[Christian Underwood]

 Please post all roleplays for this match here!

RP Word limit: 10k per character

[Mikah]

 
<div style="width: 695px; margin: auto;">
<text align=right> <p align=Right> "THE RETURN."
LOCATION: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME VI: 13
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: LOW
SCENE i
REC•

MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
11:00 A.M.

She was spending more and more time in the city than at her home with her husband.  He said he understood and they had both been super busy in the past few weeks.  She hadn’t minded being back in New York City, back in her old stomping grounds and back to working on her little pet project.  She had never been so glad before that she hadn’t sold her house when she moved to Oak Brook, Illinois with her husband.  She had to fill the house back with groceries and anything else she needed, but she found it peaceful to stay there while she was still getting things in order for her training center.

That’s where she found herself today, at her building with Ellie in tow.  She’d hired a construction crew before she had to leave for Texas and they’d already gutted the ground level of the building.  Mikah was impressed with how fast they were working.  She had picked up Ellie on her way to the center and along with Ellie, she’d picked up her little brother, Lincoln.  Ellie had dropped the little boy off at the daycare while Mikah had talked to the head construction guy, Isaac.

;;MIKAH  “It’s coming along great.  How long do you think until we can get both rings in here?”

She had turned her attention to Isaac, who was being as patient as he could be with her while he also tried to keep his guys in order.  He glances at a clipboard before looking at her.

**ISAAC  “A month at the earliest.  We’ve got to install the mats that go around the ring and underneath it before we can have the company bring them in.  But at the longest? Ten weeks.”

Mikah nods her head as she figures it up in her head.  She then glances over to her left to see Ellie walking over to her.

;;MIKAH  “Perfect.  That gives me enough time to actually find trainers other than myself.  And two rings that I actually like.”

MIkah turns to face Ellie as she reaches Mikah’s side.  Mikah smiles before motioning for the young girl to follow her to the area where the front desk would be.  Mikah had already ordered the technology for the front desk and had already picked a color theme for the front area.

;;MIKAH  “This is where the front desk is going to be.  There will be a high tech computer, a phone, and a calendar.  You are free to decorate the desk however you want with whatever pictures you want.”

Mikah then points to the area upstairs and Ellie follows her hand movement before her attention is back on the blonde.  Ellie hadn’t ever been apart of a renovation process before and it was thrilling to her to watch all the movement of the people and to see them work as one cohesive unit.

;;MIKAH  “That is where my office is going to be.  It is where I will spend most of my time when I don’t have to be in the training part of the building.”

Ellie nods her head, seeming to understand where Mikah was going with the conversation.  Ellie didn’t know all the details that Mikah had planned for the training center, but she was intrigued about the idea.  She hadn’t ever been into wrestling but she was going to get into it.

±±ELOWYN REID “it seems like you have a good start of an idea to what you want this building to be.  I’ll be honest, when you first told me about your idea and how you wanted me to be the receptionist, I was skeptical.  But I am excited now.”

The dynamic between the two of them had changed in a few week’s time.  Ellie had seemed to understand where Mikah had came from and what she stood for and Mikah was a little more empathetic to Ellie and her history.

;;MIKAH  “It has so much potential.  And I can help people that want to be in the sport.”

She shrugs her shoulders as Ellie smiles at her.  Ellie got to see a different side of her, a side that many didn’t get to see.  But Mikah was at “home” in New York City; there wasn’t really another place that she felt such at peace in.

±±ELOWYN REID “You’re different.”

Mikah frowns a little before looking at Ellie.  She wasn’t sure what the young girl meant by it.  How was she different?  She couldn’t really see it.

;;MIKAH  “What do you mean?  How am I different?”

Mikah watches Ellie, watches as Ellie smiles and looks at Mikah before looking back to where all the workers were.  She watched the workers for a moment, tearing her eyes away from Ellie for a moment before returning them to the girl’s form.

±±ELOWYN REID “I did some..research.  Because I wanted to know about you and who you really were as a person.  And you were not a very nice person a few years ago. But now, there’s something different about you.  I don’t know what it is however but whatever it is or was, it’s good for you.”

Mikah blushes a little bit at the sentiment.  She couldn’t imagine that she had changed so much in just a few years but somehow, a twenty year old seemed to see it.  She looks at Ellie before shrugging her shoulders.

;;MIKAH  “Everybody has to change sometime, right?  I mean, we can’t just stay the same.  We have to evolve...”

She didn’t sound like she meant it at all and Ellie could hear that in the tone of her voice.

±±ELOWYN REID “And that is also something you wouldn’t have said a few years ago.”

Mikah is quiet for what seems like forever as she thinks about what Ellie was telling her. She couldn't believe that what the young girl was saying was true. But maybe it was?  Had she changed that much? She wasn't sure.

;;MIKAH  “Well, maybe I have changed.”

She just sends a simple smile Ellie’s way before glancing at Isaac as he shouted an order at one of his men. Mikah chuckles a little and seems to be okay with not being in charge.  Or at least, not in charge of Isaac’s men.  That was one job description that she definitely did not want.

±±ELOWYN REID “When do you have to board the cruise ship?”

Ellie was good at changing the subject, that was something that Mikah had found out last weekend in Texas.  She had tried to ask Ellie about her family, about her mother and her father but each and every time, Ellie had magically changed the subject to something else.  Mikah hadn’t wanted to pry, so she went with it. Mikah chuckles to herself at the thought before looking at Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “On Sunday, the fifteenth. You should come, Ruby said she would stay at your house and watch your kids.”

Mikah stops when she realizes that she had called Ellie's siblings her kids.

±±ELOWYN REID “It's okay, I consider them my kids anyways. And are you absolutely sure that Ruby wants to do that? My family can be all sorts of crazy...”

The unsure look on Ellie's face made Mikah chuckle. M.k okah knew that Ruby could handle crazy and that she would be just fine for a week at Ellie's house. But it was going to be hard to convince Ellie of that.

;;MIKAH  “Ruby is a superhero. She can handle absolutely anything that anybody throws at her. It is one of the many things about her that I like. And one of the reasons she is still employed.”

Mikah could tell that Ellie was still apprehensive about the idea of some stranger stepping into her role in the house. Mikah smiles, trying to be encouraging and supportive.

±±ELOWYN REID “But my family doesn't know her...”

Mikah wished she could say that she understood the struggle of trying to put trust in somebody to watch your siblings but she didn't. She only understood how hard it was to find a nanny for a child. Was it the same process? The same feeling? She wasn't sure.

;;MIKAH  “I assure you that Ruby is the best. I would trust her with my life. Would you like to meet her first?”

The apprehensive look was not something that Mikah was used to.

±±ELOWYN REID “It would help me feel a lot better, actually.”

Mikah smokes at Ellie before pulling her phone out and sending a quick text to her personal assistant, Ruby.  She pockets the phone after getting a reply and nods her head at Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “Consider it done.”

Ellie gives Mikah an appreciative smile and seems to visibly relax at the thought of being able to meet the woman who Mikah held in such high regard.

±±ELOWYN REID “I am sorry that I'm acting a little looney but they're the only family I have and I have to make sure they're okay.”

Mikah smiles in a knowing way. She knew what Ellie meant because when Leighton was a little girl, she had been so finnicky when it came to picking out a nanny.

;;MIKAH  “I do not know if it is the same thing, but when my daughter Leighton was a little girl, it was a hard task in picking out a nanny.  I was gone a lot and I had to find somebody to trust with the care of her.  I was so busy and I did miss out on a lot of Leighton’s childhood and I may regret that but it provided her with a home and things she wouldn’t have if I hadn’t gone off to do it.”

Mikah smiles softly at Ellie before shrugging her shoulders as Ellie gets a sentimental look on her pretty face.

±±ELOWYN REID “It is the same feeling except Asher and Auden should be able to take care of themselves at least for a weekend.  But Asher is in that high school boy stage where he thinks he needs to throw a party when I’m away.  Even with Lincoln and Auden there.  It is a hard task.”

Mikah smiles and gives Ellie a sympathetic look.  She was soon going to be the mother of a thirteen year old girl and she was not prepared for it.  At all.

;;MIKAH  “Leighton is going to be thirteen years old at the end of August.  It is a scary thought to raise a thirteen year old child; I remember being thirteen years old and it definitely wasn’t pretty.”

She shudders at the thought before looking over Ellie’s shoulder and frowning as she sees a young man who looked a lot like Cameron.  She freezes for a moment as she looks over at the man.  Ellie seems to notice the shift in MIkah’s demeanor and tries to get her attention once more.

±±ELOWYN REID “Mikah?  Are you okay?  What’s wrong?  What did you see?!”

Ellie turns around to try to see just what Mikah was staring at but she couldn’t pinpoint just exactly what the blonde was looking at.  Mikah moves her attention s-l-o-w-y back to Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “I’m fine.  I just...I thought I saw somebody I knew...”

She glances over Ellie’s shoulder again but can’t seem to spot the young man.  She just smiles at Ellie again before shrugging her shoulders.

±±ELOWYN REID “Somebody good?”

Mikah just shrugs her shoulders and places a smile on her face as she looks at the young woman.

;;MIKAH  “Not a big deal!  It wasn’t him so it doesn’t matter.”

Ellie didn’t look convinced as Mikah seemed a bit skittish now.

±±ELOWYN REID “Are you sure?  Do we need to call somebody to insure your safety?”

Mikah smiles at Ellie, appreciative at the young lady’s sense of empathy.  An emotion that Mikah hadn’t mastered at her age but she hadn’t much reason to, other than Leighton.

;;MIKAH  “I’m fine.  I promise.  I am okay and it wasn’t him.”

Mikah wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Ellie that it wasn’t Cameron or herself.  But she could feel just how shook up she was about the idea of seeing him.  The situation with Cameron had never been resolved; he had just stopped showing up where she was.  She had never looked into why he had stopped coming around because she had been so relieved that she didn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder for him to appear.  But now...that feeling was back and she couldn’t seem to push it away.

±±ELOWYN REID “Who is him?”

Mikah offers Ellie nothing but a smile, still intent on pushing the incident from her mind.  But Ellie looked concerned and Mikah couldn’t seem to distract the young girl.

;;MIKAH  “His name is Cameron.  He’s just an overly obsessed fan of mine.  That’s all.”

She tries to brush it off as if Cameron’s existence wasn’t a big deal to her and her life.  Ellie holds a skeptical look on her face as she looks at Mikah, not believing that this Cameron guy was just obsessive.  Especially if Mikah was this rattled about it.

±±ELOWYN REID “Do you get those a lot?”

Mikah chews on the inside of her bottom lip as she looks around again before shaking her head no, answering Ellie’s question.

;;MIKAH  “Not really.  We all seem to have weird fans at some point in our lives but not many people get a Cameron.  I guess I am just lucky...”

She didn’t feel lucky, not one ounce.  Instead, she was starting to feel caged in, a little panicky.  But she was trying not to show it, not in front of Ellie.  She didn’t want Ellie to worry about her or not take the job because of a creep.

±±ELOWYN REID “Have you talked to the police?  It seems pretty serious if he is stalking you.”

Ellie had hit the nail right on the head with the word.  Mikah raises an eyebrow and shakes her head no.

;;MIKAH  “Nope,  because it has been over a year since I had last had any sort of interaction with him.  Drake had even hired a bodyguard to protect me since it had become a little more serious than what we had first thought.  But when Cameron disappeared for over a month and a half, we let Brody go...”

