Thirteen THOTF RP
#1
OOC: So, I might have been a little misleading in regards to what I said when I posted Blackbourne's RP for the battle royal, though I was legitimately frustrated I couldn't put forth a better, more complete effort for him. The one thing Thirteen's had in my past few attempts over Blackbourne was a purpose I could latch onto in order to put a promo together, though in hindsight I think I retread a lot of ground this year when compared to last year. Still, I brought this 'wrestling zombie' back one more time to take a stab at winning this match, and I'm honestly really happy with this effort even if I didn't finally get that one item checked off my e-fed bucket list, and that's the first time in a really long time I can say that about Thirteen. The CD effort kind of starts a story I've been piecing together to tell with Thirteen in the event I ever did pull the trigger on his return, and at its core it's basically the same idea behind a lot of Blackbourne's CDs this year in terms of dealing with the aftermath of my brother's death, but looking at it more from an "outsider's point of view" in a way now that I've cleared my head enough of everything that happened to try and sort through the details from a different mindset. I did tell Olek that if his Rise to Greatness plans had any holes he needed to fill then I was open to have Thirteen being the missing piece, so there's a chance this might not be a one-off thing and I might get to continue this story, though how often and for how long is still up in the air since you can consider Thirteen in "part-timer" territory at the moment, if we're going to use WWE terms to describe his wrestling situation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

He never thought he would get used to this life, especially after how long he spent being so intertwined with a certain business, but never let it be said that James Marsh-Asher wasn’t capable of adapting to any situation that was put before him.

For the SCW fans curious, after Thirteen was defeated by Syren at Under Attack last year, he virtually disappeared from the company. Naturally, Syren would take to claiming she’d proven her point and finally run him out of the business, but she’s always been one to fall back on whatever strokes her fragile ego. The real truth of the matter was that beneath the surface, James and Thirteen were slowly reaching an agreement that perhaps, for the foreseeable future, it was time to hang up the boots. James’ schedule had become more and more packed between appointments as a therapist and being co-owner of the Anderson Orphanage now with his sister, and this had been the primary reason why those final months he was lingering around in the wrestling world had actually seen him not competing more often than not. Thirteen had taken issue with this at first, feeling to some degree like James was going back on their deal with one another and taking absolute control once again, but he took a step back after a conversation the two sides to the same coin had leading into that pay-per-view that many would come to believe was the end of the line for the veritable legend.

Thirteen could always truthfully claim he’s done virtually everything there is to do in the wrestling business, but it would always be a legacy that started and ended with him.

The more he pondered this, especially after Syren had taken full advantage of the stipulation he’d allowed to get one over on him, the more he was accepting of the idea of stepping away from the business for a while to figure things out while James went full steam ahead with his new path in life. The man still trained and worked out in the event things began to lead the tandem entity back towards the squared circle, but these days were primarily filled now by the help he could give to people of all ages, from the orphans he and Kelly diligently helped to find new, loving homes for to those suffering from some sort of mental or emotional issue that needed the expertise of a man who’s weathered every possible storm in the sea on that front to help sort it all out. Not every therapy session had been peaceful and not every family that walked through the doors of the orphanage was truly deserving of any child under his care, but there was something to be said about the weight his name would always carry these days thanks to what he had accomplished between the ropes, regardless of who was actually in the driver seat most of the time.

This was slowly turning out to be another one of those relatively peaceful days for the former tortured soul as he sat back in the office he and his sister shared at the orphanage, chair spun around to face away from the door as his gaze locked itself onto the giant painting of the building’s namesake and original matriarch. Mrs. Anderson had finally succumbed to her illness and passed peacefully the previous fall, but the influence she’d made in the lives of so many children who, at one point in time, had nowhere else to go was never forgotten, as evidenced by the fact that her funeral was attended by as many former orphans once in her care as possible to say goodbye to the woman who helped show them they did have a place in this world even if no one else, even their birth parents, believed that to be the case. It had truly been a powerfully emotional day that would always stick in the mind of James for years to come, and it further helped reinforce all the efforts he and his sister was making in trying to carry on her legacy even if it meant having to occasionally turn away a couple that clearly had no right to call themselves parents. The fact that he’d already had a heated confrontation that morning with one such couple that made it painfully clear they weren’t really in the business of wanting to care and were just looking to adopt for the sake of using the concept of ‘family’ to protect a public image they were on the verge of destroying because of their own carelessness was the biggest reason why he felt he needed some time to himself.

