Post by Stormm on Mar 8, 2015 23:01:46 GMT -5
If she hadn't happened upon him, sprawled out helpless, there would have been no chance at a chance for him...
Justin Michaels was thirty-six years old, in the best shape of his life, and at a really good place in his life in every aspect of the term. One man did all he could to try and ruin that, not just for the Force of Nature, but for everyone in the Michaels family puzzle that Justin had spent the last four years trying to piece back together. Tha Joka and a strand of barbed wire could have very well ended it all that night, and for what?
His job?
A title belt?
The satisfaction?
It was evident that a man (in every loose definition of the word) like Tha Joka was among those only out for themselves, without a care in the world of the lives they affect in the process. No doubt about it, Stormm was just as guilty of this as anyone else in the past, but nine months ago something changed the way he looked at his career, his life, the world in general. The moment his wife had told him she was pregnant, a switch flipped.
He always had the mentality of doing the right thing, looking out for others, a basic paternal instinct that he may had never noticed in himself, but it was there. His younger brother, Aaron, knew all about it when Justin took him in after both of their "parents" had gone missing. Lindsay knew he had it in him, and she's seen the kind of man Justin can be whether or not there are people in need around him. It was just a side of himself he had kept hidden in a defensive manner, given the way his life had gone in the past.
Regardless of his history, and despite the fact he would have never gone to the extremes that Joka did on that evening, when his life was in danger, the Force of Nature could only think of others, which is nearly the exact opposite of the kind of man he was at that time the year previously.
So while he lie in the sanguine quagmire of his existence, the clock winding down to lights out, he struggled to breathe, fought to keep from passing out, and was doing everything in his power to save what little strength he had left. Most of which was exhausted in the battle with Joka after being drug from the arena backstage by what may very well have been a sharp noose to end it all.
He could hear himself yelling out the words in his head, but nothing actually came out. The stench of a dirty industrial sink, and the taste of a mouthful of coins overpowered most of his other senses. He could no longer feel the gashes and holes on his neck, or the blood trickling out of the wounds. He was so concentrated on Lindsay and their twins, his siblings, and his parents, that it was nearly impossible for him to focus his energies on a cry for help, one which he desperately needed someone to hear.
Tap Tap Tap
The faint drumming of someone on the other side of his locker room door came, and none too soon. "Justin?" A female voice called out. The Force of Nature knew better than to keep wishing to see Lindsay's face, in her third trimester, and due any day now, she would be resting comfortably at home until the birth of the twins and for some time afterwards.
Another silent plea, and Justin could feel the panic setting in. The smell and taste of blood accompanied by sweat was about to be met with tears as he stretched out and arm, and tried to drag himself across the concrete to the door. Sadness and panic was soon met with anger at his inability to help himself, and he could feel the rage burning inside of him towards the man responsible for all of it.
Knock Knock Knock Knock
"Justin, are you in there? It's Catie!" She raised her voice more this time, and the dread in her voice was more pronounced than it had been in her first attempt. She had been staying with the Michaels ever since she let them know that her husband, Justin's best friend Brian, had been missing. No doubt more of Damian Sorrow's handiwork, but still no laughing matter. The last thing she needed was to see Justin in the state he was in, but at the same time, he couldn't afford for her not to find him.
The third time was not the charm, and he was still unable to squeak out a single syllable. His mouth had filled with blood, and even if he had getting anything out, it would have been muffled through the crimson swill. He continued to fight every feeling of keeping still as he stretched out one arm after the other to drag himself close to the door. The of course was working against everything as his heart rate was elevated, and continued to pump more blood out of his body, when he was trying to keep calm to prevent that from happening.
SLAM WHACK BANG CRASH BOOM!
Catie was a petite little thing, but the force behind her fist hitting the door that final time was enough to startle Justin a bit. "There's blood everywhere out here Justin, and the door is locked. Are you there? Are you okay? Do you need help?" While her voice was comforting, the dismay that accompanied it had the opposite effect.