Mikah hadn’t really gotten along with Brody because it had gone against everything she believed in.  She felt that she could take care of herself because of her job and her position in the wrestling world. But Drake had been persistent and wasn’t going to let her take no for an answer and besides, Drake had done the hiring, not Mikah.  So she couldn’t have done anything about it even if she wanted to.  And she had tried to fire Brody but he wouldn’t go away, insisting that he was hired by Drake, not Mikah.

±±ELOWYN REID “Maybe you should give Brody a call back...”

Ellie seemed to be worried for Mikah and Mikah just shrugs her shoulders.

;;MIKAH  “Maybe.  But it’s probably not even Cameron, I probably shouldn’t even be worried about it.”

She seemed confident in the thought but her body language said something else.

±±ELOWYN REID “But if it turns out to be him, you’d feel safer with Brody around, wouldn’t you?  What if Cameron gets himself a ticket on the ship?  Has a room booked next to yours and everything?”

Mikah frowns at Ellie.  That was a possibility and it was something that she hadn’t actually thought about until Ellie brought it up.  It turned her eyes a little wild at the thought.  She closes her eyes and tries to calm herself down.

;;MIKAH  “I...didn’t think about that...”

She was trying to push the panic down, as far down as she simply could so she didn’t have to think about the fact that Cameron had every right to purchase a ticket.  She looks at Ellie before taking a deep breath and shrugging her shoulders.  There wasn’t anything that she could really do about it.

±±ELOWYN REID “Have you talked to your husband about this?”

She shakes her head no, slowly.  It hadn’t even registered in her head that Cameron returning could be possible.  She couldn’t believe that she had been so naive to think that way; things had been going way too smoothly for her lately.  It was about time that something fucked her world up.  She only wished it didn’t have to be Cameron.

;;MIKAH  “No...because it hadn’t crossed my mind that he was back.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid.  It was the three words that kept repeating themselves in her mind.  How could she have been so stupid?!

±±ELOWYN REID “Do you want to call him?  To maybe warn him?”

Mikah shakes her head no.  There was a person she wanted to call but she wasn’t going to do that.  She needed to find out if it was Cameron before she went ballistic just thinking about it.

;;MIKAH  “No, I don’t want to worry him.  He has an important match against Tommy Crimson to be worrying about; he doesn’t need to be worrying about his wife.  Besides, I am not even sure that it was Cameron.  I could just be overreacting!”

She replaces the fearful expression that she was wearing with a happy, pleasant smile.  Ellie just shrugs her shoulders as she tries not to think about all the problems that Mikah could be having.

±±ELOWYN REID “Oookay.  But if it is Cameron, you need to call your husband.  He needs to know...”

Mikah nods her head, agreeing with Ellie, even though she definitely had no intention of calling Drake even if it was Cameron.

;;MIKAH  “Of course.  Drake would need to know about it as much as the next person.  As my husband, he needs to know about my life.”

It came easily off of her tongue, almost as if she believed herself.  Ellie just smiles at her, believing the lie as well.

±±ELOWYN REID “Good.  It is in your best interest to keep safe.  Especially when you step foot onto that cruise ship.”

She gives Mikah a cheerful smile and Mikah returns the look.  She then changes the subject, swiftly as she didn’t want to talk about Cameron anymore.

;;MIKAH  “So...you never said whether or not you were actually going to come on the cruise?”

Mikah smirks at Ellie as they move around the building, Mikah checking on the bathrooms and locker rooms, making sure it was going as planned.

±±ELOWYN REID “I am going to go.  Granted that I like Ruby and trust her with my kids.  I have never been on a cruise and I cannot be more excited about it.  Even with a bunch of crazy superstars and bombshells running around.”

She makes a face at Mikah and Mikah chuckles.  Last year on the ship, she hadn’t barely left her room.  She hadn’t enjoyed being on the ship but yet, now she wasn’t sure how she felt being on the ship.  It would be different because her best friend wasn’t going to be on the ship.  Not this time but it’s not like it had mattered much to her the previous year as she had shut him out when he had needed her most.

;;MIKAH  “It’s not that bad.  I promise.  Most of us behave ourselves on the boat and can get along if we need to.  Nobody has been thrown overboard just yet.  However, I may just throw the nutso off over the side if I have to.  I am tired of facing her.”

It was the truth.  She was sick and tired of facing the woman who got more chances than Jessie Salco.  There was only so much she could say about her without repeating herself.

±±ELOWYN REID “Yeah?  How was the ship last year?”

Mikah simply shrugs her shoulders as she walks around, heading back to the front of the building.

;;MIKAH  “I don’t know.  I didn’t go exploring too much. I spent a lot of time in my room.”

This seems to peek Ellie’s interest a little bit.  Mikah chuckles as she searches through her purse for her car keys.

±±ELOWYN REID “Why not?!”

ikah chews on her bottom lip as she thinks about the question that Ellie had asked.  She remembered why she had locked herself in her room.  She had been so wrapped up in the fact that her husband hadn’t wanted to come onto the ship with her, so she spent it alone.

;;MIKAH  “I had been wrapped up in my own issues and hadn’t felt the urge to socialize.  It was just a purely selfish reason, that’s all.  It’s not that the ship isn’t fun, there is a lot to do on board.  You won’t regret going.”

Mikah manages to easily find her keys and pulls them out of her purse and smiles at Ellie.

±±ELOWYN REID “I am excited.  I did a little research about the cruise company and it looks like it could be fun.  I even splurged and bought myself two bikinis.  Granted, they were from Walmart but they are new.”

Mikah watches as the young girl’s cheeks turn a light color of pink and she chuckles to herself.  She could remember her days of splurging on herself even though it hadn’t been on the budget.  She hadn’t garnered her sense of style until she could afford it. She remembered her days of shopping at the supercenter as well, even if she didn’t like to admit it out loud.

;;MIKAH  “I am sure that they will work just fine.  In the mean time...”

She jangles her keys at Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “Do you want to go get some lunch at a small little cafe?  I told Ruby that we would meet her there…”

Ellie nods her head and Mikah smiles at the young girl.  Maybe, just maybe she’d found another young girl to mentor.  If only she could convince Ellie to actually train for a position in the wrestling world.  She felt that the young girl could be good at the sport but she didn’t want to push Ellie to do something she didn’t want to do.  Mikah was not that person.

±±ELOWYN REID “Sounds good to me.  I only had a half a slice of peanut butter toast for breakfast, I’m starving!”

Mikah chuckles and motions for Ellie to follow her.  She remembered the days before her eating disorder.  The days where she would almost go hungry because she let Leighton get the most of the food that she could provide.  But then she got into the business and what the society deemed appropriate for a female wrestler got into her head and food became non-important and being skinny and in shape became most important.  It was the one thing that she hoped she could shield Ellie from if Ellie chose to be in the wrestling business.

;;MIKAH  “You should have said something earlier!  I would have shut up and we could have left earlier!  I understand being hungry, Ellie.  It is like the least desireabe feeling in the world.”

Mikah gives the young girl a look as they walk out of the building and Mikah turns her head just in time to see Cameron standing there, waving at her with a sick smirk on his face.  Mikah just stares at him for a moment before hurrying to her car with Ellie in tow.  She didn’t want to face the fact that he was back and something had detained him for a little over a year. She wanted to push him out of her mind because she had to meet up with Ruby with Ellie so that Ellie and Ruby could go over the plan for the next week but Mikah couldn’t deny it to herself, she was scared.

<text align=right> <p align=Right> "CREEP."
LOCATION: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME VI: 10
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: LOW
SCENE i
REC•

THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2018
11:00 A.M.

Mikah had landed in Los Angeles, California barely ten minutes ago with Ellie at her side.  She had decided that it would be easier to bring Ellie along with her rather than flying her out at a separate time.  Plus, it gave Ruby a little more time to bond with Lincoln, who was having a hard time accepting the fact that his sister was going on a vacation. Mikah had noticed that Ellie had been scared of flying, something she hadn’t known until now.  She had flown Ellie out to Texas, rather than have Ellie come with her.  She almost felt bad for making Ellie make the trip by herself the week before but she didn’t have time to think about that right now.  Right now, she had to get to the baggage terminal to grab her suitcases.

;;MIKAH  “It is usually not this chaotic but this is LAX and everything is chaotic here; I fucking hate California.”

Ellie nods her head as she tries to keep up with Mikah’s quick stride as they made their way to the baggage terminal.  She didn’t say much as Mikah didn’t seem to want to talk too much.

;;MIKAH  “Please do not ask why; I do not want to state my reasons why.”

Ellie nods her head as they finally make it to the baggage claim and Mikah scans the monitor before finding their flight and which number their luggage would be on.  Mikah smiles at Ellie before moving over to the moving conveyor belt.

±±ELOWYN REID  “It’s okay.  Most people hate New York City; everybody is entitled to have their own opinion.”

Mikah raises her eyebrows at the young girl before shaking her head and chuckling softly to herself.  The girl was young and had a lot to learn about the wrestling world.  She wanted Ellie to get a feel for it because if she was going to be running the front desk, she’d have to know how to deal with an angry trainee.

;;MIKAH  “Right.”

She knew that everybody was entitled to their opinions and that didn’t bother her.  It only bothered her when they tried to push their opinion as a fact, and not an opinion.  That is when it bothered her most.

It takes then another fifteen minutes to grab their suitcases and find a taxi to the hotel that they’d share until Sunday.  Mikah was quiet on the ride to the hotel, her nose stuck in her phone as Ellie took in the sights of Los Angeles.  Mikah was too busy to play chaperone and she couldn’t remember the first time that she had ever been to Los Angeles; it was a long time ago.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Do you ever see anybody famous here?”

Mikah glances over at Ellie and sees the amazement in the young girl’s eyes.  It was that look that made Mikah put her phone away for the time being.

;;MIKAH  “Yes, sometimes.  I ran into Chris Hemsworth once and I almost died.  If you think the wrestlers are big, Chris Hemsworth is just as big.”

Ellie’s eyes almost pop out of her head as Mikah seemed so nonchalant about meeting Marvel’s Thor.  Mikah gives her a look before shrugging her shoulders.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Anybody else?!  That is so exciting!”

Mikah chuckles and shakes her head.

;;MIKAH  “I’ve met a few celebrities.  Hemsworth was nice to look at. I also ran into that one chick from the Big Bang Theory.  Kaley whatshername.  She was alright, kind of in a rush and I was in a mood.  No pleasantries were exchanged.  Hemsworth, however, had been super apologetic with me and wanted to buy me a water or something for his nearly squashing me.  Sweet man.”

Mikah watches as Ellie collapses back against the cushion of the taxi cab and she chuckles to herself.  Los Angeles was something else and Mikah hated it but she could see that Ellie wanted to love it.

±±ELOWYN REID  “I don’t know what I would do if I…if I ran into some big star.  I’d probably make a fool out of myself.”

Mikah rolls her eyes with a smile on her pretty face.

;;MIKAH  “You’d be fine.  They’re people too, you know.  They try to live their lives as easily as they can manage.  It’s nothing to run into them in Los Angeles or New York City.  But if you’re in the Midwest and meet one?  Then you should be freaking out.”

Ellie shrugs her shoulders, a sheepish look on her face as she looks out the window.  Mikah watches her with interest written in her eyes and laughs to herself.

±±ELOWYN REID  “I don’t know if I could handle meeting any celebrities, honestly.  They just seem..untouchable, unattainable, you know?”

Mikah understood what Ellie was talking about but she didn’t have that same feeling about celebrities.  She smiles and nods her head, though, agreeing with Ellie’s statement.

;;MIKAH  “It seems like that at first.  It helped that Hemsworth was the first big celebrity I ran into.  Because after him?  Everybody else looks normal.  And yes, Hemsworth really is that good looking off camera.”