“I know in my heart I did the right thing, just as I know you would have… it just never gets any easier it feels like.”

He knew the woman in the painting wouldn’t respond to him, but sometimes treating it as though he were still talking to the one who slowly did her best to restore his faith in humanity helped him reaffirm that he had, in fact, made the right decision. This was becoming more and more of a trend lately for poor James, who foolishly hoped he’d left a lot of this behind when Thirteen did decide to fade back into the shadows for a while as the wrestling world continued to move on without them. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle it, as his entire life was one of those stories designed to make it clear that judging it solely by its cover was a huge mistake, but there was some vain hope that as time went on something would get better in the world around him. Even if he ignored the irritation he knew was present from his other half whenever he happened to be able to catch SCW on television these days at what was going on now, it didn’t take away the fact that humanity as a whole slowly seemed to be sliding further and further into decline. More and more prospective adopters were being turned away because it was almost too obvious at times how ill-equipped physically and mentally they were to care for a child, just as more and more of the therapy sessions he did seemed to revolve around fixing issues from people who almost intentionally felt like they were trying to test his mandatory neutrality by challenging his ideologies. Maybe James was naive to think that humanity was supposed to evolve as time went on, but perhaps the real issue was the direction said evolution was taking just because every step forward was accompanied by some remark or action that, by all accounts, should have set everyone back quite a ways but didn’t.

“Seems like someone could use a cup of coffee to clear his head.”

James spun his chair around at the sudden intrusion of his thoughts, but he couldn’t help but smile as Kelly entered the room with two styrofoam cups of the aforementioned liquid, passing one to her brother who wasted no time in gulping down a good portion of it. To anyone on the outside looking in, the sight of the Marsh-Asher siblings in business attire and residing in an office to conduct business on a daily basis would certainly feel like a very belated April Fools’ prank, but the two of them were very happy with where they were in life now. With James and Thirteen having taken a step back from it, Kelly had been free to take more wrestling bookings while her brother tended to the orphanage, and he couldn’t be prouder of the success his baby sister had managed to accumulate for herself that made it more and more clear the idea of living in her brother’s extensive shadow was flawed and baseless. Still, days like today where they could come together to do what they needed to do for the boys and girls in their care were greatly appreciated as it didn’t happen often enough anymore. Thankfully, the years they’d spent apart following Kelly’s adoption had helped prepare them for the thankfully shorter instances when they were apart, and that was one of the extremely few things James would always be grateful about from that incident.

“Thanks, Kelly. I needed a caffeinated distraction after what happened this morning. I knew the arrogant little punk was going to blow up when I shot him down, but I didn’t think he’d actually try to pick a fight with me to prove his point.”

“Maybe that’s the downside to being a legend of the wrestling business. Even if someone knows who you are, they think they can make a name for themselves and fix all their problems by kicking an old dog while he seems like he’s down.”

“Hey, I’m only in my early 30s! Just because I spent almost two decades in the wrestling business doesn’t mean I’m an old man just yet.”

“Tell that to all those young’uns who won’t shut up about how they’re the future because of their age or looks or whatever.”

Kelly couldn’t resist acting like a feeble old woman slowly walking along with the aid of a cane as she said this, and James nearly spat out his coffee in laughter. Say what you will about the behavior, but it’s hard to blame the siblings for still acting like children at times when they were alone together. When you’re deprived of a proper childhood for the most part because of abusive parents and not getting to completely grow up together, instances like this are worth letting slip through the cracks and certainly helped to keep these two more sane than they would appear to be at times because of the aforementioned issues. They still handled their business in a very professional manner, something that often took an immense amount of restraint given the kinds of people they tend to deal with, especially James when it came to being a therapist, but everyone deserved the chance to unwind a little bit.

“So,” Kelly said as she shifted gears, also deciding that instead of walking around the large tandem desk to sit in the chair beside her brother she’d feel more comfortable sitting on the desk itself for a bit, “I took care of the last prospective parents we had on schedule for today, so unless we get someone arriving unannounced not realizing how this process even works we’ve got the afternoon free.”

