses though, he sits down next to her, and says the only two words that she needed to hear from him right now, and he knew them well.

Kris: “I’m sorry.”

She puts her head on his shoulder. Before the start of this year, she would have never to expected an apology without a fight, or excuse first. That alone was worth letting him skate.

Heather: “Why didn't you mention it anyway? Even if it was just an idea? I'm not upset that you want to go back in a ring. I'm upset that you didn't even mention you thinking about it. You know I support you no matter what.”

He wraps his arm around her shoulders and then rests his head on hers.

Kris: “Honestly, I was not even really thinking about it until Jason started pushing for it. He kind of gave me this idea that it would be good for my recovering. I put myself out there just to get a rise out of people, and a paycheck. I didn’t care about the quality of what I was doing, or putting on a good show. I was messed up two-thirds of the time I was out there. Jason started telling me about how I have worked to fix so many of the mistakes that I have made, and this is just one more that I could atone for.”

He lets out a light sigh.

Kris: “Plus, with another baby coming. Waverly being around whenever we can get him. It would be kind of nice to bust my ass doing this so that we could not have to worry about lack of income. I could make things right with the world, make some money, and then put it all behind me for good this time. No regrets.”

He gives her a nudge to sit up, so that he can look her in the eyes.

Kris: “I also didn’t want you thinking that being here with you was not enough and I needed an escape from it all. That could not be further from the truth. I want to kind of stay local as much as possible. And even have you come with me as often as you can.”

She brings a hand up to either side of his face.

Heather: “Just please, next time, even if it's just a musing. Tell me first. Especially when it comes to our blended family. I would rather hear it from you first so we can talk about it.”

She nods, silently prompting him to do the same. When he does, she offers a smile, and a threat that comes out almost sweet.

Heather: “Or I will blame pregnancy hormones and stab you in your sleep.”

She leans forward to kiss him. He meets her halfway, so she does not have to lean over her growing belly. When they separate, he tries to ease any hesitation that she might be hiding, given her initial reaction.

Kris: “The moment that you think my doing going back is making being married, or being parents too hard, I walk away from it. You know I get short-sighted and can easily get so focused on one thing, that I don’t notice things going wrong in other parts of my life. The first time my going back to this negatively impacts you or the kids, and I am done with it. Deal?”

She gives him a soft smile and a nod, both of which he returns.

Kris: “Now, I believe we have food to go eat, and at least four gossipy family members to murder. Do you think that you are up for that?”

Heather: “If there is anything left. This is a family of vultures I swear!”

==============================================================
==============================================================

November 4th 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport
[On-Screen]

Kris and Jason Halich step off of their charter plane, and start to move down the steps, Kris talking over his shoulder to Jason, despite the cameras not picking up what is being said. Jason promptly reaches forward and slaps Kris in the back of the head, which draws only a laugh from the younger brother as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. As the two find their feet on the ground for the first time in a few hours, they are swarmed by a handful of interviewers. It was all Jason’s doing, as he had to greenlight people even being let through security, and had probably offered them big news that they simply did not have. Since suing Cody Taylor, and taking back all of the money invested into the failed company known as Pride Pro Wrestling, Jason had become sort of a public figure. It did not help that the two were flying around on the former co-owner’s plane, and, in doing so, appearing to live well beyond their means, or really even most people’s means who worked in this business.

Kris continued walking as they got to the ground, heading towards the car that was picking them up to take them to their hotel, but Jason was swarmed with camera flashes and little microphones shoved in his face. He quickly worked his way through them, and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, stopping him from escaping and spinning him around to face the camera. Some of the interviewers tried to squeeze in another word, but Jason cut them off.

Jason: “Ladies and gentlemen, for twenty-seven long years, I have had the genuine displeasure of knowing the man to my right. I have seen him in diapers. I have seen him shit himself. I have seen him graduate from high school. I have seen him win a championship in the company we step into this Sunday. However, I have only seen one of those things happen this week.”

Kris elbows his brother and shrugs his shoulder, pushing Jason’s arm out from around him. The interviewers enjoy a laugh at Kris’ expense, but Jason cuts it off short by continuing to speak over them until they stopped attempting to talk.

Jason: “Truth be told, Jet City coming to SCW is not the big news of the week that I told all of your bosses that I was going to give. Namely because, that was all bullshit. I have nothing at all to tell any of you, and if any of you so much as ask me about a personal relationship, or my recent trip to Boston, I have been told by all of your employers that they will erase any tape of me feeding you a camera against your will.”

The interviewers start to chatter amongst themselves, likely considering leaving due to the fact that there was no big scoop here, but Jason shoves Kris forwards towards the grouping.

Jason: “That is not to say that my very own pants-shitting little brother does not have something that all of you should listen to as it regards Ryan Keys, SCW, and our future plans.”

Even the people turning to leave seem to stop as Kris is shoved forwards. He pulls his Clippers hat off of his head, and throws his sunglasses into them before handing it off to Jason. The interviewers seem to make a circle in front of him, not seeming thrilled but not wanting to have made the trip down for nothing. Kris was known to get himself into trouble in front of a camera, so for all they knew, there could be a story after all. He sighs, and throws his head back, being well out of practice of doing this kind of thing, and then licks his lips before starting.

Kris: “I made a little bit of a splash last week by announcing that I was going to be returning to the only company that I have ever won a championship in. However, the person that I did not credit with putting that idea into my head, was the man you all actually came to see. Now, regardless of if he convinced you to come under false pretenses or not, the fact that you are all here says something about what his coming back to this business means. We were able to put together a couple of wins in a small company a year ago before it closed. Then we put our names on a contract that never got processed in another company that closed. Truth be told, we didn’t show up here back then because neither of us thought that I was going to be allowed back through the doors. I have a terrible track record with SCW. That is something that I have owned up to, and even apologized for last week when I announced I was going to be back. I am a flake. I am unreliable. I am a former drug addict that has been documented as having done this job under the influence. So, when I see the majority of the people excited to see my brother is back, but disappointed that my name, and Jet City is attached to it, I understand. It is a normal, and valid reaction.”

He offers a shrug to everyone standing in front of him, and anyone watching from home on the cameras.

Kris: “I have apologized. I have explained myself. Last week I listed the reasons for my turn around, and laid out exactly why I was back. To rehash that for all of you would be a waste of your time and that is something that I said that I was not going to do anymore. For those of you expecting to see some kind of cookie-cutter, polite, version of me make a return and push the thoughts of the old me out of your mind, you are going to be very disappointed. I assume any of you thinking that didn’t bother to pay attention on Sunday when Jet City made their first real appearance for SCW. I am not going to promise to be a better person, or less of an asshole. The only thing that I promised the world, this company, and my brother is that I was actually going to give a shit about what I showed up to do, for the first time in my life. Believe me, I have taken a lot of beatings in my life, but the very worst of them, have almost exclusively come at the hands of the person that is my tag team partner these days. I wouldn’t dare waste his time, regardless of whatever horseshit lie I was feeding the rest of the world. The fact that he is standing her behind me should make one thing very obvious: this is serious.”

An interviewer moves forward, breaking the almost perfect half-circle that they had formed in front of the two brothers. Before he can get a word out, Jason steps forward and smacks the microphone out of his hand and then points a finger at the man.

Jason: “Shame on you! Back in line.”

Kris shakes his head at his brother and leans into his ear, exchanging a few words that are not picked up. Jason disagrees with whatever it is, and gestures towards the camera for Kris to continue.

Kris: “The first thing that I did when I put my name on the contract was ask SCW for some information. See, they have people that transcribe whole shows, and all of those files are kept by the company. It is pretty easy to run a search for references to an individual. The things that I found, were not surprising. In the time I was away, I paid no attention to this business. The last couple times that I did bother to show up, I did little more than suit up, work a match, and bounce. I had no idea the things that were said about me back then, and I wouldn’t have really cared to even find out. There was only one thing that mattered to me back then, and it definitely wasn’t any of this. If you want to look at some of the bad decisions, look no further than my knocking up Liz Smalls. Anyone dumb enough to saddle themselves with that woman for the next 17 years of their life couldn’t have been thinking clearly, am I right?”

This draws a chuckle from the interviewers, and lightens the overall tone of Kris’ voice. Up until now it seemed like he was listing off things that he was being forced to say, but at this point, his face starts to light up, and his demeanor is a lot less rigid, ala the Kris everyone knew.

Kris: “The roster has gone through a lot of changes since I was last here. There are a lot of new names and faces. Apparently I blew past people last week that I had no idea who they were, and they are kind of a big deal now. To those people, sorry not sorry. Get better and maybe you will be worth paying attention to. I cannot apologize for your lack of being a face worth knowing. For those that are still here from the last time I was, but not holding a championship right now: What the fuck have you even been doing? If you aren’t a success by now, maybe it is time to hang it up. After all, I have been gone for almost a whole year. If you are in the same place now as you were then, all while using my name as a punchline for the promos you drone on in before you go out and lose, what are you even still doing here other than collecting a paycheck?”

A few of the interviewers seem to cover their mouths, not wanting to be caught by other cameras either laughing or acknowledging their agreement with his words.

Kris: “I can’t really fault them though. I was once here to collect some money, piss people off, and be on my way. To ridicule them further would be the pot calling the kettle black…”

Kris turns to ask his brother another question that does not get picked up, and Jason nods to him before Kris turns to continue.

Kris: “After conferring with my brother, we have decided that I am allowed to say “black” because the majority of SCW is pretty monochromatically white so it clearly is not a race issue.”

Jason leans forward over Kris’ shoulder and interrupts.

Jason: “Remember kids, racism is wrong and the heat it generates is temporary so basically a waste of time.”

Kris again shrugs his shoulder and glares at Jason and he holds up both of his hands in innocence before taking a step back.

Kris: “I guess that just leaves me Ryan Keys to talk about, right?”

He turns back to Jason for confirmation, who looks down at the palm of his right hand. He holds up an index finger for Kris to give him a moment, before reaching down and producing a pen out of his pocket. He starts to make little checkmarks next to things he has written down, and then puts the pen away and his hand down. He gives Kris a silent, stone-faced nod. Kris turns back around, appearing annoyed as he does, but almost immediately turning on a large fake smile of genuine excitement.

