Post by Gerard Angelo on Sept 22, 2020 22:58:46 GMT -5
“I go out there week after week, month after month, while everyone around me just decides to show up whenever they want. Stormm, the World Champ, comes and goes as he pleases. Loki, the North American Champ, comes and goes as he pleases. Why? Answer me why, Dave. Because they’re all eskimo brothers with Luis Malave? It has to be something like that because they ain’t out working me. I am the best damn wrestler in the world, guys. No if, ands, or buts. In a year I won the Deadly Rumble, the Last Chance Battle Royal, the Icemann Invitational, and the Iceey Award for Best Singles Star. Name another person that’s done that. I’ll wait because you can’t. The list is short and it’s just me. And I’m going to do something, again, that no one else has done. Win the Deadly Rumble for a third time in a row…” - Gerard Angelo on Busted Open Radio, Sirius-XM
Kara walked down the sidewalk, her Converse shoes tapping lightly on the segmented cement. She lifted the cup of coffee to her lips, taking a drink of it through the straw. Was a trick her mother taught her so she wouldn’t have to keep applying lipstick/gloss for a whole morning. She sighed after the first sip of coffee with oat milk, pausing on the busy street of New York to appreciate the city that never sleeps. This was her first time out of the house where she wasn’t accompanied by her father or mother since she got home from the hospital. She had to get out of the apartment. She was going stir crazy.
Plus she got tired of being afraid she would see that….thing, everytime she turned a corner. Kara knew her parents were thinking there was something wrong with her brain. After all the conucssions from wrestling, and then the attack, seeing something she couldn’t explain must’ve had them worried. Especially when they couldn’t see it. Of all the people she spoke to, the only person that didn’t think she was crazy was Gerard. Well at least she thought so.
Kara took another sip of her coffee and started back on her walk, heading back to her building. It was a baby step, but she was glad she ventured out for this coffee on her own. She was tired of feeling helpless. Kara made her way through throngs of people on the sidewalk, turning down a corner before jogging across the street quickly to avoid oncoming traffic. Kara looks around as she walks. The street is oddly less busy than the rest of the city, almost deserted. The hair on the back of Kara’s neck starts to stand up and she takes a peak over her shoulder. Two men dressed similarly in jeans, leather jackets, sunglasses with ball caps pulled down low are following her. They are at a distance, but something doesn’t seem right about them. Kara turns back around and starts to walk quicker, hoping her paranoia is just a by-product of the recent trauma.
Her hopeful wishes are dashed when she hears their boots clacking quicker on the sidewalk. Kara’s fight or flight instinct kicks and she suddenly dashes off down the sidewalk as fast as her Chuck Taylored clad feet can take her, hoping to get somewhere with a crowd typical of New York City so she could disappear. As she turns on a dime around the corner, she is stopped in her tracks by a hulking figure of a man blocking the sidewalk.
“Where you think ya goin’ there, blondie?” The brute asks as he leers down at her. Kara starts to back up but is stopped when she hears the footsteps of the two men stop behind her. She glances over her shoulder at them before looking back at the massive man, fidgeting with the coffee cup in her right hand. The hulk grins a crooked toothed grin down at the lovely blonde, no doubt thinking less than pure thoughts.
“Yer a pretty one aren’t cha?” He asks, stepping closer to her, reaching out to grab her elbow. Kara struggles against him, but he easily pulls her small frame against his body. Kara’s nose curls up in disgust, the smell of his unwashed body filling her nostrils.
“Hey Tank, boss said to just bring her to him, not to do anything to her.” She hears one of the men say behind her. The man called Tank, tears his eyes from his prey and glares at the other man.
“What da boss don’t know won’t hurt ‘em,” He says before looking down at Kara with another disgusting grin, “Right, blondie?”
Kara looks up at him and makes a face, before bringing her hand holding the coffee up, the lids flying off as she douses Tank’s face with the hot liquid. He lets out a yell and releases her arm, both hands going up to his face, trying to wipe the burning coffee from his eyes. Kara drops down, one hand on the sidewalk, using to help her spin, her skinny jeans clad leg connected with the back of Tank’s knee. His leg flies out from under him and the bulky man crashes down hard onto the pavement of the street. One of the other men tries to grab her from behind but Kara spins around and drives her knee hard up into the man’s groin.
He drops down gripping his family jewels as the other guy looks at what this tiny blonde girl did to his two buddies.
