***Uprising: St. Louis, Missouri, March 9th,
2008***
Jake Steel: Maurako just laid out Ice Man with
the Simply Marvelous! It’s academic from
here, Cael!
Caelan Tyler:
Don’t be so sure, it’s not over until someone escapes the cage!
Maurako turns to look at Ice Man, a sneer evident on his
face as he feels he has this match won.
His gaze shifts to the walls of the cage, then over to the door, and the
sneer becomes a full-fledged grin as he makes his way to the door.
Caelan Tyler:
Mario seems confident that this one is over as he prepares to go out the
cage door.
Jake Steel:
Indeed! Your hero, and mine, is
about to retain his ti-what the hell is he doing here?!
The man behind Jake’s comment appears a moment later, as
The Phoenix
runs down the ramp and towards the ring.
Maurako has his back to the aisle, and hasn’t seen this turn of events.
Caelan Tyler:
We know Ice Man has a grudge against Phoenix, but
Ice is still down!
Jake Steel:
He just wants to be the first to laugh in Ice’s face when The Marvelous
One retains. Come on, Mario!
By now, Maurako has seen Phoenix but
continues on his way out the door, figuring that he has the match won.
However…
Caelan Tyler:
Phoenix
just kicked the door right back into the face of the champion! Maurako is down near the door, between the
ropes and the cage!
Jake Steel:
What the hell…that fiery bastard just cost Mario the win, Cael!
Caelan Tyler:
Tell me something I didn’t already know.
But you have to think that maybe he had reason to do it. Maurako is down, and Ice is starting to come
around!
The Ice Man turns to see Phoenix
standing at ringside with an impassive look on his face. With a wary look, Ice picks up Mario from the
mat, and blasts the champion with an impressive-looking Ice Pick!
Jake Steel:
Don’t tell me it’s going to end like this! Come on, Mario, stop him!
But Jake’s words fall on deaf ears, as Ice climbs the
cage on the side farthest away from where Phoenix continues to stand, and then
descends the other side, touching the floor as the referee calls for the bell.
Zach King:
Here is your winner and once again, Anarchy X champion…THE ICE MAN!
Raising his newly-won
belt high, Ice Man never takes his gaze off of Phoenix, a mild look of
bewilderment clearly evident on his face.
Just then, the lights flicker
for a brief moment before darkness reigns…
\___(^)___/
***Residence of William Prydor (Baltimore, Maryland): March 10th, 2008, 4:45 a.m.***
After another red-eye flight, he found himself pulling up to
his driveway well before sunrise, his headlights casting a brief ambience over
his property before being reclaimed by the darkness of the early morning. Seeing nothing blatantly amiss, he shut off
his truck and slid off the seat, a duffle bag in hand as he walked to the door.
The blinking light of the answering machine greeted him as
he opened the door, the only point of reference in an otherwise pitch-black
room. Without thinking twice, he moved
through the living room, experience telling him where all of the furniture was
without needing light as he pressed the ‘play’ button.
“You have three un-played messages,” the robotic female
voice informed him. “Message one,
received Friday, 6:48 p.m.”
“This message is for Will Prydor. This is the American Red Cross--“
A quick button press was all it took to delete that
message. “Next message, received Sunday,
9:17 p.m.”
“Just calling to say congratulations on winning your dark
match tonight, Will. Any word on who you
have next show?”
Another press deleted that message from Brandy. At least he didn’t have to talk to her
face-to-face this early in the morning.
There was one more left. “Next
message, received at 12:28 a.m.”
Several seconds of a static-filled silence filled the air,
and he was about to hit the “delete” button when a male voice said, “Phoenix,
this is Jack Sullivan. You have Mario
Maurako in two weeks, and an NLW Championship shot is at stake. I understand you said you were going to hold
off on an Anarchy X title shot…but you never said anything about a shot at the
main title. See you in two weeks.”
A soft “click” ended the message, as he looked at the
machine as if it had come to life. Was
this some sort of sham, or did he really hear the words he thought he did? A second play-through of the message left no
doubt—he heard correctly the first time around.