He had crawled as far as he could under his own strength, and the darkness started to come as his vision started to abandon him. It was if he was traveling through a tunnel, but there was still some light at the end for him to focus on. He was still a good six feet short of the door, a trail of blood from his position to where Joka had dumped him earlier, before locking the door and exiting the locker room, was testament to his will to live.
Thoughts of his family rushed through his head again, and how he and Lindsay still hadn't agreed on names for the twins. Brian and Catie were next, and how glad he was that he had friends like them that stuck with him through the years, and how he couldn't let go now, not with his best friend missing. That of course caused a flood of emotion for the still missing Southwind Gardens patients that he promised to get back to safety, and of course, the man that still fuels the search, the only other man that Justin has considered a close friend over the years, Kaden Calix.
And of course, the man that could take all that way from him, and him away from all of that; Tha Joka. The rage returned, and the tunnel vision dissipated long enough for Stormm to dig deeper than he ever had before. With every ounce of strength he had left, he let out a final cry that he begged would be more than just a whisper on the wind. "RRUUUUAAHHG!"
It was nothing more than gibberish mixed with the sound of gurgling blood, but in his current state, all he cared about was making enough noise for Catie to hear him outside. He spat a mouthful of blood out beside him as his head collapsed back down to the concrete floor, and the locker room started to spin.
The sound of metal clanging on metal could be heard, and soon after the door handle on the inside of the door fell to the floor and the door came flying open. Catie had found something bash the door in with and she rushed inside, immediately collapsing to her knees at Justin's side. "Oh my God, Justin! Someone help!"
Despite her small frame, she was able to turn the Force of Nature over with ease to inspect the damage. His neck was mangled and the rest of his face and upper body had been scratched and sliced up as well. She scooped Justin in her arms as she howled for assistance again. "He's bleeding really bad, please, someone help!"
Whether it was Catie's yelling, or the commotion made from her busting down Justin's locker room door, someone answered the call.
"What is going on... holy Hell!" Dave Brandt was the first on the scene, whether out of pure luck or out of sheer irony, it didn't matter. He definitely shouldn't have been there that night, having taken a beating at Trauma One Sixty-six from the same man that had laid waste to Stormm that night, and that made the second person that Justin was not expecting to see at his side.
He should have been taking it easy, but in Justin's state, didn't hesitate to scoop the bloodied man in his arms and head for a doctor. While the large black man made it look easy, Justin saw the whole thing go down a whole lot differently in his blood deprived state.
While the words were only spoken in his head as he was being rushed down the halls, his mind still thought he was laying on the floor of his locker room, and was making it to his feet under his own power. He chuckled to himself, and not just in his imagination, which brought a strange look from both Catie and Dave as they arrived at the infirmary. "You should see the other guy."
Doctor Harold Suresh looked at all three of them with a puzzled yet horrified look. "What happened?" He questioned while at the same time motioning for his assistants to call for an ambulance.
"Tha Joka happened, Doc!" Dave answered as he sat Justin down on the examiner's table.
The Force of Nature had become surprisingly alert in his condition, despite the amount of blood he lost and the amount of physical exhaustion he had been through that entire evening. He was still unable to really speak, any more than he had already, but he had quickly become aware of what was happening again, and tried to get off the table with clenched fists. "You aren't going anywhere Justin!" It didn't take much to keep him in place, in fact, one of Harold's finger gently pushing on Stormm's shoulder was enough to get him to lay back down as the doctor continued to clean up the wounds and assess the situation. "It doesn't really look like anything vital has been compromised, he's just got a ton of lacerations and has lost a significant amount of blood."
"Is he going to be okay?!" Catie shrieked.
Doctor Suresh's timid nod told a different than his answer. "He needs more medical attention than I can provide right here, right now, but if we can get him to the hospital as soon as possible, he should be okay."
The two had never met before, but "Big" Dave comforted Catie as she gripped his arm tight, fearful for losing someone else she loved, maybe for good. All the while, Justin's brain was firing on one cylinder, and it was being charged by retribution. He did not care to know the kind of people that Joka could leave behind if put into the same situation. He did not care what others would think should Stormm sink to the same level. All he cared about was making Joka struggle with his thoughts as he did to Justin on that evening.
