Post by Stormm on Aug 13, 2018 17:59:16 GMT -5
Wind
Evening succumbed to the darkness, while brisk winds brought in from the Atlantic began to cool the night air. Perched atop Havoc Entertainment headquarters, Justin and Lindsay Michaels stared down at the busy streets of Georgia’s capitol as the hustle and bustle of the day continued well into the late hours of the night. Even at that hour, there was still a constant stream of air traffic into and out of Hartsfield-Jackson that could be seen for miles.
“Remember the first time you brought me up here?”
Lindsay wrapper her arms around Justin’s right, and he nodded. In his left hand, a wadded up, black, t-shirt, one of the official PCW licensed “Notorious” t-shirts that he and his brother-in-law had sold a ton of since coming back into the fold the previous year. Nearly a year ago, just a couple months shy.
Turning his attention to his wife, Justin shifted his eyes in her direction, taking his gaze off of the busy streets below. “You mean the only other time you’ve been here?” He asked. “You were just as hesitant back then too.” His non-expression broke, and the hint of a smile emerged, if only for a moment.
Pressing her cheek against his shoulder, Lindsay reflected. “It’s still weird being up here, even after all this time.” The calm breeze at street level was not as forgiving that high up, and the wind tousled her hair and dress. The couple, dressed to the nines, had just come from a night out on the town, having their first night away from family and business in months, they were finally getting to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary, a month late. “What’s it been…”
“Twelve years.” Justin responded without hesitation, recalling a moment from their first few weeks together, and Lindsay smiled. They had been friends for years, going back to the first days that he began working for her father and the IAWF. The Force of Nature was never one to step on toes in the early days, and to disrespect the great Joseph Remington Matthews by holding the title, and dating his daughter, might have been a little much. It was, however, unfortunate that he was never around to see how happy Justin had made his daughter once they did get together years later. “Why does this place bother you that much?”
“It’s stupid.”
Rolling his eyes, Justin finally turned to look at her. “It’ll be worse in my head if you don’t say anything.”
“This place is just you. There’s no part of me here. When you were wrestling for Dad.” She paused for a moment, redirecting her thoughts. “When you and Brian started up, it felt like an excuse to forget about me. And when he died, you shut yourself out; you didn’t even wrestle for a few years there.” She paused again. This time for much longer.
Justin couldn’t speak. He tried, but no words came of it.
“I know, it’s silly girl stu–”
“You’re the reason I started this…” He interrupted. “Well, you, and Brian and I seemed to think we had a pretty good plan for it all.” Justin smiled. “If I couldn’t wrestle for Joe, I didn’t want to wrestle for anyone else. So when IAWF went away, the next best thing was to start up my own business. Then when he died, well, Havoc Entertainment was really all I had left. I didn’t shut you out, it just felt like you were pulling away, so I dove into my work. But there’s more of you and your father here than you realize, and that’s what’s helped make it so successful.”
“Why haven’t you…”
Stopping her again, Justin pulled away and place his right hand on her shoulder, still grasping the t-shirt with his left. “Stupid boy stuff?” He questioned sarcastically, and they both laughed. “I’d hoped you knew already.” They stood in silence, staring at each other. “Johnny hated me, I didn’t want to disappoint your father, and so I couldn’t have what I really wanted, and this is what became of that frustration. Why do you think we named it Havoc Entertainment?” He asked.
Lindsay’s eyes got big, having thought for years it was named after the stage name Justin took on while wrestling, based off the childhood nicknamed he still carried with him. Most everyone thought that, anyway. “Wha–” She stumbled on her words, as a gust of air blew her hair into her face. “What do you mean?”
“All that Stormm business, and the Force of Nature, and the childhood nickname and all that, it’s part of it, yeah, but…” Taking a deep breath, Justin turned his attention back to the city streets. “Remember San Antonio?”
“The Alamodome?”
Tears began to run down Lindsay’s face, which were dried quickly with the breeze. “Two thousand two.” She whimpered. “No doubt one of the best nights of my life.” He remembered liked it was yesterday. “I had just done war with Cane and Speight, a match I wasn’t supposed to win, a match Joe made for me to prove myself, a match that lasted nearly an hour and had everyone on the edge of their seats. Two proven and former champions, versus the new blood who hadn’t lost since winning the gold. I knew you were watching.”
“Justin?”
“Do you remember coming to my dressing room afterwards?” Lindsay nodded as she wiped tears from her eyes. “You were the first to congratulate me, and in a power move, gave me your business card.” He laughed. “I was dripping blood everywhere still, waiting on the doctor to get there to stitch me up, but before you could leave, I wrapped my head in a towel so I wouldn’t ruin your outfit and worked up the courage to kiss you.” She smiled. “It wasn’t until after Joe came by to shake my hand that I realized you had written something on the back. Remember?”
“Call me already!”
As she spoke the words, Justin retrieved something from his suit jacket pocket. Revealing a rough around the edges business card, Lindsay nervously laughed as she took her old InterAction Wrestling Federation business card from his hand and flipped it over, fighting back any number of emotions.
“Call me already.”
