I don't get insulted easily, neither do the girls or Os, but as soon as our upcoming match was announced, our opponents took to that wonderful world where no one says what they mean, and hints at shit about doing something, then not bothering, yes, Twitter, to call us the sin of greed... Are you having a laugh Gerald? Just the sin of greed? No pal, we are much more than that. You see, I am a man who does believe in God, I am a man who feels there's a higher power somewhere. I mean we wasn't just plonked on this earth without guidance to me, but it is hypocrisy really. You count against sins, yet you do them all the time. Have you not over indulged in the Lord's name at Christmas? Have you not took pride in your work? Have you never had a lazy day to yourself? Have you always been happy with what you've been handed and not been envious of someone who had more, driving you to greed? Have you never walked in the kitchen, seen your missus from behind and got a rager, dragged down those drawers and whacked her a portion on the kitchen table?
Bollocks you haven't. We all sin every single day, and to just call us one sin is pretty insulting.
We encourage sin because life would be a pretty dull place without it. This was our last week...
*******
GLUTTONY
Saturday nights off have become a bit of a custom to the members of London Underground since Nick George and Dani Weston got a promotion in the casino, the four "board members" were no longer to required to be there constantly. Daniel had full faith in both Dani and Nick to do what they had to do to keep the business ticking over, even if some of the members of the group had doubts on Nick's professionalism, Daniel had known him for years. This led to a lot of easy going Saturday nights in the London Underground house in the hills.
With the television playing in the background, Daniel, sits in the middle of the U shaped sofa, his eyes on the game on the television, while Osbourne sat to his left around the side, and Charlotte and Mackenzie sat to his right.
"I'm starting to feel like we're all becoming seriously fucking old." Mackenzie says with a sharp tone.
Daniel turns his head, looking at her with a smile, a beer in his hand. He raises the bottle towards Mackenzie with a smile.
"Lovely, ain't it?" He says with his thick English tone cutting through the room.
"Until we get a call that Nick has set off the smoke alarms." Charlotte adds to the conversation.
"He won't do that..." Daniel reassures her, before frowning. "Well, not again, not this soon anyway. Can't possibly do it twice in one week."
Charlotte and Mackenzie tilt their heads, looking at Daniel, Daniel turns his head to see Osbourne staring a hole through his boss.
"Well I hope not anyway." Daniel says with a shrug.
Daniel tries to hold back a frown as a knock on the door can be heard, causing Charlotte and Mackenzie to gaze at each other.
"Expecting anything?" Charlotte asks.
Mackenzie shakes her head but the two look towards Osbourne, who is already off his feet and heading towards the door in haste. Daniel turns his head to the door, waiting for his return, and within a few seconds, Osbourne returns, carrying four large pizzas. He walks to the coffee table and places them down.
"Nice one Os." Mackenzie says with a nod but Osbourne looks up at her.
Osbourne shakes his head at Mackenzie, waving his finger at her and pointing to himself. He flips the lid open and pulls away a slice, demolishing it within seconds.
"Are you serious?" Mackenzie says from across the room.
Osbourne looks at her seriously and nods his head firmly, his hand moving towards a second slice.
"Not even gonna give away a slice of that thing?" Charlotte asks him.
Osbourne shakes his head at Charlotte as the second slice quickly disappears. The two women looks towards Daniel who rolls his shoulders at them.
"What can I say?" Daniel says rhetorically. "He's a growing lad."
Growing lad or just plainly a glutton?
*******
SLOTH
Lazy Sunday afternoons, something everyone enjoys from time to time and Charlotte Elliot was no different. Downtime for a wrestler is more than a little important but today this wasn't about downtime, this was about can't be bothered to move. Last night wasn't an overly heavy night, but the urge to move wasn't there.
Laying on the sofa in the shared home with the rest of London Underground, Charlotte laid across the sofa with her head on the arm rest at the end of the big U shaped sofa, looking through glassed over eyes at the television, an episode of NCIS on the screen. Her mind drifted, not focusing too much on the television when Mackenzie Page leans over her.
"Working hard?" Mackenzie questions as she looks down at her friend.
"Meh." Charlotte replies without much tone to her voice.
"It's Sunday, it's time to get ready and go to work." Mackenzie tells her.
Charlotte's eyes stay directly on the television, her mind not even grasping what's happening during the gun fight on the screen.
