SCW Adrenaline Championship; Chamber Match

[Thomas Valentine]

Now I know that very few people can relate to this next statement but I can't help but think it at this moment in time. I'm so GLAD that I'm not a fruitcake… Okay, I'll rephrase that… I'm glad I'm not a complete fruitcake as I suppose my previous statement would kind of be a lie; I mean there are probably two different entities in my head. One is me, and the other is sorta me too, but not… They, or we might be a better description; seemed to be vying for control in the early days of the whole debacle but recently I don't know… Could the other me have finally decided to take it easy when grasping the reins? Or was it simply because I have decided to take the path it… He Wanted me to take in the first place? Well I suppose its all a moot point as my initial thoughts remain. When I ran away from my problems that my two best friends had put aside their differences to help me with… I thought it would be plain sailing, that they were wrong to get a quack involved and that there was nothing happening which I couldn't deal with alone. That was when I started talking to someone at the door of the cabin I was lying low in. I genuinely thought I'd lost the last of my marbles or that a third person had joined the party in my head. I mean this person claimed to be me after all, or at least was willing to be me in some unknown way. I should have stopped talking the minute things got ridiculous but their words struck a chord in me and whether I interpreted it in the wrong way or not, I felt that what I believed they were saying had some merits for want of a better word. The person left and that was when Kirsten showed up before confirming that there was actually someone speaking to me through the door right before she arrived… 


Talk about relief! In spite of all my issues, they hadn't spiralled to the point I was imagining an unknown woman speaking to me out of the blue! That of course opens up an entirely new can of worms with regards to who the person was and how they found me at the top of an extensive list but one thing at a time eh? The fact of the matter is that the person was right even if i was way off with my interpretation. The more I wallowed in what was happening, the more my life was going to suffer in all areas. I had to deal with all the problems that could have encouraged the splintering of my psyche, and perhaps then the hostile takeover of my body would stop. It was a long shot but it was a belief that Kirstens intrusion on my time away from the world only confirmed that I needed to do something and couldn't run away from this problem, I had to learn from my mistakes. At first I was angry at Kirst for lying about our children being in trouble to get through the door, but I knew that if our positions were reversed that I'd probably play the same card as parents will always react to it, good parents anyway. A lot of what she said was basically a rehashing of what both Jake and David had also got across to me along with a sprinkling of curses for not opening up to her of all people as she knew what my ‘condition’ was capable of causing if left unchecked… But then I suppose the gist of her ranting and raving finally chipped away at my mental walls and it brought me to the point I found myself at after a while contemplating my existence and such. 


The mysterious woman, Kirsten, Jake, David… They were all absolutely right. Though they all approached it differently, it equalled the same. I couldn't end up like James Evans had during his ‘dark days’, no control over what was slowly getting stronger in my head… I couldn't let its impulsive and scarily violent tendencies completely overcome my own resistance to what it wanted, I had to at least try and combat the problem instead of just accepting the possible endgame by burying my head in the proverbial sand anymore. One of the biggest things that had tipped me over to the edge of the cliff in my head was that bastard who I once called dad. He had betrayed not just my mother, but our family as a whole with what he had done. A seedy little affair that had resulted in a kid being born whilst my ‘father’ had gone on acting as if he was dad of the year! Pretty crappy huh? Well it got worse, the kid grew up not knowing his dad but thanks to the tales from his mother about how daddy dearest was an accomplished wrestler… The son decided to follow suit and wouldn't you know it, with a cruel twist of fate the kid ended up with the same name as me and even found himself in the same fucking company as me for a while! Yep… Thomas Watson of all the pricks in the world was my brother… Or at least my half brother but no point in splitting hairs on that one as it doesn't change a damn thing. 


I'd witnessed Thomas do some horrible things to people I care about and just horrible things in general… He was pretty much the antithesis of what I believe in at my core, even if i didn't act like this was the case sometimes. I'd go as far as saying that he was a despicable human being despite that making me a hypocrite on some levels, no pun intended. Knowing all of this and the fact that he was the brainwashed slave of a psychopath for years, it unsettled me to come to terms with my own condition that was slowly starting to seem awfully similar to his… Genetics were hard to argue with, and i know nothing is set in stone but I knew one thing after my time alone. I needed to stop running from what my father did, and confront it head on. Accept the truth and everything that came with it. I had no idea which rock James Valentine had crawled under after he had left my family in tatters, but I knew where Thomas was… Or at least where he lived after a bit of digging and so I decided to grab the bull by its horns and go to speak to my… Brother face to face in the hopes of at least getting some closure. 


