It was getting harder to deny her, as Victoria picked up win after win, after win. Her big mouth and nasty attitude aside, she had proved herself as an ring competitor, which some might say is worse, because she does seem capable of backing her big mouth up. Her continued success of course means everyone STILL has to deal with her bullshit, and first on the docket after leaving the Princess Cruise was Eddie Lyons.
“Victoria..” he said as he sensed her approach, “I don’t need this today, please just leave me alone.”
“But where’s the fun in that?” she said with a smirk, “Don’t get all cross with me because you failed to capture your Roulette Championship. I did my part for The Lyons Den, I’m still Bombshell Roulette Champion.”
“You just don’t get it do you?” said Eddie, “The Lyons Den isn’t about just bringing home championship after championship. Sure it’s a nice little cherry on top, but Coach Kaiser prides on knowing that his students are respected. He takes pride that when someone is up against someone from The Lyons Den, that they’re seen as true competition and taken seriously.”
“Typical loser speech from Eddie.” she said, “I’m a champion. I don’t need to listen to someone who isn’t.”
“Then go on then.” said Eddie, “Besides, I have a visitor coming.”
“Oh?” said Victoria intrigued, “Who might that be?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m dating someone now.” said Eddie with a smile.
“Seriously?” Victoria chortled, “Who?”
“...Her name’s Sabrina, Sabrina Woods.” he said, “I met her on the cruise.”
Victoria paused as she heard the name.
“Sabrina Woods?” she said “From high school?”
“Yeah she was in my class.” said Eddie.
“Didn’t she have a gimp leg?” Victoria snickered.
“She’s since had it fixed but yes.” said Eddie, annoyed. “I don’t need you being rude to her when she arrives, why don’t you go bother Alex and meet Matthew.”
“Matthew?” she said curiously.
“Yep. Apparently while we were gone, Uncle Zack found another kid of his.” said Eddie, “Matthew Lyons, I guess Alex has been showing him the ropes. I think they’re around here somewhere, not really sure though.”
“A new cousin…” she grinned, “Interesting. Yes. Fine. I’m done with you.”
She turned and simply walked away from him, and Eddie didn’t complain one bit, he didn’t want to deal with her either, and was happily waiting for his date to arrive.
___________
She sat arrogantly and improperly in her throne, resting her legs on the arm with a goblet of wine in her hands, crown on her head and Bombshell Roulette Championship laid on her waist. After a sip of her favorite red, she speaks.
“Hello Harper.” she said with a grin, “So we meet again. This time you get to take your shot at the queen. An honor I’m not quite sure you deserve. I mean you have totally failed to utilize the gift I gave you.”
She hangs her head in disappointment.
“I tried to make you stronger.” she said, “And you showed some true heart in the handicap match I booked you into. But then you proceed to lose match after match, and now SOMEHOW that means you get a championship match with the queen.”
She shakes her head.
“Do you really think that’s fair?” Victoria said with a grin, “Can you really say you’ve earned this opportunity? Does Alicia Lukas think it’s fair? What about Prudence Pierce? What about all the ladies who actually won their Summer Xxxtreme matches? Can you honestly say you deserve it more than any of them?”
She takes a sip of her wine, and looks down at her championship.
“I just defeated three of SCW’s finest. Ladies well above your paygrade.” said Victoria, “Do you really think I’m concerned with you? I mean I guess we both are keeping our respective streaks going, so we do have something in common. Make no mistake about it, both of our streaks will continue after our match as well, Harper Mason.”
She smirks, with an arrogant flip of her hair.
“Can you even focus fully on the match?” said Victoria, “Or are you just looking to get some sort of revenge? I know you’ve been vying to get your hands on me because you don’t understand I was trying to help. Well you have your chance, but what you will learn is that you are very much in over your head. You are in a long list of haters who want to come at me, and you will be added to the list of those who failed to as some might say…shut me up.”
She chuckles to herself.
“Haters gonna hate I guess.” she continued, “But you won’t be taking Rue from me. Maybe if you had taken the lesson I tried to bestow upon you, you might have a chance. But as history shows, you didn’t and history is going to repeat itself once again."
She pauses to take another sip of wine.
