Selena Frost vs. Samuel Davis

[SnowQueenSCW]

Project: Black Ice

”Resident: Atlas”

Project Snowman: Abandoned site
Between Nome and Pilgrim Springs, Alaska
May 22nd, 2022
3:12pm

“This place gives me the creeps.” Deanna whispered, keeping close to Selena as the Snow Queen pushed a large cobweb out of the way with her hand.

“I know.” Selena whispered back. “Feels like a Scooby Doo episode or something.”

For a moment, her mind flew back to her children, safe in Paris, possibly watching a French-dubbed episode of the aforementioned cartoon. Rebecca Scythe had lead the Frost wives to the location of the homeless shelter/orphanage without any difficulty. Still, they had been stunned when they had travelled for an hour off a dirt road and through a forest trail before entering a clearing that held the complex.

Because that was what it was! A massive complex, larger than most of the houses/buildings in Nome! It was no wonder that Malcolm had chosen to let it rot rather than try and tear it down. Still, something about it had unnerved the Snow Queen at first glance, particularly the large, rusted fences that housed the property. It wasn’t uncommon… but the broken cameras at the top that had once served as surveillance?

Was this place a help-center or a prison? 

Deanna shared that sentiment, being reminded of her time in Frankfurt. Still, it had been easy to get in – nobody seemed to care about a condemned building miles and miles away from any town or city in Nome. They had spent the last hour combing through the various rooms/offices of the complex, though most of it was empty and devoid of anything useful. Most of the ‘resident’ rooms were all the same: a simple cot with a desk, a lamp, closet/drawers for clothes and tons of tons of dust and cobwebs. Even rats, but Nome rats were SO much smaller than New York rats so only Rebecca was a little put off by them – Selena and Deanna had thought they looked ‘cute’ in comparison.

“Just so many rooms…” Selena heard herself whisper.

“We often paired the children without mothers with additional caretakers in each section of the building.” Rebecca explained, leading the women. “Come on.” She gestured, the sunshine coming through the dusty windows offering enough light for them to see. “We’re best to look in the director’s head office.” 

The trio travelled up a series of steps – they refused to try and use the elevator (which hadn’t been used in decades – they had all seen how THAT movie ends) – to the top part that was ‘restricted access’. Of course, the door was so dilapidated that a good kick from Selena and Deanna at the same time was enough to break through it. “Teamwork!” Deanna had cheered at their success, earning an affectionate/loving eyeroll from Selena.

Through the halls, they continued to traverse until they had reached the door that read (through the thick dust): Sherman Pilter, Director of Operations. 

“There was a farmer who had a dog… and BINGO was his name-o.” Deanna smiled as she reached for the door handle, the metal-appendage immediately falling off the door frame and onto the floor with a clang. The redhead’s head jerked back to Selena and Rebecca. “Uh…. Open sesame?”

“Way to go, hunny.” Selena smiled, leaning in to offer her wife a kiss on the cheek before entering the office.

Despite being the director, Sherman’s office was a small one, crammed into the building’s structure. It had a desk and a series of file-cabinets, and a leather chair that had, clearly, seen the business end of several rat’s teeth. Immediately, the two wives began searching through the filing cabinets. Sadly, any remaining files were little more than bug-food, discolored paper and in pieces. Despite expecting this, Selena could not help the spike of depression that hit her.

“Damn…” she whispered, turning around on the spot from where she stood. It was enough to allow her eyes to catch sight of the small safe that sat under the large desk, similar to how hers was in her office-room in Manhattan. “Guys!” she gestured to the safe, causing Rebecca and Deanna to rush to her side to observe it. 

“Ooo! Safes are usually good! Means something important!” Deanna remarked. “How do we open it?”

“It looks to be in rough shape… and I doubt a 20-plus one would have a reloader…” Rebecca remarked. “I got an idea.” She was out of the room before anyone could object.

The two wives waited for several minutes, eyeing the door. “Do you think she remembers the code or where it’s stored or something-“

Deanna’s question was answered as Rebecca suddenly burst back into the room, her trusty shotgun in her arms, giving it a good cocking.

“AH!” Both Selena and Deanna cried out in alarm, the platinum-blonde, yanking Deanna out of the way to the far corner of the room to push her against the wall, Selena using her own body as a shield as Rebecca fired into the door handle twice – the sound like thunder! When that was finished, she used the butt of her gun as a battering ram to smash at the lock/handle until it, like the door handle to the office, fell off. 

