Everyone has a price
The last few weeks had been moving so fast. Johanna and Gustav has set up the new forward operations base. A large warehouse in downtown Berlin had been bought, set up and decked out in all the latest equipment. As well as manpower. Johanna smiles, her heart was full of hope. This was a younger Johanna, a woman who had not yet lost that sparkle in her eyes, who believed in the police department and everything they were doing. She had officially transferred to the STF, working under Gustav. She saw the budget, the shiny new toys. And the back up. A few weeks ago there was no one else. It was just the two of them. Now the warehouse was full. Lines of men and women going over intel, watching live limiters. Doing patrols.
This is what Johanna had wanted. All those months ago when she started looking into the cracks that had formed in her mind when it came to the conduct of her fellow officers and superiors. And now she had it at her fingertips. But the last week or so, Gustav had been acting different. He was disinterested and quiet. Others had taken over. It confused Johanna, he had been the other driving force of this. And now he seemed to have pulled back.
Johanna folded her arms over her chest and moved across the main floor, she weaved in between the lines of monitors and recording devices. Her blue eyes looked up at the main office. The one she and Gustav shared. She moved up the stairs as quietly as she could. Her hand reaching out to the long silver door handle. She moved in and closed the door lightly behind her. Gustav sat at his desk, a hand up holding his cheek while the other flipped through a page of reports. Jo shook her head moving to the window next to her desk. It looked down onto the parking lot, she moved her head to the side as the sun caught something in the building across the way.
A camera. And it was facing the office. Johanna took a sharp breath in but kept calm. She tried to act natural and slowly turned looking over at Gustav. ”Sargeant. We are being watched.” Gustav looked up, he tilted his head looking unsurprised. It caught Johanna off guard. Gustav got to his feet and sighed heavily.
”I know. I asked them to.” Johanna shook her head trying to comprehend what he just said. She stuttered and stammered. Before she could get out a word Gustav moved around his desk sitting on the edge folding his arms over his chest. ”We have a leak Jo. A bad one” Her heart sank, why was this happening? Why can’t people feel the way she does? She moved over to the other side of the office looking down at the others. ”I don’t know who they are yet. There’s few people I can trust. I need footage and pictures of anyone in this office…”
Johanna stayed quiet. Her eyes darting between the columns of officers. She felt the paranoia raise up. What if they got information out of her?. What if she was inadvertently responsible? How did you find out?” Ge sighed heavily. She knew it was bad. His body language, his tone. All of it.
Gustav turned his laptop around. On it was I formation, pictures, documents. Johannas eyes widened. Gustav looked down and his hands placed flat on his desk, either side of the laptop. ”Last week, cybercrimes flagged these. They were se t from an unprotected server, these are pictures of documents only found in this office…” Johanna took a sharp breath in, her hands shook with anger as she tried to keep her voice down.
”That is my desk! My handwriting in the margins!. My files” Sge growled in anger. She paced back and forth before storming towards the door. Gustav stopped in front of her. Blocking her from the door down to the pit. ”Sargeant I-“ Ge put his hand up and shook his head slowly.
His hand over to her shoulder. Johanna started to calm down, Gustav shook his head and looked around before pulling her into a hug. ”I get it kid. I do.” His voice softened, it calmed Jo down. Her heart stopped racing and her body stopped being so tense. She stepped back and turned looking at her desk. ”I wanted to wait to tell you till I was sure…” Sure?
Her eyebrows furrowed down, she turned back to him looking sideways. ”Sure of what? That I wasn’t the leak?” She moved forward, angry again. Her head tilted sideways. ”You think I would do that? Turn on you and us?” She hissed the words, she was furious Gustav put his hands up and sighed.
”No….” He stepped forward, his head shook from side to side. ”Constable, you have put your heart into this. I just, I wanted to be sure we had a leak do I wasn’t hurting you.” It hit her, but she understood. She was in deep. She didn’t do anything else. She came to work, looked over files, went home, slept, and then woke up to do it all again. She turned back again and leaned in the table grinding her teeth before looking up and out the window again.
”Tell me how to find them...tell me you have a plan..”
Fluke
It has been a rough few weeks. Losses happen in wrestling. Everyone feels the sting of disappointment. But it was a rare feeling for the members of Wolfslair in SCW. Johanna took a long deep breath, she was covered in sweat from working out and was taking moments to reflect on everything.
”Three weeks ago, I stepped in the ring for a match that I should have won. And I know, so many of you will talk shit about me and say that it’s simply sour grapes or me being a sore loser. But serious question, who likes losing?.hmm?. Who likes losing in an industry that rewards winners? Where did this gracious loser bullshit come from? I mean, I can take a loss. I can take being beaten in snatch by someone with skills who in the light was better than me. And losses like that are a learning experience that I can handle and I can say that Iearned that loss.”
“But that match, three weeks ago against Jessie Salco, Johanna Krieger should have walked out of that match as the Roulette champion. That isn’t arrogance or sour grapes. That is a fact. But, I’m going to give Jessie a little bit of respect. Or Atleast I would have. Until she opened her fucking mouth.”
