Prologue-Bulletproof Youth
When you’re young you never think anything can stop you. Death is a concept that isn’t even on your radar. It’s an old person problem, at least that is what you always think. When you’re a child, if death hasn’t touched your life the first time it does can be soul crushing. From the death of a pet, a friends grandparent, your own grandparent. It will always be a shock.
But pet’s acquaintances and aged relatives combined with a young age is not quite as devastating as a parent, a friend your own age or a sibling. That is always much harder hitting. And as you get older, as the thought of death becomes a certainty the youth inside still refuses to believe. It refuses to accept when that clock counting down your time is up...it’s up….
Those thoughts can and will drive you insane.
You are told to live life like there’s no tomorrow because their might not be, but to also take care because recklessness could just end it all. My father wasn’t one of those men. He wasn’t someone who lived like there was no tomorrow. He sat back, enjoyed his life, made amends for his past and right when he was in the best place I had seen him personal tragedy struck…
Something unavoidable it seems.
But as a strong man he knew he could overcome it and enjoy life. He wanted to spend time with me, with my wife and our son. He wanted to get to know his grandchild and not to repeat the mistakes of his past. Only to have that newfound fire extinguished in the worst way possible. He didn’t have time to mourn or be reborn after losing the only woman he ever loved, He didn’t have time to really reflect on what he still had. In the end no matter what you do in life, how you live it and what you find yourself doing…
Death comes for us all…
None of us are ever immortal. Sure we will be thought of when we’re gone, talked about by loved ones and if you’re in the public eye many others. But it’s the great equaliser/ The leveller and the unavoidable truth. We will all die someday. And when it is that time, when you do go and meet the reaper. What will you say?. How will you feel?. I imagine almost everyone will be faced with regret and loss. But I’d like to think I have learned the lessons from my past and my father. I would like to think I was smart enough to retain it all and look back with a smile.
To know as a professional I was respected for my gifts as well as my attitude and personality. To have been loved held dear by my wife, by my son. And that I made my parents….all of them...proud.
But it just means we all have to remember, none of us are bulletproof….
Las Vegas, Nevada
2 Years Ago
The apartment was empty. Not of furniture or possessions. Of life, of energy. Of anything resembling the home it once was. Austin stepped inside through the large wooden door and looked straight out the huge window running the full length of the main room out onto the landscape of the Vegas strip. He chuckled to himself as the buzz of the alcohol soured through his veins and bloodstream. His long hair was wild and unkempt, his normally clean shaven face covered in a beard. Since she left he felt no reason to take care of himself. To eat right, to stay away from alcohol.
He’d stopped his life dead in its tracks. He set his cell phone on the cold stone bench and walked right to the fridge, his phone lighting up with notifications, text messages, missed calls. His friends, his family. They all tried reaching the troubled young man. Here he was at 25 years old, a career lost, the love of his life disappeared with his unborn child. His hand moved with ease as it cracked open the ice cold beer. The taste instantly causing him to calm. As he finished it quickly the visions cracked in his mind. It was there, right where he was standing that he had first told her he loved her. It was there that he had opened himself, told her about his father, the inadequacies living up to his old man’s lofty standards.
It didn’t matter now. Nothing did. With a flick of the wrist the beer bottle flew across the room smashing against the wall. Austin simply let out a growl grabbing a bottle of whisky downing large mouthfuls before sliding against the wall. If only she could see him now. If only she knew the pain she had caused, The world she had broken. He was a Mercer. He was expected to be great at anything he did. But now he was a shell, a dark void filled husk of what he once was. A burnout at 25. What a joke. He heard his phone vibrate, he hadn’t cared before. Why now?
He pulled his 6’6 frame to his feet and picked up the flashing phone, the one name he actually cared about was there for his eyes to see. He swayed as the whisky took hold. He swallowed hard sliding his finger across the accept button and raised the phone to his ear and lips, he heard her voice on the other side. The sweet angelic tones and british accent. The one person he respected enough to give him love and guidance. The one person he figured understood….