He hoped that the he could cause as much physical anguish as Joka had on him, and in return, that would lead to the same mental agony that he had endured over the last hour. Not only for fear of leaving those he loved behind, but the anger of knowing that hardly anyone in the backstage area cared enough to even check on him, and thankfully for him a couple of friends were close by in his time of need.
Stormm was never known for being hardcore, at least not anymore; but he had a history with it, and didn't like the kind of competitor he become under such conditions. The bloodlust would consume him, and the predicament that he was in during Trauma One Sixty-Eight, was similar to what he left opponents in of days long past. It was something Stormm had left behind him, but as he lie still on the Doctor Suresh's table with his wounds being tended to, he couldn't help but yearn for the ability to be blind with blood rage once more.
An unsanctioned match for HIS North American title would give him more than enough opportunity to do so. What started out as a simple agreement to get the insane clown to shut up and put him in his place for attacking innocents, and sticking his nose in the Force of Nature's business, had become more than that. Sanctioned or unsanctioned. North American title on the line or not. It was nothing more than a match for blood now. It was personal!
"The ambulance is here!" Harold's assistant called out.
"Help me get him to the garage!" Doctor Suresh said towards Dave, who jumped in to assist without hesitation. Catie would follow them the whole way, talking to Justin the whole time, trying to keep him conscious.
The paramedics met them just inside of the parking garage with a gurney in tow. They quickly got Justin strapped in, and she climbed into the back of the ambulance with him after they got him loaded up. "Thank you!" She called out to the doctor and head of Pure Class Arena security as the doors to the ambulance closed, and the emergency vehicle sped off with sirens blaring.
"Catie Mae, you sure are loud!" His joke made her giggle and bawl all at the same time, and she grabbed his hand and squeeze it gently, and he squeezed back.
...and if she hadn't happened upon him, sprawled out helpless, there would have been no chance at a chance for him!
Justin Michaels was thirty-six years old, in the best shape of his life, and at a really good place in his life in every aspect of the term. One man did all he could to try and ruin that, not just for the Force of Nature, but for everyone in the Michaels family puzzle that Justin had spent the last four years trying to piece back together. Tha Joka and a strand of barbed wire could have very well ended it all that night, and for what?
His job?
A title belt?
The satisfaction?
It was evident that a man (in every loose definition of the word) like Tha Joka was among those only out for themselves, without a care in the world of the lives they affect in the process. No doubt about it, Stormm was just as guilty of this as anyone else in the past, but nine months ago something changed the way he looked at his career, his life, the world in general. The moment his wife had told him she was pregnant, a switch flipped.
He always had the mentality of doing the right thing, looking out for others, a basic paternal instinct that he may had never noticed in himself, but it was there. His younger brother, Aaron, knew all about it when Justin took him in after both of their "parents" had gone missing. Lindsay knew he had it in him, and she's seen the kind of man Justin can be whether or not there are people in need around him. It was just a side of himself he had kept hidden in a defensive manner, given the way his life had gone in the past.
Regardless of his history, and despite the fact he would have never gone to the extremes that Joka did on that evening, when his life was in danger, the Force of Nature could only think of others, which is nearly the exact opposite of the kind of man he was at that time the year previously.
So while he lie in the sanguine quagmire of his existence, the clock winding down to lights out, he struggled to breathe, fought to keep from passing out, and was doing everything in his power to save what little strength he had left. Most of which was exhausted in the battle with Joka after being drug from the arena backstage by what may very well have been a sharp noose to end it all.
Help me!
He could hear himself yelling out the words in his head, but nothing actually came out. The stench of a dirty industrial sink, and the taste of a mouthful of coins overpowered most of his other senses. He could no longer feel the gashes and holes on his neck, or the blood trickling out of the wounds. He was so concentrated on Lindsay and their twins, his siblings, and his parents, that it was nearly impossible for him to focus his energies on a cry for help, one which he desperately needed someone to hear.