“Thank God.” James couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair at this news. “I don’t mean to sound negative Kelly, but I’m really getting tired of who we seem to be putting up with more and more these days. Apparently, the self-centered egotism wasn’t just a thing I could leave behind when wrestling was put on the shelf for the time being. You and I can put up with it, taxing as it may feel at times, but those kids sure as hell don’t deserve to grow up with that being shoved down their throats.”

Kelly nodded as the siblings indulged in a shared moment of quiet to just enjoy their drinks. She felt bad for her brother, considering how long he’d spent trying to move on from everything that defined his past and ultimately gave birth to Thirteen in the first place, yet each passing day seemed to bring with it a new challenge daring to drag him back into the abyss in hopes that the monster might re-emerge and add to the growing issues society was already plaguing itself with. She couldn’t help but take notice of his eyes slowly drifting over to one of the framed pictures on his side of the desk, knowing full well that one contained the lasting image of his SCW World Title victory so many years ago, and a thought began to run through her mind.

“Has Thirteen said anything lately?”

James’ attention returned to his sister, noting the concerned look on her face. With a quiet “Hm?” to make sure he’d heard her correctly and the nod that confirmed it, he shook his head, and she immediately caught on to the questioning look he gave her over it to avoid having to put his drink down to put a voice to the thought.

“I know he’s had a lot to think about regarding the changing landscape of the business, but I figured he would’ve said something by now. I mean… I know you’ve been keeping up with SCW and its schedule, and the company does consider you an alumnus that’s free to come and go as you please, but Taking Hold of the Flame is coming up pretty soon and I know last year how invested he was in trying to win that match.”

“Yeah… the one accomplishment missing from our resume aside from probably trying to run our own wrestling company, not to mention the match where we first debuted for SCW, to begin with. As silent as he’s been, deep down I know how badly he’d love to take another crack at it, but I also know he’s really been considering the idea of trying to stand alone one more time against the current landscape.”

Kelly couldn’t argue with that, nodding in agreement as she pondered the thought herself over another sip of her coffee. The more James’ other personality contemplated what the business was moving towards these days, the more it put into perspective the insecurity buried behind her brother’s earlier joke. True, at almost 34 years old he was by no means over-the-hill as far as being able to still compete was concerned, and it was hard to justify the fear of getting injured after everything his body had gone through both inside the ring and out since he was a child, but the encounter with Syren that had been his last match for the moment not only proved just how right Thirteen had ultimately been about Syren not being able to get the job done on her own even when blatantly presented with the perfect test to prove otherwise, but it also spoke volumes to the dark entity that the business was all about proverbial gang warfare now and if you didn’t have any friends or partners to stand beside you then you might as well not even make the attempt to scale the mountain. It was a belief that made both Marsh-Asher siblings want to vomit, but unfortunately, it was the reality at this point.

“Did he ever change his stance on being a trainer and mentor to someone? I know there was a couple of weeks last month when you went out to scout some potential newcomers to the business.”

“He wants to, but it’s kind of hard for him to take anybody on that doesn’t fit a certain mold. It’s kind of like how selective we are when it comes to who we allow to adopt from us.” He slowly stands up and makes his way over to a bag that’s been sitting in the corner this whole time, carefully unzipping it before pulling out the familiar tattered, chain-covered black cloak that had become a defining visual image of his other half for virtually a full year. “He wants to be absolutely sure he’s going to leave his legacy in the hands of someone who will both respect it and build upon it, and it seems like nobody wanting to break into the business anymore cares about anything more than themselves.”

James threw the cloak down onto the bag and slumped into a seated position against the wall, spitting out a frustrated sigh in the process.

If it makes you feel better, I do feel your pain James, even beyond the business. It doesn’t seem to matter how much of a moral compass someone wants to try and become when everything around you demands the absolute worst. Legendary careers have been destroyed by allegations years after anything took place and often with little evidence to support them, people rally behind those who make false promises even knowing how much progress will be set back along the way… even so-called ‘heroes’ rarely act anymore without ultimately making things all about themselves no matter what catchy slogan they try to affix to it. Maybe fighting fire with fire is truly the only answer… put an end to the nightmare by forcing it to come face to face with an even greater horror to see what happens.