She had a thing for Hemsworth; she always had.  But it was just a crush and that was all.  Plus she was married and so was he.  Ellie smiles before looking again out the window, pressing her nose against the glass.  The gesture made Mikah want to pull Ellie away from the glass because she was sure that the cab driver didn’t clean his windows regularly but Mikah doesn’t.  She wanted Ellie to have a decent time while in Los Angeles.

±±ELOWYN REID  “This city is so…busy!  And they say New York City is a busy city!”

Mikah chuckles and shakes her head at Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “It’s a different kind of busy, really.  I try not to come here because it just stirs up a bunch of memories that I do not want.  But yes, this city is busy too.  And we are only here because this is where the ship departs from.  I would have stayed in New York City a day longer, but tomorrow I have to set up some things for my promo against well, I’m not sure against who but I have to set it up.”

Mikah watches as Ellie frowns at Mikah’s statement and she pulls herself away from the window to look at her.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Aren’t you facing Court?  Your first student?”

She sighs and shakes her head no.

;;MIKAH  “No, Court got injured Sunday’s edition of Climax Control and can’t compete in ten days.  So, instead of just picking an opponent for me, they put random people in a battle royal for the opportunity.  And there isn’t one person in the match that deserves the win.  Not a single one.  But I am not the bosses and I don’t book the match.  So I get the pleasure of trying to make my promo seem important and better even though it’s a literal toss up with who I am going to face in ten days.  It kind of sucks but when the number one contender injures herself, there is nothing else that can be done.”

Mikah wasn’t exactly happy that the opportunity to face her was left to a battle royal.  She hated the unknown and the battle royal was bringing just that to her.  She wanted to just know who she was facing and not trying to guess.

±±ELOWYN REID  “You’ll still win.  You’re better than them, right?”

Ellie looked hopeful for Mikah and Mikah shrugs her shoulders.  She had always believed that she was better than everybody else on the roster and she almost always proved it in the ring.

;;MIKAH  “I am definitely better than Crystal or Christina, as I showed on Sunday.  But the others in the match are pretty new to the whole system and I am not sure about them.  The most annoying of the group?  Dani Weston.  Or Christina’s wife.”

She shrugs her shoulders before glancing at Ellie.  Ellie seemed to be taking whatever Mikah said in, absorbing every word as if she couldn’t get enough.  Mikah smiled as the taxi driver stops in the middle of traffic and Mikah groans out in irritation.  She hated the traffic in Los Angeles; it was definitely worse than New York City.

±±ELOWYN REID  “You are impatient, aren’t you?”

Mikah raises an eyebrow at Ellie, a little surprised that Ellie hadn’t mentioned that little fact earlier.

;;MIKAH  “I just hate being stuck in traffic; it is such a waste of my time.  I could be doing a lot of other things right now but no.  We are stuck here in traffic.”

She makes a face and Ellie chuckles at Mikah’s reaction to being stuck.  She didn’t seem to mind it, however.  The being stuck in traffic because she hadn’t really ever had to take a cab and it was exciting for her.  She usually just walked everywhere that she went.

±±ELOWYN REID  “I don’t mind it.  I usually walk to wherever I want to go because we don’t own a car.  I am thankful that my neighbor, Olivia can drive my siblings to school with her children.  It makes things a lot easier.”

Mikah frowns, realizing she wasn’t sure how Ellie got around.  She hadn’t thought to ask before and now, she was curious.

;;MIKAH  “How did you get Lincoln to daycare then?”

Mikah watches the young girl before tilting her head to the side.  She couldn’t remember how she got around in New York City at nineteen years old, it was something that she had blocked out of her memory.

±±ELOWYN REID  “The bus.  I managed to scrape together enough money for a bus pass.  And I know the daycare is a little ways from my previous job, but it was the cheapest one I could afford so I didn’t have much choice.”

She shrugs her shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal that she was taking a child across the city to a daycare that was pretty far from her job.  Mikah just stares at Ellie in admiration.

;;MIKAH  “You are a brave woman.  That is something I would not have done with Leighton when I was nineteen.  It was even hard being pregnant that young but I don’t think I could have gotten on a bus with a baby to take her across town.”

She shakes her head before putting a hand on Ellie’s shoulder and looks into the girls warm eyes.

±±ELOWYN REID  “What?”

Mikah watches as Ellie goes to fix her hair as if she could tame the curls on her head.  Or maybe she thought that Mikah had seen something out of place.

;;MIKAH  “I’ll find you a car.  Don’t worry about it.  You can’t be taking Lincoln on the bus; that’s not safe.”

Ellie frowns before shaking her head at Mikah’s offer.  It was something that Ellie didn’t want.  She didn’t want to be some charity case for Mikah.

±±ELOWYN REID  “I couldn’t accept a car from you, Mikah.  I can’t afford to put gas in it or the insurance on it…”

Mikah waves her hand, ignoring the young girl’s refusal to accept Mikah’s offer.  Mikah had money and money to spare.  She was not worried about it.

;;MIKAH  “You need a decent vehicle, Elowyn.  What if Lincoln breaks a bone and you don’t have a way to the hospital?  Or what if he gets sick and it could be the difference between him staying alive or dying?  You need a vehicle.  Let me help you, please.  I know you think I’ve helped you enough, but this will help you even more.  I want to do this for you because I wanted it for myself.”

Ellie looks into Mikah’s eyes and can see the sincerity in them and she sighs before looking at Mikah again.  She runs her fingers through her messy, curly hair as she tries to think.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Fine.  But it cannot be more than ten thousand dollars, okay?   I will not accept a brand new vehicle, it has to be used, okay?”

A compromise of sorts and she smiles and nods her head, accepting the compromise.  She could look for a car for Ellie after the cruise and it seems that the traffic starts to move again.

;;MIKAH  “Okay.  Deal.”

The rest of the taxi ride went smoothly.  Ellie admired all the buildings and Mikah sat in silence, thinking about how she was going to deal with the fact that Cameron was back and wasn’t going to go away.  She had seen him again at her building and was livid that he seemed to acquire a job with Isaac as one of the workers.  She wanted to demand that Isaac fire him or put him on a different project but that wouldn’t be rational and she didn’t want to cause a scene.  At least, not yet.

The taxi stops in front of the hotel that was nearly taller than all the other skyscrapers around it.  Ellie’s mouth drops open as they get out, Mikah paying the taxi driver after he gets their luggage out of the trunk of his yellow car.  They stand on the sidewalk outside of the hotel building and Mikah laughs as Ellie stares.

±±ELOWYN REID  “I have never stayed in such a nice hotel…”

Mikah starts to walk into the hotel, pulling her suitcase behind her and motions for Ellie to do the same.

;;MIKAH  “You’ll love it.  Trust me.”

Ellie nods her head, not denying it.  Mikah laughs as she walks to the check in counter.  Ellie watches the blonde talk with the lady for a few minutes, discussing the room and sleeping arrangements. Mikah walks over to Ellie after finishing up with the lady.  Mikah seemed in a good mood, so Ellie wasn’t sure what that meant.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Everything okay?”

Mikah nods her head, a smile on her face as they move to the elevator.  Everything was currently okay in Mikah land.  She was preparing for a match against a woman who she wasn’t sure who was and she was going to be in Los Angeles for only a short amount of time.  Nothing could be more perfect.

;;MIKAH  “Great.  Everything is great.  We have the presidential suite and a view of the ocean and the Santa Monica pier.  You will enjoy the pier, I promise you this.”

Ellie nods her head, almost giddy with excitement.  She couldn’t contain her excitement for being in the city and for the next few days.  Mikah glances at her phone as it chimes with a text message as they wait for the elevator to come back down.

±±ELOWYN REID  “No Cameron, right?”

She hadn’t told Ellie that Cameron was back.  There wasn’t a point in worrying the young girl that something could happen.  She smiles and shakes her head no at Ellie, lying to her.

;;MIKAH  “Nope.  Just me and you right now.  In the beautiful city of Los Angeles.  Going to board the ship in three days and be on the ocean for seven.  Nothing could be better.”

If Ellie had known Mikah longer, she’d have known that Mikah was lying straight through her teeth.  But Ellie didn’t and she just smiles and nods her head enthusiastically with the blonde.  She couldn’t help but be too excited about her own adventures that were going to start.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Right!”

The elevator dings and they let the few people out before stepping into the elevator and Mikah presses the number twenty-eight before stepping back.  She didn’t want to lie to Ellie about Cameron but she didn’t want Ellie to worry about her.  Ellie had enough to worry about and she wanted this vacation to be worry-free for the twenty year old.  She was trying her best to make it that way too.

It doesn’t take them long to find the presidential suite and Mikah’s soon using the key to open the door.  She pulls her luggage behind her as they step into it.  She sets her luggage upright, putting her suitcase on all four wheels as she looks around.  It was an elegant room with two closed off bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a living area.  It was exquisite and she enjoyed watched Ellie’s face as she seemed to take it all in.

;;MIKAH  “I’m going to use the restroom real quick.”

She excuses herself to the bathroom, wanting to check it out first.  She steps into the room and shuts the door softly behind her and clicks the lock into place.  She leans back against the door and takes a deep breath.  She had been holding that in for too long and she had been terrified that she might see Cameron on the ride to the elevator.  But so far, no Cameron.  It was going to be okay.  Or at least that’s what she tells herself, not hearing the knock at the door or the mumbled words that were exchanged between Ellie and somebody else.

±±ELOWYN REID  “Mikah?  I think your husband sent you flowers.  They’re beautiful.”

Mikah smiles at the thought of Drake sending her flowers.  It has been awhile since she had gotten any and she was excited to get them.  She washes her hand and enjoys the tropical fruity scent of the soap before walking out into the living area.  She sees the beautiful arrangement on the coffee table where Ellie had set them and she moves over to them and brings one of the flowers to her nose and inhales its scent before picking the vase up.  She searches for a card and she grabs it once she finds it.  Her eyes move over the words on the car as she holds the vase in one hand. And before she can stop herself, the vase drops from her hands and shatters on the floor around her.  She grabs her phone and calls her husband, rather quickly.

;;MIKAH  “He’s back.  Cameron is back.  We have to call Brody back in, now.”

<text align=right><p align=”Right”> "THE HACK."
LOCATION:LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME: 8
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: MEDIUM HIGH.
I SCENE iii
REC•

SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2018
4:45 P.M.

The room was blank for the moment but Mikah was surrounded by a green screen on three sides of her.  The side that wasn’t covered with a green screen was where the camera man stood, ready whenever Mikah said she was ready.  Her former-but-now-current bodyguard, Brody Wagner stood behind the camera man, his arms behind his back as he seemed to keep an eye out for Cameron.  The cameraman nods and the green screen comes to life.  It showed an apple orchard behind Mikah and Mikah was sitting on a stool.  She smirks at the camera, as she easily shuts out her personal life and dilemma.

;;MIKAH  “Apple Coren.  You’ve been in Sin City Wrestling for…”

She tries to think but shrugs her shoulders, uncaring about the length of time.  She was wearing a pair of black leggings and a white tee with a graphic of a smashed apple on it.

;;MIKAH  “A few weeks now.  You seem to have made a small splash in the big pond that is SCW.  And I am not entirely sure why that it…”

Mikah swallows hard for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

;;MIKAH  “Maybe it is your name.  Maybe that’s why some people have seemed to take some sort of liking to you.  Or maybe it’s because people are tired of seeing some of the newer bombshells fail at their job.  But to me, you are a nobody.  You are just another person who wants something handed to them without earning it.  But wait!  I’m sure you’ll be quick to point out that you didn’t ask for this match.  And of course you didn’t. But you didn’t refuse the match either and that’s fine because it’s not going to matter.  You won’t win the battle royal because you are a simpleton.”

