Hiding
Columbus Ohio.
6 Years ago
The rumble of the engine wasn’t enough to keep her awake. Amy Mercer sat in the passenger seat of the car Austin had bought the day they left their father's office. The ugliness inspired him to take Amy on a road trip. Even though Christian had given a nod of understanding when Austin had threatened him and told him he would leak it all. He didn’t trust his father to keep his promise and stay away from them. Austin reached down and shifted gears. They had left in a rush only grabbing essentials while he finished paying for the car, they just started driving, going from New York, through the city, down through New Jersey, turning west to cut through Pennsylvania before crossing over to Ohio.
The signs pointed him through to Columbus. A place he had never been but always wanted to. And most importantly, somewhere far from his father's influence.
He went onto the on ramp, turning quickly to a small motel just off the turn, the sun had started going down and while it wasn’t yet winter the cold air of late October was getting into the car, Amy was huddled under a large jacket and Austin made his way out to the small pay window. His large six foot six frame still making him look intimidating despite the fact he hadn’t yet put on the muscle mass we now associate with the world champion. This was a younger Austin.
Still with long brown hair, still the strong jawline and piercing eyes. But not the arms or shoulders. He cleared his throat as the small balding man behind the glass sighed and tilted his head. ”10 an hour or 50 for the night…” A line he had obviously said time and time again, it was delivered in a robotic, monotonous way. ”Cash only” Austin gave a nod and pulled his wallet out fumbling through the notes to pull out a 50 sliding it through the slot, in return he got a key with a number attached to a small plastic identity square. Austin cleared his throat and gave a small nod. ”I’d want to spend the night with her too” The guy laughed, Austin turned to see Amy was awake and leaning against the car.
”That’s my sister dude…” There was an awkward silence, Austin scoffed and turned walking towards Amy, she rubbed her eyes and gave her brother a small smile as he held up the key getting closer, he opened the back door retrieving the bag before slamming the door shut and locking the car. ”Come on, we’ll stay here for the night, eat, recharge, then tomorrow we’ll keep going.” He shot her a warm grin and looked over to their room leading Amy there. But before they got there she stopped and yelled out.
”Then what?” He stopped and turned with an eyebrow raised, Amy moved towards him now she had his attention and shook her head. ”Where are we going Aus?.” He went to answer, but as he opened his mouth nothing came out. The truth was there wasn’t a destination. He just started driving, he saw the turn to go to Columbus, to drive through Ohio. But there was no plan, no idea. No final stop. Amy looked into his eyes and shook her head moving closer to her “little brother”. ”We can’t just run. We can’t just keep driving. You have a life, I was rebuilding mine. And I don’t feel right taking you away from that.”
”We needed to get away, Amy, I don’t trust Dad.” She smiled and got closer, her hand grabbing his as they stood in the parking lot.
”Maybe we need to actually talk and start trusting each other. Cause running won’t do any of us good.” She took the key from Austin and moved to the door opening it and walking in. Austin shook his head and swallowed hard looking over at the now dark sky, he cleared his throat and followed Amy closing the door behind him.
A few days later
New York, New York.
”Are you sure about this?”
Austin stood on the sidewalk across the street from Athos Corp’s New York headquarters. Amy was next to him, a grey hoodie pulled up over her head, her long brown hair flowing down from it and out ward. She let out a long sigh and shook her head before turning and looking up at her younger, but much much bigger brother. ”We agreed. Dad was trying to do what’s best, but he doesn’t trust me. I called ahead, he knows we’re coming. He knows where you stand.” Austin let out a gruff groan and shook his head again waiting for the crossing light to change to green.
As it did and the beeping intensified Austin grabbed Amy’s hand and they rushed across the street before stopping at the doors, Amy went to continue inside but Austin again stopped and looked up the side of the building. The mirrored windows casting light from the sun back across the street. ”I have a bad feeling about this. What if he has orderlies waiting to take you back?” Amy shook her head again, her eyes rolling as she reached up and undid her hoodie reaching inside to pull out an envelope.
Austin’s eyebrow raised as she laughed. ”You don’t think I’d have set this up without a reason do you?. A friend of mine got the final few pages of the report, the ones Dad never had access to…” She trailed off for a moment, a grin flashed across her face, a happy undertone filled with confidence. ”It’s something you haven’t seen either...it,.it shows the truth Aus...now come on” She pushed through the large glass doors and through the entrance passed the reception area. They moved to the elevators, Austins hands sho0ok as he felt the nerves rise, Amy though seemed clear to her purpose, she seemed ready for this to end.