Tap Tap Tap
The faint drumming of someone on the other side of his locker room door came, and none too soon. "Justin?" A female voice called out. The Force of Nature knew better than to keep wishing to see Lindsay's face, in her third trimester, and due any day now, she would be resting comfortably at home until the birth of the twins and for some time afterwards.
I'm here!
Another silent plea, and Justin could feel the panic setting in. The smell and taste of blood accompanied by sweat was about to be met with tears as he stretched out and arm, and tried to drag himself across the concrete to the door. Sadness and panic was soon met with anger at his inability to help himself, and he could feel the rage burning inside of him towards the man responsible for all of it.
Knock Knock Knock Knock
"Justin, are you in there? It's Catie!" She raised her voice more this time, and the dread in her voice was more pronounced than it had been in her first attempt. She had been staying with the Michaels ever since she let them know that her husband, Justin's best friend Brian, had been missing. No doubt more of Damian Sorrow's handiwork, but still no laughing matter. The last thing she needed was to see Justin in the state he was in, but at the same time, he couldn't afford for her not to find him.
Come in!
The third time was not the charm, and he was still unable to squeak out a single syllable. His mouth had filled with blood, and even if he had getting anything out, it would have been muffled through the crimson swill. He continued to fight every feeling of keeping still as he stretched out one arm after the other to drag himself close to the door. The of course was working against everything as his heart rate was elevated, and continued to pump more blood out of his body, when he was trying to keep calm to prevent that from happening.
SLAM WHACK BANG CRASH BOOM!
Catie was a petite little thing, but the force behind her fist hitting the door that final time was enough to startle Justin a bit. "There's blood everywhere out here Justin, and the door is locked. Are you there? Are you okay? Do you need help?" While her voice was comforting, the dismay that accompanied it had the opposite effect.
He had crawled as far as he could under his own strength, and the darkness started to come as his vision started to abandon him. It was if he was traveling through a tunnel, but there was still some light at the end for him to focus on. He was still a good six feet short of the door, a trail of blood from his position to where Joka had dumped him earlier, before locking the door and exiting the locker room, was testament to his will to live.
Thoughts of his family rushed through his head again, and how he and Lindsay still hadn't agreed on names for the twins. Brian and Catie were next, and how glad he was that he had friends like them that stuck with him through the years, and how he couldn't let go now, not with his best friend missing. That of course caused a flood of emotion for the still missing Southwind Gardens patients that he promised to get back to safety, and of course, the man that still fuels the search, the only other man that Justin has considered a close friend over the years, Kaden Calix.
And of course, the man that could take all that way from him, and him away from all of that; Tha Joka. The rage returned, and the tunnel vision dissipated long enough for Stormm to dig deeper than he ever had before. With every ounce of strength he had left, he let out a final cry that he begged would be more than just a whisper on the wind. "RRUUUUAAHHG!"
It was nothing more than gibberish mixed with the sound of gurgling blood, but in his current state, all he cared about was making enough noise for Catie to hear him outside. He spat a mouthful of blood out beside him as his head collapsed back down to the concrete floor, and the locker room started to spin.
The sound of metal clanging on metal could be heard, and soon after the door handle on the inside of the door fell to the floor and the door came flying open. Catie had found something bash the door in with and she rushed inside, immediately collapsing to her knees at Justin's side. "Oh my God, Justin! Someone help!"
Despite her small frame, she was able to turn the Force of Nature over with ease to inspect the damage. His neck was mangled and the rest of his face and upper body had been scratched and sliced up as well. She scooped Justin in her arms as she howled for assistance again. "He's bleeding really bad, please, someone help!"
Whether it was Catie's yelling, or the commotion made from her busting down Justin's locker room door, someone answered the call.
"What is going on... holy Hell!" Dave Brandt was the first on the scene, whether out of pure luck or out of sheer irony, it didn't matter. He definitely shouldn't have been there that night, having taken a beating at Trauma One Sixty-six from the same man that had laid waste to Stormm that night, and that made the second person that Justin was not expecting to see at his side.
