The Enigma's Revenge/Revenge against Enigma?

[SnowQueenSCW]

OOC: This is a ‘middle story’ between the scenes of Selena’s second roleplay. Please read both Selena’s two PPV rps before reading this one.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a work of fiction and not to be confused as complete or accurate representation of any beliefs, religions, etc. Please refer to research/articles by experts for that.

The Witches of Alden

”Suspicions”

Manhattan School District #3
Manhattan, New York
May 30th, 2024
1:53pm

“Deanna…”

Deanna Frost managed to tear her eyes away from her eldest daughter standing at the front of the classroom, just long enough to turn her head and gaze into the eyes of her beautiful wife, Selena, the platinum-blonde offering a kind smile as she whispered, “I have to go handle one last piece of business, okay?”

Business? Her mind was still on the emotional high of pride after hearing Elsianna’s presentation on Selena, but that last word was still enough to raise a red flag of alarm within the redhead.

“It’s about the move-in. I’ll handle that and come right back, alright? To celebrate.” Selena added, as if she could read the look of confusion and concern on Deanna’s face.For a moment, emerald eyes studied the taller Frost before Deanna nodded her head, slowly letting go of her wife’s hands. “Hurry back.” She whispered, almost as a command.

“I will.” Selena promised before quietly, and before the next presenter could begin, slipping out of the classroom and into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

With the absence of Selena once more, a long, quiet sigh escaped the redhead. At the very least, her wife had made to their daughter’s final-project presentation, which was a relief considering she had nearly missed by being late in the first place with her ‘radio silence’- the mere thought of those two words caused another sigh to escape Deanna, though she covered it up with a yawn.

It wasn’t that she was sympathetic to her wife’s concern. This weekend was a big deal for the Snow Queen, Deanna knew that. The main-event for Rise to Greatness was going to be decided this weekend and it was, quite easily, ‘do-or-die’ for Selena’s goal to ‘undo the past RTG’. Deanna still didn’t quite understand it, herself, but still, if Selena retained AND headlined RTG, it further guaranteed her return to living with Deanna and their children back in their ‘Forever Home’.

The idea made Deanna’s heart flutter as she stood against the wall, barely listening to the next presenter speaking at the front of the class. After so many months, and nearly a divorce, she would have her wife back with her, things being back to normal. They would be living together again – a family – that was all the young Frost truly wanted. Even if things were a bit strained for them in SCW, their work with Dr. Glengow had proven to be so helpful! They were going on dates, resuming an intimate life and Selena seemed more and more like her old self whenever she was outside of SCW.

Except for that part where she lit up when you mentioned talking to CHBK for her.

Okay… Deanna admitted quietly to herself. That was her fault. She shouldn’t have brought it up last weekend. She had been throwing idea around because Selena had seemed so worried about her match with Xander Valentine being filled with interferences and whatnot, like the last few Breakdowns had been. Deanna had merely offered a suggestion to talk to CHBK about it, maybe get his thoughts on it, but the way Selena had lit up, even talked about ‘barring people from ringside’…

Admit it… highly sus. The thought came quickly and strongly and she tried to shake it away. She didn’t mean it that way… I think. she reasoned. But then how did she mean it then?

Once more, that sense of confusion regarding her wife bubbled in the pit of Deanna’s stomach. It had started last Breakdown during everything with Jessica Winters. Why hadn’t Deanna seen that coming, she mentally cursed herself. Maybe because she never believed things would go that far. But that far they had gone! Her match with Fall St. Patrick – or Autumn Valentine – had never happened. Hadn’t even really started. Instead, Jessica Winters, who had been missing for over a week, had appeared with Fall’s mask and tried to fight Deanna. And that had just drawn out Kimberly Williams and Konrad and his goons, the Fiery Something Something! In an instant, Deanna’s whole plan on searching for The Enigma and getting answers from him had changed on a dime to protecting the warped Jessica from Konrad and his party! Couldn’t he see that Jessica was just an innocent victim in all of this? She had never wanted to be a wrestler like he and Deanna wanted to.

It didn’t matter what she had done in the last few weeks, she was still Deanna’s friend, which meant Deanna’s new plan was to protect her. The only good thing from the whole night of having her match ‘never happen’ was that Jessica had been apprehended and was back in protected custody…

Hers.