James slowly shook his head as Thirteen chimed in for perhaps the first time in what felt like forever, wanting to argue the logic being presented, but even he knew his other self had a point. With how immersed everyone seemed to be in their own way of adding to the problem these days, maybe the only way to get through was to fight back on that same battlefield. If nothing else, it would make it clear just how problematic the whole thing was, to begin with, and perhaps try to force a few hands. As much as he hated the thought of coming to that after everything he’d fought for over the past several years, Thirteen always was the wiser of the two of them when it came to how the world worked.

Kelly took notice of the expression on her brother’s face, and she didn’t need to hear it from him to know who had finally surfaced and that something he’d pitched was being considered. Knowing he was slowly going from relaxed back to stressed out, she hopped off the desk and knelt down to embrace her older brother as a symbol that she was right there with him, no matter what was going through his head at that moment. Whatever was going on outside this office was irrelevant in the face of two siblings just trying to make sense of the world together… a small but important reminder that James was never truly alone anymore no matter what he decided to do.

“Is he finally making his intentions clear about Taking Hold of the Flame?”

“Kind of… it’s more directed towards the wrestling business as a whole and probably beyond. I know what he’s suggesting, but I don’t entirely-”

Before the conversation could continue any farther, the siblings were shaken from their momentary attempt at peace and tranquility together by the ringing of the phone sitting on their desk. Casting an annoyed glare at it as though it would silence the device, Kelly let out a sigh before leaving her brother’s side to check the caller ID. Seeing that it was from the reception desk, she cursed under her breath at actually having to deal with someone that hadn’t set up a prior appointment before she went to answer. Her hand paused just before touching the phone as she caught sight of James holding up his hand before rising to his own feet, and the motion that followed changed her course of action to putting the impending call on speaker instead.

“Kelly speaking.”

“I’m sorry to bother you Kel.”

“You know you never bother me, dear.”

If anything could help brighten James’ mood even a tiny bit right now, this was it. Ever since the colossal ordeal that had consumed a lot of his focus outside the ring over the last year or so revolving around the woman on the other end of the line, he couldn’t be prouder of how far Danielle had come. This was proof positive that he’d made the right decision, as unorthodox as it had been coming out of a therapy session, in the siblings making Danielle their first hire after officially taking over the orphanage. Things were still a bit rocky every now and then, but being around the children and embracing James’ promise about Kelly not abandoning her after all helped to keep the once unstable young woman on the right track. If anything was a great foundation to an argument against what Thirteen was suggesting, then perhaps the entire saga with his sister’s girlfriend provided just that.

“Is your brother there, by chance?”

“I’m right here, Danielle. What’s up?”

“…there’s some officers here who say they need to speak to you about an important matter.”

Kelly glanced at her brother, clearly confused and concerned by this turn of events. James was just as concerned but was doing his best not to show it. Dealing with the police had always been a mixed bag when it came to him, from the care he and Kelly had received following the downfall of their parents before being left in the care of Mrs. Anderson to spending time locked up in a jail cell because of Thirteen’s hit and run tactics that forever shook the foundation of SCW. Several possibilities ran through his mind as to why they were here, but most of them seemed to veer towards one significant possibility in particular that he couldn’t help but cringe at. Steeling himself knowing this was unavoidable, especially since he’d actually answered Danielle, he took a moment to focus on the task at hand before he responded.

“Go ahead and bring them in, Danielle. Whatever they’re here for, it’s probably best not to keep them waiting.”

Danielle confirmed this order before the call ended and James returned to his seat, trying to sort through certain details in his head for the most likely reason for whatever was about to happen. It wasn’t a surprise when his sister leaned over on the desk and gave him an accusing glare, and he figured it might as well be a warm-up for what was to come.

“Alright… what did you do?”

“I have an idea of why they’re here, but I can’t be sure until they actually come in. If I had to guess though… there’s a chance they might be here about the arson last year.”

“Arson!?”

“Yeah… I know I told you Thirteen and I paid one last visit to our childhood home last year, but I might have forgotten to mention he decided to put his own spin on Sienna’s whole ‘erase the past’ campaign on our way out the door, even if I told him to just leave it.”

