[Christian Underwood]

Post all roleplays for this match here.
Limits: 1 roleplay per week, per character, 7k limit.

Good luck!

[Roxi Johnson]

{Our scene opens with Roxi sitting on the roof of a moderately tall building, looking out and seeing most of the city while she takes a break from her patrol. It looks very peaceful and serene, but just below Roxi is a different story. Below, there are at least 10 people being “Social media influencers” Men and women all with their friends, phones out, looking to find the perfect spot to do something to get the clicks and likes. Roxi only looks on with morbid curiosity as the “influencers” find their spot to pose, put on some dramatic scene or really, just talk very loudly, recording themselves using their phones. Roxi takes a moment to call Vision on her wrist communicator.} 

 

Vision – What’s up LB? 

 

Roxi – Please, please tell me something is going on around town? 

 

Vision – I got nothing. Why? Is something wrong? 

 

Roxi – A lot, actually. 

 

Vision – Oh? What’s going on? 

 

Roxi – I don’t understand people these days. 

 

Vision – You and me both. But I take it you’re talking about something specific. 

 

Roxi – Influencers. 

 

Vision – Like... role models? 

 

Roxi – Goodness I hope not. I hope nobody wants to actively be like these people. 

 

Vision – I don’t know what you mean, then. 

 

Roxi – Oh, right... Influencers are people who make a living on the internet. They attract a huge audience and they go around and find weird places and things to do to make themselves even more famous, but it’s all... it’s all fake. There’s maybe a handful of these people who actually mean a word of what they are doing. It’s all... way too much. 

 

Vision – And this... makes people money? 

 

Roxi – Somehow. 

 

Vision – I think you might need to just step away from this, LB.   

 

Roxi – It’s just stinks. We should be going after the Rejects. We should be tracking them down. We should be finding Amelia. 

 

Vision – And then what? 

 

Roxi – What do you mean, then what? We have to stop them! 

 

Vision – I meant, once you find out what happened to Amelia. 

 

Roxi – I... I’m going to do my job. 

 

Vision – Are you sure? 

 

Roxi – As sure as I can be.   

 

Vision – Well, the edict is out from Captain Freedom. You know the rules just like I do. If you encounter them, everyone has to be alerted. You can’t do this on your own. 

 

Roxi – I know. It’s just... I hate waiting around for something to happen. I end up looking at stuff like this. 

 

Vision – You can’t worry about it too much. This is going to come to a head soon. 

 

Roxi – I don’t know about that. They know we’re on to them. And at the end of the day, they keep killing people. They may be bad people, they may be criminals, but that’s not how heroes work, Vision. You know that. 

 

Vision – There’s nothing else we can really do. We don’t know where they are. We can’t just go around and bust into everything we think could be where they are. We’re not a team a heroes at that point. We’re a mob. And that’s not what we do either, LB. 

 

Roxi – It would beat sitting around while people die. 

 

Vision – You and I both know, that we try our best, but even though we try to save everyone, the truth is, we can’t. 

 

Roxi – And I can’t just accept that.   

 

Vision – Could this just be that you want to have the final say with Amelia. 

 

Roxi – I... No... 

 

Vision – I have never heard you this upset over something other than the time the guild suspended you. And was a personal thing. You cannot make this personal LB.   

 

Roxi – It will ALWAYS be personal with me and Amelia. 

 

Vision – Don’t let them hear you say that. You’ll get booted off this mission even if it means the Guild would be outmanned. Captain Freedom is not about to let you jeopardize it if you’re more focused on personal vengeance.   

 

{Roxi stands up and walks around the roof of the building, not really noticing she’s done exactly what the influencers are doing, just using her wrist instead of her phone.} 

 

Roxi – I said I was going to do my job.  And that’s what I’m going to do. 

 

Vision – Fine. But just be careful. 

 

Roxi – Yeah, yeah. 

 

{Roxi looks down as she reaches the edge of the side of the building’s roof, and noticed a light coming from the alley. It’s another person with their phone, taking what looks to be video.} 

 

Roxi – Huh.. That's an odd place to do some influencing. Vision, I’ll have to call you back. 

 

{Roxi again, peers down, focusing on the person in the alley, as they walk around, not saying anything, but trying to find the right area When they step into the light, albeit for a few seconds only, the person is male, and appears to be of teenager age. When they find the right light, they start talking.} 

 

Teenager – Man name is Francis, and I will become the next viral sensation. You may ask how I’m going to do this? the answer is simple. 

 

{Francis is lit up enough to for Roxi to see what he is doing, and he rummages through some kind of bag lay on the ground, from it, he produces a high-powered rifle.} 

 

Roxi – Oh no... 

 

Francis – I am going to be the next big time viral shooter. It may be tomorrow at school, or I may go to the mall, I haven’t decided yet. Not that it really matters, it’s not about the location, it’s about the highest amount of damage I can cause. My goal is at least 20 people. 

 

Roxi – This is not good. 

 

{Francis continues on his manifesto rant.} 

 

Francis – I can’t wait to see the look on all those people’s faces when I start shooting. They’re going to run, and I will have all the power. It’s going to be so great, and I will release this video and maybe one other one, right before I start. I mean, I could go right now and kill these stupid people over there, but nobody’s gonna care. I can’t go viral for that. But a mass shooting? That will go viral! 

 

{Roxi has heard enough and she drops down, surprising Francis who backs away from her in fear and panic. Roxi makes sure not to raise her voice or even speak loudly. She uses a calming tone in her voice.} 

 

Roxi – Relax. I’m not here to hurt you. 

 

Francis – You... you’re like a cop or something? 

 

Roxi – Yeah, or something. You just need to take it easy. 

 

Francis – N... no I’m not doing anything. 

 

Roxi – Francis, your name is Francis, right? 

 

Francis – Y.. Yeah? 

 

Roxi – Well, Francis, I think we need to talk about some things. 

 

Francis – I don’t have anything to talk about. I was just... I wasn’t doing anything. 

 

Roxi – I know, you told me that. But I just want to make sure you’re okay. 

 

Francis – I’m f-ff-f fiine. I’m fine. 

 

Roxi – Are you sure? 

 

Francis – Y..yeah.. 

 

Roxi – I don’t know, Francis. You seem to be intent on doing some really bad stuff tomorrow. I’m afraid I overheard that. 

 

Francis – Yeah? So?! That’s what it is for me now! You don’t understand! I need it! They deserve it! 

 

Roxi – And why is that? Why do they deserve it? 

 

Francis – W... Because of what they did to me! 

 

Roxi – Who? What did they do?   

 

Francis – Don’t try and act like you care! You don’t care! I’m just trash to you! 

 

Roxi – No, you’re Francis. I don’t think you’re trash. If I did, I wouldn’t have come talk to you. 

 

Francis – You... you don’t care! 

   

Roxi – Francis, I don’t think you woke up today and decided that you needed to do, what you’re planning to do, just out of the blue. You’ve been thinking about this, right?   

 

Francis – Y..yeah...   

 

Roxi – So, tell me why.   

 

Francis – I don’t want to talk about it! You don’t really care anyway! 

 

Roxi – If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have come down here and talked to you. That’s what we’re doing right now, talking. And I want to talk to you, I want to learn more about you.   

 

Francis – No you don’t! 

 

Roxi – Sure I do. I was thinking that maybe we could even be friends. 

 

Francis – I don’t need friends. I hate everyone. I hate everything. I'm a reject! I’m just a big nobody. I was always a nobody!   

 

Roxi – You couldn’t always haven been a nobody. You were somebody to someone, right? 

 

Francis – NO! Never! Everyone rejected me! I’m gonna make them pay! 

 

Roxi – What about your mom, your dad? 

 

Francis – THEY’RE THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS!   

 

Roxi – Okay, what happened? 

 

Francis – You wouldn’t understand. 

 

Roxi – Oh, I’ve had my problems with my parents. I bet I’ve got something like your story. 

 

Francis – … No, you don’t... 

 

Roxi – Maybe I do. Let’s see. 

 

Francis – My parents are drug dealers. They kicked me out of the house, Look at me... I’m broke... I’m poor. I don’t even have a place to stay! I’m on the streets! They’re all making fun of me! They deserve to pay! I HAVE NOTHING! I AM NOTHING! 

 

Roxi – I don’t see nothing. I see Francis. A boy who just needs to think about what he’s planning to do. 

 

Francis – I know what I have to do. 

 

Roxi – I can tell you right now, that if you do what you’re thinking about doing, you will go viral, and then... After a little while, you’re just going to be a name. You’ll be added to the list along with everyone else who has done what you’re about to do. You’re going to hurt a lot of people for 15 minutes of fame. It’s not worth it. 

 

Francis – It’s worth it! They need to feel what I feel! Those worms, making me feel like I’m shit! I want them to feel like shit! And then we can all die! And I can have peace! 

 

Roxi – Well, as your friend, I can’t let you do that.   

 

Francis – You’re not my friend! 

 

Roxi – If I wasn’t your friend, I would have said something to the cops after I overheard you. I would have had them arrest you, and then you have to go to all the things that they will make you do, and you wouldn’t even get the chance to turn yourself around, and nobody would understand you, Francis.   

 

Francis – So... why didn’t you? 

 

Roxi – Because Francis, it’s important to me, that you know, that somebody cares. I think we have a couple of options here. You can try and go through with your plan, but I can’t let you do that. You already know about that option and it doesn’t end well for anybody. The other option is, here and now, we get to start all over again. 

 

Francis – What? 

 

Roxi – Sure. It’s never too late to start over. We can consider this, a reset. Okay, I’ve listened to what you said, and I get it. Life has been rough. Beyond rough for you. You have made that very clear. And you’ve come to this fork in the road. I can see how you thought this was a way out. But it’s only going to be temporary. You want to make it permanent? You want to get back at people who made fun of you? You don’t need to do what you think you need to do. You, need to prove them wrong. 

 

Francis – What? How? 

 

Roxi – By doing what they say you can’t. By being better. I bet those people who bully you say a lot of mean things. People say mean things a lot, and they don’t understand how bad they hurt people. But when you rise above that, you win. I look at you, Francis, and I see somebody who can do great things. You may have not gotten off to the greatest start, but that’s not your fault. We can get you right where you should be. But you have to help me.   

 

Francis – He... help you? 

 

Roxi – You’re the only one I can trust to help me with this.  We have to work together and you have to trust me on this. Can you do that for me?   

 

Francis – W... W.. What?   

 

Roxi – I know you have a gun in that bag. I saw it. I need you to give it to me. I know what that gun means to you, power, control, and you feel powerless without it, but if you trust me, if you help me, we’ll take that power back. Please. 

 

{Francis looks at the bag, still scared and confused. He slowly reaches for the bag, Roxi not making any sudden moves as Francis pulls the gun from the bag. He holds it close to his chest.} 

 

Francis – I...   

 

Roxi – You don’t need the gun, Francis. Don’t let it fool you. 

 

{Francis stares down at the rifle.} 

 

Roxi – Hey, eyes on me. I’m here, and I’m not gonna leave you. But until you trust me, I can’t help you. Please. I want to help you. But I need your help. I need you. Please. 

 

{Francis begins to tear up. Roxi moves slightly closer, and Francis extends the rifle sideways into Roxi’s hand. She takes it, and places it aside, before hugging Francis tightly, as he starts to cry.} 

 

Roxi – You did it. I knew you could do it. Thank you! You did a good thing. Now, let’s get you what you need. I’m going to do everything I can to help you. You have my word.   

 

Francis – … Really? 

 

Roxi – I promise. I’m proud of you. 

 

{The two continue to embrace as the scene fades.} 

 

 

 

{The new scene is at Roxi and Keira’s home, where they return from grocery shopping. Both get out of the car and begin carrying bags into the house. With Keira’s appetite, it’s obviously a lot of groceries. As they continue to walk back and forth, it is obvious they are being watched. Roxi and Keira both stop, looking at the figure who isn’t even trying to hide themselves. Keira walks over to Roxi.} 

 

Keira – What is she doing? 

 

Roxi – She’s getting impatient, like the rest of us. I’ll take care of it. 

 

Keira – Be careful. 

 

{Keira goes back to unloading the groceries as Roxi walks up and confronts the person watching them. It is of course, Lei, a stern look still on her face.} 

 

Roxi – Lei, you need to be patient. 

 

Lei – I'm tired of waiting. When will you do something?! 

 

Roxi – I’m working on it. 

 

Lei – You have been working on it for week now! The mistress could be dead! 

 

Roxi – She could be, or she could alive. But things like this, they aren’t helping. 

 

Lei – YOU, are not helping! You said you would! 

 

Roxi – My hands are tied, Lei. If I run into them, I will take care of it. Until I do, I can’t stop my life just for Amelia.   

 

Lei – You agreed to help find her! 

 

Roxi – I know that. And I will. I can’t just go looking for a fight right now. 

 

Lei – Then I will.   

 

Roxi – They’ll just kill you. And if you want to get Amelia back, attacking them head on is suicide. 

 

Lei – I would rather die with honor then wait like a coward. I will kill them all if I need to. 

 

Roxi – You’re not going to do anything. You’re going to wait. 

 

Lei – If you will not help me, I will do it myself. And then, once I have the mistress back, I will kill you, and your family. 

 

Roxi – Don’t threaten my family, Lei. I told you what I was going to do, and I’ll do it. I can’t just find them magically!   

 

Lei – I have. 

 

{Roxi pauses.} 

 

Roxi – Excuse me? You found them? 

 

Lei – Yes. I have tracked you and your heroes for a long time. They are underground. 

 

Roxi – Well, we kind of figured they were underground. That doesn’t help. 

 

Lei – This last one I followed. They have some sort of power to move faster than human. They reach a certain point, and then when they are alone, they speed off, and I could not follow. 

 

Roxi – Where do they stop? 

 

Lei – A few miles outside of the town. West. 

 

Roxi – How do you know it’s not one of our heroes? 

 

Lei – Because they kill. They rob and steal from other criminals. 

 

Roxi – Sounds like them. 

 

Lei – Then you will help, yes? 

 

Roxi – You meet me tonight. Here. 

 

{Roxi reached into her purse, and pulls out a tracking device.} 

 

Roxi – When you see this person, hit that button. We’ll meet up,  and we’ll track this guy, and if he is, who you say he is, we’ll find the rest of them. 

 

Lei – This is your only chance. 

 

Roxi – You have my word. 

 

Lei – Very well. 

 

{Lei simply nods and walks away. Leaving Roxi to shake her head, although she pumps her fist, having a lead. She walks back and sees Keira, having finished unpacking the groceries.} 

 

Keira – Well? 

 

Roxi – She has a lead. But she’s not going to wait much longer. We have to move. 

 

Keira – Finally. 

 

Roxi – She’s gonna find whoever she’s found, and let us know. 

 

Keira – And then we go and end this. 

 

Roxi – Yeah. 

 

Keira – Roxi... 

 

Roxi – What? 

 

Keira – If you get the chance... don’t make the mistake of giving her another chance.   

 

Roxi – We’ll cross that road when we come to it. 

 

Keira – If this goes down, and I have the chance... I will end it. 

 

Roxi – We’re going to need everyone on the same page Keira. 

 

Keira – I don’t care if they kick me out the guild. She’s caused too much damage. 

 

Roxi – I... I’ll deal with it. 

 

Keira – You better. 

 

Roxi – Let’s... just see where it goes. 

 

{Roxi and Keira head to the living room to relax as the scene fades.} 

 

 

 

{The new scene opens with Roxi and Keira in costume, waiting patiently for the notice from Lei} 

 

Keira – Do you trust her? 

 

Roxi – We don’t have any other options. They are keeping a low profile, except for this guy, apparently. 

 

Keira – What if it’s a trap? 

 

Roxi – That’s why we have backup. 

 

{It isn’t long before the device activates, and Roxi and Keira follow the trail, finding Lei, standing in an alley in what is the center of the city. They join her.} 

 

Keira – Well? 

 

Lei – He is there. 

 

{Lei points and a man in a hoodie looks around suspiciously, having come to a stop and making sure no one is around. He then raises his arms, and in a flash, he’s seemingly disappeared. Keira instantly takes flight, shooting high above the alley.} 

 

Lei – You see? 

 

Roxi – Yes. Kat, you got him? 

 

Keira – His energy signal is quick, but not that quick. He’s going to... The Balbin Brother Cigar Factory. 

 

Roxi – Right. Thanks. 

 

Lei – We go now.   

 

Roxi – No, “we” are not going anywhere. 

 

Lei – You will not stop me! 

 

Roxi – We're going to take care of it from here. If Amelia is alive... I will bring her back to you. 

 

Keira – The energy signal has stopped at the factory, that’s totally where they are. 

 

Roxi – You have my word, Lei. 

 

Lei – If you fail, I will kill you. 

 

Roxi – Yeah, I heard that before. I’ll be back. 

 

{Roxi soon joins Keira, with Lei rushing to follow them on foot. Roxi looks down at the factory, staring at it for a moment before turning to Keira.} 

 

Roxi – The cigar factory makes sense. 

 

Keira – And it’s right near the Ybor tunnels. It gives them easy access whereever they want to go. 

 

Roxi – Well then... let’s do this. 

 

{Roxi opens up her wrist communicator.} 

 

Roxi – Vision, we have found the Rejects hideout. This is not a drill. It is a pure Code 99. 

 

Vision – We have the alert. Everyone is on the way. 

 

{Roxi ends the call, and turns back to Keira.} 

 

Roxi – Are you ready? 

 

Keira – Of course. Just... do the right thing. 

 

Roxi – I will. I promise you, I will. 

 

{Heroes start arriving as the scene fades.} 

 

 

 

“There is a difference between you and me. We both looked at the abyss, and when it looked back at us, YOU blinked.” 

Batman (Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths)

 

Hello SCW. 

 
You know the deal, so there’s really no reason to repeat it at this point. It was already repeated enough and I think the point has been made. All of the time to be like that is now gone. There’s no extra number one contender’s match, there’s no random championship defenses left. It comes to down to one match, at High Stakes. It is obviously not the match I wanted, but this is where we are. I made that mistake and I let Crystal into the match because I didn’t do enough. Period. So, now I’m dealing with the consequences. I had everything planned out so well, and then, there’s one little hiccup and the whole plan goes awry. It’s annoying and now I’m staring at two opponents, instead of one.  What was carefully put into place, now has a wrench thrown into it. So, therefore, we must adapt and overcome. 

 

Being the referee for the chaos last Sunday made me think about a lot. But I was there to do a job, and I did it, despite the boys getting a little overzealous, I think I did a good job. I was there to make sure nothing happened, and nothing did happen that would ruin anything at High Stakes. I was actually a little surprised that no one really did anything at all. Nothing. Amber nor Crystal took a swipe at me, or even looked in my direction twice. And that, for all intents and purposes, worked out like it should have. But that is last Sunday, and that is over with.   

So, let’s just get started, shall we? 

 
It’s not a secret that I was referring to Crystal as being a wrench in the plan. She was not supposed to be part of this match, but that seems to be the way these days, make enough noise, and have a few things go your way, and you can get involved with anything. I do consider it my fault that Crystal is in this match, and while Crystal may indeed see that as a slight, and I don’t blame her, it’s not a slight. It’s the truth. Prior to that fatal four-way match, Crystal was nowhere near the SCW Bombshell’s championship picture. Whereas I had made my intentions perfectly clear as to want to gain a championship against either Amber or, at the time, Myra Rivers. And I made it my goal to beat every single challenger placed in front of me to stop me from that goal. And I did that. All except one, because I didn’t actually win or lose, that fatal four-way. Instead, I had to make a decision that would cost me short term, but reward me long term. Crystal would have gladly, without hesitation, taken that away from me, and not thought twice about it.   

 
I went ahead and voiced my opinion, and I even did as was advertised, and I did it on Climax Control, and yet, Crystal did not. She had to post a tweet about not doing as was asked and actually helping her own situation, but it didn’t matter in the end, because the triple threat match was made. And, as I feared, and predicted, Crystal is of course, telling all of you that this is where she belongs now. She should be at the top of the card in the main event. Why? Because she also didn’t lose one match. And now every single cliché statement is coming from her about how this means so much to her now, but it is only because she is in the position that she’s in now. It’s a strictly because she found her way into this match, that this championship is all part of a giant redemption arc. 

 
Please, do not be fooled by the new nickname, by the new outlook on life, by the new problems, and new values. It is all the same. It’s all part of the same story we’ve had countless times. I think I would know about this since it has been this way for... at least 8 years. It happens all the time, over and over, and over, and over and this is no different. It’s just worded differently. She is the human equivalent of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy. You can enhance it, remake it, remaster it, but at the end of the day, it’s the same game you’ve been playing for 20 years. The same lines, the same missions. All the time. But at this point, the writers of the Crystal Zdunich saga have lost the plot, because they aren’t even bothering with the issue that is plaguing this series and has since its inception.   

 
Do you want to know the problem with Crystal? The real problem with my good friend, Crystal Zdunich? I will tell you, and again, I can say this, because she no longer cares of what people say about her. Only, she does as she has already stated and seems to have forgotten as she just told Amber that the thing Amber says affects her. The issue is, is that Crystal is almost literally “The Boy who cried Wolf” and so, when there is meaning, when there is actually a sense of genuine truth coming from her mouth, we’re already past the point of taking it seriously. And this is coming from me. Believe me, I tried. I tried for a long, long time to believe that THIS time, THIS is going to be where Crystal finally figures it out and pulls it all together. I wanted to believe in my friend. I wanted to keep giving her the benefit of the doubt. I did it for so long that people openly questioned why I did it. People drug my name down because of my belief that at some point, Crystal would finally get it together. And now? now I look like a fool for doing so. And now I’m hearing Crystal blaming Amber for destroying her motorcycle. Apparently, Crystal only did this, because of what Amber did to her. That’s the only reason. Again, I am not a new viewer to this series, so I know better. And so do a lot of other people. So do most people who have followed Crystal. 

 
You see, Crystal has done so many awful, mean-spirited things to people in the past, without provocation. She has never needed motivation to be full of herself or get one over on people. I know this, I’ve been there, I’ve always been there, Crystal is probably the only one who doesn’t notice this stuff, but I do. She has used, and abused so many people, for her own personal gain. And the thing about all of it is simple: Saying “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that” works. But it works, when you’re young. When you don’t know any better. I can forgive, say a 15-year-old kid, who says something dumb, malicious, hurtful and things like that. When you’re 15, you make mistakes.   