Kris: “There is not a whole lot that I can honestly say about this kid. Honestly, he probably has a better shot at getting under my skin than I do at getting under his. I researched the guy, only to find out that he has lost a lot of matches. I watched some of his promos, and read back a lot of the transcripts to find a lot of staged bullshit that he tried to pass off as luck of the draw. He actually played 21 with himself, and dealt cards to all of his opponents, only to have a perfect speech drawn up at exactly the moment their cards were displayed. Color me unimpressed by your attempt at sounding off the cuff. Other than that there were a lot of keyhole references, I guess meant as a fun play on his name. At one point he said something about a key doubling as a gun, I don’t know I got confused by it all.”

He looks down and shakes his head for a moment.

Kris: “At the end of the day, there is a lot more that he can say about me than I can say about him. My time here is storied, and most of it does not paint me favorably in the least. The best thing that I can say for my benefit is that when I had the chance to win a title, I took it, and I won it. I even defended it once. It seems that this kid comes up short more than he has his hand raised. Despite it, he seems to have started with the attitude that I was lacking the last time I was here. In his own words, he is a fighter that wants to put on a good show. If you paid attention to anything that I said last week when announcing my comeback, you will hear me utter basically the same words.”

He holds up his hands, as to stop people from thinking that they are similar.

Kris: “Do not get me wrong. That is about where the similarities die. I know what it takes to win here, and to win big. I know what it is like to take a beating from people, and still manage to have a title to raise at the end of the night. In one of his promos he even apologized for cheating. Now all of you know that is not my style at all. I am never going to apologize for wanting to win, and not giving a shit what I have to get away with to do so. If you aren’t cheating, then you are damn sure not doing everything in your power to win. If you are dumb enough to get caught and disqualified, well then rest assured that you are not smart enough to compete against me on any level, let alone inside a ring, between a couple of bells, and for a few thousand people to watch.”

Kris nods, with a smile on his face, proud that he had not lost the ability to turn a phrase in his time away.

Kris: “Ryan, you are just a first step on my road to professional recovery sir. No amount of being the crowd favorite, poorly executed cheating, or even whipping it out and helicoptering it in front of me and everyone in attendance is going to stop me from winning this match. I could be wrong, because memory for me is awfully foggy at most points, but I do not think that I have ever lost a match in a debut, or a return. You will not be the person to change that. This is my--”

Jason again leans over Kris’ shoulder, this time to correct him.

Jason: “Our!”

Kris again shrugs his shoulder to push his brother off of him, and corrects himself without acknowledging his brother.

Kris: “Our time…. And I am pretty sure that there is only one more thing to say. In two days, someone needs to call an ambulance….”

Jason hands Kris back his hat and glasses, that he returns to the top of his head and face respectfully before offering a wide smile.

Kris: “There’s gonna be an Accident.”

  “When I took a break from SCW, I always knew that it was temporary. People, of course, gave me all kinds of shit about not wanting to travel. Let me ask you this though, after being jumped in Los Angeles on your best friend’s birthday, and then traveling across the world in very next day to defend a title, would you not be mentally and physically worse for wear? Would you not need a break? Would the flights, twelve hours or more at a time, not start to be painful? Despayre beat me fairly. He was the better man that night. I have no excuse for that. However, after that night, there wasn't anything left to stop me from going on hiatus. I needed time. I took my time. However, that time off was not something that went smooth. In reality, I got beat up more in my time away then I did while I was here. I was pushed from my comfort zone. I was taxed mentally and physically…. And it all started on the 21st of September. That is a day I will never forget, because that was the day that everything changed.”


============
September 21st

Kris arrived, not knowing what to expect and after knocking, Liz opened the door. The two made eye contact but nothing was said as she stepped aside, allowing Kris to step in. Liz was wearing one of the shirts Kris had left after their mutual breakup, it was big on her. She also had on shorts, but you couldn't see them because of the shirt. The puppies mingle by Liz's feet and begin sniffing Kris out, but aren't causing a fit because they remember him. Liz points to the couch.

Liz Smalls: "You wanna sit down?"

He looks at her, slightly confused by her pleasant greeting. He expected her to be angry, especially given the battle with Austen on Twitter.

Kris Halich: “Yeah, we can do that. You came across really weird in the texts. Did someone die or something?”

Liz Smalls: "No, O-M-G I would be in tears right now. Just...sit down."

Kris takes a seat, and Liz sits next to him on the couch, keeping her distance. The puppies cry wanting to join them but Liz doesn't pick them up.

Liz Smalls: "So, we obviously have a lot to talk about. I'm the first to admit I made mistakes before. As far as cheating, I've never done that. But I wasn't always the most pleasant person to be around, especially towards your friends, so first, I want to apologize."

She studies Kris' face, unsure of how he'll react to anything she says, especially given the twitter situation. He shrugs, not one to hold a grudge.

Kris Halich: “I made plenty of mistakes while we were together. I never thought what he was saying was true, by the way. I was just mad you never said anything about it.”

He sighs.

Kris Halich: “My friends, Amarissa’s family, I really don't care who else's feelings you hurt. I am really just done trying to make everyone happy. It is mentally draining.”

Liz Smalls: "What about you, are you even happy in life right now?"

Kris Halich: “I don't even know what I am right now.”

Liz Smalls: "Well, this probably isn't going to make you any less confused then."

She slowly begins lifting the shirt, but stops.

Liz Smalls: "No matter what happens, how you react, I still care about you...I want you to know that, and promise not to freak out?"

He looks at her oddly when she starts to raise the shirt.

Kris Halich: “Wait, you're taking off clothes?”

He seems confused.

Kris Halich: “Did you call me over here to seduce me or something?”

Liz laughs, nervously and scoots a little closer. She stretches her legs out ahead of her, resting her feet on the coffee table as she begins slowly lifting her shirt again. FInally, she lifts it enough to show a small hump, barely noticeable even. Her head turns and her eyes nervously move to his as she says nothing. He follows her hands when she lifts the shirt and his eyes widen. His eyes shift from the bump, to her eyes and then back several times while his lips struggle to find words.

Kris Halich: “So... you're saying that in your down time you have put on a few pounds or something? Because I know you aren't trying to say what I think you are saying…”

She shakes her head no.

Liz Smalls: "I haven't put any weight on Kris..."
She cautiously reaches over and grabs his hand. She lifts it and moves it onto her exposed stomach, the smile on her face now growing.

Liz Smalls: "I'm...we're pregnant."

He pulls his hand away and pushes himself backwards off of the couch and to his feet.

Kris Halich: “No, there is no 'we' here Liz. We broke up. And that... that..”

He points down at her stomach.

Kris Halich: “That's not real. You're not serious. If this is some ploy to get me back then it's a sick game you're playing here. I should... I..

He looks around aimlessly, trying to find something to focus on, but his eyes can only find her stomach.

Kris Halich: “No. Just no. No.”

He shakes his head several times trying to convince himself. Liz's expression changed, the smile replaced by a look of panic as she pulls the shirt down and stands up, keeping distance between them, not wanting to freak him out anymore.

Liz Smalls: "This isn't a game, or anything to get you back. We broke up with each other, remember?"

She gives a few moments to let it sink in to Kris, before continuing.

Liz Smalls: "This is a result of probably what we both did, and it affects us both. Kris, you're going to be a daddy. Aren't you happy?"

She slowly moves closer towards him. He starts to pace back and forth at the edge of the couch. The dogs start to circle with him. He raises his hands, lacing his fingers and draping the palms of his hands against the back of his head.

Kris Halich: “I am... no.. I am not capable of that.”

He stutters trying to find some new words and can't.

Kris Halich: “We aren't. Parents?”

He laughs uneasily.

Kris Halich: “The two of us? No. That's not a real thing. We can't be. That doesn't even sound right.”

Liz Smalls: "You're the first person I've told, Kris. This is real. We have a beautiful little girl or boy growing inside of me."

She walks closer, again, cautiously.

Liz Smalls: "That's why I took a break from wrestling. Why do you think I would just drop out of something when I've had so much success lately? It's because for as selfish as people think I am, I would NEVER risk our child's health, just to chase a championship belt."

She grabs his hand again and puts it under her shirt.

Liz Smalls: "Kris...we need to make this work."

He pulls free again, but doesn't make a move for the door like the rest of his body is screaming for him to do. Instead, he falls back to sitting on the couch.

Kris Halich: “I just... It's not like I... oh fuck... but…”

He sighs again, replaying her words and trying to talk his way out of the situation.

Kris Halich: “There is no "we" right now. We aren't together. This doesn't change that. It isn't going to be one of those trapping me into a relationship things. This is just…”

He looks up at her stomach again.

Kris Halich: ‘I can't do this. I'm not meant for this.”

Liz Smalls: "Fine, there's no we. I don't want you to feel trapped."

Liz remains standing, looking down at her feet and dropping her shirt to cover her stomach. Her eyes remain to the ground as she quietly speaks.

Liz Smalls: "I think you'll make a great daddy..."


He laughs, and his eyes fall to the floor.

Kris Halich: “You're insane. We would both be terrible parents. Honestly, I already feel sorry for…”

He can't bring himself to address the bump directly for what it is.

Kris Halich: “... that.”

He sits back with another heavy sigh. His eyes pull back to focus on his lap.

Kris Halich: “I can't make a right decision to save my life. I am an addict. I can't be trusted. You... Liz, let's be honest. You're as selfish as I am. You struggle to be nice to anyone. Both of us would rather be competing than sitting at home with our thoughts. We aren't parents.”
Liz's eyes shoot up, her voice raises.

Liz Smalls: "I WAS selfish, and you WERE an addict. We can change, you already have, unless you've suffered a setback?"

Not waiting for an answer, she continues.

Liz Smalls: "We CAN be great parents...I'm going to be a good mommy. I've even gave up french fries already! You know how much I love french fries."

Kris rolls his eyes, but still seems to be fighting himself internally.

Liz smalls: "I might not wrestle again Kris. As much as I love that spotlight, my first priority is going to be OUR CHILD...no one is going to give us any chance at this, but I know we can do this."

Kris Halich: “We can't do this... I can't...do.. this.”

He shakes his head as more doubts come to mind. Jason's difficulties. His own father. Everyone was screaming in his head.