He didn’t even need to look at his sister to associate the smacking sound that followed with the image of her hand hitting her face. The groan that accompanied it only added to her exacerbation and all he could offer her in return was a sheepish look that tried to make it clear he did his best to talk Thirteen out of it, but of course, an entity that has always been willing to fight the law would never care about the consequences as long as he took care of things his way, something that would never change regarding him.

“James… you can’t afford to end up back in jail again. Not after how far you’ve come-”

“I know, I know, but you know as well as I do what happens when Thirteen sets his mind to a specific course of action, consequences be damned until they actually become an issue. He took every precaution to avoid this as his ‘compromise’ to me trying to keep him from doing it at all, but…”

James trailed off with this as the door opened and Danielle led a pair of police officers into the room, both of them looking stern and ready for business. He could easily read from their looks that they wanted to speak to him alone, so he silently motioned for Kelly to leave the room with a promise he’d fill her in later on whatever was going to happen. In return, she shot him a glance that clearly told him he’d better straighten this out if it was something involving that arson or anything else he wasn’t telling her before she and Danielle left, closing the door behind them as the officers sat down in the chairs James offered to them on the other side of the desk.

“What can I help you with, gentlemen?”

“We’re sorry to bother you, Mr. Marsh-Asher, but we wanted to ask you some questions relating to a case we’re working.”

“Dare I ask what the case is about?”

“Normally we wouldn’t divulge that information, but considering what we need to ask you I suppose it’s only fair. We’re investigating a recent suicide involving a young man… he took his own life a few weeks ago, but a lot of the details behind it aren’t adding up and we’re considering a possibility put forth by his family that foul play might be involved.”

James mentally breathed a sigh of relief, though he had to restrain himself afterward from making a face of annoyance when he heard Thirteen muttering apologies over the arson while still trying to justify his reasons behind it. That was an issue he’d sort out later within his own head because right now there was another task at hand that required his full focus to avoid steering this into any other territory.

“I can understand that, but you’ll have to forgive me if I’m failing to see why that’s led you to my office today.”

“Then we’ll cut to the chase a bit. Do you remember having a therapy session near the beginning of this year with a man named John Mansfield? Or one sometime after that with his partner, Darren Jackett?”

James had to think for a moment, given that he’d actually had so many therapy sessions this year alone both in Chicago and New York that trying to remember all of them was becoming difficult, especially when most were the same it seemed like in terms of what happened anymore. His eyes lit up when he finally latched onto what he needed to in order to accurately answer the question, and a sense of dread began to fall over him on top of it.

“I do… those sessions stand out a bit to me because I remember a lot of issues in their relationship were spilling over into affecting their lives even when they were trying to spend time apart. What exactly happened?”

“Well, several weeks ago we responded to a call at the apartment they were sharing. From what we gathered they’d broken up but were still living together, and Mr. Jackett called us when he supposedly came home from a late night out with friends to find Mr. Mansfield having hung himself with the jumper cables to his car. At first, we ruled it as an unfortunately open-and-shut case of a young man taking his own life, but the family’s been insistent that the lack of a note or any prior warning that indicated he’d go this route isn’t normal, as well as allegations of issues they’ve been having with Mr. Jackett and his family in the aftermath of everything.”

“We were hesitant to get further involved outside of trying to maintain some semblance of peace between the families as the lack of any concrete evidence upon our initial investigation of the scene implies any sort of foul play, but our coroner discovered a nasty wound on the back of the deceased’s head during the autopsy that he believes rendered Mr. Mansfield unconscious… and therefore incapable of taking his own life as that wound was older than the marks on his neck from the cables.”

James sat back in his seat, eyes wide as he slowly began to process this. Memories from the sessions he had with these two men were hazy without his notes to help frame the scene better, but he remembered clear as day that he’d poured so much of his own soul it felt like into trying to salvage things between these two, getting the same vibe from the ordeal he went through regarding Kelly and Danielle. If nothing else, he’d hoped he’d done everything humanly possible to get them both back on track if the road ahead was meant to split for them without any ill will left behind, but it seems like it was never meant to be. His fingers slowly rubbed his temple a but as a sigh escaped his lips before the officers were understandably met with an exasperated sigh.