“Ah, but I should take time to address our other friend.” she grinned, “Amy Santino. I don’t believe we’ve met. But you need to listen to me. If you try anything funny, I won’t hesitate to take your head off as well. You are to do your job, and call the match. Nothing else. If I sense any sort of funny business coming from you, then we’re going to have a problem and trust me sweetie, I’m not the one you have a problem with. So, just do your job, do the right thing, and in the end raise my hand as the winner. Or else.”
She furrowed her brow, as she glared at the camera.
“Back to you, Harper Mason.” she continued, “I’m afraid until you wake up, and open your eyes. You are setting yourself up for continued disappointment. You want to be a hero so badly, and that’s what makes you weak. I’m not concerned with being anybody's hero. I am concerned about actual success. I care naught what my lessers think of me. All the proof you need is before you. You can continue to try and be a hero all you want, but in the end you like everyone else will realize that…I am inevitable.”
She grins, snaps her fingers and the scene cuts out jarringly.
__________
She felt like she was waiting forever, Alexander wasn’t around the Lyons Den somewhere as Eddie had promised her. Which made Eddie Lyons a liar, because he totally promised Alex was here with who was apparently his new brother, and her new cousin.
Finally she saw Alexander walk through the double doors, with some skinny kid, with scruffy brown hair, and marched right up to them, not catching Alexanders eyeroll.
“Alex!” she said with a snarky tone, “Why didn’t you tell me about our new family member? You know your supposed to report these matters to me, as the head of the family.”
“Once again, you made yourself head of the family.” Alex reminded her, “I don’t have to report to anyone. But if you must know, I WAS going to introduce you to Matthew, this is the first time I’ve seen you back here since the cruise.”
“Well here I am.” she said folding her arms.
“Indeed, here you are.” he said, “Matthew, this is our cousin Victoria. Victoria, this is my brother Matthew, your new cousin.”
Matthew reached out for a handshake and found himself ignored.
“Hmph.” Victoria said cocking an eyebrow “I leave for a week and now you have a new brother, and Eddie has a new girlfriend. What are you gonna tell me next? Cleo bring in another one of her felon friends?”
“No.” said Alex, “Cleo’s been busy doing tons of interviews for PWS. As much as it pains me, she is the face of the company so she’s busy with all the extra press work.”
“At least she’s able to win her matches.” Victoria muttered.
“Excuse me?” said Alex.
“Two failures already Alex.” said Victoria, “You need to step up your game over there or something. I’m glad Alexandra woke up and picked a proper tag team partner, you’ll serve her better than Miles Kasey at least, but you two lost to the fucking sparkle twins? Seriously?”
“They threw glitter in our eyes!” Alex said, “Forget it, it doesn’t matter. I’ll handle my own career in PWS, and you simply need to not worry about it okay?”
“And what about him?” she said pointing at Matthew, “What’s his role in all this now?”
“He’s MY brother.” said Alex, “He’s been deemed MY responsibility. Right now, I’m just gonna be the one showing him the ropes, and someday he might begin his own career but only when the time is right. We don’t want another Jazz Jaguar situation.”
“Well, Matthew.” she said, “You’d do best to know your place then. You are at the bottom, way below myself, below Alex and even below Eddie. If you think just because you share our name, and are part of our bloodline that you are entitled to anything, you better rethink that. Just respect your place in the hierarchy, and you’ll be just fine.”
Alex took a step forward.
“Ah, you see.” he said, “I won’t be tolerating any of that with him. Keep your paws off him, just because your brother abandoned you for some weird boat ride, doesn’t mean you get to dig your claws into mine.”
“I mean no offense.” Matthew finally spoke up, “I just want to meet the rest of my family.”
Victoria raised an eyebrow.
“That accent…” she asked, “Where are you from Matthew?”
“New Orleans.” Matthew replied.
“New Ollins?” she said.
“No, New Orleans” he repeated.
“New Awwhlins?” she said.
“Victoria, stop.” Alex interjected, “You know damn well he said New Orleans. If you’re just gonna be a pest, then Matthew and I are just gonna go hang out somewhere else.”
“I don’t know where this attitude is coming from Alex.” she said, “Ever since you rejoined PWS, you’ve had a real attitude problem.”
“ME?” said Alexander, “Ever since YOU joined SCW, you’ve paraded around here like your better than all of us. We’re all tired of it.”
“Well, when the rest of you are as successful as me..” she started.