"Why?" Charlotte asks, not looking up at Mackenzie. "We're not booked, the show is in a different state, no one seems to give a monkeys about the mixed tag titles or that division so why was the time burning up aviation fuel to sit there and see either Gamer Inc make a return and still hold those belts to ransom, or not."
Charlotte reaches out towards a bowl of popcorn on the nearby table but the bowl sits just out of reach of her fingertips. She gives up and shrugs her shoulders.
"Meh, can't be arsed." She says to herself.
Mackenzie rests her elbows on top of the sofa, leaning in closer.
"So you're telling me, the woman who gets up early every day to head off to work, or look for business opportunities can't be bothered to go to work today." Mackenzie says. "Are you feeling alright?"
Charlotte continues to just stare mindlessly at the television screen, her eyes still glassed over.
"That's the short version." Charlotte tells her. "If I could hire a butler to bring things to me from the fridge, I would. I mean I could hire someone to do that, but my phone isn't with me at the moment."
Mackenzie looks around and sees Charlotte's phone right next to her, just inches away from her hand.
"It's right there." Mackenzie tells her with a quick point of her hand.
Charlotte doesn't move her head, just continues to look at the screen in front on her.
"Too far away, can't be bothered to move my hand." Charlotte tells Mackenzie without looking at her.
Mackenzie shakes her head and walks away from her friend.
Some people call it a lazy Sunday afternoon, bible thumpers would call this the sin of sloth.
*******
ENVY
Looking from the window overlooking the whole of the Golden Ring Casino, Daniel J Morgan stands with a glass of whiskey, looking down at his creation through narrowed eyes.
Daniel often looked over his kingdom with a smile on his face but something was up at this point, something wasn't normal as his eyes focused on a couple in the distance, peering down at the happy couple walking hand in hand. Something could scream out that he knew exactly who they were without the camera getting a closer look, just two people in a sea of hundreds but his eyes were focused solely on those two, everyone else in his mind faded in to nothing more than a blur. He knew exactly who he was looking at as a slight touch of regret and jealousy ran through him. He couldn't stop that feeling.
He lifts the his glass to his lips as his eyes focuses on the woman, a smile on her face as she looks deep in to her partners eyes.
"Shoulda moved for that when I had the chance." He whispered to himself.
The feeling inside of the unfamiliar jealousy coursing it's way through his veins was not a natural feeling when it came to Daniel, he'd always taken everything in his stride and was very careful about who to let close, but something about this one woman dragged his attention. He all but confirmed he knew exactly who she was with his earlier words but he couldn't help but continue to be drawn to her.
"Too little, too late." He told himself.
But his eyes wouldn't move from her, he knew deep down that if his eyes moved towards the man, the envy in him would intensify, the jealousy would run through him. He knew he could be calm and play it off but something about this day, something about the way she looked, something about the way she smiled held his gaze, yet on the flip side, something about the man's face, the smile as he looked deep in her eyes brought on the feeling that he disliked the man.
For what?
For going for what he wanted? For being happy?
Regret ran through Daniel's body, he was jealous of the man for being able to wake up every morning next to that beautiful woman, he was jealous of the way he drew her smile when no other man could, he was sad that it wasn't his eyes she was looking in. He knew in his heart it was too late to even consider anything there, something most people don't seem to do, but he knew that he was nothing more than envious of this man.
He was suffering from the sin of envy.
*******
WRATH
"How the fuck did I know this one was gonna be about me..." Mackenzie voice could be heard saying off camera.
The life of a wrestler is a strange one, often thrown in to the spotlight at random times. If you're someone they care about, someone with a little success you're forever being bugged by people. London Underground accept that and use that to their advantage, by allowing people to come to a control environment to speak to them, but a lot of wrestlers don't have that controlled environment to do that. A lot of wrestlers are out and about, even doing the most menial of tasks, such as shopping, or grabbing a coffee when they're harassed by fans. Being in a Vegas based company, living in Vegas, there is no normality, the faces change all the time. It's not like living in a more quiet area where everyone knows everyone, this is Vegas, and Vegas is full of different faces that don't have their picture with you.
Walking down the Vegas strip, Charlotte Elliot and Mackenzie Page take in the afternoon air, a peaceful relaxing break away from the grind of any type of work. The two converse on the way.
"I can seriously get used to this." Mackenzie says with a calm air about her.