“Why you lil bitch…” He says while reaching into his jacket for something but doesn’t get too far as he starts to levitate. This is obviously not his doing as he’d looking around, yelling as the gun he was trying to pull out of his jacket drops down, clunking harmlessly off the sidewalk. He tries to struggle as he is lifted higher and higher into the air before he is suddenly and violently thrown into the side of a building and lands down with a thud on the sidewalk. Kara has no time to process this as she hears Tank starting to stir behind her. She turns to see him sitting up and gets a bit of a running start and throws a kick into his face.
Kara hears a surprisingly satisfying crunch of bone. He drops down on his back again, clutching his face.
“You broke ma nose you dumb bish…” is all Kara hears as she takes off running again down the street. From around the corner, a mousy haired small woman sticks her head around the corner, smiling at the scene.
“You silly boys never, learn do you?” Amanda asks, more to herself then the men writhing in pain.
“The thing is, the Deadly Rumble might just be the most difficult match in all of wrestling. You have no idea who is going to show up. It could be seven guys, it could be 40. You have to prepare for anything and everything. Is ‘Dead’ Lee Rumbles gonna show up? Will Dominator rear his ugly head after being gone for months? And not only that, but you have to plan for coming in at any time during the match. Well, not me this year as I secured the last entrant spot. But it takes a lot of cardio and a little luck. Most of all, it takes a lot of planning. The match is ninety percent mental. Everyone thinks you can just go in there and start trying to throw everyone out of the ring. You need to go into that match with a plan. And it just so happens that I am the smartest man in wrestling.” - Gerard Angelo on Ebro in the Morning, Hot 97
Kara panted as she slammed the door to her apartment shut behind her. She locked every lock, including the deadbolt, and leaned against the door. Kara ran the whole way back to her apartment, up the stairs and everything, not bothering with the elevator. She didn’t know what happened, and she wasn’t trying to find out either. She closed her eyes, feeling safe knowing she was with her parents here.
“Did you have an interesting day, dear?”
Kara’s eyes snapped open at the unfamiliar voice. She looked up and saw a portly man in a suit sitting on her couch, a cane across his lap.
“Who the fuck are you?” Kara asks as she stands up straight clenching her fists. The man removes his pocket square and takes off his glasses, using the cloth to clean them.
“You don’t remember me, dear Kara?” the man asks, putting his glasses back on. Kara looks at him and has a sudden realization.
“You’re… Theo’s friend, McLaurin…”
McLaurin nods.
“That’s right, dear girl.”
“Do you know where he is?”
McLaurin smiles at her.
“Come with me, and all your questions will be answered by the Master.”
“Who? What are you talking about? Where are my parents?”
“They are fine.”
“Where are they?” She asks, getting more agitated
“Come with me, and the Master will answer all your questions.”
“Listen, you fat little weirdo. I’m not going anywhere with you. No where the hell are my parents?”
“Fine. If you must
McLaurin claps his pudgy hands and two men walk out from her room, pushing her parents along who were bound and gagged with duct tape and zip ties. Her mother’s makeup was a mess from sobbing and her father’s face was red as a tomato as he struggled against his bonds. Both of the men, dressed similarly to the men from before, push them forward and the both hit the floor hard.
“Mom! Daddy!” Kara yells and goes to run towards them. McLaurin, with surprising quickness, lifts his cane and points it towards Kara. She suddenly freezes in her tracks, unable to move.
“Now listen, girl. You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not. But to show you we mean no harm, we’ll leave your parents alive.”
Kara’s blue eyes are wide with fear, unable to move as the two men move towards her.
“She’s not going anywhere, McLaurin.”
Amanda had appeared next to Kara, much to her surprise. McLaurin scowled at the small girl.
“Foolish elf. You dare stand against the Dark Lord?!”
Amanda gives an impish smile and raises a hand at the three men.
“Dark Lord? Pfft. All I see here is two goons and a fat little idiot.”
McLaurin’s face turns red and he goes to point the cane at Amanda. She’s ready for it and whispers a quick incantation, which sends the cane flying out of McLaurin’s hand across the room. His two henchmen try to use this opportunity to go after the elf, but she sends them flying. One crashes into a wall, breaking a shelf. As he lands on the floor, books and trinkets rain down on his head. The other man is sent into the couch, knocking it over and sending McLaurin flying. The commotion has allowed Kara to regain control of herself, and runs to her parents, trying to untie them. McLaurin is trying to crawl across the floor to grab the cane, but Amanda goes over to him and steps on his chubby little hand.