She shrugs her shoulders once more before closing her eyes as she tries to think if she has anything else to say.

;;MIKAH  “I want you to remember, Apple Coren, that this is your opportunity to make history in SCW.  Be the one who gets the opportunity to face me at the end of the night.  Let’s hope you don’t have any problem with being thrown out like the core of an apple is.  Because you won’t stand a chance against the other Bombshells that are booked in the match.  But I dare you to try.  I dare you to be better than them.  You will most likely fail, so I am probably wasting my time even talking about you.  Why do I even bother?”

She shakes her head and runs her hands through her tousled blonde locks.

;;MIKAH  “Because I have to.  And you have to lose, that’s just how it is.”

She shrugs her shoulders and waves goodbye to the camera.

;;MIKAH  “Better luck next time, Apple Coren.”

The screen goes black and stays that way for about three minutes.  When the screen comes back to life, Mikah is sat on the same stool but the green screen was showing pews of a church and she was dressed in the same pair of black leggings but this time, had a shirt on with a cross on the front of it.

;;MIKAH  “Aviana Faith O’Conor.”

She says the next competitor’s full name.  A name she knew because she was the second person she was training to compete.  The next Courtney Pierce but there couldn’t be another Courtney Pierce but Aviana was going to try.

;;MIKAH  “You also do not deserve this opportunity.  And you will probably think I’m being harsh because that’s how you view me.  But it’s the cold hard truth.  You are not ready for the main event, you’re barely ready for the midcard.  But you get put in a match that you’re not ready for anyways, and I’m going to have to be the one to break the faith.  To break your faith.  You are a good person, I know that because I trained you.  You have gone through some things that most people in life will never have to go through and it sucks but it’s time that you start to use that to your advantage.  Use it to want to be better in the ring because it’s what Ethan would have wanted for you.  Oh, whoops.  Did I bring up your brother?  The one that I am probably not supposed to be speaking about?  Him?”

Mikah didn’t really want to go down that road, but Aviana hadn’t shown her anything else she could use.

;;MIKAH  “Do you think that you’d be making Ethan proud right now?  Do you think that you’re making me proud right now?  Have you won any other match other than your very first match here in SCW?!  I am tired of watching you lose, Aviana. I wanted to see you succeed because then it will look good on me.  But you haven’t done much here in SCW except lose and even that, you can’t seem to do gracefully.”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “I am not worried about you, Avi. I do not think that you will win the battle royal to face me at the end of the night.  So I shouldn’t even be mentioning you at all, I should forget that you’re even in the match because it is easier to do than to talk about it.  There’s nothing you have done that’s remarkable.  And I challenge you to change that.  I dare you to change it, Avi.  Prove me wrong.”

Mikah lets out a harsh chuckle.

;;MIKAH  “Of course you won’t.  Next.”

Again, the screen goes black for a few minutes.  When it comes back two minutes later, the green screen is completely white.  Mikah had changed into a grey dress and a pair of white stiletto pumps. She holds a notecard in one hand and brings it up to her eyes to read it, her eyes squinting for dramatic effect.

;;MIKAH  “Portia Alexander..”

Mikah makes a face as she says the name.

;;MIKAH  “Who!?”

Mikah pulls her phone out from her bra.

;;MIKAH  “One moment.  Pulling up the SCW website..”

She taps a few things on her phone and uses her thumb to scroll through the site, checking a few things.

;;MIKAH  “Nothing!  There is absolutely fucking nothing about this bitch on the website!  There’s no bio, no picture, nothing.  So basically, she’s a fucking wild card that was thrown into the battle royal to just add another number.  Can we even count on her to make it onto the boat?!  Like, I don’t even think she’s a real person!  How is that fair to any of us involved?!  Fuck her and fuck Mark Ward for putting her in the match.”

Mikah lets out a noise of irritation.

;;MIKAH  “You know what?  What if I just randomly showed up in that match and throw Portia’s ass out of the ring?  Maybe that would make her a little more relevant.  Because she’s not even done anything in the company!  It’s ridiculous.  This whole idea of the battle royal is ridiculous.  But nonetheless, putting a person in the match that doesn’t even have a picture on the website is ridiculous.  Portia is just ridiculous.  How can I even talk about her if she doesn’t even exist on the website other than being booked in the match?  Should I be worried about her?  I don’t even know.  But I’m betting she gets on the wrong ship and won’t even be in attendance.  Whatever.”

She tosses the notecard to the ground and looks at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “Hopefully you show up, Portia.  Because even if you do, you’re going to lose.”

The screen goes black.  It seems to be off longer than before either of the three times before and when it turns back on, Mikah is sitting on the stool again sporting her Cat woman costume from a few years back.  The green screen showed a house with a yard and a few cats in the yard.

;;MIKAH  “Seleana Zdunich.”

The name draws a smirk to Mikah’s luscious pink lips.

;;MIKAH  “You may be the wild card in the battle royal, really you might be.  You’re going into Summer XXXtreme VI on a high.  You just got married, yesterday and you’re riding the waves of marital bliss.  As blissful as it can be when you’re married to a crazy woman but marital bliss all the same.”

A chuckle escapes Mikah’s lips and she shakes her head.

;;MIKAH  “I am all for people loving who they want to love.  That is great but you chose to marry Christina Rose.  Or Crystal Hilton.  Or whatever she chooses to call herself right now.  I am not sure whether or not I should ask if you’re sane.  Because even if you’re not, it doesn’t matter.  You are in the battle royal and will have the opportunity to face me at the end of the night should you win.”

Mikah masks her feelings on that easily.  Masking any emotion that would pass through.

;;MIKAH  “You’ve done well in SCW, I believe.  Don’t hold it against me that I haven’t watched your matches diligently, I’ve been a little preoccupied with your wife.”

Mikah rolls her eyes in sheer annoyance at the thought of it.

;;MIKAH  “Are you prepared, Seleana?  Are you prepared to throw your wife over the top rope to get a shot at me?  Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to win?  I don’t know you well enough to say that you’d throw your wife aside to get the gold.  But how would that make the nutso feel?”

She raises an eyebrow at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “If it comes down to you and your wife, who’s going to make the first move to win?  Who’s going to be hesitant to do it?  That will be interesting to watch, you know?  Or are you going to throw in the towel to give your wife one more shot at me?  A shot she doesn’t fucking deserve?”

[Mikah]

 
<div style="width: 695px; margin: auto;">

Mikah raises an eyebrow again, a stone cold look on her pretty face.

;;MIKAH  “I’d like to think you’d have some integrity and try to fight you’re your own right to fight me.  But the power of being married to a nutso must be pretty high because I can’t say in full that I trust you to fight for what you want.  I believe that the nutso will ask you to throw the match if it comes down between you and her.  But do I think that it is going to come down between you and her?”

Mikah lets out a laugh and a scoff at the same time before shaking her head no.

;;MIKAH  “No.  I do not think it will become down to the two of you at all.  I think you will be an after thought like much of the other Bombshells in the match.  Just a pawn put in the match because Mark Ward has a hard on for your wife.”

She laughs before tilting her head.

;;MIKAH  “Oh the irony.  People used to say the same about me, you know?  They used to say that he had a hard on for me as well but times change.  And I married Drake and ended that alliance.  I am sure you understand what I’m saying, Selana.  You don’t stand a chance in the battle royal at all.  So, have fun trying.”

She waves at the camera as if she’s waving to Seleana herself.  The camera goes black once more and this time it’s for a few minutes like the first time.  When it comes back on, Mikah’s sporting a pair of black leggings again and a sports bra that was a deep green color. The green screen showed images of a training center.

;;MIKAH  “Dani Weston.”

Dani was a fresh face to SCW.  Much like Aviana and Apple Coren, but for some reason, people seemed to be pushing her again and again.

;;MIKAH  “The girl who teamed up with the brainless wonder, Casey Williams.  The girl who hasn’t won a single match in SCW.  The girl who is going to try her hardest to try to win the battle royal to get to face me at the end of the night.  The girl who tried.”

She lets out a bitter laugh before rolling her eyes.

;;MIKAH  “The girl who lost again, is what you’re going to be known for when the cruise is over.  Whether it’s to five other Bombshells or whether it’s to me.  You’re still going to lose.  You know, I had hope that I was going to face somebody knew on the cruise ship.  Somebody exciting and had Court not injured herself like the moron she is, I would be facing her.”

She smirks as she looks at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “But she isn’t there.  Instead, you or five other girls get to fight for the opportunity to fight me.  And how is that fair to me?  You know that one of you is going to go on to fight me.  But what do I know?  I do not know who it is going to be.  I want to say that it’s going to be you, Dani Weston.  But I doubt it’s going to be because you’re not the nutso bitch, Christina Rose.  So while you’re going to try your hardest in that battle royal, you will more than likely not come out on top.”

Mikah shrugs her shoulders.

;;MIKAH  “You were the one that I wanted to win it, by the way.  Before this gets out of hand, just remember that I wanted you to win the battle royal because I thought facing you would be fresh, something new.  But we all don’t get what we want.  You want to pretend that life is simple, easy but it’s not simple.  This thing that we’re doing?  It’s not simple either.  There are so many webs that have been weaved that can’t be undone.  And the web that’s not going to be undone?  Is Christina Rose’s and Mark Ward’s.  Sorry but it’s the truth.  And the truth hurts.”

She holds a look on her face a for a moment before the screen goes black again.  It’s longer than before.  Ten minutes probably and people are probably thinking their screens have messed up until it shows a scene of a beach wedding on the green screen.  Mikah has yet to be seen but soon, she makes her way into the center of the shot.  She is dressed in a white wedding dress that was mermaid style or trumpet for a more elegant term.  It was strapless and hugged her curves just right.  She holds a bouquet of pink, yellow, and white roses.

;;MIKAH  “I hope you enjoyed your wedding.  I hope you enjoyed your first night as a married couple with Seleana.  I hope that you remember the bliss that you felt after your vows were exchanged because after Summer XXXtreme VI, there’s not going to be any bliss left for you, Christina.”

She pushes her hair from her face, careful not to mess with the veil that was shiedling her eyes.

;;MIKAH  “You never seem to learn, Christina.  You don’t seem to understand that you are not better than me.  You don’t understand that I will always be above you and you don’t know when to stay the fuck down.  I hope you win the battle royal just so I can humiliate you again in the ring.  In front of your new wife and your new family.  And I hope they realize just what kind of scum you are.”

She narrows her eyes at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “You are the worst type of scum, Christina.  You brought your wife on this cruise that you are getting fucking paid[/u] to go on for your honeymoon.  What you don’t have enough money to take her on a real one?  You are worthless.”

She shakes her head, her eyes cold to the camera.

;;MIKAH  “It’s also time you stop taking credit for the thing I have done in this ring.  Take credit for your losses and move the fuck on.  I’m tired of dealing with your shit.  And with you.  I’ll beat you again, easily.  And I hope it’s you I have to face just to embarrass you all over again.”

Mikah tosses the bouquet down and then rips the veil off and tosses it down as well, glowering at the camera.

;;MIKAH  “We are all forgetting that none of you fucks should be in this spot.  This spot should be Court’s.  And she is definitely better than you and when she returns, she’ll prove it.  Don’t forget your fucking place on the totem pole, bitches.  Because Court is still at the top.  Right under me.”