 
I cannot give Crystal that same forgiveness, because she’s what... 30? So, for the past 8 years, at least 5 of those years, Crystal has been, and should have been, an adult. This redemption story, should have played out ONCE, and then, Crystal grows, and becomes a better person. Why are we still talking about making amends and asking for forgiveness, when it has been proven that as soon as Crystal has that inch, she will take a mile and then bat her eyelashes like “it’s just me!” She never meant any of it, an she continues to not mean any of it, there’s so many holes in the redemption story, I don’t know why the pretense in still there. At this point Crystal is tripping over her own words, going back on them, and then stepping on them just to make sure everyone understands that she has violated every single person’s trust. 

 
And you may be asking why I am even concerning myself with it at this point. If I know so much, why am I bothering? That’s just the thing. I have been a part of this for almost a decade. And I have been the victim for far too long. I’m just done with this now. I worked for almost 3 months to get this championship opportunity, and then with the snap of her fingers, Crystal is here now, based on happenstance, and now, she wants to get her hands on Amber because of what happened with her and Amber, back in MARCH. I’m sorry but am I hearing all this correctly? Did Crystal not come back and immediately go for the mixed tag team titles, or did I miss something? Where was this in April through August? Crystal went on her merry way, or “on the back burner” as she put it. I’m sorry, but did Crystal not Where was Crystal earning her rematch? Where was this anger and “I need to get my hands on you for what you did to me.” for the last 5 months? Now we’re going to play this game? Now we’re doing that? All of this part of the story is because she is in this match. She had plenty of time to do this, she could have easily tried for her rematch or getting another opportunity, but instead, like a lot of people around here suspiciously, Crystal had to go on hiatus and find herself, yet again. And now, here she is, back in the main event, so the story must be working.   

 
And I have nobody to blame but myself for that.   

 
So, I have to apologize to all of you, that you have to listen to this story one more time. Yes, she no longer cares what people think, even though she does and it’s hurtful. She only does things in retaliation and she’s really sorry she used her own wife to get herself something in return. Except she’s done plenty of awful things before, she’s not going to be sorry about any of the things she’s saying she is, should she win. You see, the win, that makes it all okay. To Crystal, the ends have always, ALWAYS justified the means. So, if Crystal walks out of High Stakes the champion, that means all that was worth it. Then she will again turn around and say “See, this is who I am, I’m embracing it now.” Because she’s getting something out of the deal. This is just another version of the same mixed messages we’ve all been getting for as long as Crystal has been in the ring competing. This goes well beyond Sin City Wrestling. Which, again, I need to apologize for, because if not for me, Crystal wouldn’t even be here, and wouldn’t be in this match. 

 
So, I’m going to everyone a favor at High Stakes, and beat not only Amber Ryan, but Crystal Zdunich. That is the end goal here. That is everything I’m striving for in this match, and I’m not about to let Crystal sneak in the back door and take what she has stumbled into, and yet, I worked so hard for. I’m didn’t do everything I did, to have my “Good friend” greedily, and readily take from the palm of my hand. I’ve given Crystal way too many handouts as it is with our friendship, so I’m going to take her approach, and let her know that in this match, there are no friends, there’s just two people, standing in the way of me becoming the SCW Bombshell’s champion again.   

 
And so, I will move them out of the way. 

 
But, I’m not going to forget the champion herself. 

 
It has been some time since Amber and I were in the ring together. A long time, because, well, not to speak for Amber, but I think we both needed a break. Considering all that happened, and went down, she enjoyed walking, or well, hobbling away for an extended period with a broken ankle. But she got to enjoy the big win. So, there was that. I told Amber, right then and there, that after all that, we would go our separate ways. We would move on to other things, and we did. For one year. One long year, we have not fought one another, we did some really even engage one another, save for a few instances here and there. As she so correctly put it, communication is not the strongest feature of our relationship.   

 
But, that’s okay. We didn’t need to constantly be at each other’s throats over who is better. But let’s understand exactly what happened over a year ago. Amber Ryan came here, and she came here, for me. She can tell you anything she wants to about championships or fame or prestige. She’s already had plenty of those before she came here. She knows that as well as I do. She didn’t come here to be part of the SCW family initially. She came here, to fight me. Right away, she targeted me. It wasn’t Crystal, it wasn’t Evie, it wasn’t Andrea, it wasn’t Alicia. It was me. Everyone else, was second. Amber can tell you a close second if she wants, but at the end of the day, it was me, and it wasn’t even close. And while Amber tried her best to play mind games with me, while she tried to make me the bad guy because I knew what was about to happen, she didn’t win the mind game battle with me. And eventually, she got tired of playing that game, and what happened?   

 
She threw fire in my eyes.   

 
Amber Ryan fired the first shot, not me. Because she knew she needed to. All of those mind games, and everything else, were simply to give her some kind of edge. And when it had the best chance of success, she took it to that level and literally tried to blind me. She tried to take me out, and she failed, because I came back. My eyes healed, and I came back and I played her game. I played her game and I gave her everything she could want in a fight. I just didn’t know that, what the level we were going to play at. I can tell you right now, in all honesty and sincerity, that Amber Ryan beat me up, she beat me down, she flat out kicked my ass. But if Amber is honest with herself, she wasn’t the same either. At Summer XXXtreme in 2020, I was a beaten, and bloody mess, but do you know what I remember most about that match? It wasn’t the chair shots, it wasn’t the blood. It wasn’t even the brass knuckles that Amber had to use to win. No, what I remember most is one look on Amber’s face. One look that told me everything I needed to know. Because that one look, was all I needed to see.   

 
See, if you go back and you watch Summer XXXtreme 2020, you will notice one thing, Amber Ryan threw everything she had at me. Everything she could muster, and she could not keep me down. No matter what she did, I got up. I came back each and every time she knocked me down. She tried everything, and I could barely see from the blood in my eyes, but I tell you right here and now, I saw that look on Amber’s face and it read plain as day to me. 

 
“How?”   

 
Even if it was for a split second, Amber Ryan was questioning herself. Amber was questioning how I was getting up, and questioning if she could keep me down. There was one moment of doubt, and it crossed her face and as quickly as she tried to wipe it away, it was there. And I knew right then and there, that no matter what, I’m going to come forward against Amber Ryan. And that’s what I did.   

 
For SIX MONTHS, Amber and I tore each other apart, and neither one of us were going to back down. Every single time we came within eyesight of each other, we had to fight. We tore apart the backstage, we tore apart the buildings we were in, inside and outside. At the end, I tried to put the whole thing to an end, because I saw what would have happened, and it almost did.   

 
One of us, wasn’t going to survive.   

 
Because I was swearing to myself that if I was blind, crippled, and bleeding, I was going to drag my broken body forward, to fight Amber Ryan. And that’s exactly where we were headed. Amber knows this, as well as I do. At the end of those six months, both of us were in the hospital multiple times, both of us were nearly broken beyond repair. And if, I had not called for last woman standing, neither one of us would be. And at that point, part of me was ready for that outcome. But I understood, after seeing Amber’s face, that she knew that it was going to take more than she could muster to stop me. 

 
Amber Ryan tried to blind me and burn me with fire. 

Amber Ryan bloodied me with a chair, and her fists. 

Amber Ryan hit me with just about every strike she could think of. 

Amber Ryan bruised me with brass knuckles. 

 
But she didn’t get the job done.   

 
Oh yes, Amber Ryan got her hand raised at Summer XXXtreme last year, but it wasn’t because she beat me. She got her hand raised because Drew Patton, believed he was doing the right thing. He stopped the match and he awarded it to Amber. I’m sure Amber is very proud of that, but the fact is, she got her hand raised, but she did not beat me. I think that’s most been lost in all the carnage. And I am happy to remind Amber of that fact. 

 
In fact, in our 3 matches, only one of us, took a pinfall loss, and it wasn’t me. I have beaten Amber Ryan. I pinned Amber Ryan, and she has yet to do it to me. She got a referee stoppage, and well, the last time, she piled everything that wasn’t nailed down on top of me, and even then, even then, she did not stop me. She again, got her hand raised, but at the end of the day, she didn’t keep me down.   

 
And while this triple threat match will do nothing to the 2-1 edge she has over me in singles competition, it is the opportunity in front of me now. I know that Amber watched me for the past 3 months, cut through people, and I know that she wanted this to be one on one as well, but we’re not there, but... it’s been a full year since we clashed, and you know what? I’m ready to fight her again. I told her that if after all the hell we went through, that I would be here. I have taken everything Amber Ryan, in all her brutally vicious glory could dish out, and I am STILL HERE. 

 
I am right here, ready to fight Amber Ryan once again. I wasn’t going to back down last year, and I’m not going to back down now. I am not afraid or intimidated by Amber Ryan. Because I know, I can, and have beaten Amber Ryan. And now, not only will I beat Amber Ryan, I will win the SCW Bombshell’s championship. 

 
It is a championship I have held before, but not for a long time. Why? Because I don’t get picked at random for championship matches. I don’t get to be the mystery opponent for a mid-run championship match. That’s Crystal’s department. She gets those. No, prefer to let the champion know I’m coming, and I go out of my way to earn it. I earned this match, I earned this opportunity, and will NOT let it go to waste. 

 
And believe me, I’m just getting started with both of my opponents.

I'll be back soon. 

[DistortedAngel]

“We were all puppets of someone in a self-perpetuating circle of pollutants, violence and hedonistic escapism.”
― John Bowie, Untethered



Undisclosed Church
Somewhere in California
04.12.2009
6:02pm



“People don’t come here seeking solace anymore.”

Amber shifted nervously in the pew as the hardened wooden edges jutted into the back of her thigh while her thick tresses of red, previously drawn back into a ponytail, had escaped in errant strands and fell slightly unkempt around her otherwise abrasive features. Always the third row from the back. That way no one could see her pretending.

In truth she'd never really understood the allure of religion, having life choices governed by rules written under false pretense that a higher power would be really fucking disappointed if you violated them. Broken verses translated from a dead language and taken as a strict guideline- somehow it all seemed rather counter-intuitive to the zealotry it bred in it's followers.
Over centuries, Amber knew that many used belief as an excuse to circumvent, as a justification from a written note for actions otherwise deemed immoral- all this culminating in loving thy neighbor until they disagreed about what they believed in.

Belief was one thing, it was no secret that ideals and zealotry ran rampant throughout the wrestling industry as she had come to appreciate in recent months- men and women spewing venomous odes of their deities as though they too wouldn’t be struck down for their indiscretions. Inbred fanaticism in a world where bullshit was a greater currency than gold.

“No, they come seeking value in their lives. Justice and false absolutions for sin without regret. They come with hands out seeking advice, only to actively ignore it when it fails to fill their desire for validation of their continued shitty behaviors. They wanna be told they are doing the right thing simply cause they put God’s stamp of approval on it.”

Even now, with his chin held high and a certain smugness in his features that made Amber wanna take the Lord's name in vain, Reverend Alistair McCrae slipped quietly into the pew beside her with his hand coming to rest at the edge of her knee.
Amber flinched reflexively, but continued to silently pray to whatever higher power might be listening about the distinct lack of quality in breakfast options at the crappy hotel she’d booked at. Maybe they wouldn't be listening, but it was worth asking before enduring stale oatmeal for the second morning in a row.

She’d told those who asked that she thought the place had ‘good character’ in reality though- the continued insistence of travel with Dominic, combined with her own burgeoning champions schedule had left her with barely enough to eat.
Somehow all the money they’d been ‘earning’ whilst working under McCrae’s banner had siphoned through to Dominic’s account and failed to trickle down as initially agreed upon so that she might maintain her own interests or ‘hobby’ as Dominic called it.
Wrestling wasn’t a fucking hobby. Being CWF Impact champion wasn’t a phase she’d grow out of- but it was quickly becoming unsustainable regardless.

“Matthew 6:24 states that ‘No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money’. However I tend to distinctly disagree… I’m a firm believer in loyalty, Miss Ryan. Loyalty and potential.”

His hand readjusted slightly on her knee as she swallowed hard, her pulse quickening uncomfortably in her throat.

“For a woman of growing infamy… You tread some fine lines.”

Amber picked up the virulence long before his hand squeezed a little harder just above her knee, not that it made any of this any less sickening.

“In a way I almost envy you and your ability to look past others flaws, putting yourself at their heel in spite of ill-advised decision making. Tell me, Miss Ryan… Do you think me a stupid man?”

Biting hard on her tongue, the redhead had to violently restrain her automatic response, in hopes of finding something far more tactful and less… well Amber.

“Broad spectrum question. I mean, I doubt you’d so casually invite me to your place of worship in the evening just to exchange recipe ideas… however the fact we’re sitting here being vague with each other does lend itself to think otherwise.”

Heartily, Alistair laughed. A cacophony of sound filling the vaulted ceilings and rattling at stained glass that looked as though it could simply collapse under a well practiced stare. He knew, he’d always known and to believe otherwise was far more short-sighted than the endeavour itself.
Cold comfort came with the fact that he didn’t seem like the type to resort to violence- that would mean acting instead of speaking, getting blood on his hands and dirt under his fingernails- places where even the holy water couldn’t wash away his misdeeds.

Amber had no doubt she was going to hell for things she’d already done, she’d just never expected a church to be the drop off point.

“Miss Ryan- I’d like to be frank with you.”

His hand shifted higher. Mid thigh now, with fingers splayed across the distressing of her jeans.

“You’re an astute woman. Perhaps a little short-sighted at times, but that certainly can't be held against you.”

Alistair’s grip tightened as the flickers of a smile tugged at the edge of his lips. Amber could feel the nausea rising in conjunction with every movement and the entrepreneurial venom that seemed to seep through every syllable. In spite of herself, she couldn't help but silently recoil in place.

“A storm in a teacup. All the destructive potential in the world and yet you funnel yourself into a space that you have no need to occupy- and all for the blind deference of a man who can’t piss straight at a urinal without help.”

He wasn’t wrong. Viciously aware of her standing, she was a necessary evil at the end of someone else's strings. Dominic had used her at every given opportunity- keeping her satiated with just enough adoration so that she might not ruin him on the spot. For years she’d danced for someone else's interests, violence had become an expectation instead of an escalation and she knew, in a place she wouldn’t admit she had, that whatever her relationship with Dominic had devolved into… was toxic at best.

By now, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know what the worst case scenario entailed anymore in spite of the fact she’d sought it out for so long. Hell, it wasn’t as though she didn’t want things to be better like he kept promising they would- she’d just grown tired of pretending like it was still an option.

“Whatever you think I am, it's a vast over-estimation. I’m a simple girl with simpler needs- I show up wherever I need to show up and fight for whoever pays me enough to cover my rent by the end of the evening.
While I appreciate that you’ve spent a lot of time ‘honing’ your beliefs, you are far too compromised by them to give a true estimation of anyone and their value.”

With the taste of ash on her tongue, Amber choked out the words with as much assurance as she could muster. Alistair smiled contentedly in response, fuelled perhaps by the sparks that no doubt crackled in the murky blue-green of her eyes.
Another shift in his hand, fingertips sinking a little deeper as though seeking backlash- or at the very least a reason to rub salt into wounds that wouldnt heal… mostly cause they were full of fucking salt.
Amber, with a thinly veiled disgust wrinkling her nose, silently questioned just how much more she could feasibly allow.

“As misdirected as your beliefs are- and for the record, I don’t believe for a second that you think any of it true- I didn’t ask you here to engage in a philosophical discussion. I’d like to make you an offer- one that I would hope you’d consider thoughtfully before allowing your emotional blinders to steer you further off course.”

He called it an offer, but she knew it was only likely to have one correct answer. A yes or no question dictated by the toss of a double headed coin. Amber couldn't bring herself to look at the man, that toothy smirk so evident as she tried to swallow past her growing resentment and frustration.

“You have two options, Miss Ryan… You can allow young Mr Del Gado the spotlight that he so terribly craves while you keep his head above water- by allowing him to stand on your shoulders as you drown under his heft of consequences…”

“Or?”

Alistair didn’t respond, at least not verbally. In truth, he didn’t need to as his grip loosened from her thigh and hand slipped off as trailing fingertips sent one last sickening jolt through every frayed nerve. She could feel the pew shift slightly as his weight moved, even being quite a slight man she could hear the wood groan in protest as he moved out into the aisle.

“Do yourself a favour, Miss Ryan. Leave him in the hands of the Lord’s judgement and pray that Karma comes to him mercifully for his continued foolish endeavours- take your life in your hands and carry on with whatever debauchery and sin you choose to peddle for pennies on the dollar.”

It was like damn poetry, if a haiku could kick someone squarely in the gut.

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been emotionally prepared to throw gasoline and matches on Dominic’s flames for awhile now, and the idea of consequences finally hitting home managed to dull the initial edges of the painful twinge that radiated out from her chest. Dominic Del Gado deserved everything he had coming. Deceitful. Manipulative. Ignorant. Emotionally unavailable except under the right circumstances.
He’d taken everything she had to offer and drove it so far into the ground she could taste dirt when she breathed, time and time again he’d used her and left her cast aside until he found a new way to wring her dry.

… but she knew, somewhere underneath, that he loved her. Although he’d never admit it.

Maybe he was a stupid, fucking asshole. Maybe he deserved to burn for everything he’d done and that wouldn’t even blink in the face of the flames cause she didn’t wanna miss a moment. Maybe this was everything she ever needed- that this approximation of devotion they’d created, this facsimile of sincerity and passion mass produced and sold to them as genuine might have seen her lose everything.

… but she loved him. At least she thought she did.

Now, she wasn’t quite as sure.




******



“Do you ever stop to think about the words you say and the way they define you.

Some legacies last longer than gold, linger far longer in anyone's memory than how many days you stood atop the mountain and idle down the lazy river of fond reminiscence when rattling off how many challengers you turned away.
There are some who will only ever remember you for the things you said.

… and to think, Christina.

You’re going to be remembered as the stupidest, most delusional cunt this company ever had the fucking misfortune of signing to a contract.

Time after time after fucking time I’ve listened to you spew the most toxic bullshit- apologies in the same breath as accusations, justifying yourself as a victim despite the fact you’re actively the worst person on either roster. Personally I’ve never met anyone more two-faced and openly selfish- see, you keep having these epiphanies about yourself, turning over new leaves like it's autumn and you’re wielding a leaf blower.
Fact is, it's not a fucking epihany if it keeps happening and it's not a redemption arc if you don’t change anything. Doing better doesn’t just automatically follow half-hearted apologies and you don’t just wake up a better person cause you went to bed as an asshole.

I have no doubt that you’re a five time world champion, and as hard as I might scrub at those records I can’t take that away from you. What I can do though, is obliterate everything you ever achieved. I can outdo, outlast and outperform you on every meaningful level to the point that no one will remember you as anything, but a shitty world perspective with sentience.

You’ve got all these high aspirations and yet your idea of earning them is changing your hair colour and expecting anyone to take you seriously when you say you’ve changed.
No, fuck off. Just fuck right off Christina- cut the bullshit for once and consider taking this match seriously… This isn’t the teddy bears picnic and we aren’t friends. Hell, even Roxi doesn’t like you and that bitch doesn’t hate anyone except me- and I earned that.
You wanna be a role model so bad, but you forget that it's not just standing atop of a pedestal and pissing all over everyone else's achievements.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe everyone has the capacity to change their path and right their wrongs- it's not that leopards can’t change their sparkly printed jumpsuits, it's that when they actively choose not to that it becomes a problem. Being shitty requires literally no effort, being ignorant is the easiest way to live life and be damned if you don’t love that path of least resistance Christina… You, and others who favour cowardice and lust, will always seek out the lowest point- if only cause the reverberation of sound listening to your own voice is just that little better quality.

Yet here you stand- telling everyone you’re going to work hard and be champion.

Yeah, see maybe if you stopped passing the blame onto literally everyone else in your life then maybe you wouldn’t be considered undeserving of this opportunity by anyone with two cents and a brain cell to contribute. You’ve taken every low road, every chance to use your wife and her inability to perform on any kind of middling level as a crutch, every good intention offered to you by those who genuinely believed in you- and you spat it straight back in their faces saying that it just quite wasn’t for you.
How about you stop complaining about how shitty your life is for two minutes and start looking at why… Honestly, you’ve shat where you eat for so long, it's hardly surprising that you don’t notice the stench anymore.

Oh shit, I forgot. My god… How could I have forgotten…

You’re the best Bombshell in the division, right?

You said that.

Remember?

Yeah sure… and you still wonder why people think you’re the fucking worst.

That must be why I’m the one who has been wearing the title for over six months now, why I’ve been turning away legit challengers while you scuff your feet at the gorilla position like a schoolgirl getting detention for tagging the girls bathroom. That's why I’m the one with the target between my shoulder blades while you’re scraping the taste of my sneakers off your tongue. Best Bombshell- bitch please, being a five time champion didn’t give you that big head, years of inbreeding did.

See, this title on my shoulder is what earning anything looks like. Take a good look, maybe one day you can aspire to it- right after you apologize to your gynecologist for making him dive into the most advanced culture since the ancient egyptians.
This title that I wear proudly, that I have gone out and defended damn near more times in one reign than you have combined, that I have time after time put ahead of everything else cause it actually fucking means something to me. This World Bombshells title- that's why we’re here and yet you still think this whole match revolves around you and the fact you never got your ‘rematch’.

Seriously, you trying to call anyone out on anything is a bit rich coming from the silly bitch who’s championship reign was so legitimately disappointing and anaemic that you didn’t even deserve a rematch. No, actually shut the fuck up about your rematch, you were barely even the champion long enough for the plates to be changed before I dropped you on your technicolour tragedy, you call a head.
Don’t even sit there and try to defend to me that it was worth something when all you did as champion was devalue the work of all these other women- and all the women who paved the path for you- simply by picking up a microphone.

To think, even just for a second that you’re coming out at High Stakes in the main event THAT I EARNED US, is enough to make me wanna throw this whole thing in the trash… and then I remember that I’ve worked too damn fucking hard for the human equivalent bastard child of a pop-up ad and the Zika virus to try and ruin what is otherwise a worthy main event.
I’ve worked too hard for too long to simply hand you this title with any kind of breath in my body.