“Just stop!” said Alex, “Look, we’re family and at the end of the day, I will always have your back because of that, but I am second to nobody. Not you, not Eddie or Cleo or anyone else. I just want to do my own thing just like everyone else.”
“Well, good luck to you then.” Victoria said turning on her heel, “Let me know when you win your first match in PWS. I’ll be over in SCW as one of it’s champions.”
With an arrogant flip of her hair she walked away from her two cousins, and headed off about her own business, preparing for Harper Mason.
_________
The cameras open on an closeup of the Bombshell Roulette Championship sitting on a pedestal, we hear the voice of Victoria Lyons.
“A beauty ain’t she Harper?”
She walked into frame with a smile as she looked at the championship, giving it a kiss before taking position behind the pedestal, crown as always still resting on her head.
“Such a shame you’ll never get to hold her in your arms.” Victoria said as she lifted the championship into her own arms, and then on her shoulder. “Rue really is a sweet girl.”
She smiles down at the championship, like a mother looking at her child.
“She’s mine…” she continued, “All mine. I can’t let a loser like you taker her from me. You simply don’t deserve it Harper. All this match is is a chance for you to deal with this grudge you have against me. I know you’re not focused enough to try and capture this championship. Just like sweet Bella Madison was blinded by her own grudge against me and failed to capture the championship at Summer Xxxtreme. It’s a common problem with most of the locker room really.”
She shrugs.
“Seems everyone is so blinded by their hatred of their queen, they can never focus on the task at hand.” she said with a shit eating grin, “Imagine that.”
She gives an innocent shrug, that really is truly far from innocent, she knows the game she’s playing.
“Can you really push past your hatred Harper?” Victoria went on, “Can you put an end to the reign of the so called “Mad Queen”, and finally become the hero you desire so much to be? Or will you once again fail to live up to your potential and fall flat on your face? I can tell you what I’m going to do.”
She grins, a rather evil and unsettling grin.
“I’m going to hurt you Harper Mason.” she said, “I’m going to expose you as the fraud you are. Your losing streak will continue, and this time it will be the most embarrassing and humiliating defeat you’ve ever had to deal with. You won’t even want to show your face around SCW anymore, which…well might work out since you want to be some sort of hero. All the best ones wear masks anyway.”
She continues to smirk and mug at the camera, while rubbing her hands.
“I tried to make you stronger, and you almost had it.” said Victoria, “Maybe that’s on me for putting too much hope into someone that just can’t get the job done. It’s no matter though because it’s time for the Harper Mason experiment to come to an end. I will show you no mercy because mercy is for the weak, and in my Queendom power is the only law and I hold all the power.”
She readjusts her crown as if to reaffirm her point.
“I’m going to bring you to a world so dark, even the stars are afraid to shine.” Victoria said gleefully, “You’ll find out why my rise happened so quickly, because I am simply the best and as much as the other Bombshells might hate it, as each show goes by they become closer to being forced to admit it. When I’m done with you, you’ll be forced to admit it as well. Of course, the more likely outcome is you’ll just keep pushing on, like nothing is wrong.”
She rolls her eyes and scoffs.
“I can hear it now.” Victoria continued, as her tone turned mocking, “Well, I fought hard, and did the best I could. All I can do is look forward to the future and keep my head held high and hopefully get her next time!”
She gives a thumbs up to the camera, with a goofy smile as she mocked Harper’s positive attitude.
“You know how pathetic you sound right?” says Victoria, “Like a loser trying to make excuses on why they just lose, time after time. Maybe you should talk to my cousin Eddie, he likes to do the same thing. You can talk about fighting with honor and all that self righteous crap.”
She rolls her eyes and laughs to herself.
“Harper Mason, you are not ready for what’s coming for you.” she said, “This isn’t some match with a bunch of other women all fighting each other. You are going one on one with the queen. You are going one on one with the Head Lyoness, and you are going to be ripped apart and made a fool of, it’s quite simple really. The end result will be…”
She pauses for a moment and glares into the camera.
“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD.”
She winks and does her little maniacal laugh, as the scene fades out to black.
__________
It wasn’t Victorias first time in Japan, way back in the old HWL days her and Vincent would get to tour Japan each year for their annual Shogun tournament. Usually they would visit Sensei Takeru, an old friend of their fathers while they were here. Victoria decided she didn’t need any sensei anymore, and besides he had those old ratty dirty rings and the queen wouldn’t be caught dead near any of those filthy things.