She goes to say something else but the green screen starts to cut out and Mikah turns in confusion to look at it.  She wasn’t sure what was happening.  It turns a bit fuzzy and the words: I MISSED YOU MIKAH, DID YOU MISS ME? -Cameron were written in simple font.  The color drains from her face as she realizes that he’s hacked her.

;;MIKAH  “What…is going on?”

The confusion on her face watches as the words keep appearing, over and over.  One line after another and fills the entire screen.  She drops to her knees as she stares at the words and shakes her head no.  She runs her fingers through her hair, as the words disappear, his voice replacing the print and pictures of her show up on her screen. The camera stops rolling as more pictures show up, pictures that she didn’t know existed.  She falls forward, a sob escaping her throat as she covers her face. She couldn’t breathe.

[Mikah]

 
<div style="width: 695px; margin: auto;">
<text align=right> <p align=Right> "CREEP PART II."
LOCATION: PACIFIC OCEAN.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME VI: 6
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: LOW
SCENE i
REC•

MONDAY, JULY 16, 2018
11:00 A.M.

She sits up in her bed, trying to find some comfort in the waves that crash upon the ship and as it lulls a bit as it moves through the Pacific Ocean. She had a lot to do today since she was the Bombshell Champion but she just wanted to lie in bed.  She was trying to recover from the fact that Cameron had found a way to hack into her promo piece she had been filming for her first week of promotional work for the show.  It had taken Drake and Brody twenty minutes to pull her out of her catatonic like state.  And then, she just sat there with tears streaming down her face.  She couldn’t understand why he was back all of the sudden.  It had been a blissful year or so without him threatening her life.  She had enjoyed being able to breathe.

So, she sits there trying to think of what she needed to get done for the show.  She should be mingling with the fans and not trying to hide from one crazed moron but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Cameron was on the boat.  And she knew that there was a high chance of him being on the boat.  Drake had gone off to do something that Mikah couldn’t really remember, which left her alone with Brody in the suite.

??BRODY WAGNER “What’s on the agenda today, Ms. Mikah?”

He wasn’t trying to push her and that was something that Mikah could appreciate, even though she wanted to pull the blankets over her head until Sunday was over with.  She looks at him and shrugs her shoulders as she looks down at her attire.  That was the one thing she had done that morning, gotten dressed and ready to go but then she found her bed and wanted to just stay wrapped up in her blankets.  So, she had a little Twitter war with some nobody and now, she was feeling even more terrified to go out and see what the ship had to offer.

;;MIKAH  “As much as I would like to, I don’t think I can lock myself in the room this year.  As Bombshell Champion, I am sure that it would be a lot more beneficial to me and to the company that I go out on the deck and walk around.”

She said the words with confidence but her face showed the exact opposite.  She couldn’t shake that feeling of fear and paranoia.  She wanted to get rid of that feeling so badly.  But it was there, settling in her stomach like a ball of nervous energy.  She looks at Brody and offers him a small smile.  She was glad that Ellie was having a fun time on board and didn’t need her to be around to hold her hand.

??BRODY WAGNER  “You don’t have to be worried; I will be right with you the whole day.  For this whole trip.  There will be no way that Cameron can get to you.”

He tried to be reassuring to the blonde but she still didn’t seem to be confident in leaving the safety of her own room.  But she stands up and adjusts the skirt of her dress before nodding her head at Brody.  There was not much she could do to stop Cameron from purchasing a ticket and attending the show.

;;MIKAH  “I know but it is still scary to think that he can just do as he pleases without any repercussions.”

She knew that what she was struggling with was miniscule compared to what some other people encounter when it came to stalkers.  But she had grown comfortable with her life.  Enjoying the fact that she had been able to breathe so freely and not worry about looking over her shoulder or being terrified of coming home to a box of chocolates that weren’t from her husband.  But now, that safety net she’d had was gone and Cameron was there in its place.

??BRODY WAGNER  “My job is to ensure that you’re safe.  I can assure you that I will do whatever it takes to keep that promise.”

He places a hand on her upper arms and gives her a supportive look and she sighs before grabbing her small clutch purse.  She couldn’t lock herself in her room this year; it wasn’t an option.  SCW only had her as their top champion right now, the face of the company until either Fenris or whoever took the Heavyweight Championship.  It wasn’t the same without Kris being around and she was trying not to think about that.

;;MIKAH  “I know.  I’m working on it.”

She doesn’t let him have an opportunity to speak before she leaves the room, him trailing behind her at a safe distance.  She smiles as she passes a few fans of the sport and gives them a wave as she makes her way to the deck.  She was sure that most of the stars of SCW would be out and about by now, unless of course they’d spent the night in the casino.  She had stayed away from the casino and instead, taken Despy out to the chocolate restaurant and let him get whatever he wanted.  It might not have been the best idea on her part but it was fun to watch him pick all the chocolate desserts and ooh and aah at them.  It might be the highlight of the entire cruise.

She smiles as she passes a few other fans, who stop and stare with wide eyes.  She stops as well and glances at Brody who stops as well.

;;MIKAH  “Do you want a picture?”

The girls nod their head enthusiastically and move over to Mikah.  She hands one of their phones to Brody and he snaps their picture.  The girls thank Mikah and she smiles before moving on as they hurry back to their room.  Brody doesn’t say anything as Mikah finally gets to the upper deck and she steps out into the open.  She squints her eyes as the sun beats down in her face and she is almost tackled with a hug from Ellie.

±±ELLIE  “This has been the best couple of weeks of my life!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Mikah chuckles and gives Ellie a hug back before looking around the deck of the cruise ship.  There were people everywhere.  There was no possible way to know if Cameron was lurking around and watching her every move.  And she definitely couldn’t act like a paranoid schizophrenic either.  She was going to have to suck it up and try not to think about him or what he could possibly be doing at the moment.

;;MIKAH  “I am glad that you are enjoying yourself, Ellie.  I enjoyed it the first time I was booked on the ship a few years ago.  And two years ago, I got married on the ship.”

It was a fond memory for her, even when she and Drake weren’t on the best of terms.  It had been a wonderful day and she’d put so much thought and planning into it.  She also put a lot of money into it. It was the first real wedding she had as the other two had been Vegas weddings and not a marriage. She was paying for a marriage, not a wedding.

±±ELLIE  “I bet you were a beautiful bride.”

Mikah shrugs her shoulders but then wrinkles her nose and nods her head, agreeing with the young girl’s words. It was okay to be biased, right?  As long as nobody else knew you were being so.

;;MIKAH  “I’d like to think so.  Also, I didn’t use the ship as a honeymoon destination either; Drake and I paid for ours.”

She knew that Ellie wouldn’t really understand the dig at Christina but that was okay, Mikah understood it.  Mikah chuckles as Ellie looks around, still seeming to take in the whole idea of being on the cruise ship.  There was a part of her that wished she could remember when she was so bright eyed and full of amazement at things that were new to her.  But now, things weren’t as new and they’d lost their luster.  It didn’t make them any less fun but there was a lot less wonder now.

±±ELLIE  “I’m going to go swimming again. We got a group of people together to play volleyball, do you want to join?”

Mikah shakes her head no and Ellie runs off, leaving Mikah standing there with Brody.  She had put her bikini on underneath her dress, in case she wanted to do something in the water. But all she could think of was the time when Cameron had approached her in Florida when she was with Leighton. Brody could sense the uneasiness of the blonde and he takes a step forward.

??BRODY WAGNER  “Everything okay, Mikah?”

He didn’t want to make the mistake like he’d done on Saturday when she refused to take her hands off the back of her head.

FLASHBACK TO SATURDAY

Mikah was on the floor, her knees tucked underneath her and her body folded down over them with her forehead against the floor and her hands over her head, her wrists pressed over her ears as she tried to block Cameron’s voice out.

??CAMERON  “I MISSED YOU MIKAH, DID YOU MISS ME?”

His voice had continued to say it, over and over and she didn’t want to hear it.  But she couldn’t move and felt as if she was stuck in her spot.  She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase the images of his words on the walls and she covered her ears, trying to tune his voice out.

??CAMERON  “I MISSED YOU MIKAH, DID YOU MISS ME?”

She lets out a sob that was more like a scream as his voice seems to get louder, trying to overpower her attempts to tune him out.  She clutched handfuls of her blonde hair in her fists as he continues to say the words, over and over again. Taunting her unrelentlessly.

??BRODY WAGNER  “Can’t somebody shut it off!?”

He was trying to get it shut down but he was having as hard of a time as everybody else was.  They were scrambling to try to close Cameron off, cut his connection but he proved to be very good with the technical stuff and his voice continued to carry on.

??CAMERON  “I MISSED YOU MIKAH, DID YOU MISS ME?”

Brody was growing more and more agitated that he wasn’t doing much to help Mikah and couldn’t seem to shut it down.  He hadn’t wanted to just pick her up and remove her from the room because he didn’t want to trigger some sort of response from her, so he picked up his phone and sent a call to her husband, Drake.  He knew that Drake was in the area as they had to board the ship the next day.

Mikah stayed on the floor, her hands still holding the back of her head and handfuls of her hair.  She was sobbing now, trying to tune out Cameron’s voice but it wasn’t working.  He kept saying it and she kept wanting it to stop but it wouldn’t.

::DRAKE  “Where is she?”

It hadn’t taken him too long to get there, having known where she was going to be filming her promo piece.  Brody moves him over to where Mikah was and he sighs before moving down to try to get Mikah to come up from her state.  He placed a tender hand on her back and she had flinched until she heard his voice.

::DRAKE  “Mikah, it’s okay.  It’s me.”

His voice had been calm and recognizeable to her, even in that state.  It was like it came through Cameron’s voice and she could distinguish between the two and she had stopped sobbing so loudly, trying to find his voice again.

::DRAKE  “It’s okay, babe.  I’m going to get you out of here and you won’t have to hear his voice anymore, okay?”

He stated it as a question but it hadn’t been one at all, he was going to do it whether or not she wanted him to.  Because he knew that she couldn’t have stayed in that spot because they hadn’t figured out how to sever the connection that Cameron had with their servers.  Drake carefully picked her up and removed her from the room, Brody following quickly behind them.

END OF FLASHBACK.

Brody had felt bad that he couldn’t drag Mikah out of her own head and had failed miserably at his job, that he hadn’t left Mikah alone unless she was with Drake.  Mikah hadn’t seemed to mind his presence this time, unlike the last time he had been around.  Mikah smiles at Brody before nodding her head and placing a hand on his arm.

;;MIKAH  “Yes, I’m okay.  I promise.  I’m just going to go sit in the sun and enjoy the warmth on my skin.”

Brody nods his head and he too tries to relax and follows her as she finds an empty lounge chair.  He stands back behind the chair and Mikah takes her dress off, revealing a simple but stylish black bikini with the bottoms having neon colored braided ties on the sides.  She smiles before sitting in the chair and stretching out to take in some of the sun’s rays.

She people watches, watching them walk by her and some stop to look at her and some just hurry on by as if they were starstruck.  She chuckles to herself before spotting Ben Jordan across the way and she just wrinkles her nose a bit.  She wasn’t trying to be overly social, but she waves anyways before settling back down in her chair.  She wasn’t sure where her husband was on the ship, but she was sure that he would be with Ben at some point during the week long duration of the ship.

She closes her eyes for a moment, for a moment before she opens them quickly as she didn’t want to get too lost in her mind.  She didn’t want to relive Saturday.  It had taken Drake a long time to get her to talk to him, to open and she didn’t want to go back to that place. She takes a deep breath and smiles as a waitress stops to ask her if she wants something to drink.

;;MIKAH  “Yes, I’d like a Miami Vice…you know, the frozen one that half pina colada and half strawberry daiquiri mixed?”