If you think you’re going to come out at High Stakes and find that redemption you think you deserve- I’ll put your head through the canvas for your hubris. If you think you can just walk out there and expect that you’re gonna OUTWRESTLE ME- oh you poor, pretentious prissy fuck… I’ll kick your teeth back through gorilla just cause you mentioned my name.
I am Amber motherfucking Ryan, you will put some respect on my name cause I’m the reason you’re standing here with a stupid grin on your face instead of a mortuary waiting for someone to begrudgingly claim you. I am the reigning Sin City Wrestling World Bombshells Champion for a reason- and you’re not… and you won’t be while I have any say in it.

Just remember Christina- like it or not, I breathed new life into your career by beating you… and I’ll gladly be the one to take it back from you seeing as you appreciate it so little. After High Stakes, I want you to think of me… Everytime you smile with broken, jagged teeth. Everytime you breathe and feel your broken and cracked ribs shift under your skin. Everytime you try to laugh or cry cause I left your voice box damaged beyond repair and your eyes swollen shut.

This is the match Christina, this is the match that will make you wish you never, ever breathed the word ‘rematch’ in my direction.

I’d say be careful what you wish for, but even wishes won’t save you now.”




******




Amber’s Apartment
Atlantic City, NJ
28.10.2021
7:19pm




Mac used to joke that Amber showered with the Devil’s tears.

Whether that was in reference to her recent hell redundancy or the fact that she just wasn’t happy unless the water was on the verge of blistering her skin remained somewhat ambiguous. Either way, if the steam didn’t threaten to either suffocate or drown her while standing and the water wasn't quietly boiling her blood in her veins- then it wasn’t nearly hot enough.

It just wasn’t quite enough when everything seemed to hurt all the time.

With hands splayed across the tempered glass wall, Amber allowed the torrent of blazing hot water to rush over her tired body. It was no secret that she hadn’t been kind to her body over the years- a career built on death matches and gratuitous violence wasn’t one to be considered tenable in the long term.
Scars of varying ages and fading tattered her skin like a well-loved voodoo doll and she wore them with a macabre sense of self-respect, not because she was proud of them… if anything she kept many of them well covered from the public eye… but because they were the memories and memoirs torn in flesh that no one could ever take from her.
Wins and losses that she’d never be able to forget, lessons to be lived on and learned from. They weren’t pretty, nor did they make her feel that way- but they were hers, they were her reminder of every time someone had tried to take more than they were owed from her- and failed.

Bruises blossoming in purples and sickly greens ached under the cascading water- she didn’t have to fight every night anymore to pay rent, she wasn’t going out there defending a title and dignity in front of a lukewarm 14 people and mange ridden dog anymore… but that didn’t mean things had gotten easier.

That was the thing that no one ever mentioned in becoming champion- there were no memoirs, no manuals for how any of this was supposed to work. Learn as you go or lose the title before you figure it out- hell,  Amber had been the SCW Bombshells world champion for over six months now and even she was still trying to make sense of it.
As the top dog, you carried expectations. Weight of a division, of a company on your shoulders- it didn't matter how much it hurt or how little others were contributing to taking their share of the weight cause in the end it was still your burden. A chosen burden that would kill you if you weren't prepared for it to do so.

Amber had never been working harder in her career than she had since becoming world champion.

That's what they never saw- the cameras captured such a small fraction of the bigger picture, they never saw the hours put into the gym trying to keep up with whichever new challenger had a head of steam. They didn’t see how bruised her hands, feet and joints were after pummeling a heavy bag day after day just to make sure her strikes remained crisp and lethal. They sure as fuck didn’t see the way she beat herself up mentally when she couldn’t nail a combination just right cause she’d been practicing for too long and couldn’t break past the metaphysical wall.

She’d given more of herself to being world champion than she had to her marriage, and the cracks were showing.

Not that any of them would care.

Smile.
Be pretty for the camera, say and do the right things.
Don’t swear too much, the sponsors don’t like that.
Fuck the sponsors, they were assholes anyway.
Take another photo for prosperity cause all of this… it won’t last for long.

Just work harder. Be smarter. If you can’t out wrestle then outlast.

Everyone could be beaten- but the only person right now seemed to  be able to beat the champion appeared to be the champion herself.

Watching the water pool around her feet, it was easy to forget how many times that water had run red of her own doing- thick, almost viscose as it stained the tiles and left a metallic taste in her mouth when she breathed. Too many times, and yet she knew that there would no doubt be many more yet.
She’d lost count of the days around the 100 mark, mostly for the fact she’d considered every defense beyond that point as the one she’d probably lose, the one where her body would finally give out, the one where she’d finally fail much to the delight of everyone who was waiting for their chance without her standing in the way.

She’d become the standard bearer, the proverbial roadblock. Come up to her level or be kicked back down the mountainside with tail tucked and sneaker print on your cheek- had become the unspoken motto.
With her thick mess of red hair hanging lank and water logged around her face, Amber buried her fingers amidst and dragged them back through, pulling her hair from her face as her neck and back arched with an faintly audible crackling of bones and joints shifting amid the patter of water on skin and ceramic.

A triple threat didn’t favour the champion, although in truth neither had a lot of her defenses. Coming into High Stakes, it was undeniable that the target was squarely on her back and she could almost feel the crosshairs settling between her shoulder blades. Allowing the water to pool and waterfall over her face, she spit out the little that seeped through her cracked lips- the days were becoming numbered, and the numbers were getting bigger.
Five defenses, six, seven… this would be number eight. Part of her quietly wondered though how many thought she’d ever get past the first one.

It was no secret that she wasn't winning matches definitively, that they weren’t exhibitions of raw and vicious effectiveness. Each opponent presented a new challenge, they were coming in fresh and unencumbered by expectation- whereas Amber had to emotionally prepare for the fact she might lose, every single fucking time in hopes that when the inevitable struck, it might not tear her heart out with it.
Walking into a match with the knowledge that you might lose everything week after fucking week- only to then be questioned and queried about why wins weren’t as clear-cut as they ‘should be’ had become more exhausting than the matches themselves.

Nothing she ever did would be good enough, she’d learned that long before being champion.

Lowering her head to allow the water to trail over her shoulders, Amber exhaled deeply. In spite of everything, the hardships and the heartache that came with it and the constant microscope trained on her every decision- she wasn’t nearly ready to lose the Bombshells World title.

… None of them would ever quite understand that when she said they’d have to take it from her cold, dead hands- that she really meant it.





******



“Where, oh where the fuck have you been Roxi?

It's been a whole damn year and only now, when the lights shine their brightest do you come crawling back. I mean I should have really known that things would go this way, typical unavoidable Hero cliches and all that- right?
Hell, the next thing you’ll tell me is that you’re gonna overcome your demons and finally get your win back on the biggest stage that SCW has to offer… Oh wait, that's exactly what you’re doing.

Fucking hell. You really never cease to disappoint me.

Worst part is, I’ve come to just accept it by now. You see, a year ago I’d have been absolutely furious in this situation, I’d have been kicking and screaming about how disrespected I felt by your thinly veiled narcissism. I’d have been losing my god damn mind about the fact that you are always so close to doing better, but the moment things start getting a little too ‘real’ you’d hesitate and balk out.
If anything I’m almost more frustrated with myself in having such an expectation and knowing how short you’d fall before it. That's not to say you’re a choke artist Roxi, but be damned if you can't hold it together when someone is calling you out on your self-righteous crusade and how little it really amounts to.

I can't and won't deny how hard you’ve worked to get back to where you are- scratching and clawing, determined that you would ‘earn’ your way back by doing things the ‘right’ way. You know, like any white knight ever actually made up ground without getting a little blood on their boots. Truth is, there really isn’t a right or wrong to follow- no blue-tick certified path to greatness cause if there were, then there’s be no prestige left in the title that Christina Rose determinedly tried to turn into toilet paper.

Still I just have to ask… if only for my own insatiable curiosity.

All this grit and determination… where the fuck was all that before, you know when it actually mattered, when I was begging and pleading for all I was worth for you to just give me something to believe in. When I was practically on my fucking knees imploring you to prove to me that there was still something left inside you worth fighting.
Instead, you looked me square in the eye and you gave me nothing…maybe even less than nothing. You wanted that precious high road so badly that you didn't give the slightest fuck what it might cost- tell me though, was it really worth it in the end?
Every action has a consequence and your lack thereof never stood to go unpunished. You wanted to defy, to be the ‘better woman’ and instead you got cold feet, you got a yellow streak a fucking mile long and half as wide.

A year Roxi, that's how long it's taken you to remember who the fuck you were.

All this time, you’ve been claiming scalps and for some godforsaken reason, I’m supposed to be impressed- I’m supposed to be fearful for my title reign when instead it's everything I ever wanted from you to begin with. No, this is what we fucking show up to do- this is what we’re here for. No one is impressed when you start doing what's expected, everyone just breathes a sigh of relief cause it's one less asshole's paperwork that has to be stamped for review cause they forgot what it meant to be a professional wrestler.

I never forgot what this business meant, what this title meant.

Whether you like it or not Roxi, I have made this place better in spite of you.
It was never a hero at all that needed to swoop in and save the day it turns out, just a big mouth piece of shit who understands what it really means to be champion- that it's a privilege instead of a god given right. Everything I’ve done since I walked into this company, I have earned. You took a page from my book this time, you had your little epiphany and got hit with the startling realization that everyone could see you for what you’d become… Instead of the all-conquering Superman, you were just another fuckhole with a sheet around their neck and their underwear outside their pants.

I dunno, maybe you forgot for a long time what it meant to actually work for your place- you spent so long just loitering at the top of the card that no one ever really questioned what you had done to stay there, you know until I kicked you back down the fucking mountain.

In truth, I made you better in spite of yourself.

… and you hate it.

You hate it more than anything cause you know that I was right from day one. All you needed was a push, it just so happened to be from the top of a building. Some might call what I did a little unnecessary, those same people now are crowing about my achievements and throwing respect on my name.
Unnecessary got me the World Bombshells title, unnecessary was the reason I’ve kept it for so long- and all the things that people say are ‘uncalled for’ in modern wrestling and are ‘unpopular’ opinions about the unloveable never-weres will be the same reason I keep it.
I didn’t get where I am by playing nice- I haven’t beaten all comers cause I held celebratory tea parties and pillow fights to celebrate sisterhood. I’m not the reigning, defending World Champion of the past 200+ days cause I’m some paragon of virtue.

I accept all my faults, Roxi. Everything that's vile and ugly in the same breath as the things that make me the goddamn best wrestler on any given night. I accept everything that's been thrown my way, the good and the bad alike I take into my arms and welcome them all the same- that's why I’m the champion and you’re struggling to keep up. I did everything that was asked of me in the position I’m in, whereas you were never willing to compromise on that warped sense of ethical misdirection you so whole-heartedly live by.
Fact is, nothing in this world ever changed for the better without a little bloodshed- and it was your reluctance to get your hands dirty when this company needed you to the first time, that has led us to the here and now.

I’m not blind nor oblivious to the fact this is a triple threat match though Roxi, however you and I both know it comes down to us.
Sure, the argument could readily be made that you could easily beat Christina and I’d never be involved- but we both know there's more to it than that. It wouldn't be right, would it?
You’re a creature of immense pride- and I have no doubt that it's my head you want. Not the title. You wanna beat me to be able to say you could, not because you give a fuck about becoming the champion again- don't get me wrong, redemption is fine and dandy but it doesn’t make you want this Bombshells World title more than I do.
This match for you isn't about the main event, it's not about the grandeur or how high the stakes truly are… You wanna beat me for the title cause you have something to prove. If you don’t, it’ll always be held against you as a ‘what if’ and I promise you it’d never mean nearly as much without my blood staining that faceplate.

That's the problem though- you’re blind. You’re so stubbornly determined that this time is gonna be it… That you’ve worked hard, you’ve won matches and it’s gonna happen.
Life just doesn’t work like that though Roxi- you are one of two people on this roster that has beaten me in singles, and I’ll never forget that blemish on my record. You know what it takes, but you also know what it took to get there… That win isn’t without it's tarnish and truthfully, you’ve never really done it alone- have you?

By all means though, bring all this new found grit and new perspective. All the blood, the bile and the gravel in your guts- I want everything it is that you have to throw at me, cause I’ll stand there and once again prove that you aren’t willing to go nearly far enough.

You’d do almost anything to beat me, that I don’t doubt…

This is High fucking Stakes Roxi and almost, just isn’t ever almost enough.”




******




Undisclosed Coffee Shop
Undetermined City
27.10.2021
11:48am


Despite the not quite blue and not quite green stain of her eyes, Amber saw nothing but red.

She’d been itching relentlessly for almost two weeks, a constant uncomfortable prickling under her skin as Alistair McCrae’s words echoed mutedly through her everyday thoughts. She couldn’t even spend more than an hour or two at the garage without sensing the faint whiff of his expensive cologne amid the fumes of grease and gasoline. Consumed with fury- Dominic’s stupid fucking little smirk as she approached only served to sever the ties of logical thought further.
She was supposed to be concentrating on her eighth World Bombshells title defense- and instead she’d found herself entirely distracted by another man's inability to learn from experiences.

It wasn't as though she wasn’t aware that he was playing her from the beginning, if anything the deceits and backstabbing had been mutual. If anything she’d been banking on his dishonesty, but she'd never expected that he’d go this far… not now. Not again.

“Bambi, what a pleas---”

Slamming her hands down on the table, his takeaway cup wobbled precariously but stayed upright while papers strewn across the surface were rumpled and shifted from beneath the blow.

“Don’t you fucking ‘Bambi’ me”

Snarling through her teeth, she lowered her voice although still managed to capture brief glances from tables within earshot. With a stony glare, they quickly retreated back to their conversations- but couldn’t resist stealing the occasional peek when they hoped she wasn’t looking.
If Amber hadn’t been so tunnel vision then perhaps she’d have caught a glimpse of two men in Dominic’s entourage outwardly flinching upon sight, one with his nose heavily taped and two black eyes that even makeup couldn’t disguise as the other rolled his tongue through his cheek with a savage stare.

“Can I offer you a s---”

“Are you actually out of your goddamn fucking mind?”

A coy smile reemerged on his swarthy features as he shifted his cup of coffee out of Amber’s reach.

“I’m afraid I’ll need a little more context.”

Frustratedly, although detecting the flicker of recognition in his eyes, Amber leaned down across the table to draw eye level with Del Gado who hadn’t made a single effort to move.

“Alistair McCrae. He showed up at the garage. Whatever the fuck it is you think you’re doing, he knows. After everything- you still led him to my fucking doorstep Dominic and told him he didn’t have to wipe his shoes.”

“Ah.”

Dominic shrugged as the indecisive noise escaped him, sending Amber recoiling incredulously. A knot in her chest tightened as she couldn’t stop her eyes from welling up- all the pent up anger and emotion from everything that had seemingly been going sideways recently was spilling out and she couldn’t hold brace against the inevitable dam explosion.

“No, not ‘ah’. Not a fucking shrug, you started this and now you have my name plastered all over it. You didn’t think after the last time that it wasn’t enough of a message?”

She didn’t need the slew of memories to remind her what they had done. What he had done. Still, they filtered through like a car crash that she couldn’t turn away from- all the while Dominic sipped at his coffee as though amused by the episode playing out before him. With the blankest expression he could offer, Dominic reached out encouragingly towards Amber as a gesture to take a seat.

“Bambi, sweetheart, you’re making a scene.”

Chuckling with a sickening undertone, Amber let it trail off into background noise before another low, venomous snarl rumbled from the depths of her chest.

“I’m making a scene… You’re damn fucking right I’m making a scene. Alistair McCrae isn’t just some jumped up thug with a chip on his shoulder. Everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve built after all this time… he could burn it all down on a goddamn whim and all cause you’re a selfish asshole who can’t let things go.”

She wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him till his mouth stopped moving, till his head rattled emptily and his narcissistic  justifications littered the floor around them. Maybe her career didn’t matter to him, the fact she’d worked too damn hard to rebuild her life was just a minor inconvenience to what he’d wanted. She wanted to scream into his face till the skin sloughed from the bone about how scared she was that her marriage might be falling apart, all because of her depraved need to be champion, to make everything and everyone around her better than they could alone.
No, she’d come too far for him to take any of this away from her.

Hell, she was a goddamn world champion in a ground-breaking company, not a fucking therapist.

Nor did she get paid nearly enough to delve into peoples minds further than her fist might reach.

Dominic went to speak, his confident smile starting to crumple beneath the weight of realization- Amber however didn’t give him the opportunity as she straightened back up, eyes full of apathy and poorly masked regret for letting things ever get this far.

“I’m done Dominic. I’m fucking done. I can't do this anymore. You’re on your own, just like you should have been all along… I’ve done too much, worked too hard and far more important things in my life to defend. People that actually appreciate me, things that give me a reason to drag myself out of bed in the morning. I’ve come from less than nothing more than once- and every time you were happy to leave me to rot cause it meant that I needed you.”

Amber knew this meant that he’d never tell her what he knew about Cassidy, about where she might be after all these years like he’d promised. However he’d proven time after time that promises meant nothing to him, that an agreement only stretched as far as his own benefit.
Turning to walk away, she could practically hear the gears turning in his head and the smoke that billowed from his ears as the loss of control sent him into unfamiliar territory- he didn’t own her emotionally anymore, he had no control.

“Amber…”

Part of her wanted to turn around, to stare him dead in the eyes and sever his spinal cord with a well-placed glare however she simply paused in anticipation of the pitiful pleas for her return- for all the offers and deals that he could make if she just stayed, for how sorry he was about everything and that he’d do better… that things between them would change. That they could be the way they used to.

Which, in her mind, was worse than where they were now.

Instead, he managed a solitary word that swelled her heart with a sickening pride and satisfaction.

“... Please reconsider.”

To which she replied only with footsteps and the kind of forced, radiating smile that threatened to tear her face in two.

[Crystal Zdunich]

Off Camera
Las Vegas, Nevada

A few weeks had gone by since Crystal Zdunich had decided to move out of her home walking out on her wife and adopted daughter. Her life was now in that of being alone at her friend Zoey Madigan-Star’s apartment. Crystal had been an emotional mess. As much as she didn’t want to admit it she had missed Seleana and Aurora. Deep down she wanted to go back home. She wanted to hold her beautiful wife in her arms. She wished she could hug her daughter Aurora and tell her how much she loved her. She however knew she couldn’t go back. Going back wouldn’t change anything. Even though Zoey did everything in her power to try to reach out to her she just couldn’t accept the words. It would always be a case of the same old stuff. Crystal would force a half willed apology just to feel loved, and it wouldn’t be long before things were right back to where they were.

It was a dark and vicious cycle without any signs of ending. That is why she knew she had to walk away from her loved ones even though it hurt so much. This wasn’t meant to make Crystal feel well but it was out of protection for their sake. Zoey’s apartment was a complete wreck since Crystal had taken residency there. There were tubs of barely eaten melted ice cream all over the place. Garbage was all over the floor. If Zoey had walked in she would have had a heart attack. Where was Crystal in the middle of all of this mess?! She was in the bathroom. Crystal took a long glance at her reflection in the mirror.

She shook her head in disgust as she looked at her body. Despite all of the ice cream everywhere it’s as if she had barely touched them. She slowly took a step onto a scale. She waited patiently until it’s bright light illuminated the bathroom, the digital screen read 107 lbs. That is when Crystal backed away as she sighed in disgust.

“Damn it… Another three pounds… I got to do something. This isn’t good… I have to eat. I can’t let this bother me as much as it is… Get a hold of yourself Christina you can do this…”

Christina made her way back towards the living room. She knew she should have been in a better physical state but it was hard with the way she was feeling. She throws herself back onto the couch as she pulls out her cellphone.

“I wonder how my granddaughter is doing. I bet she really misses her Abuelita…”

Crystal cycles through Sofia’s social media page in hopes of seeing some pictures of her granddaughter when there is a knocking at the door. Crystal is taken back as she didn’t expect to receive any guests. As a matter of fact she didn’t even tell anybody where she was at. Unless you count the way she tweeted that she was staying at Zoey’s apartment but that’s neither here or there. The knocking got louder and louder to the point as it almost sounded like somebody wanted to break in. Crystal pulls herself off of the couch as she stands up proudly.

“JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING MINUTE!!! I will answer the door when I get there!!!!”

Crystal is very sluggish as she finally begins to move and she heads towards the door. Different thoughts ran through her head as to who might be standing on the opposite end of it. Perhaps it was her friend Farrah who was hoping to have some shopping therapy with Crystal. Maybe it was Danielle Weston hoping the two of them can just have a day to themselves or maybe it was Seleana telling Crystal that through everything she forgave her. Crystal finally makes it to the door. She doesn’t bother to look through the peephole as she just swings the door open. However the person standing on the opposite end wasn’t anybody she was expecting. Instead she is treated to a dark skinned man with long hair smirking at her. He stares at her from head to toe before he shakes his head in disgust.

“Damn you look like complete shit Crystal. What happened because you certainly don’t look like the woman I remember?! Well at lease the woman that was married to me…”

That arrogant cocky response could only come from one man. It was that of her first love, her first husband and the father of her kids Todd Williams. Todd chuckled as he continued looking at her as he peeked inside glaring at the apparent mess that was all over the place.

“Damn what the fuck happened in this place. It really looks like a pif lives here…”

Crystal crosses her arms as she glares right into his eyes. A deep breath escapes her lips as she sighs in return.

“Whatever… Who invited you and how in the hell did you know where I was to begin with. I honestly thought it would be somebody worthwhile knocking at the door. I never expected to see you here…”

Todd however enters into the apartment as he just shakes his head with a sigh. His eyes never leave off of her as he tries everything in his power to reach out to her.

“Take it easy Crystal. As much as it might seem like it. I really didn’t come here to annoy you. I honestly came here because I wanted to help you. When I saw those tweets of you separating from Seleana, and walking out on Aurora I just felt like I had to talk to you. Especially considering that you were staying here. I know you better than yourself and I just knew that no matter how much you tried to sound strong that definitely wasn’t the case…”

Crystal just sighs as Todd nods his head looking around.

“I am actually glad I got here when I did. This place is a fucking wreck. More importantly than that you look like a wreck. Tell me Crystal you haven’t been eating have you?!”

Crystal shrugs her shoulders as she looks at the condition of Zoey’s apartment. She can’ help but sigh in return as she looks around. As much as she hated to admit it she did enjoy having somebody visit her, even if it was in the form of her former husband. She could only nod her head in agreement as she finally replied back to him.