“You see, I was going to talk about how Jessie thought that everything that she wanted and was able to take advantage of the fact no one thought she was going to win, to win. She caught me off guard with how tough she actually was and despite the fact I punched her in the face over and over again, despite the fact that I tried to break every single bone in her body, she kept coming. Jessie Salco is tougher than I gave her credit for and on that night, Climax Control 282, on the 18th of October she created a goddamn miracle.”
“Jessie Salco beat Johanna Krieger.”
“And the world rejoiced. Well, some did. But these people were not sharing and celebrating because they wanted to see you win. No Jessie. They were celebrating because they were happy to see me lose. Because the group that I’m in, the excellence that we hold ourselves to, it makes people so sick. They hate us, they want us to fail and to fall. And for a brief moment you were able to make all their little dreams come true.”
Johanna smiles and shakes her head with a small sigh under her breath before clasping her hands together.
”Three weeks ago, you sealed your fate. I was always going to come back after that championship. From the second I lost it, I wanted it back. And before I get into how the world now sees you and how you’ve been able to flip the script, let me just point out a few things. When my stablemate Alicia Lukas lost the bombshells championship both times, she healed from her injuries picked herself up and came back with a renewed sense of vigor and respect. She wanted that title back, and she did the best she could do it. And she did, she showed how tenacious she could be.”
“But…”
“That isn’t what I’m about.“
“I’m not about simply coming back as a better version of myself, not in this instance. That’s how I felt against song, and when I beat RoxI. No Jessie. Against you it’s about making a statement. I took you to easily last time because I thought I was gonna breeze over you and I underestimated you. I underestimated your toughness, I underestimated your luck, and I underestimated the fact that my own hubris was going to get me in some serious shit. But this time? This time it’s about causing you as much pain as I physically can in the amount of time that I’m given until you either quit, okay no longer continue, all the referee thinks he’s seen enough.”
“That is what you have this time. That is what you have to face this time. And before you start to talk about it being an empty threat, realise who you are talking to. If you go back and watch that match we beat me Jessie, I was causing you serious pain, and I was going easy on you. I felt bad for you. And in the end, that is what allows you to beat me. That is why I call it a fluke.”
Johanna paces back and forth as she grows angrier her accent seems to get stronger.
”And that had been my plan all along. Right up until two weeks ago. When you took issue with me getting a rematch. Saying I should EARN it. And then, last week you doubled down. You ran your mouth, and I felt the need to come out and get in your face. Now, you pointed out Seleana didn’t get a rematch. . and at that point, well I realise that you did have a good point. She didn’t get a rematch, but if she wanted one, she would’ve got one. But she didn’t. She didn’t come to me and ask for one, she didn’t go to Marcal Christian and ask for one, she dropped back. And there’s many different reasons why that could’ve happened but the main one is that she didn’t want to go up against me again. She did not want me to destroy her again, the other reason is personal, she’s been looking after her wife who got completely annihilated.”
“So while it may have been a good point to you, and while you may have thought you were pointing out a reason why I shouldn’t get a rematch, what you were really doing is reminding everyone that I beat a former bombshells champion so bad that she didn’t want any more of me.“
“And all you were doing, was pissing me off. You beg and played for championship opportunities and title shots and matches all the time, I’m wondering how many times you have called for a championship match, got the opportunity and lost. How many times have you been put in a match that you have lost. You have the worst record of any active bombshell on the goddamn roster. But, you end up winning a few matches and think that suddenly you can dictate what we do and don’t do? You beat Maki, then me and suddenly the world bends to Jessie Salco?. All those people, the ones who are happy about you beating me. After they heard what you had to say, and they saw how you acted, a lot of those voices suddenly went silent. Congratulations, you made me, one of the most unlikable bitches in this company, seem more sympathetic than you the perennial under dog. Good work bonehead.”
“But he is the worst part about all of it..”
She pauses, shaking her head slowly before calming herself down.
”I understand.”
She nods and shrugs before holding her arms over her chest with a deep breath.
”For you this is probably the best it’s going to get. At this point in your career with how everyone has treated you and the joke that you have actually become through your own and net actions and stupidity, this is the best chance you have to make a lasting impression on the fans and everyone backstage. This is your last chance to claw back any type of credibility that you think you deserve. So you are milking it for all it is worth my running your mouth any chance you can get. The compulsion is there Jessie I understand I really do. With that being said, just because I understand and I can see where you are coming from and why you’re doing this, it doesn’t mean a dam thing when I get in that ring with you this week. I was never gonna go easy on you, I was never going to give you a break, I was always going to try and beat you and take that championship and make you suffer. But your actions, your words, your incessant whining and not even understanding what a real champion is?”
“That is damaging to yourself, the championship, and the company. Why do you think Fenris gave me praise for straightaway challenging you?. Because that is the definition of real recognising real. And no one recognises you was real Jessie.. Because everything about you is fake. Fake confidence,, fake attitude, fake friends. All of it. In fact the only thing real about you is the fact that you can take a beating, and that’s not even something that you actually care about. Because instead of focusing on the fact that you keep coming and you keep trying and telling everyone about heart you have, you promised wins upon wins. So when you eventually do get on people don’t care because they hate what you’ve become. And you are going to hate what I do to you this week when I take back my title. Good luck because you were going to need it…”