She nods her head, writes it down, and walks off to get the drink. She makes a few stops on the way back to the bar to get a few more orders in and that didn’t seem to bother Mikah. She was trying to learn because she knew that it was something that she needed for the training center.  

She jumps when Ellie flops down in the seat next to her, beads of water rolling down the young girl’s bronzed skin. Mikah eyes Ellie over for a moment before sighing.

;;MIKAH  “Do you need something, Ellie?”

Ellie shakes her head no before she too gets settled in the chair. Mikah chuckles and relaxes a little as she looks up at the blue, cloudless sky.  They seemed to have gotten lucky on the cruise ship so far; the weather was cooperating and she didn’t have to worry about drowning at sea.

±±ELLIE  “I’ve been thinking…”

Mikah raises an eyebrow at Ellie and then waits, wondering if she was ever going to continue her sentence.  Mikah lets out a breath of air and looks over at Ellie.

;;MIKAH  “You’ve been thinking….what?”

Mikah didn’t really like to coax things out of people and she knew deep down that it was hypocritical of her. People were always having to pull things out of her because she kept them so well bottled up inside.  But she couldn’t seem to deal with it very well when it came to Ellie.

±±ELLIE  “Yes.  I’ve been thinking about what you do, in the ring.  And do you think that maybe you could train me too?  I don’t have much money to give you for the lessons but I was hoping that maybe you could take a chance on me?”

Ellie looks at Mikah with a hopeful look in her eyes.  Mikah knew that Ellie had been processing the whole thing since she brought her along to Texas. She saw the stars in the young girl’s eyes and she knew that Ellie was going to easily fall in love with this world. It wasn’t something Mikah had intended for Ellie to do but she couldn’t say she was surprised; Ellie grew up in a family with hardly anything to their name or parents who cared about them.  She had the same drive that Mikah had as a young adult and Mikah wanted to channel some Ellie’s energy into something good and positive.

;;MIKAH  “Do you think you can handle it?”

Mikah gives Ellie one of her skeptical looks and Ellie lets out a dramatic sigh and flops back against the back of her chair as if Mikah had told her no.  Mikah shakes her head and chuckles at the young girl’s flare for the dramatic.

±±ELLIE  “Yes!  I know it’s going to be hard and I’m probably going to be sore for a long few weeks but I want to try.  And if I’m not a natural at it by the first month, you have permission to stop, okay?”

Mikah chuckles and reaches over to place a hand on Ellie’s shoulder to calm her down.  She had always had it in her mind that she’d some day train Ellie.  She just hadn’t expected Ellie to have wanted it so soon.

;;MIKAH  “Calm down, please.  Of course I’ll train you. I am sure that you will be a natural and it takes longer than a month to find that out.  Trust me.”

Ellie seems to visibly relax and Mikah chuckles as they go back to sun-tanning.  Mikah felt a weird sensation fall over her and she sits up to look around.  She knew that he was hear somewhere, but she didn’t know where.  She looks around, making sure he wasn’t anywhere where she could see him before she settles back down against the chair to relax.

CAMERON’S POINT OF VIEW

He sat up in the crow’s nest, watching her as she talked with the young girl with wild curls and bronzed skin.  He watched as she teased the girl and seemed to be okay with just being around this girl and it made him mad, frustrated even because she had never been that calm around her.  He wanted her to be but she just wouldn’t find her peace with him.  And that girl was just able to be around his Mikah without any problems arising.  How was that even fair?

??CAMERON  “You are mine, Mikah.  And I will make sure that you won’t forget it.”

He was lucky that he’d easily snagged a job on the cruise ship, volunteering to spend most of his time in what was called the crow’s nest because he wouldn’t be spotted up there and he could watch for her when he wanted to.  He watches as she sits up and a sick smirk crosses his face as he realizes that she can sense him watching her.

??CAMERON  “See, Mikah, your sense are already in tune to mine.  It’s meant to be.”

He watches as she settles back down into the lounge chair that she was sitting in and he can tell that she’s not relaxed like she had been a few weeks ago.  He can tell that she was tense and he smirked to himself, proud of himself and his doing.  That was him.  He had her all worked up and he wanted to be the one to get her to relax, to relieve her of that tension and he was going to help her one day.

??CAMERON  “Soon you will be relieved of all that tension, Mikah.  Soon, my love, soon.”

He takes a deep breath, hoping that a gust of wind will carry her scent up to him but no such luck.  So he just scowls to himself before settling on watching him from his perch.  He grabs his binoculars to get a better view, zooming in on her before he moves over to the girl next to her. He didn’t like her and that was going to have to be rectified.  She had to go before he could do anything.  He was more worried about her than the bodyguard.

??CAMERON   “Sorry, Mikah’s little pet, you’ve got to go.”

END OF CAMERON’S POINT OF VIEW

<text align=right> <p align=Right> "CREEP PART III."
LOCATION: PACIFIC OCEAN.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME VI: 4
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: LOW
SCENE ii
REC•

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018
5:00 P.M.

The meet and greet that Mikah had Ruby set up was packed and it was set right in front of the casino.  Mikah had been surprised by the line but at the same time, not as surprised.  They got to sit across from her and ask three questions while she signed whatever it was they wanted her to sign.  Ruby had cut off the people at thirty, not wanting Mikah to be there for forever.  Mikah had agreed to do this only if it wasn’t filmed for the show and Ruby had been happy to agree.  There would be enough of the SCW camera guys running around to get footage for some sore of video package and would more than likely get a few shots of the top champion signing autographs and conversing with the fans.

;;MIKAH  “Hi, what’s your name?”

A young girl had sat down in the chair across from Mikah and had wide eyes as she looked at the blonde Bombshell.  Mikah offers her a pleasant smile, not wanting to push the young fan away.

??FAN oo1  “M-my name is…Leighla.”

Mikah smiles at the young girl and watches as she produces an action shot sort of picture from her bag and hands it to Mikah.  Mikah looks at the picture and smiles warmly as it’s a picture from the Climax Control right after Into the Void where she made Christina Rose tap out.

;;MIKAH  “That is a very good choice of a picture, Leighla.  How do you spell your name?”

Mikah wasn’t dumb, she knew there were many different ways to spell that name and she didn’t want to get it wrong for the young girl.  Mikah writes the girl’s name as she spells it out loud before signing her own name after a inspiring sort of message.

??FAN oo1  “Who do you want to win the battle royal?”

Mikah looked into the young girl’s vibrant green eyes and offered a small smile.  She hadn’t really put much thought into it because she had been sure that the whole thing was rigged for Christina to win.

;;MIKAH  “Anybody that isn’t named Christina Rose.  I’d like to see Aviana Faith win it.  Or even Dani Weston.  I think there needs to be a fresh challenger because as much as I love to prove to Christina how much better I am than she is, it gets boring.”

Mikah smiles at Leighla before looking over to where Ruby was standing to her right and then she looks to her left to see Brody standing there, his hands crossed in front of him and on alert.  She shakes her head but seems to feel safe in her little bubble.  She glances behind her and into the open doors of the casino as some hooping and hollering goes on inside.  Somebody had won big and it puts a small smile on her face.

??FAN oo1  “Do you think that any of the other participants in the batte royal can beat Christina?  She is a seasoned wrestler…”

Mikah shrugs her shoulders.

;;MIKAH  “Anything can happen, right?  It didn’t take me too long to win my championship when I signed with the company.  Most people thought it was a fluke win and I’d lose it soon after but I held it for nearly nine months, setting the record and breaking other records.  So, anything can happen.”

Mikah did believe that anything could happen because she had seen it.  She had seen people do the impossible when it came to wrestling; it just depended on who had the biggest drive.

??FAN oo1  “Last question, do you think I could ever be like you?”

Mikah was a little taken back by the question because she never thought that she’d have young fans that looked up to her.  She knew that she had fans that knew a good wrestler when they saw one but she hadn’t expected a child younger than Leighton to be so smart and intuitive about wrestling.

;;MIKAH  “I believe that you can do whatever you set your heart to, Leighla.  It’s not about whether or not I think you can, it’s whether or not you think you can.  So, if you want to do this…”

Mikah stops to gesture around her so that Leighla knew what she was talking about.

;;MIKAH  “You have to work for it but first, finish school and then decide if this is what you want to do with your life.”

Leighla seemed to be pleased with the answer and gets up after thanking Mikah and running off to an older woman, who Mikah guessed to be the girl’s mother.  Mikah glances at Brody and he gives her a small, discreet nod to let her know that he hadn’t seen Cameron yet.  Mikah doesn’t have much of a chance to think as a man in his mid-twenties sits down across from Mikah.  He looked to be an avid wrestling fan that bordered between average looking and good looking.

??FAN oo2   “Hi.  I’m Ollie and I’ve been following your careers since your days on the MSN circuit.  I just love your in ring work and how dedicated you are to honing your craft.”

Mikah blinks a few times as she just stares at him for a moment before giving him a small, insecure smile.  Lately, she seemed to be unsure of male fans and what they wanted out of her.

;;MIKAH  “Hi, Ollie.”

She signed the picture that he held out to her but she didn’t seem to want to make small talk with him like she had with Leighla.  He didn’t seem threatening or overbearing like Cameron had seemed when she had first met him a couple of years ago.

??FAN oo2  “Do you think that Natural Selection will ever reunite for a reunion show of sorts?”

Mikah just looks at Ollie before looking over at Brody who was just shaking his head.  Apparently, Ollie wasn’t emitting a threatening vibe to Brody so Mikah just shrugs her shoulders.

;;MIKHA  “I highly doubt it.  Christian Othniel is dead and I don’t know where Marcus Bain.  Jacob Mitchell is probably in Hawaii with his family, enjoying the retired life.  Um…Con is also another wildcard so I would say that it’s probably not going to happen no matter how much anybody wants it.”

She had thought about it as well, it wasn’t only Ollie that wanted the reunion but people had lives and families and Mikah understood that.  She knew the fans would want the reunion one day but it wasn’t going to happen.

??FAN oo3  “That’s too bad, the group was fun to watch.  Especially at the event that was stationed in Hawaii after you all had pretty much gained control over PWT.  Good times.”

Mikah just offers a smile but doesn’t know what else to say to the hardcore fan.  At least, he didn’t seem to be obsessive like Cameron was.

??FAN oo2  “Are you looking forward to Sunday?”

It was a simple question and she admired that he had only wanted to know that and didn’t dig down deep for another question that she couldn’t give him an answer to.

;;MIKAH  “I’m looking forward to getting off of this ship…but as for my match, I’m not sure.  Maybe.”

It was all that she was going to give him.  There was nothing else that she wanted to say about her match.  It was a wild card sort of match and she was not looking forward to only finding out the night of on who she was facing off against to fight for her championship.  It made her anxious.

??FAN oo2  “Last question, where do you think Kris Ryans is?”

Mikah holds her breath at that question.  It wasn’t something she thought she’d be asked but there it was, out in the open now and dangling in the air between them.  She hadn’t thought about why Kris was gone or when he would return; she was trying to keep busy herself so she could focus on her match on Sunday.  But Ollie was there, asking the question that she was sure that everybody wanted to know.  The match between him and Fenris had been talked about since Fenris and Courtney won the tournament and now neither of them could compete in the matches they had the right to compete in.  How ironic.

;;MIKAH  “Um…I think he’s probably with his kids?  I’m not sure I can give you an answer that you would be okay with because I don’t really know where Kris is.  And I know that sucks for you and all of his fans but I have to believe that wherever he is, he’s safe and happy.  Otherwise, we might be in trouble.”