Kris Halich: “You don't want me around this baby. I can't handle that pressure. I'm not Jason. For all I know, I am no better with kids than my own father.”

Liz Smalls: "You're NOT your father. You can either run away like a scared little boy, or you can tell yourself now that you will be a BETTER father than your own. I know I'm not the one to give big pep talks, but Kris...this is the most important thing that will EVER happen in our lives. Our first child..."

Kris Halich: “Our FIRST child? FIRST? I am trying to wrap my head around how this could have happened and you are already looking forward to the fact that it could happen again? Do you hear yourself?”

Liz Smalls: "I'm not saying it could happen again, O-M-G!"

Liz stomps her foot on her carpet.

Liz Smalls: "I meant, we'll NEVER get to have our first child again, this is a huge thingy."

She moves back to the couch and sits next to him.

Liz Smalls: "Why are you so scared of this? I know you can do better than your daddy. I know it Kris!"

Kris Halich: “You KNOW it? What do you actually know about me Liz? I mean really. I can barely make it through a day without buying heroin. I have sold anything and everything I have ever owned to buy that shit. I have manipulated and controlled people in order to do whatever I want to them. I played you in order to break your heart in front of a public that would just laugh at you. What part of that makes me a good person?”

Liz Smalls: "You're a good person because you decided against breaking my heart in front of the world. You no longer manipulate people and you fight that urge to buy that poison. You've changed. How do you not see that!?"

He straight up laughs in her face and rolls his eyes. After shaking his head a few times, he turns his gaze to her. It is a cruel look on his face.

Kris Halich: “I have sat and watched a kid overdose in front of me. A kid that had no interest in doing a drug before I worked on him for a few days. I purposefully gave him too much. I waited for it to go wrong. I took his money. I took what he bought. I called an ambulance and left him in his own vomit. That is the kind of person I am. And now you think I can take care of a kid?”

Liz's eyes widen in horror, having never heard that story before.*

Liz Smalls: "I...I...I..."

She can't figure out what to say, nothing will come out but his gaze doesn't falter and his words don't stop there.

Kris Halich: “Four people in this whole world know what I just told you. One of them is that kid. I don't know what happened to him, and if I am honest, I do not much care. When you boil it down, that is who I am. Regardless of what you or Heather want to see in me, that's what I am. You don't want me around this baby.”

"I do..."

She wipes a single tear as it begins rolling down her cheek.

Liz Smalls: "Kris...I believe in you. I know your past is...sketchy...but I know your heart. This child will change your life. Please, make the choice to be in its life."

Kris Halich: “I don't know Liz. This is a lot to try and wrap my head around. I mean, it isn't like you found out yesterday. Obviously you struggled with it for a while. You can't hope for me to be able to do so in a matter of ten minutes.”

Liz Smalls: "I know..I just want you to think about it. Think about how much regret you will have if this child grows up not knowing its father. How would that make you feel?''

Kris Halich: Maybe he or she would be better off not knowing me…”

Liz Smalls: "Thats ridiculous."

Liz lifts the shirt of Kris' that she's wearing and again stares at her stomach, the smile returning as she does.

Liz Smalls: "I'm so excited..."

He looks up at her stomach again and starts to reach out before stopping short of touching her. His hand drops.

Kris Halich: “I need time…”

It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but she understood. She looked up, nodding, keeping her stomach exposed.

Liz Smalls: "My doctor said I'm due on March 20th."

He laughs.

Kris Halich: “I doubt I will need THAT much time...

She runs her manicured hand across her stomach.

Liz Smalls: "I wanted you to be the first to find out, it's only right. I understand you needing time."


Kris Halich: “This is what you want? You want to carry this baby and have it? You want me to be around it? That is what you have decided?”

He locks onto her eyes, looking for answers. She squeezes her lips together and nods proudly, definitively.

Liz Smalls: "I want to give birth to this child, and I want you there by my side when I do."

He swallows hard and fights shaking his head. He looks like he is leaning away from running, and towards her but his words cut him off.

Kris Halich: “I can't promise to be able to do that right now. I need to go before I say or do anything stupid. I just... this is a lot.”

She nods again, slowly. She wanted to ask him to stay, but knew that wasn't fair.

Liz Smalls: "Take all of the time you need. Thankies....for coming."

She looks down at her feet again as she digs her toes into the carpet nervously. Again he lets out a sigh and pushes himself to his feet. He turns to go, but can't force himself past her. The devil on his shoulder screams at him to consider sending a jab to her stomach and ending their misery. In fact, his hand raises towards her stomach at the thought until the rationality returns to him. Instead, sliding his hand under her shirt, he places a hand on her stomach. He swallows hard, not finding any answers in doing so, and not knowing if he was supposed to. He leans in and kisses her cheek, brushing a tear away from it. His hand drops, and he takes a single step away. His mouth opens to say something but the words don't come. There aren't any of them left. Instead he keeps moving towards the door.

Liz Smalls: "Travel safely...if you need anything, I'm here for you Kris."

Liz says quietly, hoping he decides to be there for their child, secretly hoping he's there for her as well. He gets to the door, and turns to look over his shoulder, nodding to her.

Kris Halich: “You be careful too. No driving and texting. Actually, eat whatever you want. There is another whole person you are eating for now.”

She smirks, saying nothing as she watches him walk out of the door, closing it slowly behind him.



==============
Present Day

“I doubt that I actually deserve this match. In fact, my return match for the Internet Championship probably should have been vacated the moment that Despy dropped that title. If not then, then definitely when I flopped in my return. However, I am not going to complain. If I am totally honest, I do deserve a return match against Despayre. My only reservation is the stipulation. Despayre started my downward spiral. First, The Nobodies lost to Seven Deadly Sins. Then he kicked my ass to take my title. After that, I had to take time away to refocus. Despayre started that when he tried to chew off my face. If I was a lesser person, I would have made my return by attacking him. I guess you people are looking at a different Kristopher E. Halich. Someone with a new look. Someone with a new attitude. Someone that, in their time away, learned a few things about life and growing up.

The thing that I have to prove to myself, and everyone else, is that even though I am different, I am still able to compete on the same level as anyone else in this company, or this industry as a whole. I can promise that I have not lost a step. I can promise that I have kicked off the ring rust.

I can also promise that someone should call the ambulance.

Despayre is gonna be in an Accident.

 Algeria [Post Climax Control]
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17 May 2015 (11:06 PM)
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Off-Camera [Backstage Inner Thoughts]


He zips the gym bag closed, and turns around to survey the rest of the small locker room for any of his belongings he may have forgotten to pack. Sure enough, he crosses the room and reaches down to the small couch, picking up is black and purple gloves. He smacks them on the back of his right hand, checking out the rest of the room to make sure there was nothing else lying around, and then nods before moving back to the bag. ”I wonder how many people lost their money tonight on that match. Everyone was rooting against me, not that I can fault them. Sure, I am carrying what is supposed to be looked at as a second tier title, but not even the backstage announcers care enough to lend me their ear for a minute. Kris Halc versus Goth with the SCW Internet Championship on the line. Kris Halc, the guy who only retained the title in Morocco by getting his friend to cheat Kain. Kris Halc…. who the hell is that guy? There are those, and a dozen more, reasons not to bet on me. That doesn’t even go into accounting for the fact that Goth is a Triple Crown Champion going for a Grand Slam, and coming off a win in the most brutal contest from the supercard in Morocco. Sure, it’s fucking Africa, but people in Africa bet, don’t they? I bet they do. I bet a lot of people are unhappy.” He throws the gloves in the bag and rezips it. Hanging in the locker above it is the SCW Internet Championship. He had purposefully left it out of the bag. He hangs the gym bag on his right shoulder and then reaches out, taking the title and placing it on his left. ”Sure, I have a few bruises here and there, but if anyone is about to give me shit, maybe the bruises, along with flashing a little gold will get them to back off. Security people weren’t in front of a screen watching the show from back here. They wouldn’t just off hand recognize my face from having just been in the ring. Even if my face, my bruises, and my title don’t do the trick, maybe they are more concerned with the faces that they do know. I am walking out of the building without any kind of entourage or fancy car outside. Maybe they will be busy making sure people like Gabriel and Andrew Watts are getting out unscathed by hordes of cheering and adoring fans. I fucking despise them.”

He flips the lights off in the room as he steps out into the hallway, and closes the door gently behind himself. Moving down the hallway he reaches into the front pocket of his hoodie and pulls out a set of headphones. They aren’t attached to anything, but that wasn’t the point. Kris stuffs one in each ear, and then takes the other end of the cord and stuff it into the front pocket of his pants. ”If people think that you are listening to something they leave you alone, for the most part. Unless they have something important to say, or you arouse significant suspicion, you’re practically invisible. Unfortunately it doesn’t work when you are walking into a building. It does work when you are trying to sneak out. I don’t need some half-hearted congratulations from a person that had never heard my name before it came through the arena PA after I retained my title. Honestly, I don’t need a congratulations from anyone, regardless of it they know me. I don’t do this for anyone but myself and if people in the back don’t realize that, then they don’t actually know me at all. That goes for Tim. That goes for Johnny. That goes for Amy. For those first two, sure, we are part of this Nobodies group. That doesn’t tie me to them. It is just a few guys with the same problem putting a name on what they are. It’ll hurt their feelings if I mention it. If I did they would probably just refer to me like we do everyone else. The difference between me and everyone else is that I look at these guys, and see nobodies, BUT understand that they are going to be somebodies. Just like me. Nobody gives us a chance because we don’t look like bodybuilders, and don’t come from money. Tim is a second generation guy, but because of the way he looks, people think he is a janitor and write him off.” He passes through a small security choke point in the hallway, and pushes through them. The hood of his sweatshirt over his head makes the guards want to stop him to check him, but the headphones and the title on his shoulder make them guess twice. He moves through the checkpoint unbothered and shoves open the door leading into the garage area. We are the Nobodies of this industry, and of this company, and look what we are capable of. Tim made a huge entrance, and then an impact in Morocco without being in a match. I came in and won a title that nobody can take from me cleanly, or uncleanly. Maybe it is a blessing that people lost money on me tonight. If people don’t bank on us winning, and people don’t think we are threats, we can’t lose.” He gets to the rental car and throws open the door, tossing the bag and the title into the passenger seat. He looks around and then drops down into the driver’s seat, pulling the keys from his hoodie pocket. ”I don’t care what next week brings. Right now, I’m golden.