It had taken some convincing with CHBK and Hiro Tanaka, but the United States champion had immediately offered the idea of putting Jessica somewhere that no one would know. None of the SCW staff beyond Hiro and CHBK would know and the place would be close to Deanna in order for her and Selena to keep an eye on her. Speaking of which, another thing that added to Deanna’s suspicions now was her wife’s involvement. During the discussion, Selena had come onto the scene eager to help – a far cry to the violent and angry woman that had almost kicked down Winters’ door during Breakdown - she was just worried about me. But afterwards, the Snow Queen had come in in full support of the idea. She even volunteered to use her connections and resources in NYC to find a suitable place that would be safe for Jessica – ‘her dear friend’ she had said. In the end, at the very least, CHBK trusted Deanna and signed off on it. Jessica was then transferred to the Lennox Hall Hospital, which Deanna visited as often as she could. Selena too, but the radio silence this week had made that impossible…

When we saw her in the hospital, I was clear… Deanna shook her head. Why was she still doubting Selena?! The woman had made the transfer possible with her pull with the SCW management! And besides, Deanna had already addressed the issue – though she felt guilty doing so. After the meeting, the redhead had spoke to CHBK and Hiro privately over that remark Selena had said about being clear in the hospital. Guiltily, Deanna had asked them to use the security footage they had of Winters’ visitors in Baltimore and see what Selena was talking about. Because when they had been there, Selena had done little but tell a joke. What had she been clear on?

Again, the wave of guilt hit the redhead. But it had been a week and nothing from either Hiro or CHBK about it. Maybe Selena had just said something and Deanan had forgotten or hadn’t heard her while she was with Jessica.

Or maybe it was something worse… like what she did with Aaron…

Again, frustrations flared up with the system of the redhead. That was the other part of the equation. What she had, inadvertently, discovered. She had been working – ‘Project Day’ – with Selena and the children, helping them with their final-projects and had gone done to Selena’s office to print off some pictures for Amiliah’s ‘neighbourhood map’. The task had been simple. Turn on the computer screen in Selena’s office, open the email Selena had just sent of the photos, and then print the damn pictures.

So why… friggin’ why!... Did I look at that video?!

She had sent the pictures to the printer and then seen the video file out of the corner of her eye, still on the taskbar. Out of curiosity, she had opened it and watched the last minute or so – maybe to get some inspiration on how to intimidate The Enigma in her promo. If there was one thing Selena was really good at in promos, it was catchy lines! Things that riled up, pissed off, or scared people. And she wanted to use some zingers on The Enigma! Anything to force him out when they and the others fought in London!

But now? She wished she hadn’t seen the damn video. Wished she hadn’t seen her wife making thinly-veiled threats to Aaron Demitria. And while the senior official was not as close to the Frost family as Jessica was, he had always been so kind to Deanna – kind and patient. Always giving her a smile when they bumped into each other at catering. Always giving his thoughts on matches. And when he officiated her matches, not as often as he did Selena but that was okay, he was always fair and truthful in his decisions. She hated having to question his integrity following Retribution and Selena’s match with Kandis, but the fact that he hadn’t held it against her and been so understanding with his answer and defense of his own integrity struck home with the redhead. And yet, on that accursed video, there was Selena telling him, basically, to get in line or there would be consequences.

She’s…she’s just under a lot of stress. Deanna tried to reason. There’s a lot riding on this weekend-

And what about that soccer game?! And DAVID! You didn’t get a chance to tell her about what happened!

Again, her mind was at war as she stood silently against the classroom wall, the other students’ voices like white-noise to her. It was another issue with Selena’s decision for ‘radio-silence’. A day after her son, David, had supposedly given his final-project, she had received a phone call from the school teacher and principal. With Selena not responding to any phone calls or messages, the younger Frost had taken it upon herself to visit the school as requested. What she had learned…

Gods… how could he think… she thought for a moment, casting a glance at Elsianna sitting at her desk, still wearing Selena’s red-leather jacket and listening to the current student presenting. The teacher and principal had wanted to talk to David’s mother – at least one of them – because David’s ‘brilliant story’? The one that had amazed both her and, more so, Selena had been stolen. Plagiarized by an AIBot. Now, admittedly, Deanna did not fully understand the whole “AI-controversy” that had risen up in the past few years, but she definitely knew what plagiarism was!

And David, for his part… admitted to the whole thing. Had even shown Deanna, the teacher and principal how he had used the very basic online website to get enough of a story cobbled together, with David changing only a few things. When pressed further, though the boy, with tears in his eyes (he was so scared) had told Deanna the truth: that he was just doing what Selena had told him.

THAT was what Deanna had needed to talk to Selena about. According to David, Selena had said something about ‘the ends justifying the means’ at David’s last soccer game - I knew that big kid didn’t trip him! she thought angrily. Selena told him to take a dive! The pep talk the platinum-blonde had had with the boy during the soccer game now made sense, and it meant that her son, much like this project… had cheated.

A sigh escaped her and, for a moment, Deanna hated herself as, for a second, she doubted whether or not the presentation her daughter had made – beautiful as it was – wasn’t AI-written as well! No, that’s not who Elsianna is! Deanna vehemently thought.