Ollie seemed to be okay with that answer and he stands up, pushes his chair in and holds his hand out to shake Mikah’s hand.  Mikah does it without complaint, shaking the man’s hand.

??FAN oo1  “Thank you for answering my questions!  You’re the best!”

He walks off into the casino and Mikah’s eyes follow him for a moment before Brody chuckles and she shoots him a dirty look.  She couldn’t help that some of the wrestling fans liked to suck up to the stars in hopes that one might remember them.  Brody regains his composure before looking over the area again, his eyes scanning for Cameron.  He gives Mikah a small nod when he doesn’t see the  boy.

Mikah looks back to see another guy who was probably closer to his fifties sit down.  He looked like a younger version of George Clooney with less grey hair.  Mikah raises an eyebrow at him.

??FAN oo3  “Hello, I’m Ian and I’ve been a fan of Sin City Wrestling since it first opened.  How devastated were you when they closed their doors in January?”

Mikah raises an eyebrow at the man’s bluntness.  He didn’t want to make small talk or anything, he got done to the questions right away and Mikah couldn’t help but respect that.  It showed that he respected her enough to want to not waste her time.

;;MIKAH  “It sucked at first, because SCW is my home and has been my home since November of 2014.  But it was kind of a blessing in disguise in some ways. I was growing tired of being on the road all the time and I could feel the drive to want to give them 110 percent every time slipping away from me and that wouldn’t be fair to them.  I wouldn’t have taken a break and I could have tarnished my record and theirs if they’d stayed open.  It was a blessing in disguise for a lot of people and once it closed, people started to realize that what they missed most, was SCW’s consistency and fairness.  But I think the break helped the company find talent who will be true to them in the end.”

Ian nods his head as he slides a picture of Mikah and Drake together for her to sign.  She stares at the picture for a moment before signing her name on it.

??FAN oo3  “How did you make the decision to return to SCW when they announced that they would be re-opening?”

Mikah chews on her bottom lip for a moment before smiling at him.

;;MIKAH  “I weighed the pros and cons against one another.  And I had help from a friend as well.”

It was a simple answer but it was the truth.  She wasn’t lying that she had help from a friend on whether or not she was going to return to the company in April.  But she wasn’t about to disclose which friend had been the one to help her decide, either.

??FAN oo3  “Your first defense since returning saw you lose the championship to Christina Rose only to win it back two weeks later, how do you think your defense on Sunday is going to go?”

Mikah stares at him for a moment, blinking slowly before shrugging her shoulders.  How was her second defense since regaining the championship going to go?  She wasn’t sure because she still wasn’t sure about who she was going to be facing in that main event.

;;MIKAH  “Honestly?  You’re looking for an answer I can’t give you.  If this was being filmed, I’d say I already have the win in the bag but this isn’t being filmed.  You’re getting me and I don’t know how the match is going to go because I don’t know who I’m going to be facing.  It will probably be Christina Rose because that woman gets unlimited shots at the championship even though she can’t hack it in a ring against me but I’m crossing my fingers that it’s somebody fresh, somebody different.  The one plus about facing the nutcase is that I do know her style and she’s become a teensy bit predictable in the ring.  And I’m sure the same could be said about me from her.”

She shrugs her shoulders again but the answer seemed to suit Ian as he gets up to leave.  Mikah thanks him quickly before sighing and looking at Ruby.  Ruby gives her a thumbs up, telling her she’s doing a wonderful job and Mikah jumps as a teenage boy sits down quickly in the chair, the metal scraping against the ground.  Mikah blinks before looking at Brody, who had stepped forward in case this boy was harmful.

;;MIKAH  “It’s okay, Brody.”

Brody nods his head before stepping back into his place and Mikah turns her attention back to the teenage boy and raises her eyebrows.  He seemed to be in some sort of hurry.

??FAN oo4  “Hi.  I’m Holden!  I can’t believe that I’m here and getting to meet you!  This is crazy!  This is insane!”

Mikah blinks before looking back at Brody again before looking back at Holden.  She offers a smile before signing the two pictures he pushed at her.

;;MIKAH  “Yeah, amazing.  How are you enjoying the cruise so far?”

Holden looks at the pictures that now had Mikah’s autograph on them before looking at her wide eyed. She smiles a bit at him, trying to get him to relax enough to think of the questions he wanted to ask.

??FAN oo4  “The cruise is amazing!  Everybody on this ship is amazing!”

Mikah blinks a few times as she tries to be patient with the kid’s excitement about being on the cruise.  She was working on her patience but it wasn’t the best yet.

;;MIKAH  “Do you have any questions that you want to ask me?”

She thought it would be best if she came right out and asked him if he had any questions for her because he didn’t seem to be focused on the task.  He straightens himself up in the chair and nods his head.

??FAN oo4   “Yes!  First question, who is your favorite opponent you’ve had in SCW?!  Second question, who is your least favorite opponent in SCW?  And third question, if you could bring anybody back to a SCW ring, who would it be?”

Mikah takes a deep breath, trying to translate everything he said into her own language.  She smiles at him though, trying not to scare him away as he seems to be a joyful teen.

;;MIKAH  “Favorite opponent in SCW?  Hm.  There have been a lot of opponents that I’ve had while being employed in this company.  But my favorite?  Probably…Melody Grace on the few times we squared off.  She’s amazing even though her personality and my own don’t seem to mix.  As for my least favorite?  That’s a tie between Polly Playtime and Christina Rose.  And it’s only Christina Rose because I am so tired of facing her.”

She takes a deep breath before smiling.

;;MIKAH  “Most people would expect me to say J2H or Melody Grace or somebody like that but no.  If you know me, you know that I’m going to say Simon Jones.  After all, I do have a t-shirt about bringing him back.”

She thought about saying Kris Ryans but he wasn’t gone gone, just on a hiatus.  She smiles at Holden who nods his head enthusiastically before he gets up and runs off as well.  Mikah shakes her head and begins to relax as people start to come and go, her world becoming a bit of a blur as she seems to answer the same questions, over and over again.  She holds a hand up to stop the line at the twenty-eighth person.

;;MIKAH  “I’ll be right back.  Restroom break.”

She had done pretty well, the whole thing having taken two hours from her life.  She grabs her clutch purse before moving through the casino to find the restaurant.  She does her thing and when she’s walking back, she checks her phone and frowns as she hadn’t heard from Ellie.  She had instructed Ellie to come down at about 6:45 p.m. so they could go get dinner after she was done with the meet and greet but she hadn’t heard anything.  It was weird.

;;MIKAH  “Hey, Brody?”

Mikah stops next to her bodyguard, a frown on her face and warning bells going off in her head.  It was not like Ellie to not respond.  

??BRODY WAGNER  “Everything okay?  Are you okay?”

The panic on his face almost made her chuckle and she nods her head.

;;MIKAH  “Yeah, I’m okay.  But…I have a favor to ask of you…”

Brody raises an eyebrow at the blonde Bombshell before giving her a skeptical look and waiting for her to continue.

;;MIKAH  “I haven’t heard from Ellie all afternoon, will you do me a favor and go check on her, please?  I just have a feeling that something is wrong…”

Brody frowns as he looks at Mikah then over at Ruby, who was doing her best to entertain the last couple of fans left.

??BRODY WAGNER  “You know that I’m not supposed to. I’m not supposed to leave you alone.”

Mikah rolls her eyes and places her hands on her hips.

;;MIKAH  “I am fine, Brody!  Ruby is right over there and I am sure that there is another superstar around here that could step in to help if Cameron decides to show his face.  I will be just fine, okay?  Now please, go check on Ellie because I’m stuck here and can’t!  Please!”

Brody sighs but nods his head, not protesting against what Mikah wanted.  And she did have a decent point, there were a lot of superstars hanging around the ship, so if Cameron chose to do anything, there would be somebody around to help her out.  Mikah watches him walk off, headed in the direction of where Ellie’s room was.  Mikah straightens her skirt of her dress out before sitting back down to meet with the last two fans.

??FAN o29  “Hi, I’m Emma!  And I just love you!”

Mikah looks at the woman, who had dark brown hair that almost appeared black and she smiles as she signs the woman’s shirt.

;;MIKAH  “Hi, Emma. Thanks, I appreciate all your support.  Are you enjoying yourself on this little vacation?”

Emma nods her head vigorously as she looks at her shirt that now sported Mikah’s signature.  Mikah smiles back and puts the cap back on her metallic turquoise sharpie.

??FAN o29  “Of course!  Everybody is so nice and friendly!  I know I’m allowed to ask three questions and I’ve been trying to rack my brain to think of something different to ask you.”

Mikah tried to concentrate and tried to focus on Emma but that feeling of being watched was back.  She chews on the inside of her lip, trying to listen to Emma as she rattles on and on about trying to find the perfect questions.

??FAN o29   “So, finally, I just want to know one thing…how do you stay in shape?  And how do you resist temptation from foods that might not be in your best interest to eat?  Oops!  I guess I had two questions!”

Emma seemed to be cheerful and Mikah wanted to wince because Emma was one of those girls who didn’t seem to have a trouble in the world.

;;MIKAH  “I run a lot and work out as often as I can.  I try to keep a routine with my running and this ship is the only thing that limits my running.  But other than that, it’s just a routine I keep.  And food has never been too much of a temptation for me.  I have never been obsessed with food so I don’t have to resist any.  It’s not hard to do though.  It would just take a lot of practice to get used to not giving into your cravings.  That’s all.”

Emma smiles before telling Mikah goodbye and Mikah freezes as the next person sits down, wearing a black hoodie with the hood up to disguise their face.

;;MIKAH  “Can you please put your hood down?”

The panic settles in Mikah’s eyes but the guy shakes his head no before putting a picture on the table and saying nothing.  Mikah averts her eyes to the picture and she gasps as it’s a picture of her from Saturday with her hands over the back of her head.  She pushes away from the table and stands up just as Brody and Ellie come into view.  The guy scurries off, hurrying away from Mikah and her bodyguard.

??BRODY WAGNER  “Who was that?”

Mikah shrugs her shoulders as she looks at the picture that was still on the table before looking at Ellie, who appeared to have been crying.  She looked shook up.

;;MIKAH  “What happened to Ellie?!”

Her eyes went to Brody for answers and he sighs before looking at Mikah.

??BRODY WAGNER  “When I got to her room, some guy was holding her door shut.  I think you work with him?  I’m not sure but when I got there he took off.”

Mikah just looks at Brody, unsure of what to really say as she realizes that Cameron was getting help from somebody on the ship.

<text align=right> <p align=Right> "FINAL COUNTDOWN."
LOCATION: PACIFIC OCEAN.
DAYS UNTIL SUMMER XXXTREME VI: 2
EXCITEMENT LEVEL: LOW
SCENE iii
REC•

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2018
10:00 P.M.

The setting was simple, the empty pool with nobody in it and nobody around.  It was dark but there was help from the pool’s lights and a spot light on the high diving board.  Somehow, they got it so that the cameraman could film Mikah from the ground to get a shot of the pool and the high diving board.  They had her wear a microphone and everything. She looks at the high diving board before climbing up and carefully walking out and sitting on the end of it, her legs dangling on each side.  She was wearing a pair of short light wash jean shorts with grayed ends and her favorite ‘Bring Back Simon Jones’ t-shirt.  She nods at the cameraman to let him know that she was ready.  She waits for his signal before she looks around.

;;MIKAH “We are two days away from Summer XXXtreme the sixth edition.  Just two days until this cruise is over and everybody gets off and goes back to their everyday life.”

She sits as still as she can, not wanting to fall off of the diving board and into the pool.  They had managed to give her a water proof microphone and sound box just in case it happened and she wouldn’t get zapped.