"What?" Charlotte returns. "Walking?"
Mackenzie rolls her eyes at Charlotte as they move through the crowd.
"Less work, more time to relax." Mackenzie says. "Till Sunday comes around and we smash some bible bashers in to the middle of next week."
"Can't believe they even fell for Daniel's ploy of getting them all in the ring at once." Charlotte says with a laugh. "Don't have to worry about sneak attacks when they're all in front of us."
"Ah bollocks." Mackenzie says as she looks across at a crowd of people staring at the two women.
"I've seen that look before." Charlotte confirms.
The group of two men and two women excitedly approach the two women.
"Are you those two wrestlers from London Underground." A woman asks.
Mackenzie hated moments like these, but Charlotte was a little more calm to the situation. That statement would surprise no one.
"Yeah, that's us." Charlotte says with the best warm smile she could muster.
"Can we have a picture taken with you guys?" a man asks.
"If it's quick." Mackenzie fires back.
The group huddle together, the two men instantly standing next to the women of London Underground on the outside while the two women stand in between the two wrestlers. A woman in the middle reaches for her phone, holding her arm out as long as she can to fit everyone in the picture. She quickly snaps the picture but Mackenzie's face changes as she looks at the man to her right, the man smiling at her.
"Son of a bitch..." She says.
Mackenzie throws an elbow to the man's nose, his nose instantly bursting open. He stumbles back and Mackenzie cracks him to the jaw with a huge right hand, sending him to the floor. His three friends look to take a step closer but Charlotte holds up her hand.
"I wouldn't if I was you." She tells them with a slight smile. "Not unless you wanna suffer the same fate."
Mackenzie kicks the man in the ribs as he lays on the floor.
"What gives you the fucking right to try and cop a feel, you silly bastard." She yells at him before blasting another kick to his ribs. "You don't go around grabbing peoples arses and not expect some to fight back you little tosser."
Mackenzie leans over him, lifting him by the blood covered shirt and hitting him repeatedly in the face.
"You never touch what you can't afford." She tells him as she throws punch after punch at him.
Charlotte looks on and moves towards Mackenzie, grabbing her arm to stop her landing a fifth undefended punch to the man and lifts her back to her feet.
"Most leave Vegas with a STD." Charlotte says with a smile. "Not a broken face."
Mackenzie grits her teeth, the anger still on her face.
"He's lucky he's leaving while still breathing." Mackenzie says angrily.
Charlotte pulls her away and Mackenzie turns, walking away softly growling. Charlotte looks at the other three, looking at their friend in shock.
"This is what happens when you get handsy with a lunatic." Charlotte says calmly. "Now you lot have a nice day."
Charlotte walks to catch up with Mackenzie as she walks away, Mackenzie still in a fit of rage.
Epitome of Wrath? Yeah, that'll be Mackenzie.
*******
LUST
Late night in the Golden Ring Casino, a crash can be heard as we jump in to the office of Daniel J Morgan - yes, the casino closes for a while every now and again to be cleaned and completely restocked. The lights in the Casino can be seen through the great long window in Daniel's main office but the lights in the office remain out. The shadow of two figures close by can be seen, one male, one female.
"Daniel...." A sultry female voice can be heard saying.
The camera moves to the front of Daniel's desk, just the lights from downstairs on this face through the window, barely making him recognizable as a dark haired woman presses herself against his toned body, her hands pressed against his light blue shirt. She pulls herself in closer, kissing Daniel's neck, as he lifts her up, pushing her across the desk, sending things crashing to the floor. The woman wraps her legs around Daniel as she starts to unbutton his shirt.
"Ahhhhh." She sighs.
Her patience runs thin as she rips the buttons from his shirt open, exposing his tattooed upper body, running her nails down his toned chest. Daniel reaches up, pulling her shirt over her head. She leans in and kisses him firmly on the lips.
This is not a regular occurrence for Daniel, rarely would he bring anyone he wasn't associated with in to his office, his private office where way too much information was stored, but this was different, this was something he wanted for a while, and bringing people home to his house was certainly never on the cards. It just didn't work like that with his London Underground team mates. If you wanted to get some action, you don't do it on your own doorstep, those were not only his rules in America, but pretty much everywhere he called home, even if home was just temporary.
She reaches for his belt, making short work of the buckle as Daniel smiles towards her, his eyes almost staring in to her soul as she reaches for the button of his expensive suit pants. Daniel turns his head left, looking towards the camera, knowing he's about to shatter that forth wall.