SAN DIMAS, CALIFORNIA 


The nearest I had to a friend who would tell me where Thomas lived was Gable Winchester, who was on the shelf of course but after an on the spot lie with a sprinkling of truth, he stumped up the address and as soon as I could free myself up, I made the trip. I had no idea what I was going to say or do when I got there, but that was a problem I'd face up to when I got there. Driving along the street that was where Thomas lived, the reality set in and i almost turned around but then I thought of how messed up I'd become in part due to all of this and pushed such an idea to the back of my mind. I counted down the houses until I got to the one that Gable had told me was the address and stopped the car, looking at the house as the dread crept into me again. Taking a deep breath, I got out of the car and after making sure the doors were locked several times, I couldn't put it off anymore and slowly made my way to the house in front of me. I was halfway there when I heard a voice from a passage down the side of the house and stopped, thinking the voice was awfully familiar… 


“... This really does feel quite bad, doesn't it? You can't tell me you don't like it” The feminine voice said as i heard another voice that was ALSO very familiar reply but couldn't quite hear what they said other than a few random words as they were seemingly doing their best to keep their voice lower. Curiosity got the better of me as my mission was temporarily forgotten in an effort to identify the owners of the voices. I started to walk up to the passage when Autumn Valentine stepped out of it, adjusting her top and straightening up her hair. I frowned as she stopped in her tracks as she finally saw me and a look of horror on her face. “Oh shit! Dude…” she exclaimed as a half smile came to my face, now guessing who the other voice belonged to given where we were. 


I was just about to greet her when the other person walked out from the passage, and it wasn't the person it SHOULD have been… “What's wrong babe, has your bra strap broke again?” asked Gable fucking Winchester of all people as the smirk on his face disappeared when he too saw me stood looking at Autumn and now at him, my jaw almost hitting the floor as it didn't take me long to figure out what had been going on at the side of the house. He quickly fastened his belt and ran a hand through his dreadlocks as i could see the panic on both of their faces. For a while I just stood there looking between the two of them and they stood looking at me. Finally it was Gable that broke the silence. “Tommy? Um… I just, Autumn had this thing…” he babbled as i stared intently at him before a smirk slowly came to my face. 


“So is this your rehabilitation regime to get back to fighting form for SCW brosef?” I asked, unable to resist the quip as both of the people in front of me looked flustered at best, and my comment seemed to make them worse. Both of them started talking over one another, probably excuses if I could have deciphered each of the diatribes they were coming out with. I shook my head before holding my hands up to quieten them for a second. “Look… If this is some kinky little arrangement you guys have going on, that's your business… Quite frankly I don't care at this minute… I want to talk to Thomas, is he home?” I asked as both of them looked at me as if I'd grown an extra head in the time I'd been stood there. 


They looked at one another before Gable shrugged and sighed, still looking like the kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “So that's why you wanted to know this address… Damn I didn't think you'd show up so soon…” he answered as i once again looked between the two of them with a smirk. 


“Obviously not… So is he here?” I asked again as this time it was Autumn who got her voice back and answered with very minimal eye contact. 


“He um… Yeah I think so, dude… Look…” She stammered as i shook my head again and held my hand up. 


Making sure to look between the two of them I stopped her attempting to more than likely explain away what I'd witnessed. “It's okay… Nothing happened here, I just heard two ‘friends’ discussing the economy…” I assured them as i deliberately put emphasis on the word friends just for the shits and giggles. “Now could you take me to see him?” I added as Autumn nodded and after a cautious look towards Fable who had suddenly found something interesting to stare at on the ground, she walked to the front door of the house and opened it before gesturing for me to go in first.


I smiled at her as i walked in, and then she followed before I turned to face her. “He's probably getting ready to go to the gym with Tory, I'll go get him” she murmured before dashing off upstairs as i had a cursory glance around the rather impressive house that Thomas lived in. I faintly heard Autumn talking to someone then she came downstairs, once more avoiding eye contact as she spoke. “He'll be right down… I'm just going to… Go somewhere that's out there” Autumn rambled before quickly leaving the door we'd just come through. 


Sighing and shaking my head, i mentally note about what I witnessed and the implications it brought… Just in case I ever needed to deal with Autumn in the future. A sensation that was probably guilt mixed with shock coursed through me at that thought… Had I really gotten to the point I'd do such a thing to someone I'd had a hand in training; albeit for a short time? Even as I thought it, I knew the answer. Whatever it was that was manifesting inside me would know what I knew now and the smart money would be that even if I didn't want to touch all of this with a ten foot pole, it WOULD. I'm brought out of my reverie by a voice from the stairwell of the house. “Bloody ‘ell… As a live an’ breathe… It's Tommy boyscout Valentine at mi ‘ouse! Inside am swoonin’ trust mi… Now to what do I owe the pleasure?” Thomas Watson declares as he walks down the stairs, a duffel bag gripped in his hand. 


Now he was in front of me, i didn't know what to say or do. It's not as if I could have accurately rehearsed this moment is it? I gulp and then plaster on a smile that I hoped would make me seem a bit more confident than I felt. This was going to be one of those ‘make it up as i go along’ conversations for sure… “First of all, do you British natives ever lose the accent?” I asked as he just smiled slightly and shrugged. I decided to press on before the exchange went off track. “... And secondly… You and I need to talk about the thing that happened before with… Him” I added as i wasn't able to use the more accurate term for what he actually was to the two of us. 