;;MIKAH “The feeling that this ship has me feeling is…gross.  I cannot wait to get off of this ship and away from all of you.  Sunday night cannot come soon enough.”

She makes a face but most of her fans knew it was all a charade so she could get into character.

;;MIKAH “So, who’s it going to be?  Who’s going to end up facing me for a shot at my belt?”

She raises an eyebrow.

;;MIKAH “Will it be the nutjob, Christina Rose?  Will it be the ever faithful Aviana Faith?  Or perhaps, Apple Coren?  Or maybe Dani Weston?  I’m not sure.”

She shrugs her shoulders as she looks around the boat.  It seemed to have gone still, nobody floating around and she was okay with that.

;;MIKAH “Oh, am I forgetting people?  Seleana?  Not important and probably won’t throw her own wife over the top rope if she had to.”

The truth hurts but it didn’t matter much to Mikah that Seleana would probably fall flat on her face in an attempt for gold.

;;MIKAH “But let me start with the easiest first.  And that is the never ending saga that is Christina Rose.”

Mikah makes a face before rolling her eyes.

;;MIKAH “She thinks that I don’t want to face her because I am scared of her.  I am not scared of her.  She has only beaten me twice in every encounter that we’ve had.  I will not let it come to a third time.  But since I didn’t want her in the Battle Royal match, she thinks she can spout off saying that I’m scared of her.  She doesn’t seem to have a clue, does she?”

She raises an eyebrow before looking around.

;;MIKAH “I don’t think that me beating you in your first defense after Into the Void was me being scared and I don’t think me beating you five days before your wedding was me being scared, either.  It’s called boring, Christina.  I’m tired of facing you because you’re not a challenge to me anymore.  There is nothing about you that I find challenging anymore.  It’s like beating a dead horse and I simply don’t want to do it anymore.  Obviously, if you don’t get thrown into the pool, I’ll have to face you again.  And you’ll just have to accept the fact when you lose that I am better than you.  I am a better competitor than you and my record proves it.  Just because you have held the championship three times and looking for a fourth reign, doesn’t make you better than me.  What makes me better than you is that I can hold the championship longer than you can.  I mean two weeks…not very good.  And go ahead, bitch about the way I took my rematch clause.  That’s why it’s called that; I get to choose when I wanted.  And how does that feel, Christina?  Knowing that Hot Stuff Mark Ward and Christian Underwood gave me what I wanted because they didn’t want to see me walk away?  Must suck to think they have low confidence in the fact that you were the champion.”

Mikah smirks at the camera.

;;MIKAH “You want to talk about respect?  You will only have my respect when you stop acting like you are an innocent victim, Christina.  You’re a good wrestler, I’ll give you that.  There isn’t denying that you don’t have talent but you’re not a good person.  And before you start, I have never claimed to be a good person. Don’t believe me?  Ask Kris Ryans.  But you have an issue when it comes to me and respect.  You cry and plead for it but yet, you do nothing to actually earn my respect.  And maybe I might respect you as a wrestler a little bit but I will never respect you as a person because you are as fake as they fucking come.  I hate fake people.”

She swallows hard before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

;;MIKAH “And you want to come at me for having my wedding on that boat?  Go for it.  SCW didn’t pay a dime for that wedding to be there.  Drake and I paid for it, not anybody in SCW and it wasn’t the whole week, thank you very much.  I didn’t make the week about my wedding but thanks for trying to make me look like the villain because I enjoy it.  My wedding wasn’t even promoted at the event. And maybe you didn’t have a choice because SCW set sail two days after your cliché wedding date, but you could have waited and not called this your honeymoon.  Everybody has a choice, Christina.  You made yours and now you’re trying to change your tune so people don’t see you as a cheap whore.”

She shrugs her shoulders.

;;MIKAH “And maybe you should’ve put more focus onto your first opponents, rather than on me.  I’m not in that battle royal but Dani Weston, Aviana Faith, Apple Coren, Portia Alexander, and your new wife, Seleana.  But no, you chose to focus on me.  Because you are so sure that you are going to be the one to beat all of them to face me.  I hope they all gang up on you and you’re your fake ass over the top rope.”

Mikah shrugs her shoulders again and winks at the camera.

;;MIKAH “Apple Coren…the one woman in the match that seems to be more arrogant than myself.”

Mikah lets out a laugh before shaking her head.

;;MIKAH “And usually, arrogance can be used as a good thing but I think in this case it is not so good.  I am not even sure that I have anything to really say about Apple Coren because what she is, is ridiculous.  Her name is even ridiculous but I guess she’s keeping the theme of ridiculousness.  So at least she’s being consistent but she doesn’t even seem to be too worried about even facing me.  She thinks that it’s going to be a walk in the park, the easiest thing she’s ever done.  But she doesn’t even realize just who she’s facing.  I’m not Seleana nor am I anybody else that you’ve faced in SCW, I’m much, much worse.  I hope you remember that, Apple.”

Mikah winks at the camera before adjusting the way she was sitting on the end of the diving board.

;;MIKAH “And then there’s you, Seleana…Christina’s newly wed wife.”

She makes a fake smile before rolling her eyes.

;;MIKAH “Nobody ever doubted that Christina got you this shot.  Believe me, everybody knew it from the get go that she was the one that helped you secure that spot.  You are the only one that is trying to fool everybody.  You don’t stand a chance in the battle royal, you know that?  You won’t end up in the main event against me because I don’t think you have the guts to throw your own wife over the ropes and into the pool.  So pardon me if I’m not absolutely terrified of you.”

She shrugs her  

[Mikah]

 
<div style="width: 695px; margin: auto;">

shoulders and adjusts her t-shirt.

;;MIKAH “I’m not even going to bother with Portia because she clearly doesn’t care about this company…”

Mikah takes a deep breath and sits there in silence.  She looks around and then looks up, looking at the dark, night sky as the ship moves through the pacific ocean.

;;MIKAH “Then there’s Aviana Faith…”

A look of guilt passes through Mikah’s eyes as if she knew that she’d let Aviana down through her own bullshit.  She needed to rectify that soon but she couldn’t at the moment.

;;MIKAH “Before I start, I owe Aviana an apology.  I’ve been nothing but cruel to you the past few weeks and it was not fair of me to take my own personal anger out on you.  So, before I go on a rant about you, I apologize for my behavior toward you and your sister.  I was going through some things and I just took out my frustration on you and it wasn’t right.”

She shakes her head to go along with her words.

;;MIKAH “Aviana may be the only one in the match that has a pure heart and is going into the match with good intentions.  Pure intentions at that. She even said that she was terrified of this match.  That is the one thing that should prove that she should be in the match whether or not I think she is ready.  She has proven she can hold herself in a match whether the outcome is in her favor or not in her favor.  And she needs recognition for that.  I am not saying that I won’t hesitate to beat her if she’s the one I have to face for the title, because I will.  I am just saying that her intentions are pure.”

Mikah frowns and glances off to the side, swearing she saw some movement before she looks at the camera.  Brody was off to the side where nobody could see him on camera but he was there, watching to make sure that things would end up okay.

;;MIKAH “Although, Dani Weston is also another one who’s intentions are probably pure as well.”

She purses her lips together for a moment before looking at the camera.

;;MIKAH “She has a point.  I am tired of facing Christina over and over again.  There is no surprise in that, nothing that could be fun in that match up again.  And Dani, you’re right.  I have been angry when I should be elated to be in the spot I am.  But how would you feel if a person says that the match you had with them nearly two weeks ago was the last and yet, she gets another opportunity?”

She shrugs her shoulders slowly.

;;MIKAH “Yeah, you could say it makes me angry.  Angry that Christina is a flake and a hypocrite all at the same time.  And I shouldn’t have taken that out on you but you came in at a bad time and that’s where my anger went.  You didn’t deserve it but yet, it’s where my anger was placed.”

She stops for a moment, again thinking she spots a shadow.  She looks at Brody who nods his head, and moves to check it out.

;;MIKAH “You’re new to SCW and you’re due to win a match because I’ve noticed you haven’t yet.  And maybe you won’t win the battle royal, but you should.  You’re the one that I think has the most will to win the match to face me at the end of the night.  You definitely deserve it the most and I want to see you throw Crystal over the top rope.  I want to face you in the main event because it would be something new that I haven’t done and something the fans haven’t seen.  I can’t say that it will be you but I can say that it should be you.  And I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that the bosses have stacked the odds against you by placing the undeserving twit that is Christina Rose into the match.  You didn’t deserve it and neither did anybody else in this match.”

Mikah makes a face before frowning as she can hear a bit of a scuffle going on to her left.  She glances that way but can’t see anything so she focuses back on the camera.

;;MIKAH  “I want to believe that Mark and Christian only placed Christina in the match because they felt that placing her anywhere else was an insult.  But to be fair, she should have been placed in a non-important match because she should have gone back to the bottom of the pole, to the back of the line because she’s had more chances than Jessie Salco at my championship.  I don’t want to think that Mark and Christian want to see her as champion but maybe they do.”

She makes a face and shrugs her shoulders at the camera.  What else could she say or do about it?

;;MIKAH  “Maybe they don’t want to see me in a SCW ring anymore, maybe they want to see somebody else there instead.  I’m not sure.  But I do know, that I can’t be apart of a company that wants the face of it to be a nutjob like Christina Rose.”

She rolls her eyes.

;;MIKAH  “And as much as Christina wants to believe, her and I are not some big rivalry to look at.  The fans do not enjoy watching us fight each other every other week.  They’d like to see something fresh when it comes to the Bombshell Championship.  They want to see people like Dani Weston and Aviana Faith having an opportunity for it.  They don’t want Christina going after it over and over again.”

She lets out a sigh again before running her fingers through her pin-straight blonde locks before looking down at the pool.

;;MIKAH  “This is where your match is going to take place, girls.  You are going to be in the ring fighting for the chance to face me over this pool.”

The camera gets a shot of the pool and then focuses back on Mikah.  

;;MIKAH  “I want you all to remember just what you’re fighting for when Sunday comes.  I want you to remember that the winner gets to face me for my Bombshell Championship.  And that’s not the only thing that you’re fighting for.  You’re fighting for the right to be able to have a chance to become the face of the company.  You’re fighting for the chance to make history at Summer XXXtreme six by facing me.  There is so much more than just getting the opportunity to take the belt for me and I want you to all understand the integrity that it holds.  The championship isn’t an accessory to ogle and carry around.  It is the one thing that sets you apart from everybody else on the roster. It proves that you are the absolute best that the company has to offer.  And I can’t wait to see how you all respond to it.”

She smirks, making a face.

;;MIKAH  “Except for Christina, of course.  You don’t deserve fucking shit.”

She freezes again as she spots Cameron off to her left.  She feels her heart starting to pound hard against her chest as he stands there, just staring at her.  She stares back as she seems to be frozen in place.

;;MIKAH  “Y-you’re fighting for the right to be the best.  But right now…”

She stops as Cameron gives her a sick, twisted smile as he shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he watches her on the edge of the diving board.  She struggles to stay still, needing to finish her thing.

;;MIKAH  “Right now?  I’m the best that there is.  I’m the best Bombshell on the roster and there’s nobody else that could make me think otherwise.  I see some talent in a few up and comers but that doesn’t mean anything until they can prove that they have what it takes to be Bombshell Championship worthy.”

Her eyes dart back over to Cameron as he stands there.  She stands up, carefully as he watches her.
   
;;MIKAH  “Ciao.”

She looks at Cameron and turns to walk down the diving board but slips and falls into the pool, smacking her left wrist hard on the of the board as she does.