“It’s a real shame I have to do this but, it’s for the good of the Universe.” Amanda says as she points a hand back at Ba’lal’s right hand man, starting to whisper another spell.
That’s when the other man gets the drop on Amanda and puts her in a chokehold. He lifts Amanda’s small frame up, allowing McLaurin to scurry across the floor. The goon doesn;t realize the strength of the elf, and she easily tosses him off her over his shoulder, sending him into the kitchen, hitting the fridge hard enough to dent the door. She turns suddenly to find McLaurin hold the cane. A blast of energy beats her to the punch, hitting her in the chest, sending her flying through the front door, splintering it. McLaurin walks over and grabs Kara, poking her with the end of the cane. Her body feels like jello as she collapses.
“Master! Please, I need you!” McLaurin yells to the ceiling. That’s when a black portal suddenly opens and McLaurin tries to drag the dead weight of Kara across the floor to the portal. A bloody and bruised Amanda limps back through the broken door.
“No!” Amanda yells and tries to run, before throwing herself at them. She misses and as Kara is dragged through the portal, it suddenly closes, leaving Amanda in Kara’s wrecked apartment with her parents.
“Oh no. This is bad, this is really bad.”
=======
Gerard is sitting in the green room for ESPN. He has been making the rounds, doing media to promote Deadly Intentions and SportsCenter was his last stop. He sipped a bottle of water slowly as he sat there in his most expensive suit, shades on. Living the gimmick as one would say. As he waited for his segment, he reflected upon the year since the last Deadly Rumble. If it was possible, he had re-broken out. He had achieved things that no one else had. He had become the best wrestler in the world. Yet one thing was missing. The World title. It was something he needed. Not just for the message of Pandaemonium. If he was the best wrestler in the world, he needed the World Championship to prove it. That sham of a wrestler was holding it. And the Deadly Rumble was his first step in claiming what was rightfully his.
No one was going to stand in his way. No surprise entrants in the Deadly Rumble. Not the walking retirement home in Rick Majors. Not the glory hog Grimm. Not even his brother in arms, David Hunter. Gerard was going to win the Deadly Rumble for a third time, then go on to take his title back from Stormm.
Gerard decided to go over his talking points for the show, as he knew the anchors would probably be ones who didn’t consider wrestling a sport, and would try to get him to slip up.
That’s when his phone rang. He took his iPhone out of his pocket and looked at it, seeing it was Megan. Gerard answered it instantly.
“Hello?”
A bunch of wild yelling fills his ear.
“Hey, hey. Calm down.”
More yelling.
“What?!?!”
Gerard gets up sprints out of the green room, ESPN the last thing on his mind.
Kara walked down the sidewalk, her Converse shoes tapping lightly on the segmented cement. She lifted the cup of coffee to her lips, taking a drink of it through the straw. Was a trick her mother taught her so she wouldn’t have to keep applying lipstick/gloss for a whole morning. She sighed after the first sip of coffee with oat milk, pausing on the busy street of New York to appreciate the city that never sleeps. This was her first time out of the house where she wasn’t accompanied by her father or mother since she got home from the hospital. She had to get out of the apartment. She was going stir crazy.
Plus she got tired of being afraid she would see that….thing, everytime she turned a corner. Kara knew her parents were thinking there was something wrong with her brain. After all the conucssions from wrestling, and then the attack, seeing something she couldn’t explain must’ve had them worried. Especially when they couldn’t see it. Of all the people she spoke to, the only person that didn’t think she was crazy was Gerard. Well at least she thought so.
Kara took another sip of her coffee and started back on her walk, heading back to her building. It was a baby step, but she was glad she ventured out for this coffee on her own. She was tired of feeling helpless. Kara made her way through throngs of people on the sidewalk, turning down a corner before jogging across the street quickly to avoid oncoming traffic. Kara looks around as she walks. The street is oddly less busy than the rest of the city, almost deserted. The hair on the back of Kara’s neck starts to stand up and she takes a peak over her shoulder. Two men dressed similarly in jeans, leather jackets, sunglasses with ball caps pulled down low are following her. They are at a distance, but something doesn’t seem right about them. Kara turns back around and starts to walk quicker, hoping her paranoia is just a by-product of the recent trauma.
Her hopeful wishes are dashed when she hears their boots clacking quicker on the sidewalk. Kara’s fight or flight instinct kicks and she suddenly dashes off down the sidewalk as fast as her Chuck Taylored clad feet can take her, hoping to get somewhere with a crowd typical of New York City so she could disappear. As she turns on a dime around the corner, she is stopped in her tracks by a hulking figure of a man blocking the sidewalk.