“I really haven’t been eating. I know you could tell I look like shit. I lost eight pounds in a span of three weeks and it’s sickening. I thought I could at least drown out some of my depression in the form of ice cream but no matter how many tubs I buy and try to take tastes of them. They just don’t taste right. It’s making me sick. I can’t sleep and I can’t eat. I miss her Todd… I miss all of them. I want to go back but I just feel that if I do i am just going to make the same mistake like I always do. It’s an awful cycle and I want it to stop. Seleana deserves better than that. Aurora deserves better and I don’t want to abuse them…”

Crystal is at the verge of tears but Todd however just shakes his head as he keeps his eyes locked on her.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. What you did was the hardest first step that you have ever made in your entire life. I know it may not seem like it but how many times have you honestly been able to say that you truly made a mistake?! I don’t ever remember you having the strength to walk away and claim that you need help. That’s definitely a big step. I know that you and I have definitely had our long share of issues. However it’s issues that the both of us have created. We have children together and if you are upset because Brittany has grown up to be a reflection of both of us. That isn’t all on you. It would be unfair for you to carry that cross on your own when the two of us raised that girl. On top of that there’s Brayden and even if he was put up for adoption which I didn’t even have an idea about. The fact is he is still our son…”

Todd looks right into her eyes as he continues sharing his heart.

“We created them together and it’s OUR problem. So it might be best if we deal with them together. You think your biggest issue is the fact that you are an abuser?! Well guess what how did you even get to that position. You just didn’t wake up one day and decide that is who you wanted to become. It had to come from somewhere. I know I am definitely part of the blame for that…”

Crystal shakes her head.

“Todd you can’t say that…”

Todd however nods his head sighing.

“But I definitely can. This story of ours has been going for twenty long years and it ranges ever since I moved to Detroit and forced my problems on you. There’s so much stuff we both went through. I know it sucks and it is definitely a very fucked up situation. However what sucks more is to make the hardest decision of your life and be forced to go through it alone. Being alone will only lead to depression and furthermore it will lead to this…”

Todd points at the coffee table filled with the messy melted tubs of ice cream. He follows it up by pointing at her body.

“That’s only the beginning. It leads to loss of appetite, loss of sleep, and it’s going to lead you down a downward spiral to where you feel that suicide might be the only option to numb the pain. You don’t want to go through any of that, and you damn sure don’t want to even get to that level. Those people you worked so hard to protect will only be cut by a wound that will never be able to heal, and they will establish emotional baggage that they can’t be freed from. That is unfair and on top of that you don’t want to get to that level. We both have little Isabella to worry about. She is the future of the Williams and Hilton legacy. As dysfunctional as we might be we have to get our shit right for that little girl…”

Crystal nods her head in agreement as she looks back at Todd.

“I guess you do have a point. I would feel bad if my actions affected that sweet innocent girl. So what do we do now?!”

Todd looks at the door before he turns his attention back to her.

“Well that’s the reason why I decided to pick you up today Crystal. You feel your biggest issue is dealing abuse to those who you are supposed to love?! We are going to get help for it. I found this support group that deals with domestic abuse. It’s definitely a great step in the right direction and it will directly help you with the issue that you suffer the most from…”

Crystal rolls her eyes as she looks back at Todd.

“I am not going to a fucking support group. I might be a lot of things but I don’t want people to look at me as being this fucked up chick. I don’t want people to even recognize me. Could you imagine what tabloids and other things might say about me going to a…”

Todd raises his voice shaking his head.

“Crystal! This has nothing to do with your reputation. This is about trying to be a better person. Come on let’s go…It shouldn’t matter if people know who you are not. It’s a safe place and…”

Crystal quickly cuts him off.

“Fine I will go… Just let me go get cleaned up. After I do we can go through with this little support group…”

With that Crystal walks away going towards her bedroom, and that is when about an hour goes by. Crystal finally emerges out of the bedroom and she looks different. She is wearing a pair of glasses and is wearing a jet black wig.

“Okay I am ready…”

Todd stands there dumbfounded.

“Crystal… Why the look we are just going to a support group…”

“I told you Todd I don’t want people to know me… I just don’t want my issues coming out in the public. Just call me Carmen Martinez. I am from Mexico City, Mexico, and a new special agent for the FBI who just graduated from Quantico. At night time when I am undercover I am Catalina Lopez a woman who runs the cartel known on the streets as CAT THE GAT!”

Todd just shakes his head rolling his eyes as Crystal tries to offer a small smirk in return.

“Don’t look at me like that… It’s the name I always used when I go to the clubs and don’t want to be seen. It’s who I played on the Firm Wrestling company when it existed and…”

Todd just shakes his head again.

“Whatever let’s just go… I truly don’t think you get the concept of what it means to deal with your problems honestly or what a safe space truly is…”

With that the two of them walk out of the apartment as they head off towards a domestic violence support group.




Same Day
Hour Later
Love And Hope Support Group
Las Vegas

Todd and Crystal “Carmen” walk into a domestic violence support group. It seems to be in a community center of some sort. There is nothing flashy about this group. The two of them can see a group of about six people sitting around in a circle. Todd leads Crystal towards the group, and they find some empty chairs making sure to be part of the group. A woman that seems to be in her mid-thirties looks at the two newly joined people. She keeps her eyes on them as she begins to speak.

“Hello my name is Lisa Winters and I am the facilitator for this group. We are the Love and Hope Support Group and we are here to help you. I know it’s tough to deal with domestic violence but that’s why we are all here. We just want to support one another, and perhaps somebody’s story will touch you to the point where you will feel strong. You don’t have to feel obligated to talk. This is a safe space so anything that is said here will stay in this group. That’s the only one rule that we have…”

Crystal looks at everybody as her eyes move around from person to person within the room.

“Domestic violence, I don’t think I need this…I am sure all of you in here could use this but not me…I might have been through some stuff but I have never struck anybody… I know I said I was an abuser but I would never hit any of my loved ones…”

Crystal goes to stand up but nobody stops her. Instead a younger woman just sits there as her eyes shift over to Crystal and she begins to speak.

“My name is Julie and honestly that’s what I thought the first time I came here as well. I didn’t want to be here because my husband never once hit me. I thought physical abuse was the only type of abuse, but there’s so much more to it than just that. There’s financial abuse, there’s sexual abuse, there’s verbal abuse, there’s control and isolation, and the biggest one is emotional abuse.”

Crystal slowly takes a seat as she looks back at the woman.

“What do you mean by all of these forms of abuse?!”

Julie sits there just shaking her head as Lisa Winters finally begins to speak.

“Yes there are many different forms of abuse, and a lot of people in this group have dealt with various different forms of it. Financial abuse is when your partner has everything under their name, you have an allowance that’s unrealistic, or you aren’t allowed to work. Sexual abuse is obvious but you get forced to do things you don’t wish to do. Control and isolation is tough because your partner tries to isolate you from the rest of your loved ones and they try to control who you interact with. Most people don’t realize it but emotional abuse can be very devastating.”

Julie nods her head as tears stream down her face.

“I suffered the most from emotional abuse. My husband would constantly be excessively jealous over me. He would accuse me of infidelity yet I never once cheated on him. He would be the one who was so paranoid that he did it to me. He refuses to give me praise and appreciation. When he does want my attention that’s when he threatens to harm himself just to get me to notice. It’s a vicious cycle and it’s hard to break. So please just don’t make the assumption that physical abuse is the only form of domestic violence because there’s so much more to it than just that…”

Crystal sits there dumbfounded as she has no idea what to say. She can only think of all the ways that she had hurt Seleana. The way she tried to make her choose sides. The way she tried to get her attention by over the top antics. The signs were definitely there. Crystal’s biggest issue was the fact she is a major proponent of emotional abuse. She gets choked up as she looks at them. Crystal let’s tears run down her face and that is when Lisa walks over to her handing her a box of tissues.

“It’s okay to let it out… After all we are here to be a support group. It’s about learning and finding out ways to be strong. I don’t believe we caught both of your names…”

Todd just looks over at Crystal who takes he tissue wiping her tears away before forcing out a reply.

“My name is Chr…Crys….. Carmen… Carmen Martinez….This is my friend Todd sitting next to me. I do have a question and I guess it’s more for the abuser and not really about the victim. Why do people choose to commit domestic violence?! Where does it come from and what is it’s purpose…”

Lisa nods her head taking in the question as she replies as calmly as she can.

“No matter how you look at it domestic violence is always about control. It’s always about abusers using it as a way to gain power and control over the ones they are hurting. This type of violence can come from childhood trauma, or even witnessing domestic violence as a child. The abused don’t see it in the same way even though everybody else on the outside might simply want them to leave. However there are very difficult things that make it hard to just walk away…”

Lisa finishes speaking and Crystal just takes it all in. Todd however clears his throat as he looks at everyone in the room before speaking.

“Hello everyone my name is Todd Williams. I know this is Catalina’s and I’s first day at the group but I felt I just had to share some stuff. It really didn’t dawn on me until everything that all you had to say about domestic abuse and violence…”

Crystal raises her eyes as if to question what is he doing Lisa nods her head as she looks at him.

“It’s okay you are free to share here. That is what we are here for…”

Todd takes a deep breath as Crystal can only look at him in response.

“Anyway I can openly say that I have been a huge proponent of domestic abuse. These issues all range from the fact that I never got a chance to meet my mother. She died out of preeclampsia in giving birth to me. I was brought into this world with an older sister Jennifer who did nothing but hate me every single day. My father Roman couldn’t stand the sight of me. I was told that I look just like my mother and he hated me because of this. When he looked at me he could only see the woman I took away from him. I was called name after name. He hit me, he beat me, and it got bad to the point that he knew he was going to kill me. So at the age of 14 he sent me to live with my grandparents in Detroit… I…”

Todd begins to let tears run down his cheek as Crystal is actually taken back by what she sees. He is handed the tissue box as he speaks some more.

“Jennifer was also sent to live with me and it’s as if she was there to only torment me. It also didn’t help my father was a big time drug dealer so imagine being threatened at gunpoint as a teen…Detroit was definitely my escape and it’s where I tried to find my identity. It would be there where I met the love of my life in this girl named Christina Hilton but I gave her the nickname Crystal because of the way her eyes sparkled. She was one year younger than I but she truly was an angel. I loved everything about that girl. I felt I could share my heart with her and she would listen to my jokes along with every aspect of me. She was just there… She had dreams to become this big time softball pitcher for a big time college but I ruined all of that for her. I got her pregnant and I pretty much forced the troubles of my life on hers…”

Crystal opens her eyes in amazement never really hearing Todd speak like this before. She looks at him crossing her arms as he tries his best to continue speaking.

“So because of what I did she got pregnant at the age of 13. Having a kid at such an early age forced her to miss out on a promising future. She had to drop out of high school and instead of really trying to make her feel like she could graduate or get things together I basically told her that I would support her. I got her back. We eventually got married and that is when things got worse. I did nothing but create a toxic environment for her. I would beat her… I…”

Crystal lets tears flow from her eyes as she seems to be a ball of emotions as he keeps on sharing his heart.

“I would call her names. I got her into smoking weed, and drove her to alcohol. She had her own issues of being adopted by her aunt because she didn’t even know her father, and her biological mother was a brash and impulsive junkie and alcoholic. I know she told me that she didn’t want to be anything like her mother but I feel as if I drove her to become what she didn’t wish to become. Deep down as much as I suffered my abuse from a childhood I ended up becoming the man I hated. I became my father. I created a toxic environment for Crystal. When she asked me for a divorce as much as it pained me to let her go, I knew I had to because she deserved so much more. I really wish I could tell her how amazing she is. Now it pains me to see her now…”

Todd breaks down as he expresses more of his emotions.

“After how much abuse I put her through she has now become the abuser. The both of us got remarried to different spouses. As I see her with her spouse I know she has an amazing life. Things are absolutely well for her but I don’t want her to ruin what she has because of all of the abuse I put her through…”

Lisa nods her head as she looks at Todd.

“Don’t worry Todd. I know it pains you to go through this but you at least know you have a problem. One day you will be able to share this with her. I want you to do something for me, picture Crystal being in this room. If she was here looking right into her eyes tell her how you feel…”

Todd clears his throat nodding his head.

“I would tell her that I am sorry for what I put her through. Despite what I might have said to her or what the world might say. She is an amazing woman. She is a strong mother. She should be in a very happy place because she has an amazing wife who loves her. Whatever issues she has with our children we can conquer that together. She’s not in it alone. Even though we may not be married she is still my first love and I consider her my best friend. We are both grandparents now and it’s scary but we can get through it together. I am sorry for all of the pain Crystal and none of what you are going through is your fault. It’s all mine and you are now just passing along the same abuse that I passed onto you…”

Lisa looks at Todd as he uses more tissues to wipe his eyes.

“Beautiful… I know it was hard to get that. If Crystal was here I know she would forgive you…”

Everyone in the room begins to comfort Todd as best as they can and that is when Crystal just sits there for a few moments. She immediately stands up as she looks at everybody in the room. She snatches the black wig off of her head as she tosses it to the ground. She is a ball of emotions as tears steadily stream down her face.

“So that’s how it is?! Somebody speaks and you immediately think that the problems are going to go away just like that. You all don’t have any fucking clue how the world works. If you don’t know it by now my name is Crystal Hilton. You don’t get an apology overnight just because you asked for one. That’s not how the world works…”

Todd nods his head as he looks back at her and replies back.

“I know but more importantly you should know that as well. As much as you hurt Seleana or anybody else for that matter, and immediately ask for everything to go away with the snap of your fingers like Thanos snapping things out of existence… It takes time and…”

Crystal lets tears fall from out of her eyes as she can’t stop crying.

“No… I can’t accept your apology, and I just realize that I don’t have a problem! I am not an abuser. I can’t be an abuser… You know what FUCK ALL OF THIS I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THIS!!”

Crystal is hurt as she walks away from the group. Todd is left sitting there to cry to himself. Crystal walks out of the room and as soon as she does she slumps down against the wall and begins to cry. She does this for a few moments and it is at that moment when Lisa walks to where Crystal is with the tissue box.

“Are you okay Carmen?! Or would you prefer me to call you Crystal?!”

Crystal sobs as she continues to scream out loud to herself.

“I can’t believe I hurt her... I love Seleana she is my everything. I can’t think of a world without her. I separated from her three weeks ago to work on myself. I didn’t realize that I was a domestic abuser but after hearing just the small sample of what I heard. I know I have issues. I don’t want to hurt my loved ones… I want to be a better person…”

Lisa smiles.

“I know and that is what this group is about. We will help you get there. It won’t happen overnight Crystal but please just stay with the group so we can grow together. Maybe you would like some one on one sessions and I definitely could be an ear.”

“No…I mean yes… That sounds nice and I need it…”

Lisa nods her head.

“That’s always the hardest step. Admitting it and you have already done that three times by my count. You freed Seleana to better yourself. You chose to be here, and you are going to seek additional sessions. That’s a strong first step and you have nothing to be ashamed of… Come on why don’t we join the group. You have an ex-husband who just poured his heart out to you and he deserves to know that you appreciate it…”

The two of them walk back towards the group. They make their way into their chairs. Crystal looks right into Todd’s eyes as tears fall from out of her eyes.

“I forgive you Todd… I forgive you of what you did…”












So after a long wait it seems like we are finally here. I know a lot has been said leading up to this match but there’s no turning around from any of it at this point. It won’t be long until the three of us will walk into the World’s Most Famous Arena Madison Square Garden, and do battle for the biggest prize in all of SCW. The World Bombshell Championship is at stake and honestly the stakes couldn’t be any higher. The three of us are all warriors. We are women who wish to lay it all on the line to simply be the best of the best.

Ever since Roxi Johnson and I wrestled to a draw I have heard the words from both of my opponents. Roxi since that match has been vying for us to wrestle in a one on one match so that one contender could rise up to challenge Amber Ryan. In her eyes only the best should be more than ready to fight for the biggest prize in this business. In Amber’s eyes she just wanted this situation to be handled cleanly. To be frank she really doesn’t give a shit who she had to fight. In her eyes she knows that she is the best of the best so it’s just another chance to showcase why she is exactly in that position.

It’s just another day of business in her eyes and honestly who could blame her for feeling that way?! She damn sure has constantly proven time and time again that she is women’s wrestling and is the best that SCW has to offer. I know this triple threat match really wasn’t what she wanted. It presents a weird situation for her where she could lose her title without getting pinned. Definitely seems to be a messy situation if you ask me.

However there is one question on everybody’s mind and I know it might be a complex one. How does Crystal Zdunich about being able to compete in such a huge marquee match?! What is her position in the midst of all of this?!

Damn… That is complex and my mind has been so fucked up by what’s going on in my personal life. I won’t give you the same bullshit that I have given you all in the past because that’s just insanity. I have fucked up so many things over and over, and I know it becomes a tale of the same old song. If you want the raw complete truth I am thrilled that this match was made into a triple threat match. I am happy Mark Ward made that decision. If he didn’t I would have had to face Roxi Johnson in an eliminator match to prove who deserved to be here. If that was to happen I highly doubt I would have beaten her. She has been itching for this very moment for a year.

Waiting for the chance to get right back into the fray and to perhaps erase the results of the war that Amber and her put on last year. Roxi knows that Amber won that war last year but this could her chance to finally be that hero. This is her chance to liberate Amber of the championship and she can be at the top of the world as the best of the best. You have to respect that type of attitude. Roxi is a fighter to the end and she doesn’t hold back for anything.

It’s been a long time coming but I know the only thing on her mind is getting back the World Championship. She damn near has proven that she belongs here. She wants this more than I definitely do and has shown it. We might have fought to a draw to get here but she has gone the extra step and beaten Myra Rivers. Roxi is here and it is definitely well deserved. I know she is probably questioning my feelings on all of this and I am going to do something that is out of left field.

I am going to be honest with you Roxi… You are completely right about me. I know when it comes to dealing with me it always feels like you are walking on egg shells with me. You want to word things in a way that doesn’t necessarily offend me but you have your limits. I always wanted to deny it but you are right. I am a fucked up individual. I do have serious issues and you feel like you know me best. At the end of the day it’s always about the title, and not really about having the belt but the status that comes with it.

When I do things wrong I want you and the rest of the world to instantly turn a blind eye to it but that will never help me in the way that I want it too but it will only elad to me making the same mistakes over and over. It’s like I am a mouse trapped in a maze and the more I try to figure it out is the more I find myself stuck in the same loops. I just want to apologize because I have been a terrible friend to you. I put you through a lot of abuse and for that I wish one day you can accept my apology.

That was never my intentions. This past few weeks have been terrible for me, I am a complete wreck. I haven’t been eating, I haven’t been sleeping. I lost about ten pounds because I made the hardest choice I ever had to make in my life. I had to walk away from Seleana in order to better myself as a person. In these three weeks away from her I have now discovered what is the most important thing to me and no it’s not the title. As amazing as the title is and what it represents it’s only a material thing.

What is really important to me is the love I have for Seleana. My marriage is by far the most important thing to me and Seleana is definitely an angel. I will do anything in my power to keep that. Roxi you want the truth?!

We are supposed to be friends but as I looked at you over the years I couldn’t help but be jealous of everything that you are. You are popular, you are loved by almost everyone. I have always longed for what you and Keira have and would do anything to get that.

If could trade all of the accomplishments and the accolades to be in your position I definitely would because I know you have a peace of mind when you sleep. You two support one another through everything and it’s difficult to really be a cheerleader for anyone else including my own wife when I am personally not receiving the spoils.

That’s why I know I have issues I just had to work on. When I look over at Amber Ryan I see a woman who has definitely become a sensation in this company over the span of a year. Her record in SCW has been stunning and everybody wants to line up to face her. As much as I want to cry and throw hissy fits over the way I lost the title to her. The truth is she did win that title.

I was the one who was distracted and she took advantage, carpe diem, and did what she had to do in order to come out on top. Since that day she has been the best of the best. She has unified championships and has proven to be the woman to beat in this company. When it comes to being a bombshell in this company she is the one everybody targets. She is the one people want to face and I have to respect that.

She is going on a tear and is looking to shatter records with that title with the way she has had a vice grip on that championship. Amber I can’t help but admire what you have done. You have taken this company by storm and have even been able to rule this company as being a power couple with your husband as being top champs in this company.

That was something I could only dream of because I know that status would be so amazing. Now with this main event you are looking to cement that you truly are the best in this company and you will do whatever it takes to showcase why you are the woman to beat.

Bravo… I can’t question your tenacity nor will I even try too. However what I don’t appreciate is the fact that the both of you based of what I have heard or seen this past month are writing me off like I don’t belong here. Even this last week Alex Jones tried to tell me that I wasn’t good enough and that you would break me down.

As much as I might be going through, and as much as you wish to tell me I am a dark horse I find that to be a load of shit. If there’s one thing that I KNOW I have the ability to do it’s win in a huge match situation. I WILL win this match and I refuse to be considered a dark horse. This is about me just as much as it is about the both of you. Amber I know you and Roxi had an epic war. I know it would have been perfect to finally get your wish of a one on one match with the title on the line but I HAVE ALWAYS PROVEN TO BE THE MOST PASSIONATE WOMAN IN ALL OF SCW!!!!

I may not have the love and support of a Roxi Johnson or even of her wife for that matter but DAMN IT I BEAT ROXI TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP in 2020 and I just beat her wife KEIRA this year to win the title THIS YEAR. That proves that when it comes to competing I want it that much more.

Mikah but be acknowledged as the end all be all but there was also a part of me who had taken the title away from her and has beaten her on multiple occasions. There’s the woman who has held this title more than her, hell I have HELD THE MOST IN THIS ENTIRE COMPANY!

Yet you want to stand there and disrespect me?! You wish to tell me I am too focused on the status of being a champion and during our match when you took the title from me even claim that I just held it as a trinket.

You want honesty?! YES… I DI DO THAT… It was about the status. It was about being flashy, it was about wearing one piece suits and being the center of everything but it took you breaking me down to finally realize that.

It took me jumping to something else such as trying to claim Mixed tag team titles just so I could have something to hold onto too, something that could get people to talk about me again because it was always about the status, and never about the love of competition.

That has always been my biggest flaw and separating from Seleana helped me realize what I should be valuing the most in my life, and it also helped me figure out how to break the fucking cycle once and for all.