“Knew it!” Rebecca remarked of the old safe as she pulled open its door, the renewed quietness enough to cause Selena to turn her head to survey the room, just in time to see Rebecca pulling out a series of folders and tossing them onto the table.

Carefully releasing Deanna, the taller Frost reached over to grasp the massive folder, pulling out the first paper she saw.

“Progress reports.” She read aloud. “Resident 1: Alpha. Born with noticeable eye defects. Time in center before ‘release’: 3 months.” 

The report was full of details but the bold prints at the bottom was what Selena had read – the conclusion statements. Carefully, she moved the paper to read another.

“Resident 2: Freon. Decent health but slow cognitive growth. Time in center before ‘release’: 5 years, six weeks. What is this?”

“Must be some kind of report for all the residents.” Rebecca remarked. “Though I don’t remember any children named Alpha or Freon.”

“Resident 3: Giaus – must be code or something.” Deanna remarked. “Brain dead. Time in center before 'release’: Three hours…”

The more that word ‘release’ was mentioned, the more Selena didn’t like it. Why couldn’t it say ‘found a home/job’ or something positive like Rebecca had back at her house?

Despite herself, or perhaps because she had heard the saying in too many movies and jokes, Selena skipped through the chronological order of the residents, her sapphire eyes scanning for any other word other than that dreaded ‘release’. Over and over her eyes scanned papers and the various descriptions regarding each resident.

Health problems
Growth Issues
Mental incapacities
Wrong hair color
Wrong skin color
Birth defect
Skin defects

“It’s like the most elite vetting process I’ve ever seen.” She remarked. “What the hell was the criteria for this?” And what the hell were they looking for?

Her thoughts dropped as she spied one sheet different from the others that she had seen and her hands trembled to pick up the paper as she read it, unable to hear Deanna’s cellphone going off or see the redhead moving to answer it.

“Resident 222: Atlas. Resident fits all adequate parameters. Health in optimal state and mental capacities continue to advance at excellent rate. Adequate candidate for stage 2. Report to Mr. Scythe.” She spied a second handwritten note by, she assumed, the director. “Operation Snowman Complete.” Her eyes checked the date. “October 31st, 1991.”

“Selena…” the Snow Queen barely heard her wife’s voice.

“But what’s stage 2?” Selena whispered. “And who is this?” Desperately, she flipped through the files of the other residents, but all others stated ‘released’. Was this what Killjoy wanted her to find? Was he tied to all of this?! And if so - how?!

“Dammit! We don’t have time for this!” Selena growled, her hands tightening around the papers she held, almost crinkling them. Despite this new knowledge, they were no closer to figuring out what the hell Killjoy wanted! And time was running out!

Nine days…eight hours…

“SELENA!” Deanna’s cry broke the Snow Queen’s concentration, the older woman turning her head to gaze at her wife, finally able to see Deanna’s fear-stricken face.
“What is it?” she asked in alarm.

“It was Gavin!” Deanna spoke quickly, holding up her phone. “Talia’s in the hospital emergency room… in Nome…”



To Be Concluded…

______________________________________________________________

The Royal Letter

The camera opens up to a sitting room, where the SCW World Champion sits in a leather recliner, dressed in a white sweater and jeans, her hair tied up in a braid. One leg is crossed over the other.

There are a lot of things I didn’t consider when I made this challenge to Sammy Thomas Davies. First, I didn’t consider how it would look: The World Champion challenging the, as he put it, former ‘lovable loser of SCW’ or however he victimizes himself to justify his choices.

I also didn’t consider that the notion of ‘happiness’ would be brought into the equation.

Sammy, this isn’t about ‘happiness’. Do you honestly think that I would be challenging you because you want to ‘better’ yourself? If there is even an ounce of sincerity in you in that endeavor, it would be one of the few things that I respect about you. We live in a world where there are self-help books, gurus, healing crystals, and Odin knows what else. I don’t pretend to understand it all and I never will – so who the hell am I to judge on such methods? 

So long as they are genuine.

See, Sammy, that is the word surrounding this challenge tonight. Genuine. The notion of being something real, true, honest. Because for every ‘cure’ or ‘service’, there are also cons. People that take advantage of desperate fools. People that promise the world and give far less.