“What is it you guys need from me to help figure this all out?”

“The main thing we need is whatever you’re able to provide for us from your sessions with these men to try to get to the root of all of this and truly establish if Mr. Jackett had probable cause for the accusations against him. This is why we were willing to share case details with you since we understand we’re asking you to violate doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“We respect the boundaries in regards to agreements like that Dr. Marsh-Asher, but with things becoming more hostile between the two families we’ll admit to being desperate to make some serious headway into at least establishing if there’s a full-on case here or not before a separate case ends up spawning from the tension. Even if you can’t give us specific details, anything that will allow us to either proceed or close this out would be greatly appreciated.”

James slowly stood up out of his chair, needing to walk around for a moment to help clear his head on everything he’s heard here today. In his pacing, his gaze slowly falls upon Thirteen’s cloak still laying over the bag in the corner, and almost instantaneously his mind begins to flash back through everything that brought him to this moment… all the abuse, the betrayal, the lies and his best efforts to rise above all of it and move on only to be faced with a new scenario that called him back to the darkness once again. Even when the initial feud with Thirteen had been put to rest and his reign of terror had given way to James’ efforts to rebuild everything that had been broken, it still seemed like he was being tested time and time again to walk back into the world that spawned his darker personality and see if could still resist the urge to either break or give the reins back.

At that moment, something dawned on James. His eyes slowly widened in realization as he stared at that cloak, even to the confusion of the officers regardless of whether or not they understood its significance to him or if it even held any meaning to this moment in time. The one thing that pulsed through his thoughts that Thirteen couldn’t resist agreeing with was exactly why he’d done it… why, even after Thirteen had become a shell of his former self in the eyes of many out there, James continued to press on either competing under his own identity or allowing Thirteen to try and make amends and serve justice in his own twisted fashion. It was because of this… the escape that he needed in order to avoid being consumed once again. Wrestling allowed him to vent what he couldn’t do otherwise lest he do to some innocent soul what he did to his deserving parents roughly two decades ago. Even if he’d accomplished everything, even if he wasn’t what he used to be, it wasn’t until now that James truly realized the value Thirteen had to him beyond serving as a built-in second opinion. Thirteen’s wrestling stabilized the therapist and guide to the orphans that James was trying to build his life upon now, and the more he knew he would need to salvage whatever nightmares the world thought it could throw at him to fight against Thirteen’s points, the more his other side needed to unleash the violence and technical destruction that only he could to fight right back.

“I’ll help you guys out in any way that I can. Unfortunately, I’d need access to my other office to get the files to better clarify everything for you and that’ll have to wait until after this holiday weekend, but to go beyond that… this scenario feels a lot like several I’ve personally dealt with over the years, which has always been the basis behind the way I work in that profession. Any further expertise I can provide that’ll be of service to you… consider it yours.”

“You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to, but we appreciate the offer and will certainly take it under advisement.”

After working out an arrangement to meet with them again once Memorial Day was in the rearview mirror, James shook hands with the officers and they excused themselves to get back to whatever other work they needed to do for the time being. It wasn’t until they left that James returned his gaze to the cloak once more, and the longer he stared at it the more a very familiar wicked smile began to spread across his face as he realized what truly needed to be done to balance this all out.

And at the end of it all, it wouldn’t be James’ doing at all if you were well aware of what was about to happen roughly a week from now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I would ask if you all missed me, but even I know how much of a joke that would seem to most of you.

Are you really surprised, though? Taking Hold of the Flame and its battle royal, in particular, will always hold a special place in my heart. After all, this is the very match where I first surfaced in SCW before any sort of ‘reign of terror’ was beginning to form in your collective thoughts. This same match saw me resurface years ago after time away to begin a little mission of dealing out my own version of justice. And of course, we can’t forget about the fact that my name was pretty close to the end of the run last year despite all these claims from others that my time was drawing to a close.

What was that phrase that kept getting thrown around again? Oh, right… ‘Erase the Past.’