Amber Ryan I am going to do EVERYTHING in my power to beat you. Screw that I will BEAT you, and it’s not because I wish to be champion. That’s just honestly an extra perk from being in this match. The real reason why I wish to win is for a simple reason. It’s one that you can respect.

I WANT TO BE THE FUCKING BEST…

NO STRINGS, NOTHING FLASHY, NOTHING OVER THE TOP…

I want to prove I am the best and I don’t want there to be any doubt. Your title reign might have been more memorable than anything I have ever done here and I applaud that, but think of what my next reign will look like by beating you?!

It won’t be something that can be argued…

High Stakes it’s lights fucking out… The show isn’t over… If anything mine officially begins… Ciao…





 

   




 

[Roxi Johnson]

{The scene picks up where we left off with the other heroes of the Guild arriving. Led of course by Captain Freedom, Mr. Amazing and Lady Victory. Captain Freedom surveys everything before coming up to Roxi and Keira.}

 

Captain Freedom – Report.

 

Roxi – Sir, we have confirmation that the Rejects are using the Cigar factory as a base. Due to its central location and proximity to the Ybor tunnels, it makes for maximum coverage. One superhuman was seen entering, and was positively identified as a member of the Rejects. 

 

{Freedom nods, turning to the gathered heroes.}

 

Captain Freedom – Very well. Alright, you are all always of our protocol and procedure, we will enter this factory, and we are not to be hostile until provoked. We will find any and all citizens and/or hostages and we will bring them to safety. There is no use of lethal force unless an extreme circumstance. We will apprehend these hostiles, and given their powers and abilities, they will be removed using Guild procedures. Understood?

 

Everyone – Yes sir!

 

Captain Freedom – Very well. Follow me.

 

{Captain Freedom leads the group of heroes towards the door of the factory, Roxi quickly turns to Lei.}

 

Roxi – Wait here.

 

Lei – Only for so long.

 

{Roxi is annoyed, by quickly catches up with the group and they head to the door. Captain Freedom brings up a scanner on his mask and visor.}

 

Captain Freedom – This is it. Let’s move.

 

{Captain Freedom kicks down the factory door, and surveys the empty, silent factory. He scans the room.}

 

Captain Freedom – Eyes open. They are here.

 

{A giant spotlight quickly illuminates the room as a trap door opens, and several members of the Rejects arrive to meet the Guild, lead of course by Captain Invincible.}

 

Captain Invincible – How are you barge in here!

 

Captain Freedom – It is time that this ends, Invincible. I will give your group one chance to surrender, or be taken by force.

 

Captain Invincible – This team will never surrender! We will fight you to the death, and then we will make this world safe from the grip of crime and evil!

 

Captain Freedom – You always were an extremist. We will not replace one evil with another!

 

{Roxi looks around while the argument is taking place, not seeing any sign of Amelia. She whispers to Keira.}

 

Roxi – She's not here.

 

Keira – Who?

 

Roxi – Amelia.

 

Keira – Damn.

 

Captain Freedom – This is your last chance to come quietly.

 

Captain Invincible – Never! To battle!

 

{With that, the fight begins en masse. There are beams and weapons and fists flying all over the place. Roxi however, quickly runs down the trap down, followed by Keira, who is torn on what to do.}

 

Keira – Where are you going?

 

Roxi – To find Amelia.

 

Keira – But everyone is fighting upstairs!

 

Roxi – I'll be fine! Help them as much as you can.

 

Keira – LB...

 

Roxi – I mean it... go!

 

{Keira sighs but begrudgingly, she heads up the stair to rejoin the fight. When she gets back up top, she has to quickly dodge a small circular beam that put a hold through the wall. Keira looks quickly and sees a member of the rejects with a type of goggles on over his eyes.}

 

Keira – You... you killed the drug dealer.

 

Villain – I'll kill a lot more than that. I am Optic, and you are dead.

 

Keira – We'll just see about that.

 

{Meanwhile, Roxi has continued down what feels like a labyrinth of turns, but finally comes to a big open area far underground. And she eventually sees Amelia, smiling and sitting on a make-shift throne. She sees Roxi and gleefully waves at her.}

 

Amelia – You made it! 

 

Roxi – Amelia, what the hell are you doing here?!

 

Amelia – I decided I liked the look of this place, and I figured I’d stay. It’s cozy.

 

Roxi – This is not a game, Amelia. 

 

Amelia – Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. It’s a game! A fun game. And you are going to have to play if you want to win.

 

Roxi – What are you talking about?

 

{Amelia stands up and turns to her left, and pulls back a makeshift curtain, revealing Erica/Empathy, strung up like a puppet and hooked to some kind of machine.}

 

Roxi – What the...

 

Amelia – I told you, I liked the look of this place. And this sweet little girl here, is helping me take over! 

 

Roxi – What?! 

 

Amelia – Her powers can be harnessed Rox. And so, I’ve taken control of the entire group of these idiots using her. Now I am in charge.  I can make them do whatever I want them to do. I have control over their emotions.

 

Roxi – Erica! You have to stop! 

 

{Amelia chuckles.}

 

Amelia – Oh, she can’t help herself right now. She only listens to me, because I’m the one who gives her what she wants. 

 

Roxi – You're drugging her!

 

Amelia – It's so nice, when people make it so easy. The point is, as soon as those people upstairs kill each other, I will take control over what’s left, and as long as Erica here gets her fix... there’s not going to be anyone to stop me. Well, except for you.  You have the greatest chance, right here, and now.

 

Roxi – What are you talking about?

 

{Amelia sits down again.}

 

Amelia – Duh, the game we’re playing, Rox! I told you it’s a fun game! And you can easily win! You see, the only way to stop me, the only way, is to kill me.

 

Roxi – I won’t.

 

Amelia – Ah, but you don’t have a choice in this game, Rox. You have to play by MY rules, otherwise, a lot more people are going to die. I can amplify this little lady’s power here, and I have been thinking about an experiment. What if... I controlled the entire city? 

 

Roxi – You're insane!

 

Amelia – Yes, I know, thank you. But flattery won’t score you any points. If I can control the entire city’s emotional state, you know what that means? Wonderful, wonderful anarchy! People will be eating each other at my command! Now, you don’t want that, do you Rox? No, of course you don’t. So... you have to take me out! 

 

Roxi – I'm not here to kill you.

 

Amelia – You are now. Either you kill me, or I kill... roughly 3 MILLION people. So... what are you willing to give up for your morals?

 

{Roxi angrily starts marching forward, and Amelia makes a motion with her hand to stop her.}

 

Amelia – No, no. You take another step, and it’s all going down. I will have this entire city killing each other. You have to make your choice. Of course, you could choose to do nothing. Stand there like a bump on a log and not bore me to death. 

 

Roxi – Was this the plan all along?

 

Amelia – Well... no. These freaks thought I was someone that had connections to other bad people. I’m more of a solo act, as you know. And all it took was a little manipulation of poor Erica here, and boom. Here I am, queen of the bad guys! It’s great!

 

Roxi – I don’t know what happened to you, but this is too far.

 

Amelia – EXACTLY!  This is your chance! Prove yourself! Save everybody and stop me! Or... stick by your code, and watch this whole city eat itself! Your choice! I can’t wait!

 

{Roxi stands there, hands on hips, not really wanting to go through with either option. She stares at Amelia, who is smiling, hands on her face, waiting patiently.}

 

Amelia – What's it going to be?  I’m right here! You can use your powers right now. One blast, right in the face! Do it, hero!

 

{Roxi is caught up in this and Amelia quickly grows impatient.}

 

Amelia – I'll help you speed up the process. Erica, dear.

 

Roxi – No! Stop!

 

{Amelia begins pulling on Erica’s strings and forces her to focus on Roxi, and manipulates her hands to use her powers on Roxi herself.}

 

Erica – You want to kill her.

 

{Roxi groans as she tries to resist. Amelia gleefully watches on.}

 

Amelia – Come on, you can do it, or do I need to bring your partner down here? Or maybe go find your son at home..

 

{Roxi’s eyes widen beneath her mask and the anger and rage begin to take hold.}

 

Amelia – But once I kill you, they’ll be dead anyway...

 

Roxi – I'm going to kill you.

 

Amelia – Yay!

 

{Roxi charges and flies right up to Amelia who is calling for Roxi to fight her. And so Roxi does. Roxi just throws punch after punch, each blow nailing Amelia as hard as Roxi wants to. Roxi then launches Amelia into several walls and pillars. Amelia groans in pain time and time again, but Roxi doesn’t stop, taking out all the emotions and frustrations given to her by Amelia. Amelia however grabs some shards of glass and tries to stab at Roxi, piercing her arm. Roxi lets out a yell and throws Amelia into where Erica is trapped, and it disrupts her concentration. Roxi continues to beat on Amelia and it goes on for an almost uncomfortable amount of time as Roxi starts to then just straight up strange Amelia with her bare hands.}

 

Roxi – After everything you’ve done... you deserve to die!

 

Amelia – That's.... *cough* the spirit...

 

{Roxi continues to strangle Amelia, choking the very life out of her, as Amelia almost giggles at feeling like she was truly going to win. Her pupils begin to dialate as the oxygen leaves her body. Roxi then shakes her head and stops, and punches Amelia in the face.}

 

Roxi – But that’s not what I do.

 

{Roxi lets go of Amelia and goes over to Erica, unhooking her from this macabre puppet setup, and it breaks the spread of her powers. Roxi also sees a medical mask over Erica’s face and removes it. Tracing it back to a bag filled with white powder.}

 

Roxi – We need to get out of here. 

 

{Amelia is a bloody mess, but is now angrier that Roxi isn’t playing the game anymore.}

 

Amelia – No! You’re ruining everything!

 

{Roxi turns and angrily grabs Ameila, but Amelia still has a piece of glass and repeatedly starts stabbing Roxi in the stomach.}

 

Amelia – Stop!

 

{Stab.}

 

Amelia – Messing!

 

{Stab.}

 

Amelia – This!

 

{Stab.}

 

Amelia – Up!

 

{Roxi crumbles down, holding her bloody stomach, but grabs Amelia and flings her across the room, slowly standing up, blood dripping from her wounds.}

 

Roxi – You have ruined so many lives, so many innocent people have died because of you. You deserve more than just death. 

 

{Roxi jumps on Amelia as she tries to get up, punching her repeatedly again. Amelia is dazed as Roxi stares at her.}

 

Roxi – But you will never get that from me. It goes against everything in my heart right now... but I’m going to save you.

 

{Roxi hauls off and gives Amelia one last punch, knocking her unconscious. Roxi gathers up Amelia and Erica, and zip ties them, so they cannot get away. Roxi holds her stomach, as the wounds begin to heal.}

 

Roxi – I need to get upstairs...

 

{Roxi slowly makes her way upstairs, to find Keira struggling with Optic. She is fending off his beam as it inched closer to her head and neck. Roxi rushes in to help Keira, and soon the tide is turned as the Guild begin to overwhelm the Rejects in battle, with it coming down to Captain Freedom, fighting Captain Invincible.}

 

Captain Freedom – It's over Invincible, your forces have lost. It’s time to end this, before people get hurt.

 

Captain Invincible – NEVER!

 

{The two do battle, battered and beaten, until Captain Freedom knocks Invincible down, and with all of his group either incapacitated or defeated, the other members of the Guild move in and prepare for the attack.}

 

Roxi – Don't. Get. Up.

 

Keira – Or do. So this can truly end.

 

{With no other recourse, Invincible stands up and launches into another attack, apparently choosing death over surrender. He charges, swinging wildly and exhausting himself as his attacks are blocked or dodged, and finally, Keira knocks him out of the sky with an energy blast, and the rest of the guild pile on top of him to subdue him.}

 

Captain Freedom – Captain Freedom to base... mission accomplished.

 

{With the Rejects mostly rounded up they are escorted away. Some however, manage to escape through the tunnels.}

 

Roxi – Should we go after them Captain?

 

Captain Freedom – In time. For now, let’s get this group away and prepare to remove their powers. Also, Alan Robbins body was among the wreckage here. 

 

Roxi – Yes sir, he was tortured for the information, but Amelia tried to take control of the entire group. She has been stopped.

 

Captain Freedom – Good work, Lady Bedlam, good work all around everyone. Now let’s get to work.

 

{Roxi heads over to Keira, checking on her.}

 

Roxi – You alright?

 

Keira – Yeah, found the guy who killed that drug dealer. That kill shot beam is not joke.

 

Roxi – So long as you’re okay. Come on, we need to get Amelia.

 

{Roxi and Keira head back down into the tunnels, and find Amelia and Erica. Roxi turns to Keira, pointing at Erica.}

 

Roxi – Get her out of here. I’ll take care of Amelia.

 

Keira – Are you sure?

 

Roxi – Yes.

 

{Keira picks up Erica and takes her away. Roxi reaches down and pulls Amelia to her feet.}

 

Roxi – Now, I’m going to finish this.

 

Amelia – I knew you had it in you!

 

{Roxi teleports Amelia away, and right to Lei. Roxi takes no pleasure in tossing Amelia at Lei, who catches her.}

 

Roxi – I told you, you had my word. 

 

Lei – Mistress?!

 

Amelia – Lei! Aww... you waited for me!

 

Roxi – Amelia was never going to come back to you Lei. She was going to kill you all the same as anyone else.

 

Amelia – I wouldn’t do that to you, Lei. We’re tight! 

 

{Roxi sternly looks into Lei’s eyes.}

 

Roxi – Take her, and get her away from me, and away from here. If I EVER see either one of you two near me, or my family again, you will regret it. Just remember Lei, Amelia thinks you are expendable.

 

{With that, Roxi teleports away, and Lei looks at Amelia.}

 

Amelia – Lei, I missed you. Don’t listen to her, she’s just jealous of what we have. 

 

{Lei doesn’t say anything as she just looks at Amelia, before eventually helping her. Elsewhere, Roxi is on a rooftop, with Keira, Roxi peels off her mask, standing silently, staring off into the city.}

 

Keira – Are you okay?

 

Roxi – I let Amelia go.

 

Keira – What?

 

Roxi – Trust me, I don’t know if it’s right or not, and... quite frankly I don’t know if I would have killed her tonight if I wasn’t thinking clearly.  I wanted to... I wanted to so badly and... I don’t know if it’s right or wrong.

 

Keira – I.. I still stand by the idea that getting rid of Amelia was a good idea. For all she’s done. But... I know you aren’t like that. In a lot of ways, it took a lot of strength not to. I don’t know if I would have made the same choice.

 

Roxi – I made my choice. In my heart... I think it’s right. 

 

Keira – You made your choice. I may not always agree with you... but I stand by you.

 

Roxi – Thank you.   

 

Keira – I'm just glad that’s over.

 

Roxi – Not completely. Some of the Rejects managed to get away, they’re still out there.

 

Keira – So... we’re not quite done yet.

 

Roxi – Not quite, there’s always more work to do.

 

Keira – Well, when that time comes... Let’s do it.

 

{Roxi and Keira share a kiss as the scene fades.}

 



 

{Roxi is now shown at the Safe Harbor boys home. She watches from the windows as Francis, the would-be school shooter adjusts to life there. He lays in bed, as Roxi opens the window. Francis turns to see her.}

 

Roxi – Hello Francis.

 

{Francis is at first startled to see her, rising up out of the bed and making sure he isn’t seeing things.}

 

Francis – You can back?

 

Roxi – Yes, I did. I told you I was going to help you.

 

Francis – You got me stuck in this boys home.

 

Roxi – You didn’t have a home Francis. You told me that. This is to help you. But I also told you that I would make sure you were okay.

 

Francis – I don’t like it here.

 

Roxi – Oh? Why not?

 

Francis – They make me work and I don’t have any freedom.

 

Roxi – Well, they make you work because they want you to learn something. They want you to be in a better spot. They don’t want you where you were a few days ago. And neither do it.

 

Francis – I don’t want to be here.

 

Roxi – I know you don’t. And I know it will take some time to get used to. But believe me when I say, it’s better than the alternative. I know it’s a weird place to be in and they have some things and do some things you may not like, but I know you can do it.

 

Francis – You're just saying that.

 

Roxi – If I was just saying it for my health, I wouldn’t be here. I came to see you. Because we are friends. And that’s what friends do. This isn’t easy, I know, but you just have to stick with it.

 

Francis – That's easy for you to say, you’ve never had the problems I have. You’ve never had to be stuck someplace you don’t want to be! 

 

Roxi – Oh, trust me Francis, I’ve been in a lot of bad places. I’m a superhero, that... kinda is to be expected.

 

Francis – But you haven’t have this like me.

 

Roxi – You're right, I haven’t. But I’ve had to make a lot of tough choices and I don’t know if all of them were correct or not. I may have made some bad choice in life. In fact, I know I did. But you know what? I had people help me, and now, now I’m moving forward. I know you can do the same. You just have to stick with it. And I will be here to help you every step of the way.

 

Francis: Really?

 

Roxi – Yes, really. That’s what friends are for. 

 

Francis – How many bad choices have you made?

 

Roxi – More than I can count, Francis.

 

Francis – Any that made you feel like I did?

 

Roxi – Yeah, a lot. But you know, I think I made a lot more choices that were better. I have to live with the bad ones, but I like to think about the good ones. And trust me, this this is a good thing. Don’t give up on yourself. I won’t give up on you.

 

Francis – You won’t?

 

Roxi – Never, I promise. 

 

{Francis’s eyes well up with tears as he hugs Roxi, and the scene fades out.}

 



 

“This is a story about mercy. It's also about revenge... justice... and fighting for yourself.“

- Batman (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Vol 1 37)

 

I have said in the past, that at this point in my life, and in my career, I am many things, to many people. I have been for a very long time. It still holds true today as many of those who stand with me, and stand against me, have formed their opinions of me, and to a lot of them, those opinions, because they are held strongly enough, are I guess considered fact. I have accepted this, at this point. That’s what it is, now. 

 

I am, whatever people need me to be.

 

For many, I have been a friend. An ally. I have been an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on. I have taken on a great number of other people’s problems with them. I am a counselor. I am a mentor. I am a confidant. I am a mediator. I am a therapist. I have taken on many roles for those who need me to be that, for them.

 

And for others. I am an enemy. I am a horrible person. I am a lair. I am a hypocrite. I am a cliché. I say one thing and do another. I am the reason they aren’t where they are supposed to be. I am an obstacle. I am the scum of the earth. I am greedy. I am Selfish. I’m a goody two-shoes. I’m an evil, underhanded, backstabber. To those people, that’s me, to a T.

 

Do you know what the most important title I have is? The one my son gives to me.

 

“Mommy.”  That’s the only one that really matters.

 

But, to everyone, no matter what your opinion of me is, and no matter what role you want me to play, I say: 

 

I am.

 

Of course, I am. I am whatever fits the narrative of the person saying it. And the reason for both those who are my friends, and those who do not like me, are both the same.

 

I tell the truth.

 

For some, it’s reassuring, and for others, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. I only know one way to be, and that’s me. If it means you then despise me and what to see me fail, because in your mind I have let you down, then you are free to hate me. If it makes you feel like someone is hearing you, someone is with you, then feel free to count me as a friend. It some cases, it may class me as boring, or vanilla. And in other cases, it makes me out there and extreme fudge. It all depends on your preference. I am not here to please everyone, though I do find myself trying to do that a lot. But I can’t do it, despite my best efforts. It’s an impossible task. I’m just honest about things, and for my opponents at High Stakes, I am an inconvenient truth.

 

Because I have done many things, for many people, even if they don’t know it. My opponents are no exception, and I can look back and know what I did, helped them along their way. Crystal may be the most prime example of this.

 

I was one who told Crystal about Sin City Wrestling all those years ago. And she came here, and she flourished. Did I ever get a “thank you?” or anything like that? No. Not that I ever expect one at this point without there being some kind of catch attached to it. Crystal is always quid pro quo, even with her own wife, so it’s not a big deal anymore that it means she wants something from me. Some form of validation, some form of acceptance. It never has stopped and it never will. This new form of Crystal will still be the same regardless of this. If all Crystal ever wanted was to be accepted, she should stop using people to gain acceptance. It’s pretty straightforward, just be yourself, but that, that right there, is the major issue with Crystal herself.

 

She has no idea who she is.

 

That just stems from Crystal having a baby far too young. Crystal was allowed to a child. Crystal wasn’t afforded the age of 12-18 to actually grow and into a functioning adult. So, in turn, this is what we have now. Crystal is a woman-child given a ton of ability to wrestle, but did not ever get a chance to form herself into a person, only what she believes a person should be. She has tried to emulate what people actually do, but is unsuccessful. It is one of the reasons I have given Crystal so much leeway in terms of her behavior. Because even at this point in her life, she still has no idea who she hurts, and how she hurts them. She doesn’t know any better, and so winning championships, being good at something, like she is, is really the only true form of validation Crystal has. Championship titles don’t judge you. So every championship win, in Crystal’s mind has validated her entire life and all of its choices. Every back stabbed, every line crossed, every friend lost, is only temporary, because when Crystal wins something, that makes it all better. Why else would Crystal enter multiple tournaments, and compete every single place she possibly can? Why else does Crystal brag about going into these places and winning this thing or that thing. It’s simply because it is the only form of validation she knows. If Crystal wins something, it means she was correct about everything she ever said. Every action was justified, everything, was worth it. She must be doing everything right, because in the end, she’s in the spotlight and being praised. And this fulfills Crystal temporarily, Because Crystal never actually learned how to be real with herself, or anyone else for that matter.

 

Why do you think she got into acting? Act, sing, where you can be anyone. You can be someone else. You create a persona. And slowly, over time, Crystal has become the persona because she doesn’t know the real Crystal. And when someone tries to get her to see this, then the gut reaction hits. They hurt me, so I must hurt them back. I need to say or do something that makes me feel better. Thus, I get told things like trying to win the Roulette championship and complete the grand slam, was selfish. I didn’t NEED to win that championship, so it makes me a hypocrite, when I request to earn a Bombshell’s championship match instead of chase the Internet championship. Never mind, that I had already lost an Internet championship match, and never mind that I wasn’t in the spot to earn another Internet championship match. All of that is irrelevant information because again, it doesn’t fit the narrative. I made it a point that I was going to EARN this championship match, and I did so. For 3 months, I beat every person in front of me. I never wanted to be shot into my Bombshell’s championship match against Alicia Lukas. I wanted to earn it. I literally had to fight to be put in a match with Apple Coren as a “tune up”. Because I wanted to earn it. Because people like Crystal were looking at me sideways for the situation. I’ve always, ALWAYS wanted to earn my championship matches, not rely on a seemingly random card, giving me a championship match I did not deserve. This has happened ONE TIME in my entire SCW career. ONE TIME. For Crystal it has happened numerous times. Including when she beat me and won the Bombshell’s championship. In fact, do you know how many Bombshells’ championship matches I have had, since I lost the championship? ONE. And that was against Keira, and that was because I EARNED it. I am not in the business of hand-outs. That’s not me, and that’s not going to be me, ever. It may be fine for Crystal, but it is not fine for me. I don’t get my name thrown onto cards for championship matches at random. Crystal happily takes those, but that’s why we are different. I want to always be sure that I earn my opportunities, so no one can say I don’t deserve them.