"Gets a bit racy at this point and we know that's a no no." He says with a smirk. "But let's make one thing a little clearer. This is not the bird from earlier, completely different, you never land your plane on another man's runway, that just ain't cricket."
A serious look crosses his face, followed by a nod.
"No matter how much ya want to, you never water another man's garden." He says. "Now that's clear, this is where you disappear and.... Well, you know, not good for SCW television."
Daniel covers his hand over the camera.
Lust... Everyone's favourite sin.
*******
GREED
Money makes the world go round, say what you want about anything in life but the root of everything is money. No one has ever sat there and settled for what they have, no one at all. Even millionaires want more money or they'd just piss off and not worry about work, not worry about investing, not worried about how to make the next million. No one is ever content with a pound more than they can spend. It doesn't matter who you are, how you want to get yourself through life, we all like that extra cash. Are you telling me right now, no matter what your financial situation, you'd love to have an extra fifty bucks in your pocket. Doesn't matter if you just got paid, or if you're a glorified beggar like Father Gerald and his posse are, you'd love to have that extra cash... Me too and I'm alright for a few quid.
"Is that everything?" Daniel asks as he stands next to a wall safe.
"That's the lot." Charlotte says as she surveys a nearby table.
"All the taking for the last twenty four hours." Mackenzie adds.
Osbourne stands over a table, looking down at piles of money banded together in five thousand dollar bundles, covering almost half the table, the notes neatly stacked upon each other. Daniel looks at the money, his face showing no emotion as he eyes the stacks of green.
Most people would be delighted to see that kind of money sitting in front of them, most people would run off on vacation at that point, but that just wasn't in Daniel's DNA.
"I like it, but there could be more of it." Daniel tells the group.
He was never one for being happy with what he had. He couldn't stop moving when it came to making money, he couldn't stop trying to push himself to do more. Standing still was never what he wanted to do. In his mind, there was enough time to stand still when he was dead, and you're a long time dead.
"How so?" Charlotte asks.
"We need to find the next big money spinner." Daniel tells them, his eyes not moving from the money. "We need to get off our arses and find something that's gonna double this, treble this. I'm talking about so much money, that we can't spend it in fifteen lifetimes."
Daniel lifts his eyes up to look at Osbourne.
"There's a world of opportunity out there, a world where money comes easy, a world where people would buy air if you sold it." Daniel says. "Like those ponces that buy bottled water for their houses when they have taps there. Fools and their money are easily parted and we need to part people from there money."
"You just wanna own Vegas." Mackenzie says with a smile.
"Oh yeah." Daniel agrees. "But not a take over just like that. Bit by bit, I would love to take over this place, turn over millions a day, but you just can't go and take it all in one go. Someday, we will own the lot."
Daniel waves at the money on the table and points to the safe.
"Get this lot loaded in there." Daniel tells them "We'll kick around ideas on how to double this at some point in the near future"
Daniel points at Osbourne.
"And not on a dead cert horse either big guy." Daniel tells him.
Osbourne shrugs his shoulders and the group start to pick the money up to place in the safe.
Tell me you don't want that money? That's your greed kicking in.
*******
PRIDE
"And that was in the last week." Daniel's voice can be heard saying as the scene starts.
The four members of London Underground sit around a card table, cards dealt in front of them and glasses. The camera focuses on Daniel.
"Out of all the sins you could have called us, you called us greed." Daniel says with a shake of his head. "I had a strong case for them all as I've shown you, but this one is my favourite, pride, because I am damn proud of all we've done, I'm damn proud of our wrestling record, I'm proud of the championships we've won, I'm proud of the money we make, the people we bang, the amount of food we can afford. I'm proud that people can open my eyes to show me I want what I can't have to keep me humble, I'm proud that I will never be broke and I want more, I'm proud I was bought up to be angry and stand up to anyone who tries to shit on me and my friends. I am proud I can kick back and do nothing. All those sins Father Gerald, I'm proud of and I encourage."
Daniel looks around himself.
"We have a casino pal." Daniel tells him. "I encourage people to have lazy days here, to get angry when they lose, get jealous of people with bigger chip piles, want more when they win, pig out on everything, then go get banged by some bird who loves the power, why?"
Daniel smirks.