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Tunis, Tunisia
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22 May 2015 (7:12 PM)
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On-Camera [Hotel]


”Talk about throwing the Nobodies across the ring from the Somebodies, and seeing if it sells. Last week, I was leaving the show and thinking to myself. I said, Kris, one day you are going to be a somebody, and that is no different from Tim or Johnny. I grabbed a shower back at my, less than five star, hotel and fell into a deep peaceful sleep. I didn’t waste any time dwelling on the fact that another interviewer walked away from us. I didn’t consider the fact that winning a main event was a huge step forward, and now losing in the undercard would ruin all of that progress. Honestly, I didn’t even care what the match was going to end up being this week. All in all, I thought after tossing my a main event, they might just give me the night off. They wouldn’t want to give a guy that they can’t successfully market too much air time, after all. So imagine my surprise when I saw my name, and the names of my partners, across the marquee from Gabriel, Despayre, and Chris Shipman. For the record, I list them in that order because I feel like it goes most intimidating to least intimidating.”

Kris hands money to the woman behind the counter at the small booth at which he stands, and she hands him back a small wooden box. There are engravings in the sides of it. The designs are intricate, and most likely unable to be duplicated perfectly. He nods at the woman with a polite smile, and turns to the camera, holding the box up.

”Never go international without bringing pretty and unique things back home to friends and family.”

He drops his hand, and pushes the box into the front pocket of his hoodie. Despite the heat, his attire doesn’t change. The sleeves of the sweatshirt are merely pushed up, and the hood is lowered instead of on top of his head. All in all, the heat doesn’t seem to bother him at all. The only setback, or course, is that the bottom of the track marks on his arms are visible, at least for those that are closely looking for them.

”I don’t know if you people have heard, but I don’t have many friends. Shit, I don’t really have any friends. The fact that me and the rest of the Nobodies are part of the same match, as a team, is more than a little scary, without even taking a glance across to the other side of the ring. Tim tried to get one-up on Kain last week, and fell short. Johnny, hasn’t even had a match yet. If you look at that, we don’t have a chance going against these guys. These are documented, successful names that we are fighting. How long has Gabriel even held the top prize in this company? I know it is longer than I have even been here. When has Despayre had a bad match? I can’t think of one. Chris Shipman, this dude is walking around two weeks removed from one of the most brutal matches I have ever personally witnessed. Though Shipman fell short to the man I beat last week, it doesn’t change the fact that it is damn impressive that he was up and ready to go, practically the next day. All three of these men are intimidating.”

He shrugs his shoulders, and starts moving towards the camera. He doesn’t stop his approach, instead continuing past the camera as it turns and follows him off to his left. Together, they turn into an alley, not far from the booth. Kris points ahead of himself.

”My hotel is all of one hundred yards down this alley, so I am going to make this short and sweet. All of these men are documented winners. Some might actually have paid some attention to me. I doubt that anyone has much of anything to say about Johnny. My guess is any of them talking about Tim will just mention how good his father was. I am the most decorated of the bunch, and I am not giving them a lot to work with either. I guarantee you one thing, the Nobodies have had a lot more homework to do than the people we are going to be across from, and we have done just that. We know what we are going to be walking into. We know what each man is capable of. We have watched their promos, studied their matches, talked to people that have been around them for a while. The Nobodies are prepared for this match mentally. Physically, I guess we will have to see once the bell rings. In this industry, preparation is key. The guys of Seven Deadly Sins simply do not have the kind of material to work with that we do. Best case scenario, they have me scouted. I am merely one-third of the team though. I can tag out of the match and then they are in the ring with unknown and unfamiliar talent. Right now, they have the edge when it comes to history. However, we have the edge when it comes to knowing what the match is going to look like once it gets started. We can match ourselves up against the right person, for any situation. Gabriel, Despayre, and Chris are going to have to learn that on the fly. I am not going to discount them. You don’t get as noticed as they are without being able to pick things up as they happen inside the ring. What I am saying is, they have a learning curve to account for. We are the guys that come into the match with all the answers. If we can keep it short, then a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money for betting against us. The longer it drags on, the better the chances that we shoot ourselves in the foot.”

He stops walking and turns around, the camera stops short of where he is so that he is now facing it, with the hotel in plain sight just twenty or so yards from them.

”I am not saying that it is going to be easy. I am not saying that it is an inevitability. What I am saying is, come time for Climax Control, maybe you people should be ready to see the Nobodies take a step towards becoming Somebodies by taking out the man on top of the mountain. We have everything to gain. They have everything to lose. If they lose, the world will call it an upset. If we lose, everyone will call it common sense, because nobody thinks we stand a chance. It is going to be our job to make sure we prove people wrong.”

He moves forward like he is going to give the cameraman a shove, like he normally does, but stops short. The camera visibly jumps as the man braced for impact, but it was all a joke. Kris laughs lightly, and then gives a small nod, turning towards his hotel and leaving the camera behind.

 (OOC: I feel that I should mention, that Kris' comments about Kain's promo are from the one from the first RP period as I not believe in reading current RPs while writing my own. I only read after I am done with mine and it has been posted.)


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Los Angeles, California
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28 April 2015 [2:37 PM]
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[Off-Camera] Kris Halich's Home


On the island style rectangle counter top in the center of his kitchen rests an acoustic guitar. Beneath it, a layer of plastic wrap that covers the island and goes all the way down to the floor. It is cut in such a manner that when it gets to the floor, it separates, in all four directions, covering the nearby parts of the floor. On the left side of the neck of the guitar is a jar full of discolored water. On the right, there are small plastic circular containers, not taller than an inch and not even an inch in diameter. Inside each was a different color. Just below the containers were blotches where different colors had been mixed to create a new one. The only person standing in the room is Kris Halich, hovered over top the body of the guitar, dragging a thin paint brush across the face. Finishing his stroke, he dips the brush lightly in water and then drags it across the front of his khaki shorts to dry it, something he had clearly done dozens of times over the course of his project from the discoloration of the area of his pants. He dips it lightly into a different color, and starts to trace around his previous stroke. Before he can raise the brush, footsteps can be heard on the gravel in front of the house. It was dead silent inside, as not to have anything startle him with the precision lines he needed to make to get the project moving along. The front door was open, and by the time he looked, his landlord was standing directly in the doorway. Luckily for him, that landlord was none other than his niece, Amarissa Moretti, the only person that really knew everything about him. She had demanded that he live in this house, instead of in his car, bouncing around from place to place. He had agreed, only once he realized that he would be coming back to SCW, not originally noticing that it was going to mean being on a world tour immediately. He lowers his eyes back to the body of the guitar and continues to paint while addressing her.

Kris
"What brings you by?"

She shakes her head at him and laughs while she steps through the living room and into the kitchen to see what he is working on.

Amarissa
"I was in the vineyard just making sure everything is good, and everyone was actually doing something instead of just standing around collecting a paycheck."

He laughs, more focused on the paintbrush than he was on the conversation.

Kris
"What does it really matter if they are just standing around? It isn't going to affect your pocket book in any noticeable way..."

On one hand, he had a point. Amari's grandparents had made sound business choices. They passed down all of their holdings to her and her mother, and between the two of them, they had made similarly successful decisions. The family had more money than Kris cared to know about, and somehow his brother managed to convince one of them to marry his dumb ass. Amari slaps his shoulder as he raises the brush, wanting to show her dissatisfaction at his jab, but not wanting to mess up his work.

Amarissa
"Paying people to stand around is just like throwing money in the garbage. Who do you think I am, you?"

Kris drops the brush into the water instead of dipping it and wipes away sweat from his forehead as he laughs harder than before. He steps to the opposite side of the island and leans back against the counter along the wall, facing her.

Kris
"That was one time... and it wasn't garbage, it was kindling."

Amari shakes her head disapprovingly and sighs, putting her palms on the island, but not anywhere near anything remotely painted.

Amarissa
"Whatever. Same thing."

She goes to continue the small talk but Kris raises his hand and stops her from talking. She shrugs and stares blankly at her.

Kris
"We can act like you came here randomly just to bullshit, but seeing as it is the afternoon and you are unfathomably busy, there is actually a reason you came. What's up? Don't lie."

She sighs more heavily this time and raises both of her hands, palms towards him, and spilling the truth when she speaks.

Amarissa
"I heard a rumor that you made good with Jason a few days ago. I was wondering if that meant that maybe I wasn't your only lifeline to the family now. Like, maybe if we are talking and Gabby, Jason, or Elena and the baby come up you aren't going to storm out and be a dick about things for a week. That was worth a drop in, instead of a text message you could blow off and say you never got it."

He tries to suppress a smile that creeps across his face. He was guilty of doing just that on a number of occasions that they had texted each other. It was normally to get out of doing her favors when she tried to trick him into responding by asking in the middle of a different conversation. Suddenly, his phone would have problems and he wouldn't get back to her for a day or more. Or at least that was the story he told. He shrugs in response to her words though as the smile stops trying to force it's way out and into sight.

Kris
"He visited me in Italy, just like you did. He told me I was going to win, and wished me luck. We kind of put some shit to rest. I didn't get a chance to talk to him afterwards like I did you, after the show. So, I dropped in when I got off the plane to show him the belt."

Amari drops her head, but keeps her eyes locked on him. Both her tone and her face are very condescending.

Amarissa
"... and that thank you took the form of a random pick-up game of basketball and a few hours hanging out in the garage playing music?"

He crosses his arms in front of his chest while having a small laugh. He tries to roll his eyes and blow it off, but his tone of voice doesn't pull off the message he is trying to put out. Instead his words drip with sarcasm instead of ringing true.

Kris
"Yeah... sometimes thank yous happen like that. You know... "

She shakes her head with her lips wearing a smirk.

Amarissa
"Nah, I don't know. I don't apologize. Somebody gets butt hurt about something I do, to hell with them until they realize I am right."

Kris doesn't even allow for a second to pass between her words and his own.

Kris
"That sounds like a positive world view."