He should have been taking it easy, but in Justin's state, didn't hesitate to scoop the bloodied man in his arms and head for a doctor. While the large black man made it look easy, Justin saw the whole thing go down a whole lot differently in his blood deprived state.
I got this!
While the words were only spoken in his head as he was being rushed down the halls, his mind still thought he was laying on the floor of his locker room, and was making it to his feet under his own power. He chuckled to himself, and not just in his imagination, which brought a strange look from both Catie and Dave as they arrived at the infirmary. "You should see the other guy."
Doctor Harold Suresh looked at all three of them with a puzzled yet horrified look. "What happened?" He questioned while at the same time motioning for his assistants to call for an ambulance.
"Tha Joka happened, Doc!" Dave answered as he sat Justin down on the examiner's table.
The Force of Nature had become surprisingly alert in his condition, despite the amount of blood he lost and the amount of physical exhaustion he had been through that entire evening. He was still unable to really speak, any more than he had already, but he had quickly become aware of what was happening again, and tried to get off the table with clenched fists. "You aren't going anywhere Justin!" It didn't take much to keep him in place, in fact, one of Harold's finger gently pushing on Stormm's shoulder was enough to get him to lay back down as the doctor continued to clean up the wounds and assess the situation. "It doesn't really look like anything vital has been compromised, he's just got a ton of lacerations and has lost a significant amount of blood."
"Is he going to be okay?!" Catie shrieked.
Doctor Suresh's timid nod told a different than his answer. "He needs more medical attention than I can provide right here, right now, but if we can get him to the hospital as soon as possible, he should be okay."
The two had never met before, but "Big" Dave comforted Catie as she gripped his arm tight, fearful for losing someone else she loved, maybe for good. All the while, Justin's brain was firing on one cylinder, and it was being charged by retribution. He did not care to know the kind of people that Joka could leave behind if put into the same situation. He did not care what others would think should Stormm sink to the same level. All he cared about was making Joka struggle with his thoughts as he did to Justin on that evening.
He hoped that the he could cause as much physical anguish as Joka had on him, and in return, that would lead to the same mental agony that he had endured over the last hour. Not only for fear of leaving those he loved behind, but the anger of knowing that hardly anyone in the backstage area cared enough to even check on him, and thankfully for him a couple of friends were close by in his time of need.
Stormm was never known for being hardcore, at least not anymore; but he had a history with it, and didn't like the kind of competitor he become under such conditions. The bloodlust would consume him, and the predicament that he was in during Trauma One Sixty-Eight, was similar to what he left opponents in of days long past. It was something Stormm had left behind him, but as he lie still on the Doctor Suresh's table with his wounds being tended to, he couldn't help but yearn for the ability to be blind with blood rage once more.
An unsanctioned match for HIS North American title would give him more than enough opportunity to do so. What started out as a simple agreement to get the insane clown to shut up and put him in his place for attacking innocents, and sticking his nose in the Force of Nature's business, had become more than that. Sanctioned or unsanctioned. North American title on the line or not. It was nothing more than a match for blood now. It was personal!
"The ambulance is here!" Harold's assistant called out.
"Help me get him to the garage!" Doctor Suresh said towards Dave, who jumped in to assist without hesitation. Catie would follow them the whole way, talking to Justin the whole time, trying to keep him conscious.
The paramedics met them just inside of the parking garage with a gurney in tow. They quickly got Justin strapped in, and she climbed into the back of the ambulance with him after they got him loaded up. "Thank you!" She called out to the doctor and head of Pure Class Arena security as the doors to the ambulance closed, and the emergency vehicle sped off with sirens blaring.
"Catie Mae, you sure are loud!" His joke made her giggle and bawl all at the same time, and she grabbed his hand and squeeze it gently, and he squeezed back.
...and if she hadn't happened upon him, sprawled out helpless, there would have been no chance at a chance for him!