Still… for her part, she wanted this weekend to just be over. After she dealt with Enigma and got some answers from him, she’d focus on her wife and, with or without the world title in her possession, Selena definitely going to answer some questions as well!

BZZZZTTTT!!!!

She heard, rather than felt the vibration of her phone, the device going off in the jacket she held in her hand, having removed it as she had entered the classroom. Quietly looking up at the classroom, Deanna slipped out of the room much the same way she had seen Selena do it. Outside, she quickly fished out the phone, thumbing the screen to accept the call.

“Hello?” she asked, pressing the phone to her ear.

“Deanna?” she didn’t recognize the voice right away, but, thankfully, received an answer. “It’s Alex.”

“Alex?” she racked her mind as she walked down the halls, if only to curb her restlessness.

“From work.” Deanna’s eyes widened at that, the realization hitting her.

“Alex!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t recognize your voice on the phone. What’s, uh… what’s up?”

“You asked Hiro and I to do some more digging on the security footage at John Hopkins.”
“Yea-Yes.” Deanna nodded, though the tone in the SCW icon’s voice filled her stomach with dread.

“Hiro just sent you an email.” CHBK answered, his tone unchanging. “Unrelated to Jessica’s abduction but…”
“But what?”

The line went dead at that, leaving Deanna more stunned than anything – at least for a few seconds. Quickly, she had opened up her gmail account and, true to the icon’s word, there was an email from Hiro.

Quickly, or as quick as her fingers could swipe and poke, she opened up the message and clicked on the video file that was attached to it. It took a second for it to load but, once it had, the redhead instantly recognized the interior of Jessica’s room – or rather the room that had been Jessica’s – at the John Hopkins Hospital. It was an overhead shot from a corner on the wall. From the angle, Deanna could make out Jessica lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, and Selena, her wife, sitting on the bed beside her.

She heard Selena speak first. “I’m not buying this ‘magical smoke’ nonsense…” she said, her grip tightening its hold on Jessica’s arm. “And, for all the years we’ve been friends, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that this is some sort of drug being used on you… but…” she gazed up at the dull face of Winters. “If Deanna is wrong… and I find out this is something to do with you and only you…” her voice lowered to a growl. “Then friend or no… I will make sure you NEVER leave this place.”

Deanna felt her mouth drop… and her heart sink. She heard wrong! She had to have heard wrong. Jessica was suffering – being used by Enigma to hurt people. “D…Darkness.” She stared directly into Selena’s cold, sapphire eyes.

“Darkness.” She heard Jessica whisper through the video.
“Hello, my old friend.” Selena answered back. “Glad you understand me on this. I protect what is mine.”

Deanna turned away, her eyes stinging with tears. There was no mistaking that line – that meaning. She had heard the same damn line in Selena’s video to Aaron Demitria. The threat that echoed behind it. It turned Deanna’s pain into anger, until she was all but running down the hall towards the parking lot. She had to talk to Selena! She had to get some answers at what her wife was thinking – what was possibly going through her head that would possess her to threaten Jessica like that!

With more anger than she meant, she had pushed the doors open, the afternoon sunlight spilling across her face. It was blinding for a second but only for a second, and as Deanna blinked her eyes a few times to adjust, she spotted a car speeding out of the parking lot – recognizing it immediately as the one Selena at won at the End of the Year Invitational.

“SELENA!” Deanna yelled out, already knowing she was too late as the car drove further out, turned a corner and disappeared out of sight as it travelled away.

She’s just going to handle some business… her heart desperately tried to convince her. She’s just going back to handle some business…

Looking down at her phone, however, Deanna knew she had been lied to – and that she was lying to herself. Flicking through the files, she found the video she had sent to herself as well… Selena’s Royal Letter video to Aaron Demetria. Standing there in the parking lot, she watched the whole thing, watched her wife take a syringe, take a black bag out of hiding, and she recognized the pills immediately, even as Selena took one.

“NX…” her voice cracked in shock and heartbreak, the reality, the one she had ignored all this time, hitting her like a ton of bricks, smashing her heart to pieces.

She had been so blind – so in love with the idea of getting her wife back, whether it was through pretending like Evelyn and Chica or this past weekend when they were working on their children’s projects. She had let herself believe that such ‘moments’, full of pretend and make-believe, were real.

But what she had seen in both videos… that was who Selena was. The Blue-Eyed Devil… and it was beyond clear what she was going to use that syringe for… and beyond clear what she needed to do!

Without hesitating, Deanna raced towards her own vehicle, jumping into it and pulling out of the parking lot as fast as she could.

She won’t stop as long as she thinks she’s protecting me… she felt the hot tears sting her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly, keeping her vision clear as she drove down the roads.