He repeated her, as she stared at her faded handwriting. “I called you later that night, after seventeen stitches, a shower, and a few shots of whiskey, and, well, you know the rest.” Justin took a deep breath as Lindsay smiled, and grabbed his right hand with both of hers, pressing the business card between her flesh and his. “That night played over in my head for the next year, and for years afterwards, and was the real reason we went with Havoc Entertainment.”
They kissed.
“So why are we here now, other than for you to make me cry like a baby?” She joked.
“I’ve been holding onto a lot more than I should be from the past, while I don’t plan to let them all go, some things are going to need changing. I wanted you to be here with me as I start the next wild ride, since you were basically there the last time my life changed.”
“The shirt?”
Without hesitation Justin tossed it into the air, and the two watched as it wrestled with the zephyr that carried it away. It didn’t fall below the tops of the buildings downtown for several blocks before it began to weigh heavier on the wind that it was capable of carrying it.
“Notorious has run its course. We came, we annoyed, we sold merchandise, and people are still talking and complaining about us. Hell, we’ve gotten under Kyle’s skin so much, he basically does our promos for us, and we haven’t needed to do a Club Notorious set for months.” He rolled his eyes, because of all those on the roster, Kyle Shane was one he loathed the most, besides Willard and Majors, of course.
“So how’s this going to work?”
As he’d done several times in the short time they’d been on the roof, Justin took another deep breath. “We’ve always worked better as solo acts, this last alignment lasted longer than I think either one of us suspected, let alone the rest of the fans. Our paths are clear. He’s going after Dominator one last time, and then convinced himself he’ll be riding off into the sunset back down to Texas.” They both rolled their eyes. “Me, I’m about to become the longest reigning North American Champion PCW has ever had, and they don’t have anyone to throw at me to challenge that. And frankly, I think it’s about time for me to move on anyway.”
“Kyle?”
Justin nodded. “As much as he wishes Johnny and I would just disappear, I’m hoping he can fend off my sloppy seconds and continue to retain until I can take that belt from him.” Lindsay, appreciating the drive, still rolled her eyes at his word usage. “Him as champion has made the title stale, and his lackluster run hasn’t done anything to the ratings, he should honestly be thanking Johnny and I for making his reign noteworthy at all.”
“They aren’t going to let you go after the World title while you’re still holding the North American, you know?”
Taking his wife by the hands and leading her to an air duct for them to sit on, he agreed with her. “They should, it would help the falling ratings. Grimm pointing in my direction to cash in his Icemann Invitational victory is only going to help so much, but if someone more entertaining than that broken record doesn’t get in there to share and take the spotlight away from him, the bland main event is going to be the death of PCW.”
“You’re still the most entertaining part of the program as far as I’m concerned.” Still trying to work herself out of the funk Justin had put her in earlier with his walk down memory lane, her cheese only made him roll his eyes and playfully push her away from him.
“Grimm gunning for his first North American title is going to be epic, and while I’d be more than honored to keep him from that, if he drags his feet too much, I’m not going to keep the belt long enough for what could maybe be the match of the year.” Not keeping his seat long, Justin stands tall above his wife, and the city of Atlanta. “But a second World title reign is calling my name, and it’s been too damn long since I’ve held it. I can only keep playing these weird booking games with the suits for so much longer before I just outright call my shot, and make them see how badly they’ve been missing the mark.”
“You mean like at Return to Glory?”
A short burst of laughter came from Justin’s gut at the thought of squaring off against Seromine and Gabriel at the pay-per-view instead of defending the title against whatever name they drew from the hat next. “While I will gladly put the boots to those thumpers, still running around pretending to be someone they are not, and paying dress up with those poor brainwashed bastards, it’s kind of sloppy booking. Just have me face Gerard already, don’t put together this odd couple match just to have us face each other later.”
“But you play so well with others.”
Shooting a “really” look at his wife that said it all, Justin pressed on, ignoring her sass. “He’s got a lot of potential, and I’ll play along, but I’d rather Grimm just step up and either take the title from me, or take his loss, and let me drop it so I can move on. As far as Willard and Majors are concerned, as long as they continue to play make-believe with their false prophet bullshit, full of that hot air they want people to praise, there will always be room for a Force of Nature.”
A really heavy gust of wind came rushing across the Havoc Entertainment rooftop that nearly blew Justin over, and as close to a death fall as he could have been, he’d been up top long enough. Grabbing Lindsay by the hand, they made their way toward the stairwell.
“So, these changes you were talking about?”
Justin smiled, more of a devious smirk than anything, but he smiled. “That’s the thing, I said it like it was going to be news to you, but I’m pretty sure you already know what I have in mind.” Lindsay smiled, as she did know her husband that well, and was also happy to know that he was maybe taking some of her past advice into consideration. “I’ve seen what a lack of change has done to your brother over the years, and I’m not going to let the same thing drag me down for the rest of my career.”
“Yeah, you’re getting old!”
Her comments weren’t appreciated at all, as Justin was full aware that he was pushing forty, and would hit that milestime in just a couple months. He nodded regardless. “If I’m going make the last few years of my career memorable, and something for people to talk about, I need to wash away all this shit I’ve continued to carry with me. I need to drown out the idea of being someone I’m not for the sake of the audience.”
“What’s the first step, and how can I help?”
“I think, after Return to Glory, we need to go back to Santa Barbara.”
