Las Vegas, Nevada - 12/20/2020
University Medical Center
It was still a blur. Funny thing about these experiences, even though we go through them in life, there are times when we are at the very brink of control, we feel that reality slip through our grasp. We experience the trauma, but have literally little to no idea how it happened or how we got through it. Hell! There are times when we don’t even realize that we are experiencing it in the first place, or how exactly we came to be! That feeling of explicit helplessness is only compounded when the shock -- that emotional upheaval -- involves a beloved family member. Someone so close to you in heart and soul that it defies explanation.
This is going back quite a ways; well over a month, but so much has happened since that grim evening -- so many questions -- that it was a simple enough story to be looked back on and experienced. Bits and pieces were put together through posts on social media, much like the pieces of a puzzle, but to turn back the clock and look at it, that was something to experience. Sometimes these stories simply have to be told.
He could still see the red and white lights of the ambulance dancing in his vision, not literally of course. Save for the arrivals of the random ambulances that brought new arrivals to the top medical center of Southern Las Vegas. No, these lights were something burned into his memory, from the moment he set foot into the back of the ambulance to ride alongside his brother, to when he followed the paramedics into the hospital as they pushed the gurney through the lobby and past the front desk to usher Aron into the annals of the hospital for examination.
Or rather, he tried to.
“Aron… Aron!”
But as Fenris tried to follow the paramedics on their heels through the lobby and past the double swinging doors, he found his path blocked by two nurses, both older women who seemed determined to impede his being there for his little brother at a time he felt needed most.
“Get OUT of my…!” Fenris started to threaten the nurses, both older but clearly experienced women in their field of care. They were all too used to seeing everything the world could throw in their path, even when it came in the form of an overly angry Icelandic male.
“Sir. Sir!” The older of the two nurses gently held a hand on his chest, keeping him at bay and each time he tried to move around the women to follow Aron, he found they had deftly moved in his path. Fenris finally tore his gaze away from the path he watched Aron be taken and his burning, ice blue gaze turned to the nurses instead as they managed to successfully remove his attention from the paramedics to them.
“You can’t go back there, sir.” The head nurse stated, matter-of-factly. “Not yet.”
“That is my brother!” Fenris barked, and the younger of the nurses, albeit not by much, placed a hand on his arm only for it to be harshly shrugged off.
She said, “We understand that. And you’ll get to see him, but right now you have to let the doctor examine him on his own. We’ll let you know when you can go back to see your brother.”
Somehow, in some way, Fenris found himself steered away from the lobby and past a set of double doors, where a handful of others sat and waited on news of their own loved ones. The dreaded hospital waiting room. Before he understood how he had even been escorted there, he found the older of the nurses handing him a clipboard, saying, “We need you to fill this out and then return it to us…”
“”What…?” Fenris started to object as he sat down as far away from the other patients as he was able, but found that the nurses had already taken their leave. He then looked down at the clipboard and found himself staring at the medical sign in sheet, insurance, and everything one might imagine … and every last bit of it was foreign to Fenris, both in part to his language skills as well as having never had to fill out hospital release forms before. Paperwork … how pathetic an experience that you had to endure all so your loved one could be treated.
He glanced up and saw the few others there, some of whom had been watching but hurriedly averted their collective gazes. Some had cups of coffee in their hand, only one had a clipboard like he did, but they all -- himself included -- had that one thing in common; someone they cared about was somewhere in these walls.
With a curse of resignation, Fenris -- Kristjan -- picked up the pen and started to struggle through the mandatory busy work.
***
“How is he?” The voice startled Fenris out of his thoughts, and he cast a glance up and found not only Daniel Morgan but the other three members of London Underground, having somehow snuck into the waiting room without his noticing. Or it was far more likely they had simply walked in while his mind was racing elsewhere. Each member of that faction, fellow graduates of the famed Go Gym, had grim expressions on their faces, but none so more than Mackenzie. No, she looked downright pissed -- damn near equal to Fenris’s own growing sense of rage.