A confidence that she had not had since she got out of the hospital. Over the last few months she had gone from a woman scared of her own shadow, to the one next to him, ready to bust through the elevator doors and tell her father what’s what. Austin smiled, if nothing else this whole experience had helped Amy become the woman she was meant to be. Before all the unpleasantness, before the years in a mental hospital. Being told there was something wrong with her, filled with antipsychotic drugs and sedatives. No, this was a young woman forged from fire and determined to never let it happen again.
Amy was not going to be a victim or patient. The doors opened and as Austin went to step forward her stopped, Christian was there. Standing in front of them both, a stone faced look etched on his handsome but weathered face. ”Dad… A shot of fear ran through Austin, he hadn’t expected Christian to be so pro-active and in their face right away. Christian slowly turned looking at Amy, her hand clutching the manilla envelope.
Amy swallowed hard and gave him a small nod as Christian simply turned to the side with his arm out leading them to a small conference room off from the main office. Amy shoved the door open as they all moved in and to a large wooden table. Austin pulled out a chair for his sister and stayed standing behind her, Christian sat down across from her, his hands clasping on the table. ”Well, I’m listening…”
His voice was calm and to the point, he seemed open to whatever was to be said. Amy swallowed and simply slid the envelope to him. Christian looked down and flipped the top open sliding the papers on to the desk, his eyes widened as he started to read before looking up at Amy who smiled slowly looking into her father's eyes. Austin stood behind them, seeing the change in Christians demeanor and his shoulders lower down as he seemed to slump in his chair.
”How did you get these?” Christian seemed worried, Amy simply cleared her throat and bit her bottom lip, unsure of if revealing her sources would be a good idea, Austin moved forward putting his hand on his sister's shoulder, she leaned forward and smiled.
Her voice was as calm and measured as their fathers, her eyes seemed to burn through his as she simply reached out and pointed to a name on the report, her finger tapping. ”It pays to have friends who know how to do the right thing.” Christian laughed under his breath and slid the papers back to Amy, his hands coming to rest now in his lap.
There were a few moments where Christian seemed to change, thoughts rushing through his mind, Austin couldn’t help himself, he slowly looked over the papers, the information all coming in hard and fast. Austin's jaw clenched and he looked up at his father. ”She was in there for this?”.....Austin I..” He stepped forward, Chritian got up to meet him as father and son came face to face. While Austin was a big man, six foot six, his father wasn’t small by any means standing six foot four and at this time weighed more than the much thinner Austin. Amy got to her feet and grabbed her brother’s arm, Austin turned to look at her and saw in her eyes something he never thought he would, forgiveness, validation, happiness.
”I didn’t know Austin, if I had I ...Amy I’m sorry.” Austin turned to Christian, it had been the first time he’d heard it and felt like there was real regret behind it. ”I know that doesn’t make up for it. But...maybe in the future I can? Amy moved between Austin and Christian, then without warning she stepped forward wrapping her arms around him, Christian seemed to be surprised, his arms out before slowly wrapping them around his daughter. Austin took a deep breath, it was over. Amy could really start her life now. And Austin finally had a family.
(no)Luck of the Irish
”Can I be stopped?”
There was a small chuckle under his breath, a smile on his face and a twinkle or arrogance in his eye. Austin James Mercer, the current reigning, defending SCW Internet champion was on top of the world. He adjusted the Internet title belt on his shoulder, displaying it proudly for the world to see.
”Senor Vinnie would say yes, after all, he was the one who stopped me last time. It would seem the mariachi is the one man in this company who has my number. But since the start of this year, no one, NO ONE has been able to match me in that ring one on one. See, 2020 may be a horrible year for everything else with stock market crashes, recessions and pandemics. But fort me, in my career and family life? Well, it’s not that bad for me. And hey, maybe it’s luck, maybe it’s good karma coming my way for being a good person, I don’t know. All I know is that I am still one of the best in Sin City Wrestling and I have asked and begged for real competition and been failed almost every time…”
“Lachlan Kane brought a challenge, Bill Barnhart tried, hell a lot of people thought Jack’d the ripper would at least do a little damage being a bit bigger than me but even he failed to make a damn dent in my armor. The fact is that most of the time when I have an “L” next to my name it’s because of it being a multi-man match or a tag match. In fact, the last time I was beaten one on one was almost 10 months ago. But, even with a record like mine, even with me constantly saying how I want the Internet title to matter, I get comments about losing the world title…”
“From people who never even sniffed that championship…”
“This title means so much to me, mainly because when you win a title, when you take it from someone else you have a duty to be a better champion than the person you beat. In my case this was starting fresh, it was reinstated ands the title needed a champion worthy enough to take it to new heights. And I have done that. I never took this as a demotion, I never took this as a silver medal. The SCW Internet title is something that signifies competition. It signifies hard work...and I wanted to put it on the line on Climax Control…”
Austin looks at the title, taking it from his shoulder and holding it in his right hand with a sigh.