She scoffs and reaches to the counter behind her, grabbing a hand towel from it and throwing it at him, hitting him in the face. Her voice raises, but it is playful.

Amarissa
"That's really rich coming from the homeless addict kid that won't talk to his family because someone got pregnant!"

Kris manages to catch the towel as it falls and quickly side arms it back towards Amari. She manages to duck out of the way, having it hit the wall behind her instead of making any contact with her. She makes a teasing face and winks at him.

Kris
"Ay, I never said I was any better. I was just calling a spade a spade."

Amarissa
"So when are you leaving again? I don't really know how SCW Supercards work. Isn't it like a few weeks before you have to leave? My mom was thinking about everyone getting together."

Kris looked up, trying to hold back another smile so that his words actually came out sincere. He was happy that he wasn't going to make it, but he didn't want his explanation to come out as an excuse.

Kris
"Actually, I am headed out late tonight. I have to beat the jetlag once I get there so that I am not totally shit in the ring. The guy said some pretty mean shit last week. I have to be of sound mind to take a run at him verbally."

Amari shakes her head, and waves that thought off.

Amarissa
"You don't need time to practice running your mouth, it's practically all you do."

Again Kris doesn't let even a second pass before he retorts.

Kris
"Better than what your mouth spends all day doing..."

Amari takes serious offense to his words and comes around the island. Kris jumps into action, sprinting around the opposite side as the circles. The two try to fake each other out from opposite sides of the island, Kris trying to escape and Amari trying to anticipate which way he is going to go.

Amarissa
"Between you and Thad, the entire world probably thinks that I am a slut. From you making those kinds of jokes and him running his mouth about our sex life on Twitter, I am going to end up stabbing one of you."

Kris holds up his left hand.

Kris
"Not it.... OOOOOOOHHHH now you have to stab your boyfriend."

Amari rolls her eyes and steps away from the island, moving back towards the living room area. Kris starts to follow her out, hesitating and keeping his distance in case it is a trick.

Amarissa
"You know... it is never nice to get on my bad side when you are about to go to a foreign country. Who knows what you could come back home to?"

Kris
"A dead horse head in my bed? It's probably less scary if it is already there when I get home though. I mean, waking up next to it might be a little scary, but just walking in on it... meh."

He shrugs his shoulders and Amari turns back towards him.

Amarissa
"Seriously, when you get back, all of us should get together. We haven't had a chance to celebrate and congratulate my mother and your brother on their baby. Granted, we were both pissed. But now that you are done throwing a tantrum, I think it is time."

Kris rolls his eyes and reluctantly nods in agreement, almost as if it pains him to do so. Amari moves through the living room, and towards the door, only stopping to look at him over her shoulder as she passes through the doorway.

Amarissa
"Don't fuck up and do something stupid like lose that title while you are in Morocco."

She doesn't wait for a response before walking out, down the stairs, and working her way up the driveway and towards the vineyard. Kris shakes his head, waiting for her to be far enough out of earshot.

Kris
"Total slut..."

He laughs and turns back to the kitchen to get his mind off of his family problems and his looming title defense, and back onto something productive.


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Casablanca, Morocco
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1 May 2015 [10:51 PM]
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[On-Camera]


Kris walks alongside an alley, the camera on his right. He stretches out his right hand to the wall next to him. His fingertips glide along the uneven bricks that make up the back wall to one of the houses he walks past. As his fingers near the edge of it, where the house is separated from the one next to it by mere inches, he taps the bricks with his index finger and looks up at the building, seemingly in awe of it, despite its overall lack of qualities most would find aesthetically pleasing.

Kain, I feel like you have built me up in your head as something that I am not. I'm not going to lie and demean you by saying that I didn't care enough about what you had to say last week that I didn't watch your little promo. The only genuinely negative thing I have to say about it is that it really is kind of boring when you just sit and rant. If you are going to go on as long as you do, at least move around. Give that camera guy some exercise instead of making him a glorified tripod. I mean, look at me. I am out on the streets most of the time, I am walking around with some nobodies in recent weeks. It's more than just the way you deliver your message though. We aren't talking about fighting over just any title here. We are talking about the SCW Internet Championship. I guess I could argue that you are living up to it's namesake by sitting in your empty room and ranting at a piece of technology. There are millions of keyboard warriors on the internet that do the same thing you do in your promos. I choose to interpret it a different way though. I choose to interpret it as you shut yourself away in a room, and I stand out here with the people. I am always out here, for the fans, for the people of the country we are in, for the people that like me, for the people that hate me, and for the people that don't recognize me to see with their own two eyes. I do not spend my time indoors ranting about a championship. As far as I am concerned the SCW Internet Championship belongs in the public eye. That is what the internet does. It brings things that people had never seen before, all in one place to be viewed. That is why you see me hyping this match on Twitter. That is why you see me cutting promos from the streets of whatever city we are in. That is why, every week, you see me on Climax Control busting my ass just to get thirty seconds worth of air time. I am doing something that a CHAMPION does. I am showing off this belt to the world and getting it on television for those that tune into the show.

He starts to walk again, a few passersby walk the other way, and Kris nods at them as they pass between him and the camera. Several seconds later a boy on a bicycle cuts through the frame as well. The alleyway is narrow, so much so that even standing against the wall across from Kris, the lens cannot see below the man's waist. The look on his face is one of resentful judgement, having heard his opponent's claims last week, and obviously displeased by some of the accusations.

Do you honestly think that you did the same when you held it? Where is your internet presence, Kain? Where are your autograph signings and public appearances? Where is your on screen presence when you aren't actually in the ring competing? From where I sit, all of those things are nonexistent. You talked last week like this belt is yours and I stole it. I am telling you this week that if the way you have acted while you held this belt is the way you are going to act if you beat me in a few days, then you don't even deserve the chance to fight for it. This is not some championship to hide away. It doesn't have history like the Roulette or SCW Championships. When I won this title I knew that it didn't have the same aura of accomplishment that the others in this company do. No, this title's history is being written everyday. This title's prestige is growing with every fan that sees it. The person holding this championship is the one responsible for making it live up to its name. You held it, and you failed to do that. Now it's mine, and I am not going to make the same mistake you did. I may be a nobody. I may be a guy that gets cut off during interviews, or even inside the ring in the middle of a sentence, but if you notice, for those brief moments the cameras are on me, they are also on the SCW Internet Championship. I have watched every promo that you have made since holding this championship. There is not a single one where you aim to reach out to the people it represents. The defining example of that is you talking down to every person you go against and refer to yourself as if you are god-like. This title is not for someone like that. This title is for the internet and those people are mostly average people. These are people that just do their job, go home to their families, surf whatever websites they frequent, maybe take in an SCW show or laugh at the lot of us bickering on social media. These are the constituents of the SCW Internet Championship. They don't need to be led by a god. They need to be led by someone like them. Look at me, I am nothing if not average by definition. I am not a larger than life body builder like you see in this industry. I am not someone who likens themselves to a superhero, or tries overtly hard to be a villain. I am not supernatural. I am not unreasonably gifted in the technical aspects of this business. People that tune in look at me and see someone that they can relate to. The only gift that I really have is speed and the lack of common sense that tells most people in this business that using your body like a wrecking ball, without thought to injury, is high risk and often for no reward. I call myself a nobody because if you put me in the middle of any crowd, or in any spot in a police line-up and ask a person to pick out the wrestler in the group, I am not likely to be even considered. I am an every man. I am the very definition of the average person on the internet. Therefore, I have infinitely more right to hold this championship that you do. So saying things like I stole it from you, is a joke that isn't even worth laughing at.

At the point that he started to become heated, Kris cuts himself off. Indeed, if his last statement was meant as a joke, he proves himself correct in refraining to find any humor in it. Instead, there is just a look of annoyance left. Kris reaches the end of the alley, and turns to his right, running his hand along the wall with his back to the camera. The camera slowly moves around to his left, coming as far as to be directly next to him.

Do you need some kind of proof of the fact that I am just a normal guy, Kain? Look at me, look at my surroundings. Here I am, staying in, and walking around in the alleyways south side of the city. I am not knocking the place, these streets have history. There are shops here that sell anything and everything and the culture of the country is all around me. However, look at some of the other people on this tour. People are put up in the five star hotels in the center of the city that most people cannot afford to even look at. People are undoubtedly going to talk about The Corniche, or even Old Medina. People are going to put themselves in front of a camera in front of beautiful buildings like The King Hassan II Mosque, or the Mahkama du Pacha. Look at me though, I am not one of those people that come to a country and throw around money to experience the best of the best. I am in a foreign country and I want to be in a place where there are others like me. Sure, there are worse places to go in this city. I could travel a little further east and be in a part of the city where I run the risk of being mugged because I am obviously a tourist, and tourists have money. I am not trying to convey the message that I surround myself with the worst of the worst. I am not dumb enough to think that I fit in with that group of people, when my face is on television every week. Make no mistake about it though, right here, in this part of the city, is where I am at home, away from home. You might see me as something that I am not, but I know exactly who I am. Undoubtedly you have an opinion of me that you have formed from the things I said last week, the things I said before our last match, and the things I did inside the ring with you. I might even go as far as to think that you may have even looked at my whole stretch in SCW in scouting me out before our last match. What you probably don't understand, or would rather not delve into, is that you have but a small picture of who I am. People know my last name. They know my brother. The fact that they relate my name with his, does not at all mean that they relate my personality to his. My last name is not who I am. My brother is driven by possessions, flashy things, flashy family, flashy companies. Me? I live out of a suitcase, even when I am at home. I don't own things, because I am the kind of person that doesn't want anything weighing me down. I am like this because of the way I grew up. You don't know about that though do you? You want a clearer picture? Then listen up.

Kris puts his back against the wall as they near the middle point of the alley. He makes sure to back up as far as he can, with the man operating the camera doing the same on the opposite wall of the alley. A few people pass between them, with Kris nodding to them with a silent greeting as they murmur apologies for interrupting the shot. Kris sighs heavily, and lowers his eyes to the ground as he speaks.