After a moment’s pause, Fenris just cast a blank look at the wall opposite where he sat and shook his head, “Don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mackenzie practically barked. “It’s been almost two hours!”
“Yeah well go figure!” Fenris answered hotly as the London Underground members slowly took seats in the vacant chairs around him. Osbourne having a slightly tougher time fitting into a seat given his gargantuan size. Fenris continued, “Nobody will tell me anything! Only time they say anything is when they have something else for me to sign or fill out!”
Fenris grasped at the clipboard on the seat behind him for a brief moment before he threw it back down.
“Forget about that mate.” Daniel said with his usual stoic and calm demeanor. “That’s just busy work. Keeps you from bothering them.”
“Bullshit….” Mackenzie fumed. “Won’t work with me.” And it looked like she was about to stand up when another pair of figures calmly walked into the waiting room, silent but their presence felt. Ben and Evie Jordan walked into the waiting room, neither speaking a word. Neither needing to.
Ben was perhaps the closest friend Fenris -- Kristjan had -- in SCW, and Evie was a fellow graduate of the GO Gym, and a good natured “professional rival” to Fenris. Without a word spoken, Ben picked up the clipboard from the chair beside his friend and took a seat, while Evie sat close by. That was the nature of such close knit friendships in this business, and the family units that grew from within.
“Excuse me…!” Fenris stood up as a nurse passed through the waiting room, but before he could even finish addressing the issue, she cut him off at the proverbial pass and said, “Sir, the doctor has not finished examining your brother. He still has tests he wants to run.” And just as quickly, she vanished without another word.
“Fuck…” Fenris turned and practically kicked the chair he had just vacated, before he threw himself back down into the vacant seat and ran his fingers through his hair. Fenris was a strong willed individual, it was a fact that his closest friends and confidants had little choice but to acknowledge as fact where he was concerned. But here he was, in a situation where he felt utterly helpless.
That was roughly the time where he felt his phone go off having switched it to vibrate. He had been receiving calls all evening but his focus was so strong on news of Aron that he had all but ignored the phone until now.
“What the hell…” He grumbled as he fished the phone from his “too-tight” jeans pocket and looked at who it was. His friends watched closely, and saw him close his eyes and utter a half hearted “Shit” before he answered, and given that he immediately launched into his native Icelandic, that was evidence enough to whom he was speaking to.
His -- and Aron’s -- family back in Iceland.
”Mom…”
“Do not ‘mom’ me, Kristjan!” Not even a ‘Hi’ ‘Hello’ or “How are you. His mother’s harsh tone startled even him, but it was not like he could blame her nor say it was unexpected. At quick glance, he had missed or ignored at least ten calls in the last two hours, and the vast majority of them were from his family; most likely his mother. The rest, from Mark Ward to check in.
”I have been calling ever since we saw that bastard attack Aron!”
“I know but…”
“Why haven’t you answered your phone!? I’ve been calling you for TWO HOURS!” She cut off whatever he was going to say. Fenris closed his eyes. Fenris drew in a deep breath and answered, ”I’ve been just a little busy at the hospital! I’m trying to get word…”
“How is he!?” She interrupted again but the stress of the night was starting to show a crack in Fenris’s armor as he bit back a growl and answered tersely, ”I don’t KNOW! I’m trying to find…”
“You don’t know!? How could you not know!?”
“Mom, I’ve been sitting here for two hours and trying…”
“How could you let this happen!?”
There it was. That was almost what he had been waiting for. Fenris knew very well that the family had been watching. They watched every show, every week, whether their son was booked to compete or not. Just to say they saw him on the show.
”What do you mean me!?” Fenris stared at the phone with blatant disbelief. ”How is this MY fault!?”
Eva answered, ”Kristjan! We saw you get involved with that man when he was attacking that one wrestler! You should have known something like this would happen!”
“How would I know Austin would go after Aron instead of me!?”