 

But despite that, I also hear that I’m not deserving of this coming from Crystal mouth, recently. Because, in her words, outside of one match, when everything is one the line, in a big-time match, I can’t beat her. Because if I can’t beat Kiera, and because Amber beat me in a Last Woman Standing match, I don’t deserve this. Again, this is a wonderful narrative that really drives home the point, but it simply ignores the truth. My match with Keira was marred with interference. Amber had to pile everything that wasn’t nailed down on top of me to beat me. And I just need to know what is classed as a match with “everything on the line” Are there matches where absolutely nothing is on the line? No pride, no ranking or career progression? Are those exhibitions? Are there matches that I cannot bother to try and still win? Is that what the matches I have beaten Crystal in have been? Worthless? Useless? Meaningless? Well, I sure hope that this match is big enough. I sure hope that in this match “Everything is one the line.” I guess that chamber match wasn’t enough. I guess Crystal really didn’t feel everything is on the line then. 

 

And to all of you, those of you who have ever wrestled Crystal and beaten her, THAT match didn’t have “Everything on the line.” Those were her words, not mine. Those matches were small time, and they didn’t matter to Crystal. She’s only going to turn it up, only going to have a crisis or problem when “everything is on the line.” This is just another example of what I mean when I say that Crystal just doesn’t understand who she insults or hurts. She doesn’t know any better.

 

So, what exactly has Crystal done to deserve this match? I guess she’s still cashing in the whole “I am a 5-time former champion” thing. I didn’t realize that we can simply use the past to go for current things. I am a hall of famer. Does this not count for anything? I am a 3-time Bombshell’s champion. A grand slam winner. Is that not good enough? Because as far as I can tell, Crystal was coming off a loss, and got randomly put into that fatal four-way BASED on the fact that is a 5-time champion. There is no other reason. So, if my reasons aren’t good enough, hers shouldn’t be either. Or was this another match with “nothing on the line”? That is the problem with these narratives about me. They just sound so good, expect when we actually dig a little deeper, that just don’t hold water. And the ridiculous double standard that apparently only applies to Crystal, or to me depending on how you look at it. 

 

So, I hope that this triple threat match meets these criteria. I don’t want any excuses at this point for when I beat Crystal, and Amber and I win the Bombshell’s championship. I will be doing many people a favor by doing so. And maybe, Crystal the most. She herself stated she has problems she needs to work out. Issues she is going through. She has made that abundantly clear. It’s just this time, a championship win won’t be able to provide that temporary fix. No, if Crystal wants to really, actually do something to turn her life around, another forgettable run with the Bombshell’s championship isn’t going to do it. I will relieve her, of that burden and win so she can get the help she really needs, if she really means it.

 

Because despite all of that... Crystal is my friend. It’s called tough love. And that’s what friends do for each other. Regardless of the narrative.

 

I believe the saying is “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

 

Speaking of which, I guess I have disappointed Amber Ryan. I didn’t live up to Amber Ryan’s expectations and so, I am the target of her disappointment. This is common for me nowadays. I’m not allowed to follow my own path. I’m not allowed to live my life and be who I am. I 100% have to live up to other people’s expectations of me, and if I do not, then I am labeled as such. A liar, a hypocrite. I am just the worst person ever because people think one thing about me, and then regardless of how applicable that thing is to me, if I do not fit that mold, it’s my fault.

 

And so that is now Amber’s stance on this. I let her down, despite her telling me that I lived up to her expectations a year ago. So, again, this narrative is nice, except when we actually look at things. I was unaware that I was living my life, and doing what I do, based on Amber’s stance and opinion. Nobody told me that all of a sudden Amber controls my life. But that’s always been the thing hasn’t it? That’s always been what Amber has tried to do to me, consume my thoughts and feelings. It gives her power. I gave her power when she first got here. I was consumed by the idea of fighting her, and taking the brunt of everything. So, to answer her question about where I have been, I have been dealing with other issues and matches. My life, my career, does not revolve around what Amber Ryan is doing, no matter much she wants to dictate that. We had our battles a year ago. And it wasn’t me who was unable to walk away from the end of those matches, it was Amber. I was able to walk away, and move forward, but it appears that when it comes to myself and Amber, she is unable to let it go.

 

I didn’t plan some elaborate scheme to wait until Amber was the Bombshell’s champion to them come after her. If I wanted to fight Amber, we could have done that, literally any time before now. Again, the truth really hurts these narratives. I challenged either Amber OR Myra Rivers, I even said, I’ll wait until they are done. Period. It was me plotting this ultimate plan to fight Amber again. I told Amber after High Stakes last year, when we agreed to part ways, that if she wanted to fight again, I would be there. But for the time being, we were done. And I stayed true to that. I gave Amber the space to do what she would do. And as she said, and as I expected, she returned to ring and she rose through the rankings. And here she is the SCW Bombshell’s champion. She has faced a gauntlet of challengers and she has turned all of them away. Some multiple times. But I was not one of them.

 

I will never say that Amber isn’t a special talent. She is. And part of is in fact glad that she is the Bombshell’s champions still. Because if I’m going to do this, I need to beat the best. And right now, Amber is the best in the ring, the championship on her shoulder and around her waist is proof of this. Yes, a big part of me wishes this was just a one-on-one match but the fact is that’s not the case. But if I’m going to do this, why not have Crystal, the 5-time champion as part of the match? The more, the merrier. But Amber Ryan has done things to me that will live with me for the rest of my life and so, it just makes it fitting that Amber is the Bombshell’s champion right now, when I have earned this opportunity.

 

I did not challenge Amber because I was going to earn my opportunity. She did tell me all I had to do was ask, but again, that’s not my thing. And now, I’m here. There was no master plan to get to Amber, I could have challenged her to a non-title match at any point, but I was holding true to what we agreed on. We stayed away. I dealt with other matches and opponents. And now we’re back here again, and Amber is still playing at this same game. I expected something different, but I’m not going to get that. Just her continuing to tell me how disappointed she is in me for whatever reason. The only new thing here is now... Taking credit for me winning matches, I suppose. Again, I realize that Amber really, really wants to feel like she’s in my head, and she’s upset with me that she can’t be there anymore. I was winning championships and beating insurmountable odds before Amber Ryan ever got here. I was the Bombshell’s champion before she got here. I am comfortable with what I have done. I am no longer consumed with beating Amber Ryan, because I did it before, and I KNOW I can do it again. People were talking about how Alicia Lukas was going to be the Bombshell’s champion forever, and then I beat her. People didn’t think anyone would beat Misty at a certain point, and I did. And people were scared for me, my career, and my life when I stepped into the ring with Amber Ryan and I am met that challenge, and not only that, I’m coming back for more! So, I am not a stranger to being in this spot. Nor am I afraid of this spot.

 

Let me just bring up these facts. Amber Ryan tried her damnedest to end not only my career, but the woman was trying to literally HIT ME WITH AN AXE. She was trying to end everything for me, and she didn’t succeed. Despite all she has done to me, I stood my ground and I fought her and I beat her. It may have only been once, but I did that, despite her trying to do everything she could to end me. I on the other hand, was never after trying to actually end Amber’s career. She forced my hand to do something like that, and she may be very proud of that fact, but after all was said and done, I was able to wrestle after that, she was not. 

 

So, really the question that must be asked, is what is Amber going to try and do to me this time?  Hurt me? Sure, that’s a given. Make me bleed? Use thumbtacks? fire? Mist? Brass knuckles? Chairs? It doesn’t really matter, because Amber has hit me with everything but the kitchen sink, so whatever she’s going to try and do, I can stand before you today and simply say:

 

Been there, survived that.

 

I have bleed before; I am not afraid to bleed again. I am not afraid of being hurt, I am not afraid of the pain involved, I already know about the pain involved. Amber Ryan isn’t going to give me anything new, so I say, bring it on. I’ve been beat up, I’ve been hurt, I’m not worried about going to the hospital afterwards. Because I know, at the end of the day, taking that championship from Amber is the best revenge. That, right there, is what I’m after. To make sure that no matter what I have to go through, I will emerge the winner. I will walk into New York City, into Madison Square Garden, and I will beat Amber Ryan, and Crystal Zdunich right in the middle of the ring and I will walk away the SCW Bombshell’s champion.

 

And then, like always, I will continue to be whatever Amber and Crystal think that I am.   

 

Because it will help them cope. 

 

They can take away whatever they want from the end, and take away whatever they want from my words of the past two weeks. Every single sentence that I have given you is the truth. Nothing but the truth, and that’s what I do. So, when I tell you, right now that I am built for this type of situation, it’s nothing but the truth. I have done this before, and at High Stakes, I will do it again, this isn’t about just winning the Bombshell’s championship, this isn’t just about beating Amber Ryan or Crystal. This is about me, proving a point. This is MY house. I have already let Crystal and Amber into my house. I put both of them in the position they are in currently. Crystal wouldn’t be in SCW if it wasn’t for me, and Amber wouldn’t be the threat she is to the SCW roster if it wasn’t for me. Those are facts. So, I’m not going to sit here and be disrespected by anybody anymore. 

 

Everybody is going to put some respect on my name.

 

I will be whatever they need me to be, but I will make damn sure, I am the SCW Bombshell’s champion.

 

To Amber, and to Crystal,

 

I will see you in New York City. 

 

Get ready.

[DistortedAngel]

“Hear that people? It feels good
because I am the slave and ruler of my own body
and I wish to do with it exactly as I please”
― Charlotte Eriksson




Undisclosed Hotel
Somewhere in California
08.12.2009
11:02pm



In all honesty Amber believed she was doing the right thing.

She didn’t have to tell Dominic a damn thing, she could have easily stood there and lied. It wouldn’t have even been that difficult- a few little well placed flatteries and he’d be satiated long enough for her to pack her bags and leave in the middle of the night. By the time he realized, she’d be long gone and Alistair McCrae would be on his doorstep demanding his pound of flesh- really, in telling Dominic what had been said, she was doing him a favour.

“Does he know who the fuck I am? Who my father is!”

It seemed as though, as his cheeks flushed a deep maroon, that he didn’t quite see it that way.

“He doesn’t know who he’s messing with. I’ve practically dismantled his foundation- his investors want nothing to do with his self-righteous bullshit, associates are flocking to be on the ground floor of what I’m building. I won’t just sit here and be played like a fucking fool, I won’t be made to sit at the childrens table while he continues wines and dine with those already committed to stabbing him in the back.”

Amber knew it was mostly exaggeration- these days he spent more time trying to convince himself of his value more than he’d tried to convince her. Granted, she’d been as supportive as he’d allowed her to be while in the meantime rolling her eyes at every overwrought partial truth that he sputtered to men far more committed to their sure things.

“I’m a fucking Del Gado. My name means something and he needs to remember that. I’m not just some small fry motherfucker looking for a slice- I’m coming for what I’m owed, what my name is owed.
I won’t be disrespected like this. My father could bury him in a second, if I just say the word. I’ve done my best to be patient, but I won’t pretend to be content with being tossed aside in favour of…”

Alistair McCrae didn’t fear him or his last name in the slightest and both of them knew it- however Dominic refused to accept that he was anything lower than an equal with a man who’d spent perhaps half his life amassing a sub rosa and rather lucrative empire. It was easy for someone like Dominic to forget though, that he’d been born into the equivalent- a legacy that carried an expectation of having ‘an equal playing field’.

Dominic gestured vaguely in Amber’s direction as his words trailed off; maybe he sensed her growing disinterest in his indecisive rambling or that she was hyper aware of the mental dishonesty that he spewed freely in an attempt to justify his crumbling position... Either way, before she could react he’d turned his attention back towards her as though she’d done anything other than warn him of the impending shitstorm he’d invited.

“... and you. How fucking dare you, I took you by the hand and dragged you from a backwater gutter slime nowhere and I gave you everything!
I made you, sweetheart and don’t you ever forget that! I made you into something you could only ever dream about- I put you up in hotels, I brought you with me to the high life cause I thought you understood me… I thought you cared about me, about where I was going.
Instead… first half decent offer you get and you sell me down the fucking river!”

Amber opened her mouth to reply, spluttering out a few words to try and desperately explain that it wasn’t at all like that. Why the fuck would she have been here if she didn’t care?
He’d made no mention of everything she’d given, all the sacrifices she’d made in her burgeoning career cause he told her that what he wanted was more important- only for it to go nowhere… to leave them back at square one with empty pockets and a little less dignity than when they started.

No, she’d come here in good faith, in some last ditch effort to salvage the remains of a meaningful relationship. Maybe she could just get through to him, make him understand how they felt about each other…

“It wasn’t like that at---"

*smack*

He’d never hit her before.

Mostly for the fact he hadn’t been stupid enough to. Besides, both of them knew there were far easier methods for suicide. It wasn’t as though it even physically hurt that much, she’d taken far worse beatings from fans scrabbling at the guardrail in hopes of exacting some pitiful revenge cause she beat one of their flavours of the month.
It was just the fact it had happened. Both of them stood in shock for a moment before Dominic continued his tirade, his mouth moving almost a mile a minute and yet the sound seemed to pass her by. Nothing sunk in aside from the burning sensation radiating from her right cheek.

Nothing except an overwhelming sadness, like she’d somehow been the one at fault.

Hell, she could have killed him on the spot and they both knew it. He should have known better.
God, it’d be easy too... Just push him out of the window, seven or eight storeys would surely be enough- maybe she could even call it an accident… no one would be the wiser.
In reality though she stood rooted to the spot, seething and shook at the relative ease he found himself acting with.

Even now, she could almost see the fog clearing as he continued rambling vehemently, white noise to her own quiet epiphany.

Maybe she should have seen it coming. All the times he’d told her all the good things he’d done for her, all the effort he’d gone to just to undermine every achievement she’d gotten. Nothing was good enough unless he had a hand in it.
She was a goddamn champion, something that she had earned without him. In spite of him. Yet he still had the audacity to look down upon her like she’d gotten stuck to his shoe- until he had use for her, of course. From one minute to the next she went from leper to legend, mistake to midas touch… and she’d swallowed all of it trying to justify it by saying she loved him.

Even just days earlier he’d manage to dismiss their fourth anniversary in favour of ‘business drinks’ as though she wasn’t intimately aware that he was just schmoozing McCrae’s investors and throwing the little money she’d earned at strippers he couldn’t otherwise afford.
Meanwhile she’d sat alone in a crappy motel with three channels of varying static and the faltering belief that things still had the potential to get better from here.

At least she still had her title, and whatever cold comfort that might have allowed her.

Dominic’s pacing slowed as furrowed rage hardened into something far more dispassionate. Nothing resembling empathy or regret had passed his otherwise stoic features and before she’d had the chance to pull away or react, Dominic had taken her hands within his, causing her skin to prickle uncomfortably. Something akin to a smile quivered at the curl of his lip as one hand moved to cradle her face tenderly- as though his lashing out had become a distant memory.

“It's just… I can’t lose you. You know that, right?”

His thumb traced down her cheek, skimming over where the reddened impact had recoiled in her skin. She didn’t dare make eye contact despite his efforts, if only because she knew she’d see nothing akin to sincerity or remorse. 

“We need each other, Bambi. More than ever.”

There was a patheticness in his tone, although she wasn’t sure if it was the recognition of how badly he’d fucked up or just his sorry fucking attempt to gaslight her into a further oblivion. He’d had a lot to say and somehow none of it contained an apology.

“Whatever happens, we’ll always have each other.”

It was then she realized how numb she’d quickly become to his charms, lies and derisions that would have had her on her knees now fell on deaf ears and a darkening heart. She’d tried so fucking hard, couldn’t he see that or was he just too busy spewing out a deluge of disingenuous sugar coated nothings for her troubles.

Dominic kissed her gently on the forehead as Amber barely restrained the flinch that came with wanting to vomit.  God, her chest ached so badly- like instead of slapping her in the face, he’d just stuck his hand between her ribs and squeezed. Emotionally anaesthetized, she’d never felt so clear-headed while his fingers traced her cheekbones like he was somehow rediscovering her for the first time.

“Just you and me.”

Another flicker into a smile. One she forced herself to reciprocate as closely as she could, mimicking the twitches instead of drawing from something real- and with an ache in her chest, she wistfully mused that for the first time in a long time- he was talking about them as anything more than a relationship of parasitic convenience…

… while she was already emotionally gone.





******



“It’s almost easy to forget sometimes that this match is a triple threat.

That somehow, in spite of your best efforts to be the centre of the fucking universe that would rather see you disappear down a black hole, you’re this ‘non-factor’ in a decision that hasn't already occurred. I mean, you aren’t even being discussed as the person taking the loss… You haven’t even been worth a potential three count.
I mean we can stand here and debate your merits all day- for all the reasons you think you deserve to be included in any Bombshells title discussion, I have a point to counteract that you’re just a really shitty person searching for validation in all the wrong places.

Honey, there are meetings for this kind of shit. Stop wasting our time kicking your multi-colour multi-personality ass all over arenas cause the cleaners don’t get paid nearly enough to listen to you piss and moan how you got beaten again.
That's the thing, isn’t it?
You keep losing when it matters. You won the title five times cause you lost it four times before that, each time a little shorter and alot less meaningful to the point it's become a blink-and-you’ll miss it phenomena that no one cares about. Big talk till it comes time to show up, and then all of a sudden you’ve got an incurable hangnail and a reason to have let everyone down again.

You’re the queen of self-sabotage, and that's a big statement coming from a woman who made her career in deathmatches and reckless life-threatening bumps. Everytime I hear you speak, it's another justification for failure, always someone else to blame despite the fact you were holding the gun every time you shot yourself in the foot.

‘I deserve this though’ I hear you cry from the back of the line.

‘I’ve earned that’ I listen to you wail as you’re passed over by someone far more worthy.

‘I have a right to a rematch’

No. Shut the fuck up.

You know what you deserve, Crystal? Absolutely fucking nothing. You haven taken every opportunity gifted to you in good faith and you lifted your leg at it, you took advantage of people at their lowest and used them as pawns for your inevitable rises and falls, you continue to talk down to everyone despite the fact they’ve worked far harder for their place than you have in recent months.
Courtney Pierce made her case for never having got her Blast From The Past shot, Ruby Steele- against all odds and expectations- got carried to a win and ‘earned’ a shot thanks to Mark Cross, Alicia Lukas won Queen For A Day and did exactly what everyone else would have, Myra Rivers held the Internet Title for almost a year and Jessie Salco… well, she showed up week after week and wouldn’t take no for an answer so she’s not a good example… even Roxi Johnson, week after week she went out and fought her way up the ladder.

You lurked in the midcard and won one match that got you into a contendership shot- and then you fluked ‘equally winning’ cause that's suddenly a thing and found your way into the High Stakes Main Event cause the powers that be are sadists and like to watch the world burn.
Lets quickly recap those events- in all of that time… you won a single match of your own volition to get here… yet you still wonder why it's a question as to why the fuck you think you ‘earned’ this.

No, all you’ve earned is all the disapproving stares you keep getting by calling yourself number one contender.

Do you think this is just some kind of bandaid on all the irreparable damage you’ve caused, some gold tinted make-good for all the people you’ve hurt to get here. Winning the world title doesn’t fix your marriage- trust me, I think I’d know. Being champion doesn’t alleviate all the niggling problems and nor does it smooth over the wrinkles of fundamental disagreement.
Being champion leaves relationships in ruin cause while you are on top, if you hope to stay there for any amount of time, you have to realize that everything else you care about comes second. Love gets pushed aside, meaningful relationships take a back seat- if being champion isn’t everything and then some, then you won’t have it for very long.

There is no having your cake and eating it too, it's having your cake and choking it down cause you told everyone you could.

You tell everyone you want it so badly though, that you’ve got nothing else to lose… like you have the faintest fucking clue what that even means.

Allow me to be blunt, as if I haven’t already- want is for coffee and lottery tickets Crystal, want is for company on cold nights and a shoulder to cry on. Aspirations have never gotten anyone far in this business cause everyone can desire, everyone can be the most passionate version of themselves and they can tell themselves that if they wish hard enough that their dreams will come true.

I can stand here and tell everyone that no one wants this title more than me… and I’d be right, but that's because I don’t just want it. I need it like I need oxygen in my lungs, I need it more than I need fourteen hours of sleep without waking up in a cold sweat cause I lost the title in my nightmares.
Believe me, I haven’t worked this hard just to call myself champion, I’ve worked this hard cause without it I’m just another silly bitch saying she wants to be the best.
Fact is, from the day I walked through the door I was already hitting the top of the food chain, I haven’t stopped hunting since day dot and just cause I’m champion doesn’t mean I’ve stopped chasing.

For the past 200 plus days, I’ve done what no other woman in this division could. I made this place better, I raised the bar and set a new standard- no, screw being the gatekeeper and letting everyone make their way past when they’re good enough, I’m the fucking final boss around here with four stages and an unavoidable area of effect insta-kill.
So sure, this might be a triple threat but you’ll never really be able to call yourself champion unless you beat me- yeah, you might have the belt, but everyone will know you didn't really ‘earn’ it. Although really, I suppose you’re used to that by now.

This match might be for the title- but both of you know that you need to beat me to truly ever be considered the ‘real champion’.

It’s funny though, cause I can see your lips moving Crystal but the words coming out are garbled and rubbish. It doesn't make sense cause you have no reason, no justification for them to be strung together in such a way… You’re just- you’re so full of bullshit and bluster, the positivity train really has left the station and you’re the only passenger. Toot toot motherfucker, this ones about to go off the fucking rails.
‘I’ll be the best’. Yeah, sure you will… now go back to sleep now and leave the work to the real main eventers...

