The water has risen
The ocean has swallowed the land
Food grown from the suicide seed
To feed to the mass
The sun has turned black
It's close to the end of days
Poison in the form of a pill
To help tame the crave
You made a mistake.
Off Camera
Athos Corp, New York Headquarters
5 Years Ago.
”What the fuck were you thinking Austin?
Christian Mercer, the father of Austin and Amy stood with his back to his son. His hands behind his back as he had perfect posture, staring out across the New York skyline. Austin sat slumped in his chair, his long hair flowing down his leather jacket as one foot stayed planted on the floor and the other up on the dark oak coffee table in front of him, magazines like Time and Newsweek sitting across it, Austin scoffed and shook his head as he let the silence lingers. It had been three days since Austin brought his sister Amy “home”, three days since Christian had tried calling his son and then sent a strongly worded text message.
Austin had stayed silent, he hadn’t sent a message back, he hadn’t even called his father. That infuriated Christian even more to the point where he sent men to gather his son. Amy had hidden in her room, three days wasn’t enough to erase the fears and anxiety. That had pissed Austin off, how dare he? He thought to himself. Christian finally broke the silence turning to see his son. His short dark brown hair perfectly styled, his beard trimmed and a tailored black suit and powder blue tie rounded out the look.
Austin scoffed again rolling his eyes. Christian ground his teeth together. He stood six foot four, only slightly shorter than Austin and despite giving up his wrestling career fifteen years earlier was still in amazing shape. ”Do you think this is a joke boy? Bpy, Austin hated that. He was in his early twenties, he had graduated college, had his own apartment and was training to be in the family business. The real family business. A love and ideal that Christian had lost long ago and had now become a corporate sell out. A talking head wrapped in an expensive suit and tie.
Christian tilted his head and moved around his large desk to the space between the coffee table and his visitors chairs, the ones Christian had “offered” for Austin to sit on before he instead flopped down on the leather couch. ”You don’t know what you’ve done. Amy is sick. She nee- That was it. ”How the fuck would you know what any of your chrildren need? The outburst, while not totally unexpected came as a small surprise to Christian, he had known his son had a hard head and a temper, but until recently Christian had kept Austin under his boot, on a short leash. But that time seems to have ended, in the worst way possible. ”You hid my sister- Half sister Austin shook his head and stood up with such force the couch slid back across the hardwood floor. He moved around to stand face to face with his father.
”You hid her from me. Family Dad. You know what that is right? The Mercer family crest.” Christian put his hand up and looked away from Austin dismissing him, this only infuriated the younger Mercer more as he grabbed his father's arm forcing him to look at him, forcing him to absorb and listen to his feelings. ”You never allowed her to have the name but she’s still blood. She’s still one of us and you let her rot away in that place and never, NEVER, told me of her existence. How can you live with yourself?
He pushed away and turned to leave. Christian stood for a moment as it all sunk in, as Austin reached for the door Christians voice rang out. ”You don’t even know why she was in there do you?” Austin stopped, his hand on the silver door handle. Christian was right. Details had been left out of the file.
Austin slowly turned his head but not his body, his father had moved, he had walked around to his desk and unlocked a drawer. He pulled out an iron box, the size of a briefcase. As it opened Christian sighed heavily. His heart obviously at odds with his head as he then shut the box, holding in his hand a manilla envelope. He looked up at Austin who had now turned around. ”Well? Do you want to know?” He stepped forward, closer to the desk, his father pushed the envelope over and kept his hand on it. ”This doesn’t go further than this office. Austin gave a nod and Christian moved his hand. He pulled the envelope up undoing the string around the small metal hook pulling out the papers, his eyes scanning over the information as he swallowed hard.
No, I don’t believe it
Clash of the titans…..was a shitty movie.
On Camera
Arizona
Present Day
”Shit it’s warm here….”
Austin sighed and sat on a small stone bench outside the hotel, his long hair tied back and a pair of black sunglasses on his face,
”You know. I take my responsibilities as champion very seriously. I meant everything I said about Ty West and I am sure he will be back better than ever. Because as I said, he’s a great competitor. And he needs to find that thing inside, that warrior spirit. See, something my father told me has always been in my mind. He said greatness is getting knocked down ninety nine times. And having the balls to get up each and every time. And it’s true. This was Ty West being knocked down again and again, now we’ll see if he has greatness in him. And I have to say, my whole idea of steel sharpening steel is really coming off now isn’t it?. Matches against Fenris and Ty, defending this title against multiple opponents and now here we are a few weeks out from Into the void, and I have a contender waiting…”
“Kale Smith will be there, ready to step in that ring and cash in the shot he won from Blast from the past.”
“But, before that, before he and I clash for that championship I get to step in the ring with a man that beat Kale and has been on fire since returning to SCW. The man known as Griffin Hawkins. And you know. I like Griffin. I do. I like him as a person and have known about him since long before I signed to SCW. Long before I became the SCW champion. Hell I knew about Griffin before I was in WWH or Honor or any of the bigger companies. See Griffin is a great guy, a top notch human being and an excellent wrestler and competitor…”
Austin wipes some of the sweat from his brow and folds his arms over his black and red “wolfslair” shirt.
”We all know how good you are Grif. Not just as a human being but as a competitor. See Griffin is a leader of men, he is a human being who always stands up for what is right. He’s a man who is about love and compassion and competition and he has been able to get so far in his career and be a social media and mainstream presence for years. A lover of music and wrestling. And a guy who knows how to do both very very well. Hell, Grif was an SCW internet champion, then when he returned over a year later he beat Travis, captured the Roulette title and hasn’t lost a step.”
“You’ve been around the block Griffin, and I salute you. You’ve held so many titles in different companies and have been a mainstay and you are a proven commodity. You held the EWC TV title for what seemed like years. Or was it the US title?. Honestly, I just remember you with a championship and it being an obscene number of days and defences and I was impressed. But...as good as you are, as long of a career as you’ve had. I guarantee you, you have never faced an athlete like me.”
“Look at what I’ve done in the last five years. WWH Hellsgate Champion, Honor World Champion, SCW world champion. I win world titles Griffin, I go right to the top and I stay there. I am a six foot six wrecking ball, And look, I will be the first to admit that you’re a great champion and spokesman for the company and wrestling as a whole. In fact the way you conduct yourself should be an example for most. This match is a great idea, it takes an aging...some would say..legend and puts him against the new lion.”
“But I am the king of this jungle Griffin…”
Austin smirks and gets to his feet towering over everyone around him as the Arizona sun beats down.
”You still have your impressive main and you are allowed to roar. But when a pride needs a leader they won’t look to the aging warrior. They look to the young lion in his prime. And hey you still have it, you’re not as old as a lot of others I see and you might even be in the tail end of your best years but the fact is, and I mean this with no disrespect. The Griffin Hawkins of 5, 6, 7 years ago?...still couldn’t beat 2019 Austin James Mercer. And I know this will be a great match and you’ll have your moments. But if you win this match it will be due to a mistake I made, cause if I wrestle this match the way I know I can?...my size, my strength, my deceptive speed for a man my size?...I will end the night with my hand raised.”
“I’ll shake your hand, I’ll wish you well and while you go on to defend your Roulette title against Lachlan Kane, I will go on to defend mine against Kale Smith,.and maybe one day, we’ll do it again...but until then Griffin...this young lion...is gonna roar…”