“And where were you when that happened!?” Their mother cast blame without rhyme nor reason. That was the issue they were dealing with. A mother can be the fiercest creature on the planet when their young is hurt or threatened, and when that mother can not be present for their child, they tend to project said anger and protectiveness on or against the closest they are able.
”I was backstage - mother!” Fenris felt his anger rising but struggled deep down inside. This was his and Aron’s mother, and as stated many times before, Fenris was and remains a proud ‘ momma’s boy. Still, the harsh accusations did not help matters when deep down, Fenris was busy blaming himself anyway. “I was with Ben watching…”
Eva interrupted again, “You should never have let him go off by himself, Kristjan! You should never have…”
“What the fuck do you want me to do!?” Finally, he had enough. ”You want me to slap a collar on him and walk him around like a goddamn dog!?” And immediately, Fenris closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, realizing not so much what he said, but who he had just said it to.
And right then he felt the phone being slipped from out of his hands. Fenris blinked and watched as Mackenzie walked over to the decorative fish tank in the lobby and she simply chucked the phone in the water, leaving Fenris gaping after her much like the fish themselves. Mackenzie turned around and shrugged, “Before you say anything worse. Just say you had phone problems.”
“Well if I didn’t before, I sure as hell do NOW!” Fenris barked, when the doors opened and a frustrated looking doctor walked in, escorted by a nurse who had clearly seen better days. Fenris stood up as the doctor walked straight toward him, but before he could ask about Aron -- again -- the doctor held up a hand and said, “Look, we are very busy! We will contact you when we have finished with your brother’s tests and have some answers!”
That said, the doctor turned his back on them and simply walked away, vanishing behind the doors with the nurse in tow. Fenris just stared, but before he could tell what happened, a very put off looking Mackenzie Page simply walked past him -- and through those very same doors. Fenris took that first step after her when Daniel Morgan reached up and took hold of his upper arm.
All he had to do was shake his head, and Fenris slowly -- reluctantly -- sat back down. Osbourne and Charlotte smothered their growing smiles, and Fenris just realized that at some point in time, Kris Ryans had silently snuck in, standing off in the far corner of the room. Minutes passed by agonizingly slow, when the doors swung open again, and the doctor from before walked back in, followed closely by Mackenzie who did not so much as take her eyes off of him from behind.
His complexion had taken a pale, almost rancid cast to it, and he cleared his throat and said, “Mister Baltasarsson? If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you to your brother’s room. The tests are finished and we’ll have some answers for you.”
Fenris frowned, then looked around and Ben gave him a ‘go ahead’ nod, saying softly, “Go on. Let us know.”
Fenris slowly pushed himself up from his chair, hearing Daniel mutter behind him, “Mackenzie…” He walked across the waiting room where the doctor waited, and as he passed by her, Mackenzie lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder before the doors closed behind him...
“Now, you know. Everything that happened since then has pretty much become common knowledge as it happened on screen or we spoke about it on social media, but for the memory impaired, let me lay it out for you…”
“One concussion.”
“One cracked rib.”
“Five stitches.”
“That was the end result of Mercer’s attack on my brother, Aron. And yes, as those closest to us have pointed out, it could have been worse -- much worse, or if Mercer were smart, it simply would not have happened at all. I’ve heard it all before by men like him. Men who talk big but then when they’re confronted by the facts of their own actions, they twist everything around to try and paint you the bad guy while giving reasons behind their own cowardly actions. Mercer? It seems that what happened to Aron, what he did to my little brother, was my fault for stopping him from hurting Caleb Storms.”
“Was I wrong to get involved in the business between Mercer and Caleb? I don’t know! Draw your own conclusions! But I didn’t see anybody else going out there to stop what he was doing, so I went out and did it myself! Was it my business? No. I guess deep down it wasn’t my place to get involved, but if you have a problem with my actions, you take it up with me!”
Fenris poked himself in the sternum to drive home the point.