Why don't I fit in with the poorest of the poor in the world? I wasn't born into that group. See, my parents had this nice little house right on the beach in La Jolla, California. I was born in that house and I was forced to stay in it until I was eighteen years old. My parents were smart enough to buy something in their price range when they were in their early twenties. By the time I was born, that shit was bought and paid for, and we were stuck there, no matter what happened. What happened you are asking? My little sister died when my brother and I were left at home before he was even a teenager. My mom spent more time trying to pick up random guys at bars after that because my father spent all his time outside staring at the beach. Next thing I know, moms is in trouble with the cops, she goes away for years for stealing more money than she knew what to do with and blowing it on any guy that would give her ten minutes of attention. She went away, and what was dad to do? Who was he going to take his frustrations out on nightly when he realized just how many pieces his life had shattered into? Who was he going to go see in the middle of the night with his wife not around to perform her duties? Am I painting a clear enough picture for you when it concerns me as a teenager?

He seems to shake all of those memories out of his head, as pushes himself away from the wall. He starts moving down the alley again, like he is attempting to leave those memories in the alley behind him. As they walk, he seems to become slightly more relieved, allowing his eyes to travel up from the ground as he starts to recall more recent times in his life.

My brother forced me to stay in that house, and dropped out of school in order to make sure that I had food on the table to eat, even if he had to work so much that he was unable to be there to protect me from whatever else happened inside. Of course, by the time that I could leave, what was there to do for someone like me? I picked up a guitar. I spent hours playing it until I was good enough for some people to let me drink in bars for the night before I was of age to do so. Now, this next part I really don't have to paint for you. If you know anything about me, you already know my drug problems. If you have taken a single look at the bend at my elbows you have seen the damage done to them that will continue to be a scar for the rest of my life. You have heard the stories my brother tells about the several times he has forced me into rehab. You have heard that last time I left SCW it was exactly for that reason. That time in my life, from drugs, to homelessness, to wandering around without any contact with the world is very much public knowledge. I have problems, and have had an upbringing like millions of people in this world. I have never had one thing handed to me in my life. If you take a second to look into my history you will find that the percent chance of me ending up on television is vastly overshadowed by the chance I ended up dead in a ditch or alleyway before I made it to 25. Yet, here I am. And I want you to take a look at my current surroundings and understand why I choose to walk around these places. An alleyway like this, surrounded by normal people buzzing in the streets and going about their lives, is the place that, statistically speaking, I should have died. I am just like any one of them. I am not a god. I am not a king. I am not anything but normal. If you doubt that, even now, then there is no hope of trying to reason with you. I am the very type of person that the SCW Internet Championship is made to represent. You, are not.

As if to make his point more emphatic, he points to himself during the former part of his final statement and at the camera during the latter. He had a tendency of talking to his opponents, instead of to the audience directly, and he hesitates for just a moment realizing how uneasy some of his comments might have made the viewers. He shrugs it off though, being there was nothing he could do about it now. He motions to the cameraman to follow him as he starts moving again, this time seeming to actually show signs of his usual personality. There is a playfulness in his tone of voice.

I think what caught me off guard about what you said last week was that you said you were going to, "deny me my dream". In all of your ranting and raving about how you were going to come back stronger than ever before, that I should be scared of how determined you are, that I was going to underestimate you, that was the thing that rung most false in my ears. My dream is not this championship. My dream is not any championship. My dream is not this company. My dream is not any company in particular. When I decided that this was that I wanted to do with my life, and started training to be able to outlast people just with mere stamina in the ring, it was just so that I could get paid to do something that I enjoy doing. What people like you, people that put themselves on a pedestal, don't realize is that not everyone is up there on top of one with you. I am not aiming to be the best of all time. I have no delusions of grandeur that say holding this title even puts me in contention for that kind of position in this industry. I am a kid, who is just happy to be able to step inside the ring and do my thing for something like twenty minutes a night. My thing? Most people really can't stand it. When my music hits or my face comes up on the big screen I am normally booed or ignored. None of that bothers me. I am not trying to project some kind of bad guy persona. I am just a guy that will do anything to win inside the ring. If that means taking a little shortcut by removing a turnbuckle bad, grabbing onto the ropes for some extra torque on a submission, or pulling your tights to get some leverage on a pin, you bet your ass I am going to do it. Each win, and each good match keeps me in this company for another week. My dream, is just existing here. The only way that you can take that away from me is to kill me, and I think, even with your talks of sending me to hell, that you wouldn't dare cross that line. Break my bones if you are so inclined. I can roll down the entrance ramp in a wheelchair, with a computer narrating what I cannot vocalize like Stephen Hawking. I will still be living my dream, because the only thing that I need, is to be here.

Kris pulls his head back into his shoulders and looks oddly up and to his right, using his right arm to mimic using the joystick of an electric wheelchair. He holds the position for a moment to allow everyone to get the visual of him, and then raises both hands to the camera, pointing at it with both index fingers to get everyone's attention before walking backwards, facing the camera with his arms still pointing towards it.

To you, holding a championship, in this case the SCW Internet Championship, is something that makes you a better person. It allows you to take another step up a ladder that you want to be on top of. You don't understand me at all, because you don't know what it is like to be completely happy with what you currently have. You say you fought, and clawed your way into the position that you are in now. If that were true, the fact that you are even here would be enough for you. Instead, you are still climbing that ladder looking for some kind of happiness, acknowledgement, or reassurance that what you think about yourself is what others think about you. If you truly knew what it was like to fight, scratch, claw, and steal your way all the way through life, you wouldn't need that validation. I am validated by being here, and being able to talk to the world. I get all of the recognition and acknowledgement that I need just by seeing that I am on the card, or scheduled to appear each week. You scream that you want this title back, but it only comes off as a desperate cry for attention. If you want it that bad, then come and take it. The thing about being happy about where I am in life, is that I go into situations level-headed. You may say that you aren't going to come in angry, and make mistakes. You may say that you are stronger and more focused than before. The fact remains, once you feel that the thing you want the most is slipping away from you during this match, you are going to lose your head and start making mistakes. Me? If you start to kick my ass, it is merely what I signed up for when I put my name on the SCW contract. If I lose, it is all just part of the business. Your intensity and your lust for acknowledgement is what is going to make sure that I leave Morocco with the SCW Internet Championship though. In the worst case scenario for me in this match, my head is still clear. When all hope seems lost, I am still planning out my next move like I am at the ringing of the opening bell. You will fail to get a rise out of me, like I have of you. When you are laying on the mat beaten, I want you to realize that it was your fault, not mine.

Kris finally stops walking, shaking his head, almost in disappointment. There is really no joy on his face as he stares straight into the eyes of anyone watching. It was as if he was about to give a eulogy.

I gave you the tools, Kain....

He raises his closed fist out to the camera.

For your promo.

As he speaks he unclenches his index finger from his fist and holds it upright.

For your approach to the last match.

He raises his middle finger alongside the first, indicating the two tools he had listed so far.

For my approach to the last match.

His ring finger extends and joins the other two.

For a clear picture of me personally.

He extends his pinky.

...and finally, I let you inside my head to tell you how I am going to beat you this time.

The thumb of his outstretched hand finally raises, having listed all of his thoughts. He turns his hand around, holding his his palm out, with all five digits extended.

That is five messages I have tried to relay, and if you followed them all, maybe you walk out the champion. If not, then it is your own damn fault you lost, and I am not going to lose any sleep feeling guilty that you may be staring up at your hotel ceiling late Sunday night, lacking any validation for how hard your tried to beat me, and failed yet again.

He steps closer to the camera so that only his face is visible. The walls of the alley disappear behind his head, which is half-shadowed.

I am Kris.

His smirk turns into a full smile, and his eyes narrow.

A Nobody Amongst Nobodies.

His smile widens, hoping that people understand where he is going with his choice of words.

....and I have spoken.

 10 April 2015
=============
Milan, Italy
=============
Off-Camera


[Inner Thoughts]
Amy was not lying in the least when she tweeted that

she kicked my ass in the gym today. She hits as hard as a guy that is

three times her size, and has a zero moral compass when it comes to

someone like me asking her to hurt me. Maybe I reached out to her the

other day because, in the back of my head, I already knew this. Maybe it

was just that she was really the only thing close to a friend that I had

in SCW. It seems like the rest of everyone on the roster, and now even

the interviewers, have written me off already. I couldn't get a word in

after Delia cut my interview off. I did not even get a simple "Sorry

Kris, I have to go. Good luck in your match!" from Stoner, even though

he has been the one guy in the back I have talked to for every single

interview, on every Climax Control, since I started in this company.



As he steps off of the elevator, he looks around. From hotel

to hotel, country after country, he could never remember which way his

room was. In all honesty, he never really spent any time in them

anyways. It was a place for sleeping, nothing else. Being stuck in a

room day after day, and minute after minute, seemed like a waste when

they were visiting places on this world tour that he had never been to,

and probably would not get to see again. He looks down at the room

keycard in his hand and nods, then looks up at the sign in front of him

to make sure he is on the right floor before turning in the direction of

his room. For some reason, he always got stuck at the end of the

hallway. He was nearly always on the opposite end of the ice machine and

vending machines, and about as far away from the central hallway

elevators as he could possibly be. It was just his luck that this was no

different, even in Italy.

To be honest, for the first few weeks, it didn't even

bother me. I mean, I went into that Roulette Championship match billing

myself as an unknown. I told everyone that it was going to be to my

advantage to do so. Unfortunately, I was terribly wrong in that

assumption. What made it worse was being put through that damn dumpster.

Is there a more embarassing way to lose a match? I mean really. That is

why I needed Amy this time around. Aside from all the flirtation, that

is in no way mild, she knew this business better than anyone. She knows

what it means to hold a title, and has done so. I am pretty sure she has

won most of them in SCW, but I don't know. I haven't been around long

enough to pick up on all of the history, and studying it for curiosity

would just be a waste of time when I could take a train and see things

that I have only seen in the textbooks from high school. Fucking high

school man, that feels like forever ago. Seven years... and where did

they go?

He shakes the thought out of his head as he reaches his door

at the end of the hallway. He turns the key card over in his hand before

figuring out the way it slides into the door. He does so and the light

flashes red a few seconds before it goes green and the lock clicks open.

The door isn't even fully closed behind him before he reaches down for

the bottom edge of his shirt and pulls it off, despite every muscle in

his body straining and telling him not to.