It was true… Selena would never stop protecting what was hers… but there was a way to stop her and save Jessica…

And only Deanna could do it.

_______________________________________________________________


So… where do we start?

No… you know what? I am not playing that question now. I’m sorry, gritters, but you saw Breakdown. You saw what happened to me and to Jessica. So, with all respect and asking for all your patience, but I’d like to take this promo in a certain direction...

ENIGMA!

I dared you to show your face last Breakdown! To come out and face me! Instead, you worked to get Jessica out of the hospital and into my match to attack me!

For what? To prove you’re a coward?! That you’re too scared to fight your own battles?! That you’re a sick, demented being that hides in smoke and manipulations? Congratulations! You proved it! Bravo!

You know what else you did, Enigma? You made this even more personal for me. You made it clear that my mission isn’t just to be there, in London this weekend, to get ‘answers’ from you. No! Instead, I get to be part of the savage beating that is headed your way! I get to play a hand in it!

So let me clear this up for how you’ve made things, because maybe you can’t see the full picture with all the smoke you surround yourself with. You’ve got Kimberly Williams, reigning Underground Champion and Queen of Chaos – most chaotic mind in SCW. You’ve got Konrad Raab – a man with… wooooo breath-taking anger issues, not to mention a terrifying looking axe. The equally angry and aggressive bashing boys of his little group, you’ve got myself – reigning United States Champion - and you… the one person that’s pissed off every single one of us.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I am directly quoting The Avengers, because, shock of the week, I actually agree with Kimberly on this one. Because if that was your plan, to piss off 5 of the hungriest superstars in SCW today… well, that is a horrid plan! Because this isn’t a six-person dance, Enigma. This isn’t some ‘see who’s better for the competition’ match that we’re all fighting one another for. There’s no medal in this. There’s no title on the line. There’s no contendership. There’s nothing for you here except to face all five of us. And because of you… all five of us are united – The… Revengers I think was the best name. Hey, from someone that has no nickname or name for this promo – it’s kind of cool to have one, even for a night.

But yeah, Revengers. What I’m calling us as well. Sort of a team-building thing Kimmy would probably love. Might need to workshop some other names if it keeps up, but I’m not really looking past this weekend. I’m not looking past you. Maybe that’s a mistake that will give me my first 2024 loss but, quite frankly, long as it isn’t to you, I’m good with that.

I want you to understand that, Enigma. Like I said, if you wanted to take me on for the United States Championship, you could have just asked. Kim knows this, Konrad knows this. I’ve waged war with both of them and you know what? I don’t like either of them some days but I know where their hearts are. Konrad may try and bash me with his axe… but hurt a non-wrestler? An innocent person? He wouldn’t. Kimberly, same thing.

There’s a line we don’t cross as wrestlers, as human beings. And you crossed it.

You made this personal for all of us. And you chose the two people that don’t give a damn about winning or losing as much as they do about making a point…

And now, you can add me to that list. Because no matter what happens, no matter who walks away with the “win” for whatever it is worth, none of us are leaving until you are taken out on a stretcher. Until you realize the truth.

You come for our families, you’ll see just how powerful we really are.

Cause that’s what this is about right? You proving your power, right? A nice Television title reign to back that up. Definitely got the whole ‘dark and spooky’ thing down. But you think you can come here, hurt our loved ones, and think we’re just going to dance to your tune? Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. E, but I haven’t been scared into submission yet. And I don’t plan to start now. This isn’t ‘The Shadow Realm’, or “The Spirit World” or wherever you are from, sir. This is SCW. You say you ‘have all the power’? We say ‘prove it in the ring’. You mess with us? We fight it out! That’s what we do here in SCW, and that’s something you’re going to learn, the REALLY hard way!

Let me be clear about this night in London, Enigma. There is no version of this night, be it this beatdown headed your way or even the Taking Hold of the Flame royale, there is no version that exists where you come out on top. You take down one of us, the others will fight. You hypnotize one of us, the others will be on you. And then after the match, assuming you have any energy to drag yourself to the ring for the royale, who do you think is going to be there? Waiting for you?

Konrad.
Kimberly.
Me.

Me especially, Enigma. Because this night does not end until you let Jessica go. This night does not end until you release her and leave her alone. I don’t care if I have to have the worst night of my life here in London, England. I will take you down and anyone else you brainwash to fight your battles to free her.

Because tonight, I’m not the United States Champion. I’m not the one fighting to ‘win’. I’m just Deanna Frost, Jessica’s friend, fighting to protect her, and SCW, from you. And, I promise you, Enigma, after tonight – after I and The Revengers are done with you….

You’re going to wish that you had faced The United States Champion instead.

Checkmate, bitches!