I look at a good portion of the field for this year’s battle royal, and I can’t help but question how much weight that phrase even still holds anymore. Perhaps it’s no surprise that it was abandoned so quickly in favor of a new catchphrase that takes zero effort to concoct and can easily be peppered into every little thing you say to just be as blatant as possible with one’s sarcasm. Of course, the woman in question can probably fall back onto gloating over not even needing to go through the gauntlet this year, but all good things must eventually come to an end. After all, you have a field filled with so many talented athletes all chomping at the bit to prove they deserve that illustrious main event slot and perhaps even the one crack at the World Title they might never receive otherwise, but the vast number of entities boasting about their rightful claim to this match before the bell has even rung is only balanced by the equal egotism of whoever proves they are the ‘real deal’ over the imitation that will inevitably go on to proclaim that the Rise to Greatness main event is already theirs for the taking before even knowing who will meet them there. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fast-rising star, someone who feels like your supposed talents are trapped beneath a glass ceiling you can’t figure out how to break through in order to prove it, or even one of those aforementioned faces from the past that might even be outnumbering the ‘new guard’ these days on the SCW roster.

To me, this song and dance has played out so many times I don’t even need to put effort anymore into guessing how almost every single one of you will approach this match.

It’s a shame really… winning the Taking Hold of the Flame battle royal is an honor in and of itself, and one that always seems to get lost in the shuffle almost immediately after it concludes. Don’t believe me? Answer me this: when’s the last time you’ve seen an athlete win this match and then go on to truly use it as a sign of the kind of threat they pose not just for the grand stage on the horizon, but what lies beyond even that? When’s the last time you bore witness to a man or woman truly standing tall on the merit of outlasting thirty-nine other competitors as opposed to letting that fact fade into obscurity once the World Title takes center stage as realization sets in over the prize won? How often do you ever see anybody truly, honestly, focus on this match and not lose themselves in the idea of what comes next before their number has even been called?

I believe only one man actually fits that mold… and you’re looking at him.

Say what you will about the fact that my World Title reign was years ago and things have changed so much between then and now, because nine times out of ten the one trying to justify that stance has never held the strap for so much as five seconds, let alone forty-nine days. Sure, that may not seem impressive, but how many of you can look me in the eye and say, for a fact, that you’ve done better? The real fact of the matter is that I can call myself a former SCW World Heavyweight Champion, and I did so merely as the exclamation point to one of the most ingenious and chaotic rises to the top of the mountain ever witnessed in SCW’s long and storied history. I didn’t need to become World Champion for my own self-satisfaction because that wasn’t the first time I’ve been able to call myself the top dog in the yard and have the gold to back it up… I only did it because it was the only truly fitting end to the havoc I wrought upon this company and the final nail in the coffin of a man who was so opened and exposed through his entire tedious ordeal with me that he was never the same since.

In the process, I forever buried the machinations of revenge from one man now in the Hall of Fame.

I spoiled the grandest return of another, whose addiction to the limelight made the moment that much sweeter.

And of course, how can I forget about a certain ‘Best Women’s Wrestler in the World’ who will forever be haunted by the one hold that proved how powerless she truly is when no one is able to help her?

I bring all of this up for two reasons, the first of which to make it clear that unlike virtually all of you, I don’t need the World Championship anymore. It’s been done, both inside and out of SCW, and while one more run with the gold would only add to my legacy of darkness it doesn’t add anything more to the fact that I am, and always will be, one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots. This battle royal, on the other hand… now there’s a feat I have yet to accomplish at all. It does feel strange that a man well-known for the brutal childhood he lived through and even some of the most hellacious physical and mental endeavors ever showcased in the squared circle had yet to be able to rightfully claim he outlasted a crowd of people in true ‘iron man’ like fashion, but perhaps I’ve simply needed to wait for the right moment where it all came together at long last. It is basic human nature, after all, to keep throwing yourself into whatever obstacle is standing between you and greatness until it finally collapses at your feet, and while I’ve always been able to see far beyond basic human perception when it comes to the world around us, at the end of the day I’m still just a man seeking true absolution that is far beyond the understanding of each and every one of you obsessed with the big dance under the bright lights for the shiny crown like typical teenagers at your high school prom.