This soreness will heal up before the match. Amy had

really followed through with what she promised. I threw every move that

I have in my arsenal at her. We planned through every circumstance in

which I would use any move that I typically do in a match, and I had her

counter every single one of them. I told her what was coming, and I told

her to not hold back when it came to stopping me from doing it. The

bruises? Those will stick around. I guess I should be thankful that I

wear those long , form-fitting shirts in my matches to hide the track

marks. It will help to mask the bruises so that they don't become

targets for this Internet Champion to wail on as soon as the bell rings.

There was a point to this kind of training that I couldn't get from

scouting, watching matches, or watching this guy's promos. Doing all of

that will help me beat him, but will not help me beat myself. It is all

about improvement. It is all about knowing what it is I am going to try

in the match, and knowing the feeling that it is going to go wrong. It

is not about being able to take a punch, or a kick, or some technical

move. I can take a beating pretty well, I learned that before I was even

seven. I can get up from those beatings. What I can't do, is see my

errors before I make them. That is what Amy did for me today. For every

step I made, she showed me how someone would counter.... and by show me,

I mean put me on my ass in the middle of the ring, holding whatever body

part she targeted as the pain flowed through my body. How many times

did she knock the breath out of me? I wouldn't dare try to count. How

many times did she make me tap out? More than I will ever admit to

anyone. How much did I grow as a competitor? I guess that I will have to

wait and see on Sunday.

He moves across the room and tosses his shirt on the couch.

There was a weird quiet in the room. Normally Clarissa was there with

him, but she had other obligations. When your interviewing job keeps you

in the states, your clients are left to their own devices in a foreign

country. Sure, she would call him an hour or so before the show. She

would hit him with the pep talk she thinks he needs. At the end of the

day though, she isn't here so it didn't matter. He wasn't going to dwell

on it for a second. He kicks off his training shoes, putting them in

front of the couch and moving towards the bathroom.

If I walk into that match and I lose, who knows when

the next title shot comes around? Someone in management is clearly

paying attention to me, or else I wouldn't have gotten two title shots

within a month of each other. That, at the very least, means that

someone in the company is paying attention, and liking what they see.

Does that voice drown out the rest of the others in my head? Absolutely

not. Is that going to make the roster take notice of me? Probably not. I

know that most of the roster probably doesn't sit in front of a computer

screen and watch everyone else's promos every week. I didn't used to,

but I did for the last couple shows. Something that Krissy said before

facing Roxi the third time has stuck with me since. She said winning the

Internet Championship is a career death sentence. Now, I am in this

match, and I am torn. On one hand, I have failed twice in this company

when gold was on the line, and once in another company. I want nothing

more than to break that curse and get that voice in the back of my head

to shut up when it tells me that I will choke every time. One the other

hand, maybe it would actually hinder me if I did win. I haven't been

able to shake that thought, no matter how hard I have tried. Will people

think of me as a mediocre champion, if I win it? Is that any better than

people not thinking about me at all? If I had to ask a random person on

the street if they would rather be faceless in a crowd, or seen as below

average, what would they say? I haven't found the answer myself. Maybe

someone can find it for me.

He looks in the bathroom mirror, taking inventory of the

bruises on his back. They were already going from the puffy red swelling

from first contact, to ever-darkening circles. The one on his left side,

from when he had spring-boarded off the middle rope, looking for a

roundhouse kick, but being speared out of the air by a woman a little

under half his side was already a shade of green, well on its way to

purple. There were only three days before the show. Was that enough time

for it to stop being sensitive? Maybe so. Maybe not. He turns around,

and reaches behind the curtain of the shower, turning the dial until the

water that poured from the faucet was lukewarm. A cold shower sounded

painful. A warm shower felt like it would just make the swelling worse.

He drops his work-out shorts, checking a second mark on the back of his

right thigh. He had set up for the SmackShot and taken down hard knees

to the back of his leg. Coming off a full forward rotation, the blow had

put him on his back and broken one of the straps of his knee brace.

Before removing his boxers to get in, he noticed the lack of towels in

the vicinity. Italy hotels were silly like that, or at least this one

appeared to be. They were in the bedroom closet. He exits the bathroom,

leaving the shower running, and tosses his shorts onto the couch next to

his shirt.

Faceless or not, it is going to be a huge setback if I

lose this match. I am not going to be dumb enough to tell them that this

time in my promo this time. I went in doubtful and then when I lost,

they all had a reason to laugh. I am done with that shit. If I lose, I

am going to lose after ripping a guy to shreds. That makes sense, right?

Here I am, beaten and bruised from trying make sure I can tear him to

shreds inside a ring. Why would I give him the benefit of not doing that

to him if he actually watches my little promo video. Sure, those things

are mainly for the fans. I doubt most of the roster pays them any mind.

However, if this guy is dumb enough to watch it, I want that little

nugget of doubt to creep into his head. I used to think that I didn't

care about the mental game. Maybe I only care a little now because my

skill inside a ring hasn't been up to par. This week, I am going to

change that, even if that is the only thing that I manage to do.



He turns from the couch with a smile. Even if they were just

his own words in his head, that nobody would ever hear, he felt better

talking himself through it. It is a short distance from the small living

area to the bedroom, and he pushes the door open. It is only then that

he realizes that he hasn't been alone in the room the whole time, as he

had thought. He hadn't been alone at all.

JASON HALICH:I was starting to think that

maybe they let me into the wrong room.

Jason was sitting back on the bed. His hands were folded

across his lap, with his legs up on the bed as he leaned against the

headboard. There was that smug smile on his face that seemed to always

appear when he was getting the better of someone. Kris couldn't have

been able to recreate his own reaction. The shock of his brother being

there, in a foreign country no less, caught him completely off guard.

For a few moments he stutters over words, before remembering their last

exchange. At once Kris' face grows dark. The smile fades from his face.

The thoughts that he had been walking himself through since he entered

the room where now the furthest thing from his mind.

KRISTOPHER HALICH: What are you doing in

Milan? Better yet, don't you have a family to be taking care of back in

Los Angeles? I told you more than once already, we aren't friends, we

aren't brothers. Get out of my room.

Jason's expression doesn't change. It was like he had

already walked through this conversation in his head before Kris even

arrived. The younger Halich's words don't catch him by surprise, or

offend him at all. His voice comes out just as smug as his expression.



JASON HALICH: I am pretty sure that a DNA

test would say that we are brothers, as for friends, we are a lot more

than that. I get that you are pissed right now, but you will come

around, you always do. I just wanted to see how you were holding up. You

were kind of being a little bitch last time we talked. You're going into

a title match now, I figured I would make sure your mind was right.

Kris rolls his eyes and moves to the closet. He pulls it

open, trying to mask the aggression that was flowing through him. He

reaches up to the top shelf and grabs a towel, before shutting the door

gently. He leans back against the door once it is closed, but doesn't

give his brother the benefit of looking at him.

KRISTOPHER HALICH: I'm fine. More than

fine, even. I am great. I am fucking ecstatic. I am a real ball of

amazing, Jason. Now get out. That flight back to LA will be a killer.

Jason holds up his hands in front of his chest, palms facing

Kris. It is a plea of innocence. Of course, Kris knew it meant that he

didn't want to fight.

JASON HALICH: Listen Kris, honestly, I

wanted to come and apologize. You won't return a text, or answer a

phone. I didn't want the apology to fall on deaf ears either. You

deserved for me to come here and talk to you, even if you don't want to

talk to me. So if you listen, and let me say what I have to say, I will

get out of your way, and get back on my flight to Los Angeles tonight.

It is worth two days of flying to be able to tell you this to your face.

Kris shakes his head. The knuckles on his right hand go

white with how hard he grips the towel. If he was going to try and keep

his emotions off of his face, he was going to need to take it out on

something. Luckily for the towel, it didn't have feelings.

KRISTOPHER HALICH: Alright then Jason, say

what you have to say. You have five minutes.

JASON HALICH: That is more than enough, as

long as you don't turn this into a screaming match. If you act like a

bitch, then you are going to have to allow me some more time.

Kris would blame Jason's asshole sense of humor on the fact

that he had made a great life for himself. He would like to say that his

dick attitude came after all of the successes of his adult life.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Jason had learned sarcasm around

the time that Kris started to be able to vividly remember things as a

child. Jason had always been like this. If anything, he had lightened up

over time.

KRISTOPHER HALICH: By my count, you just

wasted about thirty seconds of your five minutes,and you still have yet

to get to a point worth listening to.

It was odd. Kris didn't realize that the same tone that

Jason just used to irritate him, just came out of his own mouth. It was

the same kind of sarcastic jab. He almost despised himself because of

it.

JASON HALICH: Point taken. I won't

bullshit you then. You have no right to be mad about Elena, or any of

her kids, or my adopting Gabby. It is childish. You are an adult. What

do you want me to do, adopt you now? That ship as sailed Kris. Would it

have worked back when it was just me and you in San Diego? Maybe. I

don't think that a judge would have granted an eighteen year old kid

full custody of a thirteen year old. At best, they would have opened a

child abuse case, and they would have sent you to some orphanage. We had

absentee parents. We had a home that was just above being condemned that

was filled with more empty beer bottles than it was items of food. They

would have sent you away if we tried to do anything about the situation.

Would that have really helped anything? In that house, after a while,

and yeah, there were a few years that it got really bad, but by the time

you were fifteen or sixteen, it was more or less just the two of us in

that house. You weren't my kid legally, but I have always thought of you

as a shit load more important than just a brother. I know that,

somewhere inside that thick head of yours, you know that.

Kris had to turn his head to look away now. Averting his

eyes wasn't going to be enough to keep the emotion off of his face. He

turned away, simply to hide his face, and when he tried to form words,

he had to stop because he knew they weren't going to come out as cool

and collected as he wanted them to. He wouldn't be able to just blow

that off. Everything that he knew, but had pushed to the back of his

head suddenly flooded over all of the irrational bullshit, and hatred,

that he created in the last few months. Jason hesitated for a few

moments, but then the realization set in that Kris wasn't going to

respond to him. He sighs heavily, and pulls his legs off of the bed, now

looking at the floor. The sarcastic tone in his voice fades and is

replaced by one of genuine sorrow.