“Hello Elena…”
Las Vegas, Nevada
14 years ago
She was drunk again. A raging alcoholic. But tonight, well tonight there was no other man in the house. A random adult who would walk past Austin’s room and sneer. Or some whose eyes would linger too long to be comfortable. No, tonight it was just her. She stood in the kitchen in clear view of his bedroom.
She had told him to keep his door closed. She had received a phone call, one that had excited her at 1 in the afternoon. It was now almost 8, she had started drinking after the call, and was now standing there in a nightdress, one of the shoulder straps down. Her makeup smeared but in her alcohol fuelled mind she looked beautiful.
Austin swallowed hard as his fingers raised up and brushed against his cheek, a bright red mark that was quickly turning a yellow tinged purple. A reminder from hours before that he was nothing more than a burden in his mother's life. But tonight it all seemed different. After the phone call she had been happy and nice, even giving him desert after dinner…
The doorbell rang at 8 on the dot, Austin held his breath as his mother stumbled to the door opening it, a man stepped in, fall, handsome, looked to be early to mid thirties. His dark brown hair cropped short on the back and sides, slightly longer on top and swept perfectly being held in place by some form of product.
He was in shape, a natural athlete,perhaps. Poured into a tailored suit. Austin shook his head, questioning as you why such a man would be coming to see his mother. She wasn’t ugly by any means. But the alcoholism had taken their toll. He heard mumbling, pleasantries exchanged with slurred words and clumsy thinly veiled sexual advances from her…..
Then it happened, the yelling, the shouting. The arguing that seemed to escalate higher and higher. But only one voice passed that point. The shrill voice of his mother. The man’s voice was calm and deep. He simply sat there, took all her anger and defused the situation before standing up and handing his mother papers.
She swallowed hard and grabbed a pen signing them, a smaller piece of paper being handed to her. The man turned and headed towards Austin's room. The door opened and Austin looked up from under his shaggy brown hair.. The man smiled wide and kneeled in front of him with a sigh, he adjusted Austin’s shirt and cleared his throat.
“Hello Austin. My name is Christian...and I’m your father…”
New York, New York>Present Day[/i[
“Ok…”
There is an audible sigh as Austin James Mercer, the current reigning defending Honor Champion and number one contender for SCW’s world title paced back and forth, his hands together in a triangle as he seems to pick and choose his words.
”I greatly enjoyed my week off at home with my family. See I have to thank SCW. While they know the value in having stars on their television they also understand what it is to have a family. See I signed my SCW contract the second it was put in front of me and I was assured I would get the Honor title match I had earned. You people know what EARNING a title match looks like right?. Apparently someone in this match missed the memo. But, before I get to that. I need to get this out and continue. See when I signed with Honor I knew I was one of the best professional wrestlers on this goddamn planet.”
“Six foot Six, almost three hundred pounds and a genetic predisposition for athletic skill and violence. I was the name on the tip of everyone’s lips. I had run through one company and was ready to take WWH to that next level and actually make them respected which, if you know that trash place you’d know the herculean undertaking that would have been. But I was prepared for that. It was just too bad they were inept and had no idea what the hell they were doing. So, I packed up and landed back in Honor wrestling, where I had been a few years prior.”
“I destroyed the competition.”
“Kevin Hunter couldn’t stop me, the entire roster couldn’t stop me. I stood above the entire competition. I stood as a titan and I earned a shot at Mickey Carroll. Again, I EARNED a shot at Mickey Carroll. I came into SCW fully prepared to have a few matches, give the SCW fanbase a real look into what SCW had on their hands. But, because they wanted to give me what I had earned and deserved. They put Mickey and myself on the supercard…”
“And lucky they did huh?
Austin scoffed and slide his arms over his chest folding them over showing his muscular frame.