I mean honestly, short of killing me- which is just unheard of cause you tried and failed enough before, there's nothing you can do in this match that will impress. There's no depth to which you can stoop longer than I’m willing to, no dizzy height that you can attain that I haven’t already sucked all the breathable air from. It's easy to talk about respect when you have none and have given less.

You see, there’s a reason I’m the World Bombshells champion- and contrary to popular belief, it's not actually because I’m the best… although the argument could certainly be made.
I’m not the strongest, the biggest, the fastest… I can’t whip a crowd into a hateful frenzy simply by opening my mouth nor can I captivate with such sweetness the whole crowd becomes diabetic through verbal osmosis. I might not hit the hardest, nor are my aerials as clean or crisp as many others…
Granted I doubt anyone could throw a better fireball or spit thumbtacks without setting off their gag reflex, that remains to be seen, but the truth is being the Sin City Wrestling World Bombshells Champion comes down to none of those things.

By the end of High Stakes I’d like to think you’ll finally understand, I might not be the greatest, most decorated, most numerous title winning World Bombshells Champion of all time...

But I’m damn sure the only one willing to do absolutely ANYTHING to keep it.”




******



Undisclosed Magazine Office
New York City, NY
02.11.2021
12:52pm




As it seemed with most publicity related obligations, Amber didn’t really get what the point was.

Cassiopeia Mares had tried to explain on the way over, although most of her optimistic chirruping had gone in one ear and out the other- for the most part their relationship had become more symbiotic instead of one directionally hostile, consisting of Cassie organizing all the company mandated agreements while Amber showed up and tried not to cause too much irreparable damage.
Despite the enthusiasm shown by the younger woman, Amber found the idea of print media to be rather archaic and obsolete.
Even though Cassie made the argument that they were ‘broadening her horizons’ and ‘capturing a wider demographic’ , Amber had been reluctant right down to the unnatural posing with the Bombshells World title and a face full of makeup that left her unrecognizable in any mirror outside a funhouse.

Now almost half way through an interview that had barely touched upon anything to do with the upcoming Supercard, something Amber had been told would be considered a priority topic. However the preppy early-thirties blonde, who smelled faintly like violets and musk, tasked with delivering the banal and vaguely patronizing line of questions simply wrinkled her nose at most responses as though expecting something far more gossip worthy than the disinterested redhead in front of her.

“... Now I heard that earlier this year, you got married. April, I believe it was?”

Small talk. Great. Amber nodded as she readjusted in her chair, clearly designed for aesthetic rather than to be comfortable. Far too soft, like a poorly microwaved marshmallow, and in almost the same powdered neutral shade.

“Yeah, just a small kinda deal…”

In truth, despite being married to another professional wrestler- particularly one she’d spent almost as long violently opposing as they’d been together- it had never really been something she’d discussed publicly. Both she and Mac considered themselves intensely private about their ’out of ring’ lives- most likely from having shared so much of themselves for such a long time, that the idea of allowing their more intimate moments to be broadcast seemed excessive and attention seeking.

“Now I think it's safe to say that being married professionals in the same industry can sometimes put a strain on relationships. In most cases, divorce rates are known to be far higher in couples that share a job field, infidelity being a leading cause followed closely by inequality of successes… How do keep the 'spark' alive?”

Amber narrowed her gaze a little, a sideways glance towards Cassie betraying very little, although she hadn’t expected much from the proverbial talent relations poker face.

“Infidelity? I hope this isn’t an insinuation of anything.”

Despite trying to put a dampener on her irritation, Amber struggled to veil the tone of annoyance that crept through her voice. It wasn’t as though their relationship was perfect by any means, it wasn’t a Team Hero kinda marriage where the acceptance of fault was unconditional cause they were both as bad as each other- but it wasn’t a Zdunich marriage either that fell to pieces the moment any kind of outside pressure was placed on it. No, their unwillingness to air their proverbial dirty laundry on a whim had kept their reputation as a SCW ‘golden couple’ relatively intact.

That being said, Amber knew that being World Champion didn’t make it easy. Being at the top of the mountain came with unseen sacrifice- time mostly. She didn’t see Mac much these days- so busy fulfilling obligations and trying to keep her head above the rising waters of contendership that she’d almost neglected the man who’d seen so much in her.
He understood, and had his own business to attend to, but that didn’t make her feel any less guilty about it.

Regardless, they loved each other- undoubtedly and unconditionally, and some leather and metal surely wouldn’t change that…

“Of course not. That's not to say that temptation doesn’t run rampant- after all, there are plenty of beautiful, confident women who may- some may argue- carry less ‘baggage’ just as there are a myriad of young, handsome men who no doubt have championship aspirations in more ways than one.
With all the travel and being around arguably a roster full of very attractive people- how would you say being married to a fellow professional has affected your love life.
Would you say your husband, an incredibly handsome man in his own right, still satisfies those urges in the same way?”

Incredulous, Amber couldn't help but laugh in disbelief at the sheer audacity that came laced throughout the whole series of innuendos and overt overtones that the Sin City Wrestling roster backstage was little more than fuel for adultery and orgies.
Another, albeit harsher, glance towards Cassiopeia quietly validated the impudence as the younger woman engaged in a spirited discussion with someone who was supposed to have known what was happening. Unwilling to wait for a suitably ‘corporate friendly’ response , Amber cleared her throat and leaned in a little closer towards the interviewer as though preparing to share something juicy… something scandalous.

“Tell me, do you spit or swallow?”

“I'm sorry? That's not app---”

“Appropriate? No, you’re right. Neither is asking if I’m cheating on my husband with all the hot guys walking around in their underwear, neither is taking the idea of female role models in a male dominated industry and sexualising it cause how dare any woman be successful and not just a raging nymphomaniac with a shiny belt on her shoulder.”

Like a honed sixth sense, Cassiopeia swooped in and ushered the already done interview into dissolution before Amber could cross too many more lines. Seething quietly, Amber rolled her tongue in her cheek while Cassie played proverbial peacemaker as the magazine crew uneasily dispersed elsewhere into the building.

“Is it just me?”

Initially the thought was an absent-minded one, a rhetoric that seemed to just fall to the floor. Cassie however paused thoughtfully, as though expecting a follow on from Amber’s derailing train of thought that didn’t seem to come.

“I apologize for the way that---”

Amber waved her off distractedly as the younger woman approached, that same ochre coloured folder always still clutched closely as her heels click-clacked against the synthetically wooden floor.

“Don’t apologize, it's not you. It's just… I don’t get it. I’ve been a part of more main event matches than almost anyone else this year, I’ve been the world champion since March. I’ve defended my title successfully seven times and yet theres still just this… fuck I dunno… stigma. You know? Like somehow it doesn’t mean as much cause XYZ, like there's always a reason for it to be tarnished.”

It wasn’t even anger that permeated her voice as she sunk further into the chair trying to swallow her slowly, it was a level of disappointment. A disillusionment that things were supposed to be different, perceptions and opinions were supposed to be better cause she’d worked hard to change things… to improve things. That was what she’d strived to do, and yet the more she succeeded- the further away from that goal she felt like she had become. A hundred days had become two hundred, one defense had become seven and yet still it felt as though she hadn't done enough, that there was still this expectation that she needed to do more… to do better.
Be better.
Be more like everyone else despite the fact it was the whole reason that the world title had become such a fucking joke to begin with.

“After all this time Cassie, I’m still supposed to just sit here and swallow all the garbage that's thrown at me cause I was the only one willing to open their mouth and do anything. It shouldn’t matter who I love or hate, who is banging who or what… I’m the fucking World Bombshells Champion, I’m the goddamn reason that we are main eventing High Stakes, Cassie… So why does it feel like I’m still taking a back seat to everyone else's bullshit?”

Another rhetoric, although this time Amber was far more certain of the answer.

“I just wanted to make this division better… you know? Right wrongs, rectify mistakes. So why does it feel like so many others want things to be back the way they were?”





******




“Do you ever get sick of the high road?

All that broadcasting live from your high horse, all those lion-hearted speeches from atop an ivory tower. I’m exhausted for you, all that effort just to do anything except admit fault. I mean I get it, old habits die the hardest and I can't blame you for trying to look for silver linings in thunderstorms… HOWEVER when those silver linings are cracking with electricity, you have to start asking if it's really worth it.

As per ever- you come to me with the same old tired outlook disguised as a new, fresh perspective and honestly- you may as well just fuck off wiht it already.
You had your chance to be good and righteous, that card isn’t on the table anymore- so just because time has passed and you got a second wind, it doesn't mean we just pick up where we left off.
No, walking around on your tip toes with your nose to the sky doesn’t make you higher or mightier than anyone else- just more likely to trip over your own feet when it matters.

I’ll be honest Roxi, I find the whole schtick disingenuous- giving all our peers, all these fans clamouring for you to do the thing like you suddenly found your identity between the couch cushions and can now overcome your greatest demon… Let's be real though, it's the same old Roxi wrapped in a pretty new bow.
For the longest time you’ve been the moral compass of the Bombshells division- and don’t get me wrong, I still respect the fuck out of you for coming back for another round, however somehow you’ve strayed from your true north choosing to  huff this noxious, toxic righteous fury like it's ethical crack…Picking fights and imparting derision. It's addictive right?
I promise it's also just as good for the state of your teeth.

Thing is, you know there's always someone out there who is always gonna be a little worse than you.

Funny thing is, you’ve had all this time to reflect on where things went wrong, and yet you’ve voluntarily chosen to walk the same road as though the outcomes changes cause you smile differently with your eyes. All I’ve heard from you is excuses as to why your losses weren’t valid, rather than doing anything to change the fact it's so obscenely likely to happen again.
Maybe if you spent half that time searching for your fucking backbone Roxi, you wouldn;t have to reasses your models of morality.
Even so, lets dwell on the past for a moment before history chooses to repeat… you know, those times I didn’t beat you like it wasn’t my hand getting raised and like needing outside help to win then claiming that's the only credible win between us.
Great, now I’m bitter and just wanna kick your teeth through your spinal cord.

First time round- you should have been THANKING that referee for saving your life cause I assure you, I wasn't nearly prepared to lay off. I wasn’t nearly done sending my message and your blase attitude towards it only confirms I should have just kept swinging.
I could have gotten a solid eight hours sleep on you, and you still wouldn’t have fucking kicked out in the morning… Just cause I didn’t pin you, doesn’t mean it wasn’t definitive.
Third time? Come on now, you know as well as I do there's only one way to win a last man standing. You make sure they don’t get up, and yet another case where your gratitude seems to have been misplaced- that's okay though, all that blunt force trauma must have messed with your memory and ability to accept defeat.

Besides, all that furniture was for aesthetics.

You didn’t stop me, you couldn’t stop me and even now… you know you still can’t.

You think these are mind games?
Nah man, we’re well past that point- you and I are so well acquainted we’re practically in each others back pockets, we know each other better than our spouses do. I won’t pretend like you’ve haven’t taken me to my limits, that you haven’t been the reason I’ve crossed so many unforgivable lines…
But you’ve not seen my best.
That's the difference between us, everything you have to give, that you can physically give, you have already shown. Your cards have been on the table for a long time, and everyone knows the play. Go ahead and watch every tape, read every article my names been mentioned in, dig through my medical history for every fault and fracture I carry and wrack your brain for every addled memory that might expose a chink in my armour… all you’ll learn is I never fight the same match twice.

You can take everything you know about me, and collate it and I promise you’ll never get more than what you’re willing to see. I’m more than just the sum of my parts, just as a hurricane is more than some wind and a little rain.
I’m a force of nature, yet you keep pissing into the wind and expect not to wear it.

Any night, any defense… substitute your name and the result would have remained the same.

You were determined to earn it, but we both know it's more than that. I’ve seen you get title shots for far less effort, smile your way into whatever match you deemed worth your time.
Hell, Crystal is in the main event… Jessie has had at least two shots at me without ever winning a match- so don’t you sit there and try to tell me anything about how you ‘had to earn’ it.
I’ve earned this title, I’ve kept it against every set of odds thrown against me…
I’m far from special like people say I am though, maybe that's why they don’t seem to get me- talk me up like this pristine company shining star and instead you  get some piece of shit sentient voodoo doll straight from hell.

It's not that I’m better. I just work harder than anyone else. To get where I am, to stay where I am. Just cause you don’t like the way I conduct business, doesn’t make it any less valid. I’m not perfect by any means, and I’ll laugh in the face of anyone who thinks I am- what I have been is dominant, what I have been is the hardest working World Champion that Sin City Wrestling has seen in years. What I am is everything you want to be- just the version that refuses to accept that getting some dirt under your fingernails is part of the process.

After all, this is High Stakes- not ’Reasonably Acceptable Stakes’

Three women walk in. One as champion and two with their hearts on their sleeves.

One walks out with everything.

I’ll be honest though, I really could end yours and Crystal's careers at High Stakes and not lose a wink of sleep so long as the World Title was still on my shoulder.
Maybe that makes me callous, maybe that makes me a monster- but I’m a monster with the gold, I’m the monster with a target between her shoulder blades looking for the next wannabe with a shitty crossbow to come knocking.
I don’t need you to fear me, I don’t need you to think I’m inside your head- cause if you’re telling yourself those things then you probably already are. I don’t need you trying to tell me that you think I’m playing games- cause the laughs stopped the moment the title was on the line.

Ask Crystal how much I fucking laughed when I tore the title from her hands, ask anyone who has faced me for it whether I was rolling in mirth when that bell rang out.
Maybe you think you’ll be the one, and I’ll be honest I welcome you to try. Maybe you can do what no one else has managed despite the fact the best proof you have is a tarnished win you can barely claim as your own.
Time after bloody time, I’ve taken the best this division has to offer- everyone who thought they were different, that they had something to prove.
Crystals coming for her ‘rematch’ despite the fact I’ve had cups of coffee last longer than her last reign, you’re coming for redemption and to prove that you really did change- that it's not just all bluster and bullshit.

Everyone coming in has something to prove.

Fact is, I’ve worn the best of both of you on my skin. I’ve washed both of your blood from my hands and swallowed more of my own. There is nothing you have left to throw at me that I haven’t already taken…
I don’t need to beat either of you, I’ve done that already- I just have to outlast long enough for both of you to realize it…
Neither of you hit harder than Alicia, you don’t have Myra’s perseverance and you sure as fuck don’t have as big of balls as Jessie- and yet you both just stand there waiting to blunder your way into a victory that's not yours to claim.

When it comes down to it- at High Stakes, at the biggest event of the year… You both HAVE to beat me. Any other result wouldn’t mean nearly as much. Without my blood on that belt, without my head off my shoulders you’re just a fluke champion who avoided the hard work. Without my shoulders being down- you’ll never be considered the ‘real’ world champion, a placeholder till I dust myself off and come calling for my ten pounds of flesh.

See, what you have all failed to realize… and what will surely sting the most when you do… is that there is only one person who can take this title off me.

… the one staring right back at me in the mirror, and if she hasn’t managed it yet?

Then you don’t stand a fucking chance.”




******




SCW Mandated Hotel
New York City, NY
03.10.2021
8:13pm



‘For Services Rendered’

For a simple folder of documents, they felt heavy in her hands while the yellow sticky note seemed to almost fluoresce under the dull glow. Cassiopeia had brought them around, lingering awkwardly and expectantly as though anticipating the reading to be a public one- Amber however had no such interest. She knew who these were from and why.
Alistair McCrae had promised her the same information on Cassidy Parker that Del Gado previously had, only he actually delivered on it, instead of giving her the run around- and for the low, low price of once again telling Dominic all the ways he could go and fuck himself.

Flicking through as the cool night air slipped through the balcony door she’d left ajar, the faint scent of Cassieopia’s perfume seemed to waft from the folders interior. Generically floral, almost ethereal and airy. Familiar but in a way she couldn’t quite place.
Weird.
Amid the documents were more sticky notes as though McCrae had left his own running commentary upon compilation- most of it was basic copies of public domain information, surprisingly informative but otherwise easily disregarded.
Arrest records, some bearing Amber’s name alongside- like the one time they managed to ‘accidentally’ steal a car from a local misogynist with bad skin and too many ‘girlfriends’. Possession and alleged prostitution showed up later, but seemed to have been dismissed due to lack of evidence- and no doubt a smart mouth.
Amber chose to linger on the small memories from easier times though, bringing a coy smile to Amber’s features. She’d never been arrested more times than when she was with Cassidy- always up to something and almost never without the other.

Medical records came next as Amber quietly reminisced about the time Cassidy broke her arm cause Amber dared her to jump off a bridge with her- Cassidy had tried to chicken out as she jumped though, smashing her arm into the bridges edge trying to catch her grip- she knew Grizz had never believed them when they said they ‘fell’, mostly for how they couldn’t keep a straight face as the retelling got wilder.
A few cases of suspected domestic abuse came later, after Amber had left- dismissed cause no charges were ever laid. Stitches, abrasions. Suspiciously hand-shaped bruises gripping too tight.
Each page seemed to document a different stage of their relationship- the happier times growing murkier as time went on till things started to get confusing.

Name change documents.

Shelby Thomas.

Amber’s heart skipped several beats, the breath caught in her throat. Cassidy had used the pseudonym ‘Shelby’ when they were younger, lying to cops, creeps and potential one night stands alike so that they couldn’t search her up after they left. Amber had never considered that she might one day make the change any kind of permanent- the date filed, the 30th of July 2009. A little over a week after Amber had last seen her at the…
Another skip. Was this a heart attack?
… a week and change after the night Amber had won her first professional title, the one where Cassidy had been in tears begging Amber that they needed to talk, the one where Amber had promised to meet her after she’d…
Swallowing hard, the guilt and regret got caught part the way down as the silence only seemed to get louder between each page. A new life and erratic movements, new arrests in the same old places, new allegations in a swirling vortex of self-destructive downward spiraling.

Each page cut a little deeper, all those silent apologies tipping her tongue in a bitterness she couldn’t wash away. Cassidy, or Shelby it seemed, had found her own path and made her own mistakes. Grown up before any of them could really comprehend the change- one minute they were 13 and 16 messing around in abandoned houses telling local kids ghost stories bathed by neon and the next… the next they’d splintered almost irreconcilably until Cassidy… Shelby… sought out that connection in a time of need. A time when Amber couldn’t be… wasn’t… there.

Pages ran thin as the perfumed lingering grew weaker- a knot tightened in Amber’s chest to the point she swore she might suffocate on the spot as the last few pages finally tore the threadbare stitches holding her heart together violently asunder.
No, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. There was supposed to be a happy ending, there was supposed to be some good coming of this. Amber had done everything right… so why was it all so wrong?

She thought she might vomit as she rushed for the balcony’s edge, silently wishing she might simply fall and be done with it instead. Agonizingly though, she slumped at the railing while her heart feebly pulsed under her sternum as tears streaked like a burning lava flow and the nausea crept up her throat in the form of a heart wrenching, albeit pitiful scream into the night that she couldn’t just swallow.

All the while, the pages scattered silently to the floor with the last bearing a yellow sticky note simply reading… ‘I’m sorry, I thought you knew’.

[Crystal Zdunich]

Off Camera
Love And Hope Support Group
Las Vegas, Nevada

It had been one week since Todd Williams had set up his ex-wife Crystal Zdunich to go to a domestic abuse and violence support group. Crystal and Todd were now here for a second session. The first session had gotten a little intense with Todd admitting to Crystal that he was sorry for all of the abuse that he had put her through. Crystal didn’t want to admit it but thinking about it all. Todd abusing her had a huge impact on Crystal. It may not have seemed like it but 17 years of abuse would only go on to affect Crystal for years to come. It explained why she was always impulsive, why she always felt the need to be accepted, and why she would hurt so many others. As the saying goes hurt people end up hurting other people and her failed 5 marriages was definitely a true sign of that statement. Today Crystal wasn’t hiding anything as she came as herself. There was no wig to hide her identity or even glasses. She sat in the middle of the group as she looked around. Lisa the facilitator of the group looked at Crystal offering her a smile.

“Thank you so much for returning Carmen…”

Crystal however shakes her head as she looks back at everybody in the group. She takes a long deep breath as she replies back.

“My name is Christina… However you can call me Crystal for short. I just want to say Todd couldn’t be here tonight. He has to spend time with his current wife and family, but I am appreciative that he was able to bring me here last week. If you don’t mind I think I would like to share some stuff with the group…”

Julie one of the other abused women just nods her head in agreement before Lisa nods in return.

“By all means you can share whatever is on your heart. Like we told you the week before this is a no judgment zone. Whatever you are going through let it be known that we are here to give you an open ear. We all have been through some traumatic events so you don’t have to feel afraid. We are all in the same boat…”

Crystal nods her head as she looks around before she looks at all of the other women and finally begins to speak.

“First and foremost I just want to offer an apology to the entire group. Last week I really was afraid to be here. I was scared that you all might have judged me. Sometimes all of this is overwhelming. I am a wrestling superstar. One of the biggest names in the world, a major actress, but I have always dealt with people coming down hard on me. I often feel like I have to put up a façade because I don’t want people to see my true feelings and how vulnerable I can be… I feel like if I don’t put up that façade people will attack me or…”

Juliet shakes her head as she places a hand over Crystal’s.

“Christina we wouldn’t judge you. In here we don’t see you as the person you might try to portray on television, wrestling or however the entertainment world might view you. We see a woman just like us. One who has been abused and has been through the same stuff that we have…”

Lisa nods her head.

“Exactly… In here you are one of us, and we are a family who have each other’s backs so don’t worry about anything. Go ahead Christina. Just share your heart and we will be here to listen…”

Christina nods her head as she looks back at the group taking a long deep breath as she shares more of her heart.

“To be honest last week was really eye opening to me. I didn’t realize that there were people out there who had gone through what I have gone through. When my ex-husband stood in front of this group and told everyone that he was sorry for abusing me I honestly never thought of anything in that light before. I never saw myself as a woman who was abused. However as he broke it down and as you guys broke down that domestic abuse has many forms I guess I had gone through my share of hurt. It took real courage for him to basically share how his life was and what type of an abuser he was to me… After he apologized to me I knew I had to forgive him. I can’t hold onto that grudge forever…”

Crystal sighs as she looks to everyone in the room as she begins to speak some more.