Of course, I do recall bringing up this same point last year, and while that doesn’t make the statements any less true I know how badly many of you are dying to latch onto something… anything… in your desperate struggle to silence me before I open your eyes and damage those fragile little worlds within your thoughts where you try so desperately to hide. That brings me to the second reason why I’ve decided to return… a reason that transcends even absolution and one that I will honestly admit is a little selfish, as much as I know such honesty is a foreign concept for everyone out those who are ‘for the people.’

I’m here to remind every single one of you who you have to thank for arriving at this very moment in time in the first place.

In the time I’ve been away, I’ve been paying close attention to the way SCW programming has played itself out week after week, and when I’ve added it to what’s happened after my run as World Champion came to an end and I finished slaying those who believed themselves to be my demons, something piqued my curiosity. As much as I know a certain someone likely hasn’t forgiven me for everything that happened and is on the verge of an anxiety attack at the details being recounted, I looked back on the way I tore through the company and became public enemy number one, from the hit-and-run on Sasha to the way I slowly torched every last hope Mr. D had in his blatant refusal to let me walk away without any personal justice being served. With every obstacle I overcame, from stacking the odds against me to putting a bounty on my head that more than half the roster tried to take advantage of, not only did I build my inevitable case for earning a shot at the top title around here, I slowly broke a man who, for the longest time, was confident in his ability to prove he would get whatever justice he was seeking at the end of the day, no matter what moral boundaries had to be crossed to get there. I wasn’t the first man to directly challenge his authority, nor will I ever claim to be such, but before and after me there hasn’t been a man or woman that has walked through that locker room that has done to that man what I did and truly gotten away with it.

Of course, some of you are willing to question that, and therein lies my issue. The games I played and the way I slowly eroded a man’s ability to even run his own company effectively by doing nothing more than beating him at his own game were groundbreaking so long ago. Not even greats like CHBK or Xander Valentine or Jason Zero ever succeeded in such a masterfully one-sided game of chess against that man like I have, and it speaks volumes when he’s more concerned with trying to put me out of commission compared to doing anything more than trying to hinder the old version of Infamous or the Pinnacle faction that inevitably spawned from that. Since that game came to an end, I have watched as many more have stepped up to challenge him, not only taking advantage of the fact that their success was against a shell of his former self as opposed to the true mastermind that sat across from me, but doing so by often replicating some of my own tactics and claiming they were suddenly breaking new ground and succeeding where no one else had before them.

The efforts of the likes of Regan Street, the Blood Grove or any of their prior incarnations, the Beauty Factory, Xander, the Wonderland, whatever the likes of Syren and her friends want to call themselves now, and even one of Mr. D’s own daughters… in one form or another, they have all stolen my formula for success, and it’s about time I came to collect what each and every one of you owes me.

I did tell you it was a selfish reason, but I would suggest stepping down from your petty high horses before you think you have any right to compare what I’ve done to etch my name into SCW’s history to whatever you believe you are capable of doing on the very ground I paved for you for no other reason than the proverbial flame that you believe will guide you towards your destiny. SCW, as you know it today, would not exist without the Angel of Death sweeping through the land and claiming the single most important soul it had to offer. To build the future, you must acknowledge the past… that is a lesson all of you have tried to execute while lost in the belief that your success was always because of you. I am, and always have been, the dark cloud lingering over what remained of this company ever since those days, and it’s about time you were all taught a valuable lesson about the ghosts of the past and why they might have a reason to return and flip everything you know upside-down.

Mr. D may no longer be around, but it does not change the fact that only one man is responsible for tearing open the doors that so many of you have happily waltzed through, and if you’re going to step into my house and act as though you somehow own the place now? Well… there are many who can tell you why that belief and the reality of the situation mix about as well as oil and water. Seek them out, if you wish… or dare to step outside your glass house and watch as it shatters before your very eyes courtesy of a storm that will not stop until you have all come to accept that there are some forces far more powerful than the simplistic desire to call yourself the very best for a few fleeting moments in your career.

The clock is about to strike Thirteen come Sunday night in Montreal, and once again the landscape of SCW will find itself in chaos and disarray. The only question I must pose to all of you before then is a simple one… how far are you willing to go to defend your fragile self-worth against a man who knows full well how hollow each and every one of you is behind those rose-colored glasses?”
[Image: yC0vuyj.png]
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)