”Mickey wasn’t the same guy he was, in fact for weeks he had started circling the drain. Then he got in the ring with me and just like that it was over. And now, well now we have a possible dream match. We have a dominant champion here in SCW against a dominant champion from the “invading” force coming in. Atleast, that’s what will happen when I get passed Casey Williams and Jake Raab.”
“But this seems a little deja vu-ish. Here I am prepared to face two men at once, a match I could lose and lose my title in without even being pinned. It’s almost like someone doesn’t want me getting my hands on Fenris. The last time you all saw me I was in the ring against Caleb Storms and Casey Williams. And after a hard fought match I walked out the winner. Just like I said I was going to, despite both Casey and Caleb running their mouths about it and I can’t help but notice after that match neither man has extended any type of respect towards me on a personal level, face to face..like men...because neither of them are men…”
“See a man owns up when he’s been beaten. A man can look another man who got the better of him in the eye and shake his hand. Now, Caleb doesn’t have that chance, despite the fact in that match it was that giant Casey who got pinned. But, for some reason he has a shot at MY Honor championship. That makes me believe that maybe Jake Raab has a point here. See, I beat Casey, One, Two, Three. Despite all your talk about showing me what SCW is about Casey. What is SCW about then huh?. Losing to me?. Cause that’s what it seems. Now, if you come to me, like a man, a man you seem to believe yourself to be and extend your hand in respect, I’ll take it, I’ll shake it and we can move past this…”
“But if you don’t. If you open that mouth and show me disrespect again….I’ll crack that giant dome like an egg….”
He rolls his eyes and steps forward tilting his head, his long brown hair flowing down his shoulders.
”You’ll notice Jake, I said I almost agreed with you. See Jake, I can’t be too angry at Casey, he’s coming towards the end of his career, he’s a seven foot tall man child who has to take a break from playing with his lego to get shuffled into the ring for a match, he’s not going to have that many shots at gold and, in fact this is it. This is his last chance. If this was a fairytale the big special friendly giant with a heart of gold would win and go on to main event Inception…”
Austin claps his hands with an almighty noise, his huge hands causing the microphone on the camera to crackle.
”Back to reality. This isn’t a fairytale. And that’s why I almost agreed with you Jake, you ruined any credibility you had when you got this title match from whining like a child. I can’t see any other reason for you being in this match. You have a horrible record. You’ve done nothing in four months of being here, you’re five foot nothing..the only thing you have going for you is a last name, and it’s not even a good last name. You’re not a Richards, a Lukas, a Jones..or…”
“A Mercer..”
“You got a shot at me because you wouldn’t shut up and threw a tantrum and in getting this shot you actually proved yourself right, but also proved yourself to be a hypocrite. Let's be honest Jake, if title matches really were given to people of merit, I'd be facing Lachlan Kane, the guy you wet your panties about instead of you. Since he's a champion and undefeated...and beat you..."
“The truth hurts doesn’t it Jake?. Now, I’ve had two matches in SCW, it’s been well documented my past in Honor and WWH. So there you go, you have information about me. Just like I have some about you in your name, lineage and listening to your promos where you threw your toys out of the pram. You actually called Todd Williams a rookie?. Are you high?. He has ties to SCW, Honor and a million other companies. Shit, my trainer Alex Jones and Todd go way back. Don’t be angry at the world because you are too goddamn lazy to fire up google and do some research you 5’7 bitch…”
“You stood there and said you’d rather earn a title shot instead of just get handed one. Well, here you are, getting fucking handed one. You stood there and bitched about Sierra and Lachlan winning the tag titles after BEATING THE CHAMPIONS. See, I can forgive you being short, and annoying, and riding on your family's name. Hell Raab I can even forgive your hypocrisy and showing your true colors. But, what I cannot forgive or forget is stupidity. And you have it in spades. Your whole outlook is wrong and disrespectful and from what I know about Konrad, he should be ashamed of you….cause the rest of the wrestling world is…”