"Because it's bloody fun." He says with a nod.
Another smirk from Daniel.
"Gerald, you wouldn't know what fun was if it bit you on the arse." Daniel starts "And as for you brother David, that old goat has stopped you from ever seeing what life is. All you know is church and wrestling. Well I know ya stock is high in SCU and you did alright last week, but last week, you lot were facing someone at a Judas level, welcome to the big leagues cause now ya up to Jesus standards."
Daniel waves his finger.
"I'm a God fearing man gentlemen, but I can't preach his word." Daniel says. "Cause it's all a lie. You sin on a daily and try and justify it. I sin on a daily and love it. I deal with facts and here's the facts Gerald, here's the skinny David, you're stepping in the ring with a team on God's level and it's very much time to listen. You see I'm not preaching, I'm telling you the cold hard facts of this. I goaded you in to sacrificing your family for a reason, to show you no matter what combo you pick, you'll never get past us."
Daniel picks up his drink and takes a sip.
"No one likes a bible basher gents." Daniel says. "We're just gonna take you all out in one go."
The camera switch around to Charlotte sitting to Daniel's left.
"We flipped for it and I get to talk about you Mother Mavis." Charlotte says casually. "I looked at who you are but it's hard to really talk about one of the most repressed housewives in the world. Come on Mavis, what's wrong with you? You do realize it's 2019, right? Women have rights you know, women don't have to be told what to do all the time."
A frown crosses Charlotte face.
"You're being blindly led in to danger by a man who is not gonna be able to protect you and this Sunday is gonna be prove of that. You got yourself pulled in to this match to show that, to open your eyes, to show you that you're following a man with no direction, you're following a man who will lead you idly in to the darkness without knowing what monsters lurk inside. Mavis, you need to wise up girl and see that this man is not doing right by you. He's holding you down, he's leading you down a bad path and this shows it. He's leading you in to the ring against us as a way to get forward and get towards the gold. Mavis, it's not gonna happen for you."
She shakes her head.
"You can't let him lead you in to danger and that's basically what he's done by agreeing to put you in harms way Mavis." Charlotte says seriously. "And let's be honest, you're not ready for what's waiting for ya on Sunday."
The camera switches around towards Mackenzie.
"So yeah, my turn to talk about you Esther." Mackenzie starts. "First off, your parents fucking hate you for giving you a name like that."
The group try to keep straight faces.
"No one should ever curse their child with a granny name for a start." Mackenzie says seriously. "You might wanna consider changing that when you get in to the big wide world, discover alcohol, get your tits out drunkenly for random strangers and see there's more than one book out there. You should probably pick up a book on recovery, then get your arse away from these fucking preaching arseholes. Everyone can see it coming. At some point, someone's gonna hit you hard enough to really see the light and show you that you've spent years of wasting your time."
Mackenzie takes a few seconds to get her thoughts.
"You're gonna get hit so damn hard on Sunday, there's gonna be a whole new world opening up to you." Mackenzie says. "In fact you're gonna break away from them because you'll see how shit your life has been, you'll need a job and when we go in the strip club business, you're welcome to apply there. You're a train wreck just waiting to happen there, an off the rails little girl blowing strangers for your next hit, working the pole for a few fat bald blokes. Now I know you're probably sitting there thinking that will never happen? It could happen sooner than you think. With Daddy putting you in the firing line on Sunday, you getting hit like never before, you'll be applying at titty bars before you know it."
Mackenzie shrugs.
"It's alright, even strip clubs hire pigeon chested tarts like you." She says with a smirk. "That's something you might end up good at because you ain't gonna have nothing to aim at in SCW when we dump you out of this tournament. Obviously you can play with the little fish in SCU, but ain't nothing like those big titles. Sunday will lead you to a crossroads after we're done with ya. Time for you to see the light and see that your future doesn't involve wrestling anymore. It's more likely to be wanking off fatties in the back of their mothers cars."
Daniel turns his head away with a smile. Even Osbourne struggles to keep a straight face.
"That's the way it is, that's the way it's gonna be." Mackenzie says pointing at the camera. "And there isn't anything you can do about it. We ain't no SCU shit, we're the best teams, the best group, the best wrestlers Sin City Wrestling has to offer. You lot are fucked."
Mackenzie looks around the table.
"Are we playing cards or just warming our arses on the seats?" he asks.
The camera fades out.