I was quite pleased to see the cocky smirk vanish from his face as he didn't say anything but instead walked the rest of the way downstairs and paced into what i guess passed as a Lounge area through one of the doors leading off from the entryway we were in. I followed and saw him drop the bag on a sofa and then he turned to look at me. “Now what dya wanna talk about then, Tommy? Far as am concerned, there's nowt to say… Yer daddy did the dirty an’ got closer to perfection when a wa’ born… Even if he dint stick around long enough to see it first hand” he stated, looking me in the eyes for every syllable. 


Gritting my teeth, I felt the anger building up inside me at his response despite the fact I should have expected this exact thing to happen when dealing with this asshole. I take a moment to compose myself and to remind myself why I'd decided to face all of this. I wasn't going to lose my temper, it would only play into his hands. He relished pissing people off and I wasn't playing this game. Not now. “Yes… I'm talking about that. Like it or not, this is more than just a little bump in the road! A man that I thought was a modern day superhero turned out to be nothing more than a damn hypocrite and cheating scumbag. I mean how long did he keep this to himself? He knew of your existence and said NOTHING! A little fling, I could possibly forgive with time but this?! Surely there must be something inside you that's more than indifference towards it all!” I all but scream, more at the situation than at him, but to my surprise I see the expression on his face soften as he looked at me ranting and raving like a lunatic. 


Done with my tirade, I just stare at him. If after this, he still wanted to go about life pretending everything was okay then that spoke volumes, but I'd seen that the man in front of me had SOME good inside him, even if a lot of the time it was born from a self serving place. Finally he sighed and shook his head. “Mate… Ya need to get a bloody grip… It's proper shitty that this ‘appened, it really is… But at t’ end o’ the day… Yer dad's a wanker. Our dad's a wanker if that makes ya feel any better, mate”. Thomas said, which surprised me more than anything. Of all the responses or reactions I expected, this wasn't one of them. He must have read the look on my face accurately as he dropped down on the sofa next to his bag and looked up at me. “Dunt get mi wrong, a thought it wa’ alreight ‘avin’ ‘im in mi life after so long wi’ mi thinkin’ he wa’ some kinda myth… But ya know when summat ends up not bein’ as good as ya think it will be? That's pretty much what ‘appened. He gave it all the big talk but a guess when yer mam dint take ‘im back or whatever, he stopped takin’ an interest once again…” he finished as i once again didn't know what to think or say. 


It's obvious that Thomas is expecting some kind of response but I'm at a loss for words. I expected the conversation to go a lot differently in all fairness as the two of them seemed to get on like a house on fire when the big reveal was dropped on us all… And I was sceptical of the possibility that a Watson would sugar coat to spare anyone's feelings, let alone mine. “So you're not in contact now?” is all I can think to ask as the implications start flying around my head. 


Watson smirks a little as he shakes his head. “If ya mean in a fuzzy that warms yer cockles, long lost family way then nah mate… But in a literal sense a do see ‘im nar an’ again at the gym he gi’ mi a job at” he replied as i tried to cut through the lingo and figure out if it was a comical response, a serious response, a straightforward one or all of the above. He could probably see the confusion on my face as he looked at me as then he chuckled before speaking again. “In a nutshell, a dunt see ‘im much, pal” he added to his previous answer as i nod slowly. 


“And its all down to him not being able to win my mother over, huh? Or so you think?” I ask rhetorically more than believing he had a solid answer but nonetheless he shrugs. I don't push the subject any more and instead speak the words that had only be a jumble in my head up until this very point. “You… So you're my brother… Half brother or whatever…” I murmur as Thomas just stares at me. 


This time I wait for a response as I needed to at least come to some closure on the matter if nothing else. Watson looks at the bag he had presumably packed for the gym and then back at me. “Look… Am not gonna lie an’ say it thrills mi to pieces mate… But yeah, it seems like am related to ya. A jus’ ‘ope there wa’ lots o’ drugs an’ alcohol involved fer us to be in this situation… Since yer rocked up to mi door outta the blue, am guessin’ that mi fobbin’ ya off won't cut it so I'll tell ya what, Tommy boy… Go do some sightseein’ or summat an’ after I've been to the gym, I'll meet ya at the pub fer a few drinks, yeah?” he said as i just about understood what he was saying, and then he sighed. “An’ a suppose a better gi’ ya mi number as well so a can text ya the location o’ the pub. Its not easy to find on yer tod… Now there's summat a never thought I'd say…” he finished as i nodded slowly at the bizarre turn the conversation had taken. He gives me his number and just like that I was going to meet up for a drink with him… 


If anyone had told me that I'd end the day drinking with a possible psychopath like Thomas Watson, I'd have laughed them out of the building after giving them a few choice words… But the fact of the matter remained, if I wanted to get things in order I needed to come to terms with everything that had contributed towards me almost losing myself… Of all the people in the world, Thomas Watson was my BROTHER!