But let’s get to that slowly. I don’t want to talk too much about Giovanni in this. This is about you, Sammy. Me facing you. And that’s an odd novelty, isn’t it? You did a lot of complaining about being here for nearly twenty years in SCW. Being a former tag-team champion with your life-partner – you actually made me a little jealous there. But you, Sammy? Nearly twenty years here… and you and I have never fought in a one-on-one match!

And at first, I thought I had missed something. I mean, I have fought every big name and small name there is. Ever heard of Aeon Century? Bolu? There was a girl name Joanna Jane Tarzana that joined SCW just to fight me. But in nearly nine years in SCW, despite me clearly being here week after week and you ‘claiming’ to do the same, we’ve never fought one-on-one. Tonight, in St. Louis, will change all that. Because for the first time EVER, The Snow Queen will face the ‘New Man’ of the Brand and/or the Haus of Nirvanna in Sammy Thomas Davies. 

And all because I challenged you to a match and made it happen.

Because that’s what I do, Sammy. When I want to accomplish something, when I set my mind to do something, I make it happen. I don’t run to people and say ‘solve my problems’ or hire friends to ‘make it easy’ for me. I really don’t care what insults Giovanni writes for you and has you vomit out. I don’t care how you spaz on about the Haus of Nirvanna being the greatest thing since ‘sliced bread’, the one thing you can’t deny is that I have done all I can to bring integrity back to SCW through grit and determination. Have I always succeeded? No, life is full of pitfalls and tripping blocks. You, of all people, should know that. But through it all, all the losses, wins and controversy, being embarrassed on Breakdown episodes or standing tall on them, to being schooled in ‘promo-class’ by some world-class talkers, no one in SCW can deny my heart and passion for all of this.

My question for you, Sammy, is… where was yours?

See, you do A LOT of complaining every time you are in front of a camera since joining The Brand. Complaining about ‘no one loving you’ or ‘offering to help you reach stardom’ or, in more than one case, your wife ‘sleeping around with others in an open relationship’.

You whine and whine about no one doing anything for you for years… But what did you do?

See, I didn’t just challenge you and then sip on an iced-coffee while counting down the days till Breakdown. I had a mission and I was going to do all I could to accomplish that mission on my terms. So, I researched you. I combed through so much of SCW’s history/media. I did more work for one match with you than most people have in your career because I truly wanted to understand you. I wanted to see what all the complaining was about. All the whining you’ve done lately… and checking over a decade of on-and-off matches, of you ‘existing’ in SCW… do you know how many promos I found of you, Sammy? How many videos I found before The Brand where you put in the effort to hype your match? To tell the world who you were? To being an SCW superstar?

Selena holds up a single pointer finger.

One. One video of you running around your own house screaming up and down that a man named Havoc Warrior Exodus was going to kill you and of your wife begging said man to ‘go easy on you’…

*Sigh*

Over a decade of matches searched, Sammy… and only one promo…

Sammy, did you ever even try to better yourself? I mean, if you genuinely won and earned a victory at this upcoming Taking Hold of the Flame, I wouldn't be sick! I'd be damn impressed! Proud of you even! I'd even eat crow and see some validity in all you've said about turning your life around. 

But after all this time, all these years, did you ever even try to be such a better SCW superstar? Or did you just sit around your house, waiting for that phone call from management to swing on by for a match? Like I said, nearly nine years I’ve been here and never did I see you walk out and challenge someone. Never did I see you release a video promoting a match or pushing your own abilities. Never have I seen you truly take the initiative on ANYTHING in SCW. You just sat around and waited for your name to be called. Waited for things to be handed to you. 

Yet, you want to blame SCW and everyone else for ‘not being there for you’? How could anyone be there for you when you weren’t even there for yourself? How could anyone help you when you won’t even help yourself?

See, you’re complaining that you were seen as a 'loser' or a ‘jobber’, but what the hell did you do to change that?! You think I just strolled into SCW and became World Champion like that? No! I came in with zero confidence. I came in desperate and looking for a better life. And I realized quick that, while SCW could get me that better life, the onus was on me! Success wasn’t going to be handed to me. I had to earn it. The respect of my peers and the SCW Universe wasn’t going to be handed to me. I had to earn it!