“Where you think ya goin’ there, blondie?” The brute asks as he leers down at her. Kara starts to back up but is stopped when she hears the footsteps of the two men stop behind her. She glances over her shoulder at them before looking back at the massive man, fidgeting with the coffee cup in her right hand. The hulk grins a crooked toothed grin down at the lovely blonde, no doubt thinking less than pure thoughts.
“Yer a pretty one aren’t cha?” He asks, stepping closer to her, reaching out to grab her elbow. Kara struggles against him, but he easily pulls her small frame against his body. Kara’s nose curls up in disgust, the smell of his unwashed body filling her nostrils.
“Hey Tank, boss said to just bring her to him, not to do anything to her.” She hears one of the men say behind her. The man called Tank, tears his eyes from his prey and glares at the other man.
“What da boss don’t know won’t hurt ‘em,” He says before looking down at Kara with another disgusting grin, “Right, blondie?”
Kara looks up at him and makes a face, before bringing her hand holding the coffee up, the lids flying off as she douses Tank’s face with the hot liquid. He lets out a yell and releases her arm, both hands going up to his face, trying to wipe the burning coffee from his eyes. Kara drops down, one hand on the sidewalk, using to help her spin, her skinny jeans clad leg connected with the back of Tank’s knee. His leg flies out from under him and the bulky man crashes down hard onto the pavement of the street. One of the other men tries to grab her from behind but Kara spins around and drives her knee hard up into the man’s groin.
He drops down gripping his family jewels as the other guy looks at what this tiny blonde girl did to his two buddies.
“Why you lil bitch…” He says while reaching into his jacket for something but doesn’t get too far as he starts to levitate. This is obviously not his doing as he’d looking around, yelling as the gun he was trying to pull out of his jacket drops down, clunking harmlessly off the sidewalk. He tries to struggle as he is lifted higher and higher into the air before he is suddenly and violently thrown into the side of a building and lands down with a thud on the sidewalk. Kara has no time to process this as she hears Tank starting to stir behind her. She turns to see him sitting up and gets a bit of a running start and throws a kick into his face.
Kara hears a surprisingly satisfying crunch of bone. He drops down on his back again, clutching his face.
“You broke ma nose you dumb bish…” is all Kara hears as she takes off running again down the street. From around the corner, a mousy haired small woman sticks her head around the corner, smiling at the scene.
“You silly boys never, learn do you?” Amanda asks, more to herself then the men writhing in pain.
“The thing is, the Deadly Rumble might just be the most difficult match in all of wrestling. You have no idea who is going to show up. It could be seven guys, it could be 40. You have to prepare for anything and everything. Is ‘Dead’ Lee Rumbles gonna show up? Will Dominator rear his ugly head after being gone for months? And not only that, but you have to plan for coming in at any time during the match. Well, not me this year as I secured the last entrant spot. But it takes a lot of cardio and a little luck. Most of all, it takes a lot of planning. The match is ninety percent mental. Everyone thinks you can just go in there and start trying to throw everyone out of the ring. You need to go into that match with a plan. And it just so happens that I am the smartest man in wrestling.” - Gerard Angelo on Ebro in the Morning, Hot 97
Kara panted as she slammed the door to her apartment shut behind her. She locked every lock, including the deadbolt, and leaned against the door. Kara ran the whole way back to her apartment, up the stairs and everything, not bothering with the elevator. She didn’t know what happened, and she wasn’t trying to find out either. She closed her eyes, feeling safe knowing she was with her parents here.
“Did you have an interesting day, dear?”
Kara’s eyes snapped open at the unfamiliar voice. She looked up and saw a portly man in a suit sitting on her couch, a cane across his lap.
“Who the fuck are you?” Kara asks as she stands up straight clenching her fists. The man removes his pocket square and takes off his glasses, using the cloth to clean them.
“You don’t remember me, dear Kara?” the man asks, putting his glasses back on. Kara looks at him and has a sudden realization.
“You’re… Theo’s friend, McLaurin…”
McLaurin nods.
“That’s right, dear girl.”
“Do you know where he is?”
McLaurin smiles at her.
“Come with me, and all your questions will be answered by the Master.”
“Who? What are you talking about? Where are my parents?”
“They are fine.”