JASON HALICH: I fucked up Kris. I should

have told you the minute that I knew Elena was pregnant. Honestly, we

were keeping it quiet, and still haven't mentioned it to anyone other

than immediately family, in case she loses it. It was a way of

protecting her, not cutting you out. That isn't an excuse though. Elena

told Amari on the same day, and if I had to guess, she was the one that

told you. You are the only one that would really understand her feelings

on that. I mean, I am sure you two kind of felt the same about it. I saw

the way that she trashed Elena's office after she got the news. I have

been scared to mention it because I had no idea what you would do.

He pauses, and shakes his head in disappointment. Kris turns

just far enough to be able to see it out of the corner of his eye. If he

had any doubts about his brother's sincerity, they washed away when he

saw that gesture. Although, he still couldn't find the words to say what

it was that he felt he needed to say, and Jason didn't look like he was

finished yet either. If Kris were to cut him off now, he may never know

what else he had to say. They did not have moments like these often. In

fact, Kris could count them on one hand.

JASON HALICH: Look, Kris, we already had

so many problems. You were already pissed about the adoption. You were

pissed that Elena and I got married so quickly. You thought I was moving

on without you. It doesn't matter how many times I tell you that it

isn't true, I can't change the way you feel. That is up to you to do.

Jason brushes off his pants and then stands up from the bed.

He walks over to Kris and puts a hand on his shoulder. That is really

the only time that Kris becomes self-conscious about the track marks on

his arms. It was this kind of closeness that he had been conditioned to

be terrified of.

JASON HALICH: The only thing that I can do

is apologize for all of it. I take responsibility for everything. I

changed my whole life around, and you were practically treated like any

other person in the world that doesn't know me. I didn't talk to you, so

it was like you were anyone on my roster. I treated you like I knew your

name, but didn't give a damn about you personally. I'm sorry little

brother. You deserved better. You have every reason to be pissed off

because I treated you like that. When I came to you last week, I hadn't

stopped to think about it from your perspective. I came at you angry. I

didn't try to understand you.

Kris holds back his words. Anything that he had to say right

now would be clouded. If he said that he wasn't angry anymore, it would

be a lie. If he said that it was alright, it might not be once he has

time to stew about it when Jason was gone. The way he felt in this

moment was not going to be indicative of how he would feel after he had

time to process everything. He wanted nothing more than to hug his

brother and say that none of it mattered, but he didn't want to wish he

could take it back later. So, instead, he said nothing. He bit his

bottom lip for a moment and then nodded. He tries as hard as he can to

muster some of the sarcasm in his voice from earlier.


KRISTOPHER HALICH: Good Jason. Great. By my

count though, your five minutes is up. I have a shower to take and

people to meet for dinner. If you don't mind.

Jason nods, and pulls his hand back. Kris motions towards

the door for him to go, and Jason doesn't hesitate to start moving

towards it. Most of Kris' brain was telling him to stop his brother and

just bury the buillshit, but he was never good at listening to that part

of himself. He was always one to listen to the little devil on his

shoulder. It was part of the reason he titled himself as the,

"Professional Addict Fuck-Up" on Twitter. He follows his brother out of

the room, and the two make their way through the small living area. As

Jason reaches the door, he does turn to Kris, who is heading into the

bathroom.

JASON HALICH: Don't overthink this match,

Kris. I have no business butting in, but I want you to know that I have

been paying attention to your matches. I even when as far as to look at

his. If you let all this outside bullshit fall off your shoulders for

the fifteen or so minutes in between those bells, then there is no way

that you don't walk out with your first title. When you do, and I mean

the exact moment you do, I will be sending you a text message

congratulating you. What I won't say then, is what I am going to say

now, I am damn proud of you, win or lose. Good luck. Make sure our last

name walks out a champion.

Kris raises his head to meet his brother's eyes, but says

nothing. He offers a small smile and a nod, which was more than Jason

had expected. He returns the smile before stepping out of the door and

closing the door gently behind himself. Kris stood there for a second,

just trying to wrap his head around the whole conversation while he

listened to the water running in the bathroom. For a few moments he

stood there before a worried look crossed his face and he ducks into the

bathroom, hoping there is some kind of warmness left in the water.



=======================================================================
=======================================================================
=======================================================================
=======================================================================

11 April 2015
======================
Milan, Italy 4:45 AM
======================
On-Camera: Back Alleys


The video opens as usual. Buildings pass by on Kris' right

side as the camera follows him from the left. The only thing different,

despite the cool air, is the lack of the hoodie that he typically buries

his arms into the pockets of, and hides his face in. He hadn't really

considered it when he told the cameraman it was time to roll, but now

that the video was rolling, he couldn't help but think it made him look

more open.

"Normally I do these things and I talk my opponent up a

little bit. That is something that you don't really see a lot from a guy

like me. I am not someone that is particularly liked. I am not the kind

of guy that plays on your feelings. I don't care if you respect what I

say, or if you don't. I can't make up your mind for you. However, back

to the point, I am not going to be talking up Kain, the current SCW

Internet Champion. Now, if you are actually paying attention to the

words that are coming out of my mouth, you are undoubtedly asking, "Why

is that, Kris?" and understandably so. To put it simply, the people that

have come before me in the ring, normally speak to their strengths. If

they have been doing nothing but winning, they talk about being

unbeaten. If it is someone that is a veteran, the talk about how much

their experience will give them an edge. When I stepped up against the

current Roulette Champion, he told me that I could not win because I

really didn't know what it takes to win a championship. All of things,

even what Alex said about me, are true. They are factual. I cannot bring

myself in front of all of you to dispute something that is fact. Yes,

people that are undefeated for a reason, it is because nobody has been

able to figure them out in the ring, and that is impressive for those

that have been at it for months at a time. Yes, most of the people on

this roster are ten times as experienced than I am in this business.

Yes, Alex, you were absolutely right. I have no idea what it feels like

to win a championship. Every time that I have tried to win a title, I

have fallen short. I do not know what it is like to hold a belt up,

knowing that it is mine. All of these things have been said to me since

I came to SCW. All of these things are true. From what I have seen from

Kain, I have zero reasons to talk him up."

Kris rounds a corner, out of the alley and onto one of the

main roads. As he moves past a building, two individuals sitting on a

ledge just above the sidewalk jump down, onto the sidewalk behind Kris

and start to walk behind him.

"Kain you call yourself the King of Kings. You step up and

rant and rave at a videocamera, but you do nothing. You don't move

around, you don't make gestures to prove your point. You are a man alone

in a room talking to himself. What exactly makes you a King of Kings?

Honestly, in watching your matches, in listening to your long and, and I

don't mean this as an insult but a statement of fact, boring promos, I

cannot come up with one thing that you are a king of. I guess an

argument can be made that you are the king of the Internet, but I bet

there are tens of millions of people that would let you know just how

stupid that claim is. That makes you no king. The fact that you think

you are a king OF kings is even more laughable. I want you to think

about the Roulette Championship, the tag team championships, or even the

SCW Championship. Are you, as the Internet Champion, the king of all of

those kingdoms? In short, absolutely not. As far as I am concerned, and

Krissy Flip said it to Roxi after she won the same title you hold, but

for the bombshells, you are a champion of those viewed as the bottom

rung. Your title does not have history. Your title does not hold

prestiege. At least not at this point. You are not a king of kings. You

are not even just a regular king. You are an idiot, standing in front of

a camera, boring the life out of anyone that wastes their ten

minutes."

Kris passes another building. Outside of the door leading inside are three men. They see the camera, and the man walking next to it and join them, walking behind the previous two. The camera moves forward a little on Kris' side, showing the five men now following him, with their hoods of their sweatshirts up over their heads, shading their faces.

"Hopefully, and I say hopefully because I would hate to know that thousands of others wished they had their ten minutes back after watching your promos, not many people actually pay you any attention. After all, people on this roster don't know who I am, and yet here I am with my second title shot. I guess I am hoping, for their sake, that you are equally ignored. On the other hand, I did mention that I watched them. When I did, a few things stuck out to me. One of the things you said in your last match was that a champion, and more specifically you, should be someone that people look up to. People should see you holding that belt above your head and think to themselves that they want to grow up and be like you. For those that are older than you, you would have them think back on their lives and wish they could alter their path in order to have been like you. You want to be a rolemodel and in saying that about yourself, you undermine what it is to be that kind of person. You put yourself on a pedestal. You talk down to everyone around you. You think that you are better, and that people should mold themselves around you. I am sorry to tell you, but that is something that other people have to say about you. You don't get to raise yourself up to that level just because your inflated ego."

Again the group pass a building. This time there are five men standing at the entrance, and as the growing flock behind Kris moves, they blend into the pack. Moments later, while Kris finds his words, another group of five joins him, and then two more.

[clolor=yellow]"The other thing that I noticed was that you said the internet, and therefore their champion, is something that is "fresh, new and original" each time you look at it. In looking at your body of work, I don't see any of those things. You rehash the exact same lines each time you talk. You speak alone in front of a camera instead of being out in this world. There is nothing fresh about you. As the weeks go by, there is less and less original about you as well. As far as I can tell, the only thing that I can agree with you on, is that the Internet Champion should be new."[/color]

The group of individuals moves into an open square at the end of the street. As the camera turns, the viewers can see dozens of people waiting, all dressed with similar sweatshirts with hoods over their heads, shading their faces. Kris and the others join with them, with Kris now standing front and center in front of the camera.

"The problem that I have with you is that you are nothing like what you say you are. You hide yourself behind some persona. Me, on the other hand, I throw myself out in front of this camera, and in those arenas every single week. There is no bullshit when it comes to me. Yet, you gain a little recognition. You put yourself up above the people. Let me tell you something man, you are afraid to show your real self, and people know you in spite of it. I speak from the heart and nobody knows my name. You want to be on a pedestal for people to look up at? Fine. Be a role model. Me? I am just Kris Halich. I am just a face in the crowd. As far as you, and the rest of this roster is concerned... I am a nobody, but then again, so is everyone behind me. I am one of them. You choose not to know them because you are only concerned with them knowing you. That is a damn shame.... but that is your loss."

As he finishes, he starts to move backwards. The crowd moves up, and in moments, Kris is just a faceless individual in the crowd of nobodies. A second later, the feed is cut off.