“However it would be unfair for me to let him take all of the responsibility of what I have been through because I feel there’s so much more than just that, especially when it involves me. I never realized it but I can finally stand here and tell all of you that I have been an abuser to just about everybody in my life. It hasn’t been physical but I have spread a huge share of emotional abuse to everybody who has been in contact in me…”

Crystal chokes up as she stands there. Tears begin to flow from her eyes as Julie begins to hug Crystal tightly. Julie speaks to Crystal.

“So why do you feel you abuse people?!”

Christina thinks about it before she looks around the room and continues to speak some more.

“I abuse people because…. Because… I guess… No… I abuse people because I want to feel a sense of power of control. If I can use people to fuel my own agenda I know that I won’t get hurt. I know that I will get what I want and it guards me from getting hurt. It was never my intention to be a manipulative Bitch. It just happened because of how much I have been hurt. All of that hurt led to me constantly changing and doing whatever to be accepted or noticed….”

Christina looks at everybody before she takes a long deep breath and speaks more.

“That’s how I always treated everybody but then there’s my current wife Seleana. I honestly don’t know what or why she chooses to stay by me so much. I feel like since we got together I have been living a lie. Did I really want to be with her when my friend Stacy introduced me to her?! To be honest no… At the time I was just upset because my husband at the time Jonathan wasn’t giving me the attention I thought I deserved. I wanted all of the attention. I wanted to be the center of attention and wanted the spotlight. Quite often I felt like he ignored me so instead of being ignored I indulged in meeting this tall drink of water. Not because I really wanted to be with her but to fit a need of being with someone just so I wasn’t alone…”

Crystal shakes her head as she can’t help but let more tears roll down her cheek.

“She had filled a need but little did I know that she would fall deeply in love with me. I promised her the world. We were supposed to be a tag team in our wrestling profession and I never really lived up to that word. We eventually got married and shortly after we did I physically abused her just so I could advance my own career.”

Lisa just nods her head as she keeps her eyes locked on Crystal.

“And why did you do that exactly?!”

“To be honest I don’t know. I guess I was just selfish. I just wanted things for myself. However despite what I put her through she never gave up on me. She never gave up on the marriage, and I just don’t know why?! She stuck it through. I have broken her heart on so many different occasions. I cheated on her, I turned on her but she always just took it. She accepted my children as her very own and at the end of the day she has been holding out for me. It’s like all she can see is the best version of me and I don’t know why…I don’t see the same stuff in me that she does…”

Lisa looks back at Crystal as she replies back.

“You ever consider it’s because through everything she really loves you… She knows that deep down beneath everything she sees a woman who is strong. Instead of trying to go about pushing her away or trying to showcase this sense of power have you ever considered that you could allow yourself to be vulnerable to her?! That same emotion that you shared with the group is what you should be showing to her…I can’t speak for her because I don’t know her but just basing off what I have seen with similar cases. She just wants you to open up your feelings to her. Have you expressed them?!”

Crystal sighs shrugging her shoulders.

“Not really… I mean I might have tried to force certain emotions or hide them. I gave Seleana some bull crap but I wasn’t really giving her sincere emotions. They were just emptiness and to be honest she doesn’t deserve it. She deserves better. These past couple of months have been the worst for me. The entire world has been clamoring for Seleana to be freed. They wanted her to walk away from her captive to shed herself from the abuser. Pride is definitely a Bitch because Lord knows I never want to agree with anyone. However after really looking at what Seleana has been through she shouldn’t be tied to a leech who will suck her dry. She deserves better than that. In my heart I know she wouldn’t walk away so that’s why I chose to leave…”

Crystal lets more tears roll down her cheek as she looks at the camera.

“I chose to step away from her and my daughter. So now she is left to be a single parent while I am here talking to all of you in hopes of trying to get better. So go on and tell me what I want to hear. Tell me how awful I am as a person! Tell me how I don’t deserve her and this is for the best…”

Everybody in the room just looks at Crystal as she begins to get even more emotional. She takes a long deep breath as she looks at everyone in return. However Julie just looks right at Crystal.

“That is just the hurt in you speaking and there’s nothing wrong with that. Let me ask you a question, and it’s an honest one at that. How do you personally feel about Seleana. If she was right here what would you say to her?!”

Crystal has more tears flow down her cheek as she replies.

“I would tell her that I don’t know how she has been able to put up with me so much. I would tell her that I am definitely not good for her. I am too self-centered and no matter how many times she forgives me it’s a cycle that never seems to stop. All I do at the end of the day is hurt her. She needs to get off of this train and really do better for herself. She has great friends who love her. Friends who give her the best advice and perhaps she should choose their opinions over my own. As far as how I personally feel about Seleana?! I love her with all of my heart. She is my entire everything. She is my heart, and without her I feel my world would self-destruct. I would give up anything and everything for things to work out between us. She is the most important thing in my life. Sometimes it is really hard to gauge that but it shouldn’t have even been a question. It has always been her…”

Crystal takes a deep breath as she shares more.

“I have been divorced five times now and in every other circumstance everybody else has always walked away. Not Seleana though… She has stuck it through and I guess that what makes her the most desirable. I want her… I need her… and I know I can’t afford to lose her…”

Christina breaks down more. All of the women stand up as they begin to hug her tightly. Julie hands her a box of tissues as she reaches out to her.

“I know it must be tough to acknowledge the truth but there’s no mistake that you definitely love Seleana and at the end of the day she loves you. I know it was a very tough decision to give up the very thing you love but you did so to better yourself. You want to become better so you can be a better woman for everybody in your life. However just keep taking these steps to do the right thing because in the long run it’s going to help you out in ways you couldn’t even fathom. Seleana definitely loves you and the fact that she has stuck by you for this long clearly showcases that. You said something earlier that caught my attention and I want to ask you a really honest question…”

Crystal nods her head.

“Sure go ahead… At this point I am willing to answer anything…”

“Okay… I know how much your career means to you before you were talking to us wearing a wig because you didn’t want this to hurt your reputation. You didn’t want it to tarnish anything close to your legacy. That tells me that it means a lot to you. Add in the fact that you told us that you basically betrayed your wife to further your career and it’s easy to tell you like the status and the reputation. If you had to choose between your wife and your career which one would you choose?!”

Crystal looks at everyone in the group as she wipes the tears out of her eyes and seems confident.

“It’s not even a question… A few years ago I would have chosen myself but that’s not the case anymore. The answer is always going to be my wife. After what she has continuously done to support me and my family, I can’t go against her. Sometimes it’s hard to figure it out. Why should I go against the one person who is always on my side no matter what?! I have always focused on doing things for the wrong people.  Why try to do things for the support of a majority that will never accept me when there is always going to be one loyal one that’s always there since day one. The same loyal one who will be there for the rainy days as well as enjoy the sunny days?! I love Seleana and I would trade the luxuries, the legacy, and everything for her. It’s not even a question in my mind and it’s not even close. My wife is everything to me…”

All of the women in the room begin to clap their hands in unison as they look right at Crystal. Lisa slowly replies back.

“Good… You know that the most important thing to you is your wife. Being able to leave your wife and your child to get better was a very hard first step but now there’s an even harder step left out there for you to do. You have to go about confronting your wife and telling her face to face what you told us here. Let her know how much she means to you. Assure her that things are getting better and that you are in it for the long run. I feel if you really have a serious heart to heart with her things are going to be better than you imagined and your relationship will be in an even better place. Share your heart and just tell her how you feel… You won’t get anywhere by locking away your emotions. Let her be part of your life. Showcase why she is loved and why you love her so much…”

Crystal just looks at Lisa giving her advice. Lisa was right. This group session was very therapeutic for her. As much as she hated being in this group she felt somewhere that she could actually fit in. Crystal looks around at all of the other women as she can’t help but smile at them.

“Thank you so much for accepting me. You have no idea how much these sessions mean to me. I never expected that I would open up quickly but I feel like it’s really helping me in the right areas…”

Crystal grins but Lisa just stands there looking back at her.

“You aren’t done though. This is only the beginning. If possible you should invite Seleana to come here. It would be good to hear her side of the story. Maybe we can even go further and get you two counseling so you could air everything out. Change is something that doesn’t happen overnight Christina. It takes time… The only reason why any of us have become strong in this room is because we all took our time in trying to get better. This is not something you want to rush. The more you invest into getting better is the more positive results it’s going to have in the long run. Trust any of us. We have been through this entire process. We are definitely here for you and we won’t go anywhere. Now that you are part of our family we will help you in the areas that you need the most. We are family and we got your back…”

Crystal could only take it all in as all of the women in here continued to hug her. They did have a point. Perhaps everything she has ever done has always been for a quick fix. This time she would actually listen to the advice. Slow and steady would get her what she wanted and she wasn’t going to fuck this up. She couldn’t mess it up because that would mean she would damage her marriage, and she was tired of doing that… She loved being part of a group. There was only one thing she needed to do. She had to confront Seleana and finally be able to share how she truly felt…










Long behold… I guess this is finally it. This is what everybody has been waiting for. We are walking into the biggest show of the entire year. It doesn’t get any bigger than that of High Stakes and honestly I am starting to feel a little better about myself. it definitely has been a long six months since I long my World Bombshell Championship. I have definitely have gone through my share of personal shit. Shit that I wish I could rewind the tape and do it all over again.

It has been a year of building myself to being at the very top of the wrestling world at the top of the year only for it to be taken away because my head wasn’t in the game. When I say not in the game it has nothing to do with my actual wrestling ability but it has everything to do with my life outside of it. I know in the past I have always told the world some type of bullshit that it has never affected it. I would put on a façade along with a costume change and a different make up job. I would slap on a new name to make me feel good about myself but it never gave me the peace of mind that I was looking for.

The truth is at the end of the day it was a case of me being the same old, same old, and it’s a mindless and endless cycle. However as I glance at things I can finally be sincere and admit that I am a self-centered, egotistical little bitch. Yes I am a Prima Donna and things should revolve around me. I won’t sit here and try to deny that because that’s who I been and it’s who I ever been.

However I realize I have a problem when I have been showcasing that attitude to everybody around me including my very own wife. It isn’t right and it only took me three years to finally figure that out. Instead of trying to fight against my biggest supporters I should have been embracing them. We should have been celebrating together and that is definitely my fault. I have treated Seleana horribly. That is why I knew I had to walk away because I had to fix this shit so I can be better.

When I look at our relationship I realize that the two of us have a relationship that is similar to that of Hamilton and Eliza. I can’t help but feel that I am the Alexander Hamilton in this wrestling company. I am always ready to take my shot. I am always ready to get my way and in order to clear my own name, ego, and legacy I am willing to tarnish my own marriage to get what I want. It’s sad because I shouldn’t be out there trying to “burn” everything for my own needs and satisfaction. I should be a team player. However Seleana is definitely my Eliza. She’s definitely the woman I don’t deserve. She won’t be quick to listen to what the world wants for our relationship.

Instead she will keep her feelings and what happens in our marriage to herself. If she has an issue she will personally showcase it to me in private because she refuses to let any outsider destroy the sanctity of our marriage. That is definitely a strength I don’t have and I love my wife for it.

However my legacy is EVERYTHING to me and I will do whatever it takes to maintain. So now that I am glaring at this triple threat match for a chance to become the World Bombshell Championship I feel like my legacy is once again being attacked. I feel I am being disrespected and that is something that I definitely have an issue with. Everybody always wishes to talk me down but I am to be respected. I have earned my rightful place in this company. You can talk as much shit as you want like I am the odd woman out, or that I am the weak link but people seem to forget that there was a time where I put this company on my back, and I will damn near always put it on back because I love being here.

After looking over everything I have come to realize that I don’t NEED the belt to be a main stay in this company. I have worked my ass off to gain that status because I am a workhorse and I am always willing to put it all on the line. The same is true especially when it comes to competing at this very event. You can say whatever you wish about my but I am always on this show. Hell this would be the third World Bombshell Championship match that I have competed in at this very event.

People tend to come and go when it comes to SCW. Some people might be a revolving door with how much they go in and out but I am consistent. Since I came here I have made this my main company and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. Even when I wasn’t competing I still was around as a personal assistant to Mark because I loved every aspect of being here.

However despite what I put in people don’t seem to respect what I do?! I don’t need any of your acceptance because I know what I bring to the table and I know how good I am. Roxi ever since they were deciding what to do when it came to this match you have been saying the same thing over and over again. You are putting the blame on you for me being here. Had you been quicker I wouldn’t be in this match right now?! BULL TO THE FUCKING SHIT…

You should know by now that I definitely go down swinging to the very end. I always bring it and despite all of that bullshit you love to spew out of your mouth how I have been sitting on my ass and chasing after different accomplishments. The truth of the matter is I have ALWAYS earned my spot. I am stuck and tired of the notion that I don’t earn anything. I am the woman who earned her first world title opportunity in this very company by pinning Vargas in 2015 who was the number 1 contender for Mikah’s title at the time. Hell because I beat her right before the event I basically inserted and EARNED my way into that High Stakes main event!

Hell I earned another shot after that by winning Blast From The Past, and even after losing that Christian gave me a title shot because he said despite me acting like a total Bitch the truth was I didn’t get my rightful ONE ON ONE SHOT! Need I have to explain how me and Seleana won a strange bedfellows match to get another shot, how I earned my way into the chamber and so on?! Not everybody can have the luxury of leaving a company like YOU did and immediately being handed a world title match in their first match back despite doing anything to get that?!

But hey if the shoe fits wear it or it’s always okay to throw Crystal’s past in her face but God forbid she calls somebody else on their shit. It might get old having to deal with the past. Things might seem be the case of the same old shit but the best thing about the past is that we can learn from our previous mistakes.

So it might get irritating to be in this position but it’s also bullshit that you want to have this wet dream fulfilled of you stepping in the ring with Amber again. Didn’t you get your shit rocked before?! What difference can a year really make?! Back then she wasn’t as good as she is now. She was merely getting her feet wet in this company and she still beat you.

This year she has beaten the entire list of who’s who in this company. She has gone through everybody and she is better than she has ever been, and you think you are really that hero who is going to rise up to stop her?!

No I highly doubt that… I am going to be honest with you. I love you. You are a friend and sometimes a hard dose of the truth hurts but what makes you think you even have what it takes to make it to that championship level anymore?!

You can blame yourself for me being close to the championship but while you are at it you can also blame yourself more than just that because title reign number four came at YOUR EXPENSE SO TAKE THAT HEAT TOO… While you are at it blame your wife as well because she’s responsible for title reign number 5… I Earned that by my own merit. So for you to say that I don’t deserve to be here basically discredits anything YOU have done because YOU are the one that hasn’t been able to beat me in a while. It’s not the other way around nor has it been for quite some time.

Even if I haven’t earned a single thing as people would put it if I get one of those title defenses that the bosses like to give during the midcourse of a cycle and I end up winning, that just means I was hungry for that moment. You need to always be on your game and that is me in a nutshell. I am sick and tired of people not taking me seriously?! I have appeared on six High Stakes. Three of them championship matches, one of them inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of them I won woman of the year and most improved. One of them I was beating the hell up out of a red hot Andrea Hernandez and people wish to have the audacity I don’t deserve to be here?!

Fuck off… I earned my spot here because I am a go getter. I am always going out on all cylinders and I will always continue to do so. You Roxi are good. You are worthy of your spot but don’t try to act like I don’t belong here. I have to applaud you because I know being the hero isn’t an easy thing to do. You have to do everything in your power to worry about the entire world. You have to try to be this symbol to everybody and you do things for the greater good.

Honestly I can’t do that… I haven’t been good at that role. If I tried to be a hero it would be for the intention of wanting to be accepted. It would take a lot of sacrifice on my part and I just can’t do that. Hell I wouldn’t last a week in your shoes and I am being honest. You want to know why and I can be honest. It’s because I am too selfish for any of that.

Why worry about the entire world when I am out for one simple thing out of this wrestling business. I want to be the very best, and I want to be like no one ever was. That’s not to sound like a Bitch or anything but it’s something my wife knows. She knows that I take wrestling very seriously and in the spirit of competition I am willing to pull out every single stop.

That’s why I get so worked when people are quick to write me off like I am not good. That’s why I do walk around with a chip on my shoulder when people don’t even have me as one of the top five best bombshells ever in this company. They want to wish people like Mikah, Delia, Vixen, and sleep in peace Misty. However I take offense is because when they all wish to take their leave out of this company only to return like years later. I am the one that is still going. I am still fighting with everything I have and I will continue to do so until I physically am unable to do.

Wrestling is what I love and I might be all over the place outside of the ring. I might try to find an identity and it gets frustrating having to watch this same movie over and over. However when I step in that ring I have an identity. I have a place and in my eyes its home.

You don’t feel what I feel because your home is just about everywhere else. Your home is being a hero, the place you your warmth is behind a set of drums or constantly showcasing how much of a musical knowledge you have by drumming all types of songs. That is who you are, or maybe giving a shit about wrestling if it involves getting a potential dream match with your wife, or Amber, or whoever.

It honestly sounds like waiting on a pipe dream. It’s like you are part of some boxing commission and you are trying to hold out to get the fight that will eventually pay you.

That’s not my style and it’s crazy because you would think that being the Hollywood type that definitely would be me. It would be all about the flashiness, the star power and etc. I don’t wait on pipe dreams. I am the type that is ready to step into the ring with mandatories. It may come across as boring but I am ALWAYS fighting, and always ready to fight whoever. I don’t give a damn if it’s Seleana in that ring, a close friend, or whoever. I simply just want to fight.

People which include you always feel the need to try to bring me down about changing so much but if you really look at it. I am trying to fine craft what I do for the wrestling world. It’s all about switching it up for the ring. If that gives you more than enough ammo to take shots at me like I am a firing target at a range by all means you can thank me later. I would rather give people something to talk me down instead of acting like the actual wrestling is second nature in all of this.

The acting, the movies, the gamer girl… It don’t mean anything but what I do in this ring… That’s what I live by. Go stick to saving the world, or playing drums. I will focus on my passion of wrestling.

However it’s not just Roxi that is out there in that ring. I also have Amber Ryan to worry about and I know for a fact that Amber Ryan is gunning to take me down once again. She is ready to spill blood and she is willing to do whatever is needed to defend a title.

Good… That’s the type of energy I want you to bring. I want all of that smoke and I damn sure want you at your best because when I beat you and Roxi in the ring. I don’t want there to be any excuse on why you lost to me. Am I feeling confident right now?!

Damn right I am… Amber Ryan before you even came to SCW I always had my eye on you. I remember when you were in Carnage and you held their World Championship. I knew for a fact that you definitely a tough bitch. You were among the best of the best in the world. I wanted you to come to this company. While many were eager because they wanted to see you step into the ring to finally face Roxi Johnson, and I will admit I definitely did my share of egging that on.

It had nothing to do with you facing Roxi. To be honest I didn’t really care about any of that. I know I poked fun at Roxi and I basically was putting you over to be this huge fucking threat and it got her a little miffed because she’s my friend. Truth be told the only reason why I wanted you to come to SCW was because I wanted to face you myself. I wanted to be in the ring with the best of the best. You don’t get anywhere by fighting the same old competition because if you do that your skills won’t improve.

Instead you need to challenge people who are better than you because that’s how your own reputation gets better. The moment you finally signed with SCW I knew it would only be a matter of time before we would have our exchange in the ring.

I honestly never thought it would come at the expense of you beating me down after I won my fifth World Championship. If you wanted a title match all you really had to do was ask me and I would have been quick to give you a shot. Hell that was the plan all along. I was going to call you out anyway because I knew that you deserved a title opportunity.

That has always been who I am. When I beat Roxi for my fourth title I immediately called out Andrea because she had just beaten me on the Super Card prior. I know she felt upset when I beat Roxi but you can count on me to make it right because that’s the type of champion I am and the one I have always been.

Have I won the title on five different occasions?! You damn right I have, and quite often my reigns don’t really last long. You have some people like Alicia Lukas who will gloat over the fact that they have SET RECORDS and accomplish so much but then again when you try to stat pad your reign by trying to call out people who haven’t won matches in a while and try to put on a fake façade saying that they were tough defenses it comes across as bullshit to me.

That’s not my style, and if I win something and truly want to cement myself as the best that’s when I wish to fight the Mikahs, the Evie Jordan’s, the Amber Ryan. That is the level of competition that I wish to fight as a champion. If I can’t make it past them then that means I didn’t deserve that reign in the face place. At least I knew I went out on my sword against the best the company had and I have no issue with that.

Hell five title reigns and I lost to Melody Grace, Evie Jordan, Mikah, Andrea Hernandez, and you… I would say I definitely did my job as champion despite what people might think. Amber Ryan I respect the shit out of you and I know you are perhaps the biggest threat to the division but I also know that the last time we fought I wasn’t focused like I should have been. I know my mind was on trying to play mind games and in the end that was my own undoing.

That’s on me and I accept that but now in this encounter the roles have definitely been reversed. You are the prey and I am the hunter. Roxi wants to make this simply about the two of you, in your head you rather wish this was between the both of you. So that tells me that you are already writing me off like I don’t belong here. When I hear stuff like that it fuels me just to prove you both wrong. I will be the biggest threat to your title and this match because I know how much this means to be. Last time I had my eyes on what happened with my daughter, and it caused issues between Seleana and her friends.

How could I let my immune compromised daughter be at ringside?!

How could I do this or how could I do that?!

People kept hammering me with question after question. It was followed up by the Free Seleana tweets among other things. I was all over the place, but this time I actually stepped away from my wife and my child. My focused is on one thing.

That being to step in this match and to showcase what I have already done on five different occasions. I am out here to prove why I am the best bombshell in this company and why I should never be overlooked. You have all of the talent in the world Amber but when that bell rings you will know how dangerous I truly am. Through hell or high water I will be respected and you will know that Crystal Zdunich is definitely the woman to beat in this company.

Win, lose, or draw I know for a fact that three of us will go to war in that ring. When that bell rings the world will be treated to a main event the definitely will not be able to forget. A lot is on the line here but seeing as I have come this far I might as well take the most of this opportunity and win.

Whatever happens I am happy to be in this spot. I have earned this place and after High Stakes it will be about working things out with Seleana going into the new year.

It’s show time ladies. Let’s put on a match that nobody will ever forget…

Consider this your curtain call… Take a bow. It’s time to roll the credits on this once and for all, and to finally showcase to you both and the entire world why I am the best of the best. Nothing will ever stop this rose from blossoming…