“Where are they?” She asks, getting more agitated
“Come with me, and the Master will answer all your questions.”
“Listen, you fat little weirdo. I’m not going anywhere with you. No where the hell are my parents?”
“Fine. If you must
McLaurin claps his pudgy hands and two men walk out from her room, pushing her parents along who were bound and gagged with duct tape and zip ties. Her mother’s makeup was a mess from sobbing and her father’s face was red as a tomato as he struggled against his bonds. Both of the men, dressed similarly to the men from before, push them forward and the both hit the floor hard.
“Mom! Daddy!” Kara yells and goes to run towards them. McLaurin, with surprising quickness, lifts his cane and points it towards Kara. She suddenly freezes in her tracks, unable to move.
“Now listen, girl. You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not. But to show you we mean no harm, we’ll leave your parents alive.”
Kara’s blue eyes are wide with fear, unable to move as the two men move towards her.
“She’s not going anywhere, McLaurin.”
Amanda had appeared next to Kara, much to her surprise. McLaurin scowled at the small girl.
“Foolish elf. You dare stand against the Dark Lord?!”
Amanda gives an impish smile and raises a hand at the three men.
“Dark Lord? Pfft. All I see here is two goons and a fat little idiot.”
McLaurin’s face turns red and he goes to point the cane at Amanda. She’s ready for it and whispers a quick incantation, which sends the cane flying out of McLaurin’s hand across the room. His two henchmen try to use this opportunity to go after the elf, but she sends them flying. One crashes into a wall, breaking a shelf. As he lands on the floor, books and trinkets rain down on his head. The other man is sent into the couch, knocking it over and sending McLaurin flying. The commotion has allowed Kara to regain control of herself, and runs to her parents, trying to untie them. McLaurin is trying to crawl across the floor to grab the cane, but Amanda goes over to him and steps on his chubby little hand.
“It’s a real shame I have to do this but, it’s for the good of the Universe.” Amanda says as she points a hand back at Ba’lal’s right hand man, starting to whisper another spell.
That’s when the other man gets the drop on Amanda and puts her in a chokehold. He lifts Amanda’s small frame up, allowing McLaurin to scurry across the floor. The goon doesn;t realize the strength of the elf, and she easily tosses him off her over his shoulder, sending him into the kitchen, hitting the fridge hard enough to dent the door. She turns suddenly to find McLaurin hold the cane. A blast of energy beats her to the punch, hitting her in the chest, sending her flying through the front door, splintering it. McLaurin walks over and grabs Kara, poking her with the end of the cane. Her body feels like jello as she collapses.
“Master! Please, I need you!” McLaurin yells to the ceiling. That’s when a black portal suddenly opens and McLaurin tries to drag the dead weight of Kara across the floor to the portal. A bloody and bruised Amanda limps back through the broken door.
“No!” Amanda yells and tries to run, before throwing herself at them. She misses and as Kara is dragged through the portal, it suddenly closes, leaving Amanda in Kara’s wrecked apartment with her parents.
“Oh no. This is bad, this is really bad.”
=======
Gerard is sitting in the green room for ESPN. He has been making the rounds, doing media to promote Deadly Intentions and SportsCenter was his last stop. He sipped a bottle of water slowly as he sat there in his most expensive suit, shades on. Living the gimmick as one would say. As he waited for his segment, he reflected upon the year since the last Deadly Rumble. If it was possible, he had re-broken out. He had achieved things that no one else had. He had become the best wrestler in the world. Yet one thing was missing. The World title. It was something he needed. Not just for the message of Pandaemonium. If he was the best wrestler in the world, he needed the World Championship to prove it. That sham of a wrestler was holding it. And the Deadly Rumble was his first step in claiming what was rightfully his.
No one was going to stand in his way. No surprise entrants in the Deadly Rumble. Not the walking retirement home in Rick Majors. Not the glory hog Grimm. Not even his brother in arms, David Hunter. Gerard was going to win the Deadly Rumble for a third time, then go on to take his title back from Stormm.
Gerard decided to go over his talking points for the show, as he knew the anchors would probably be ones who didn’t consider wrestling a sport, and would try to get him to slip up.
That’s when his phone rang. He took his iPhone out of his pocket and looked at it, seeing it was Megan. Gerard answered it instantly.
“Hello?”
A bunch of wild yelling fills his ear.
“Hey, hey. Calm down.”
More yelling.
“What?!?!”
Gerard gets up sprints out of the green room, ESPN the last thing on his mind.