I had to work every day, not just in the gym, but also on my promos and speaking skills. On my abilities. I had to be here, promoting every match I had, showing the world why they should watch me, why they should know my name. Why they should believe in what I was doing. And every mission I undertake, I know that I will have to work just as hard, if not harder, like I am with making the world title, genuinely, be the beacon of integrity and representation of SCW. And even when I succeed, I still constantly have to prove it. Constantly have to prove that I am not ‘the fraud’, ‘villain’, or ‘fake’ that those like Giovanni and The Brand keep desperately trying it paint me as.

And when you, Giovanni and The Brand showboat that such stardom – such success – can be bought? Can be ‘traded for’? Can be ‘acquired and kept easily’, Sammy? It’s a slap in the face to every single person that, unlike you, didn’t wait ‘by the phone’ or ‘on the couch’ for that call from management, but busted their asses to get here! That paid their dues, not in cash, but in blood and sweat and scars and broken bones and time away from their families! It’s a slap in the face of legends and Hall of Famers like Syren and CHBK and countless others that dedicated years and years of their lives to this! It’s a slap in the face of people like Shilo Valiant and Dillusion and Rachel Foxx who were physically scarred for life because of their careers. It’s a slap in the face to my wife! Who fights and claws for every inch and every chance to better herself here every week! It’s a slap in the face to me!

Because I refuse to believe that ‘stardom’ and ‘success’ in the business can just be ‘bought’ for ‘easy payments of whatever the hell he’s picking for numbers’! I refuse to have THAT be true of SCW! That ‘Supreme’ talent and ability can just be purchased ‘off the shelf’! No! Selena takes a long breath to calm herself.

No, Sammy. I refuse to believe such a thing. Which is why I have called you ‘Sammy’ and not ‘Samuel’ like The Brand and Giovanni wants everyone to. Because you haven’t ‘earned’ that belief from me yet. My believing that you have changed. You haven’t put in the work to make me think that you’re a ‘new man’ or a ‘new wrestler’ or whatever like Syren has done or Regan and Owen did. And you sure as hell haven’t earned our belief that “the Brand is taking over’ and that you are now ‘successful’ in SCW.

Because I look at you here- She snaps her fingers and a clip from the aforementioned STD promo, when he would face Havoc Warrior Exodus on an episode of Sunday Night Aggression, is shown. Sammy jumps up and down a bit flustered. “I’m going to die!”, he screams and then turns and runs away, still screaming.

The clip freezes as Selena gestures to another side of the ‘screen’. And here… as a second clip plays, this one from STD’s recent promo against Christy Matthews, the man clearly drunk.

Chrissssy you want to suck punch me cause you have problem with the Holly Adams Brand? You are lucky that I wasn’t expecting it. Just like you are lucky that our match is this week and not four or five months down the line. You are lucky that I’m not right payments in and I that much closer to nirvana cause you would be in deep trouble. Chrisssy you would definitely be wishing your never gave me that European uppercut. See Cheissssy I am totally improving myself.

Is that 'stardom'? Is that ‘success’, Sammy? That what you and Giovanni are calling it? No. I see no difference here, just like I see no difference between the cowardly man I’ve researched and the man that will be standing before me other than a makeover. You're still making excuses. Still looking for handouts. Still looking for shortcuts to fame rather than digging down and earning your spot here in SCW. Still blaming and holding everyone else accountable for your shortcomings. Still lacking and semblance of something 'genuine'.

That changes tonight in St. Louis. Because I am going to, personally, hold you accountable to the new standard of SCW. You and Giovanni think The Brand and Haus are running SCW? Time to prove it! You think you’re a success? You think that success and stardom can just be bought? Show me! Show me this power of nirvana or positivity that Giovanni is shilling, and I will show you nine years of grit, hard work and believing in your dreams, in SCW, and in yourself. Show me your ‘excuses’ and I will show you what being here every day and putting in the work will do! Show me your ‘new ways’ and I will show you what nearly a decade of growth and holding myself accountable to my own shortcomings has done! Show me what it means to be a follower of the Haus of Nirvanna and I will show you what it means to be a symbol of integrity in SCW…

Leaning forward, Selena’s eyes narrow a little, a cold glare coming from here. Show me what it means to be this… she gestures to a spot on the screen as a screenshot is shown, one of Holly Adams standing on top of Sammy at Tactical Warfare like he’s a doormat, Holly giving a pageant wave. Show me that… and I will show you what it means to be the SCW World Champion.

Believe it… Sammy. 

The camera fades on the Snow Queen’s glare before going to black.