“You deal with me directly! You don’t just find an excuse to use my blood to get to me, because that doesn’t make you smart! It doesn’t make you clever or some kind of sinister master of mind games! You can spin and twist the words and situation all you want, but attacking a man’s family to hurt that man? That just makes you a fucking pussy, plain and simple! I was RIGHT THERE! I was watching, I was waiting! If someone wants to get up in my face for any reason, trust me I am not hard to find! But Mercer couldn’t do that, could he!? No! He had to take the coward’s route and wait until my brother was alone and…”
Fenris air quotes.
“‘Send a message…’ Well, message received, and responded! I had to wait weeks to let you know just how bad you fucked up, Mercer, but oh god how it was worth it! Did i go too far? Did I go overboard? I’ve had some close to me say yes. Some said no. I had some friends worried about me for my actions or think I was just plain nuts for how bad I hurt you! Others, said nothing but I got a few messages of support, saying they would have done the same or what I did just made them respect me all the more. But in the end?”
He shook his head.
“Doesn’t matter. Because even then Mercer showed his true colors. Brutally attack my brother but when he gets the same treatment, he cries foul and threatens a lawsuit against SCW for an unsafe work environment. HE attacks a non wrestler but he cries about work related safety when he gets his ass handed to him! Fucking … hypocrite! Do you know what I honestly regret about that night, Mercer? The fact that London Underground and anyone else out there pulled me off! You should be sending them a fucking fruit basket, thanking them for saving your ass because I wanted to do so much worse, and had it not been for them, I would have!”
“Have you ever felt a loss of control that went beyond anything you’ve experienced? Have you ever considered yourself a person who is, or was, always in control of everything around you -- from your emotions to the situations that you live in day by day? That’s the type of person I always saw myself as. What you started went beyond my control, and that just makes me even angrier. And while I would love nothing more than to get my hands on your sorry ass in an official capacity…”
He smirked and shook his head. He snorted back a derisive laugh.
“...You -- again -- show how much of a coward you are, and get yourself an excuse from your doctor to get out of our match! Oh, you were hurt and can’t compete! Oh you say it’s my fault! Boo hoo ya great big bastard! There are men out there who have fought, wrestled, whatever -- with worse injuries, but you found the first excuse you could to get out of facing me because you knew there’d be no going back, and no saving your ass, once that bell rang!”
“So, you threw your friend to the wolf -- literally!”
“Alex, this is nothing on you. Nothing against you. This is simply a matter of wrong time, wrong place! And most definitely, the wrong opponent! We go back a long way, you and I. Ever since you first showed up in SCW when I was already here, you remember? You might say that we got off on the wrong foot. But we faced each other, in both singles and tag team matches, and when it comes to men like us, it’s a matter of mutual respect. The one thing I have always craved when I step into the ring is competition. Take me to the brink of defeat and I love it all the more. It just makes me fight even harder until one or both of us are unable to go on any further! And you took me to those limits, Alex. When I teamed with Ty against Mercer and yourself, you fought! When it was just you and me in the past, one on one? You came at me like the fucking bad ass I know you are. Cocky. Confident. You wanted it, but it fell to me.”
“It doesn’t matter who you go up against. Me. Ben Jordan. Any man on the roster and you bring it, whether a title is at stake or not. Why? Because that’s just the kind of man you are! You want competition! You want every man you’re in the ring against to know they were in a war! Well in every war, there are casualties, and this time, you have only your buddy Austin to blame for the casualties that are going to be littering the ring.”
“You know exactly who I am Alex, and what I am capable of. So does Austin, which is really the deep rooted reason why you’re here, and he’s not. He doesn’t have the balls to face me, so he threw you under the bus. What I don't understand is -- why do you allow it? Last I checked, he wasn’t the one in charge of the Wolfslair, but he sure as shit has been acting like he calls the shots! So step up. That’s all I ask. It’s all I want. You need to.”
“Because it might be Alex Jones I am in the ring against, but all I’ll see is Austin James Mercer.”
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