She decided Tokyo Tower was the place to be, she could be high up and look down on everyone just like she liked, she stood there with a smile looking out the window at the city of Tokyo, with Mt Fuji in the background.
“Lovely view ain’t it Rue?” she said to the championship on her shoulder, “I must admit, Japan is a rather nice country. People don’t leave their filth in the streets, and they show their betters proper respect. They seem to get it over here, unlike back home.”
She exhales.
“Why must our country be so filthy?” said Victoria, “We have to make further progress. We have to clean it up. I feel embarrassed when I come here, see how nice it is, and then return to filth, return home to hatred. Return home to the stupidest population of people in history.”
She shakes her head.
“We’ll be okay though Rue.” she continued, “We’re one of the good ones, we’re making changes, and leading by example. Of course we got the Harper Masons of the world who are too dense and daft to listen. But at the end o f the day, people like her are only responsible for their own downfall.”
She let out another breath of exhaled air
“I can’t force anyone to listen you know Rue.” she continued, “All I can do is continue to try, and to show them the truth. Hopefully some will open their eyes, but we can’t expect everyone too. Some just aren’t smart or intellectual enough to truly understand anything. But we don’t need them do we Rue? We don’t need the weak minded, and it’s time we begin to purge the weak.”
A smile forms on her face.
“They’ve all been given chances.” Victoria continued, “Now Rue, it’s time to take action into our own hands. We need to make them responsible for their own failure to learn anything. My success didn’t happen by accident, it happened because despite what those other bitches keep saying about me, I’m right. I’ve always been right.”
She nods slightly, as if reassuring herself.
“It’ll be okay Rue.” she said, “Nobody in SCW is on my level right now. Harper Mason doesn’t deserve you, and you deserve better than Harper Mason. I’m gonna fight for you Rue, I’m gonna fight for us. Harper Mason is simply about to get the biggest reality check of her life.”
She smiles proudly at her championship.
“Come on Rue, I’m hungry. Lets find a Ramen shop.” she said
And off to a Ramen shop it was. Even though it seemed she was losing everyone around her, she still had the Bombshell Roulette Championship and at this point, Rue was all that truly mattered to her, and she would protect her like a lioness protecting her cubs.
_______
As the cameras open, Victoria Lyons is found in a gorgeous japanese flower garden, she has her usual crown and championship, and has chosen to wear a kimono for todays sermon. She sits legs crossed, in a criss cross applesauce style.
“Do you find the flowers pleasing too Harper?” she asked, “What? Are you surprised that your queen enjoys some of the earths wonderful gifts? You shouldn’t be. I have a great love for nature. I love our friends in the animal kingdom as well. It’s people I can’t stand.”
She pauses for a moment, smiling at the beauty around her.
“People who want to destroy beauty like this for their shopping malls, and fast food restaurants.” Victoria continued, “Is that a world you really want to live in? Because I sure don’t. I want to fight for my world, a world where we can all live together in peace and truly enjoy what this earth has to offer us. But first, we must purge the weak and that means you Harper Mason.”
Victoria furrows her brow and continues on.
“Hate me all you want for putting you in that handicap match.” said Victoria, “But when it ended, even though you lost, did people not praise your valiant efforts? Did you not turn some heads and get people thinking, “hey that Harper Mason girl might have something…”?” I gave that to you, to help build your confidence and you threw it in my face like an ungrateful bitch. Even worse you failed to do anything but lose again and again.”
She shakes her head, a mocking disappointment.
“I wish it could have been different.” said Victoria, “But what must be done, must be done, and it’s time to put an end to Harper Mason and her false hero complex. How can anyone believe in a hero that can’t even win anything? You need to stop being concerned with how everyone else sees you. Someone like me? I don’t care what people think. I’m going to do as I please, and if someone doesn’t like it they can try and stop me. I have the crown and championship to prove my worth. I’ve at least proven I can put my money where my mouth is. I say what I want, because I’ve earned ,my right to say it. I do what I want, because I’ve earned my right to do it. Nobody has been able to stop me yet, and you certainly won’t be the one do to do it Harper Mason. Start writing up a will, because I don’t like failures. Especially the ones I tried to help. The end is nigh for you Harper Mason, and you have nobody to blame but yourself.”
She smiles and winks into the camera.
“Long live the queen.” she says, as the scene fades out to black.