”Jack Washington came up with this card, he booked it and gave himself a title opportunity, which is a great move, I totally respect it. He earned that right. But, he didn’t allow me to defend the title and when it was brought up I agreed to and SCW management said no. This disappointed me, really only because I know people fight harder when something is on the line, dangling in front of them. They put more effort into everything they do. It doesn’t really affect me, I put in maximum effort week in and week out, title match or non title. I look at the rest of the roster though, and I don’t see the same commitment in all of you…”
“A normal match happens and so many of you phone it in, you just don’t look hungry.”
“But me? I’m starving, all the time.”
“Now, I thought maybe my opponent this week would be hungry. I thought I’d step back and wait and see. Because O’Malley had talked and talked and talked on social media over and over about me after I told him to focus on his own abilities instead of what OTHERS werre doing. Instead, he didn’t. He talked himself into a title match with Ben Jordan and failed, he has been losing matches left and right, See, I’m ten and one in 2020, ten and one. My one loss coming in the blast from the past tournament...O Malley is five and two in 2020 in SCW. Now, that can be a little deceiving because I’m not taking into account his SCU record.”
“I mean, O'Malley is the SCU Underground champion, so he must be an amazing competitor there and just..average in SCW right?. I mean, I’ve been very vocal about SCU, I have been there once or twice and there are many, many great athletes in that company. But, in SCW, this is the best of the best. Mark Cross and O’Malley are two of the best in that company….but in SCW?...they just don’t cut the mustard…”
“Even though O’Malley is...well..a champion…”
“But, being a champion and holding a title is only half the story. There’s also what you do with the title when you win it, there’s also..how you won it.”
“Did O’Malley wait and call out the champion and cash in his shot for a one on one match when the champion was healthy so he could prove he deserved it and prove just how good he could be? No, don’t be ridiculous. That isn’t how men like him work. See, he’s all talk, all whining, all me me me. O’Malley is an arrogant, self righteous dick and he cashed in after Ben Jordan won it and had been through hell. And yes, I know that it was his right to do that….but it was still a cowardly dick move...and the funny part…”
Austin pauses and chuckles shaking his head getting closer to the camera.
”He had a chance to prove us all wrong.”
He steps back and shrugs.
”Ben gave him a shot at the SCW world title, one he hadn’t earned. But Ben wanted to prove his own point, that one on one, when he was prepared, O’Malley simply, wasn’t good enough. I know, it’s a strange thing isn’t it? Watching people talk a big game but fail to back it up. Then when confronted with facts they just, fade away. They are delusional and ignorant. See, I say I’m one of the best wrestlers in the world and people can either choose to agree or disagree. But when pressed, when asked why they disagree, they can’t come up with a valid answer. And then, I can produce facts.”
“I can show my win loss record of twenty three wins and eight losses, I can remind everyone of who I’ve beaten, like Ty West and Fenris. I can remind everyone that I am a former SCW world champion. All of this is bragging but it is also straight up facts.”
“O’Malley, on Climax Control you have a chance to shut me up, to prove to yourself and everyone else that you’re almost as good as you and your girlfriend believe yourself to be.”
“All week you have been running your mouth about this opportunity and that opportunity. You called me out for not putting the Internet title on the line and for Jack not making it a title match. I said I would, Jack had no problems but Mark said no. And in typical O’Malley fashion you turned it around, played the victim and acted like..as Ben would say…”a right tit”. Good news though….see, if you beat me, I’d say you should get a title shot. If you lose though? Well...too bad….I’ll go on to face Vinnie and defend my title against him, I’ll stay being one of the best in the world and you?...you can go back to being irrelevant….and throwing tantrums…”