This put him at a loss for words, in all honesty. In his own mind, he felt like he needed far
more work before he was ready for that level…but the Fates (and his boss) had
dictated otherwise for him. Who was he
to say no?
Nevertheless, he would be ready as he could be for the match
in two weeks. While the need for revenge
was not as great as it was two weeks ago, he could still feel it churning in
the depths of his soul. With enough
prodding, he knew he would be able to bring it to bear should the case become
necessary.
And then there was the issue of Brandy. Something continued to seem off about her,
but he couldn’t place his finger on what exactly that might have been. Besides, given her resumed residence at the
End of Nowhere, he knew he hadn’t seen the last of her yet. He just hoped that she would respect the
request he had made for the next two weeks, especially as this match--quite
possibly the most important one in his life to date--began to draw near.
But that could wait a day or two. Right now, he had to get ready for something
he had only done once before, and even then it was in a non-speaking capacity
as a child. Pushing aside all thoughts
of his current issues, he walked into his room and made certain everything was
ready. His DVR was set to analyze what
he was about to do, and he was mentally as ready as he could be. He just hoped he wouldn’t look foolish on
live television.
**WJZ-TV Studios (Baltimore, Maryland): March 10th, 6:41 a.m.**
“’Coffee With’ this morning…Baltimore isn’t really known as
a ‘hot-bed’ of professional wrestling, but recently a couple of our own have
been making news in the latest version of a wrestling promotion. We’re pleased to have one of them here with
us today, to talk wrestling with us.
Please welcome to the Eyewitness News Morning Edition, ‘The Phoenix’
himself, Will Prydor.”
Exhaling one last time, he strode out into the main studio
to greet the two long-time anchors of the morning show, Don Scott and Marty
Bass.
“How are you this morning?”
“Thankful that we missed out on the blizzard, Don. Twenty inches of snow is a bit much, in my
opinion. I’ll stick with two to three
inches of rain any day of the week.” He
was referring to the recent weather that had just barely missed turning into a
blizzard in the Baltimore
area.
Marty turned to him.
“So, tell us about NLW, Will.”
He gave the anchors a brief rundown of the history of the
promotion, as he had looked over prior to showtime, going on for about a minute
or so before finally coming to a stop.
“And when is your next show?”
“Our next show is on the 23rd of this month, as
I’ll be wrestling someone I faced in my first match with this promotion,
‘Marvelous’ Mario Maurako.”
“How would you rate him as a wrestler?”
“That one is simple, Marty.
He’s one of the tougher competitors out there, and I know that after our
most recent show in St.
Louis he will be coming after me with a
vengeance. But if he’s learned anything
from my run here so far, it’s that I will not go without a fight. By the time the match is over, he’ll realize
that he’s been in a war with me, and whatever the outcome, he’ll know that I am
for real, and not just some fly-by-night wannabe wrestler.”
“I’m being told that we’re almost out of time here,
Will. I’ve watched the last show you
mentioned, and can’t help but notice that during the show, you had a whole
other pattern of speech. If you would,
say something ‘in character,’ so those of you watching out there know what to
expect when NLW Uprising, episode 5 airs on March 23.”
He simply nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, working
out what he wanted to say. Then, he
stared straight into the camera as he spoke.
“So now the man who stole a victory, and a championship,
through interference knows how it feels when he is the one wronged. How does it feel, Mario? How does it feel to realize that you may have
been the better man, but yet you have nothing to show for it?
“In two week’s time we square off once more, this time
without a third person and also without weapons, for a shot at the most
prestigious title that New Legends of Wrestling has to offer. And this time, I promise you, there will be
no outside interference to keep you from being forced to submit, another victim
of the Blaze of Glory.
“Mario Maurako, the days between now and Uprising are fading
fast. Cherish them well, for after
Uprising, your dreams of immortality will be as dust in a wind--scattered,
never able to be reclaimed. My time has
arrived; my place in the annals of NLW awaits me. Ice Man has felt the wrath of the Blaze of
Glory, as have you. This time, however,
I will not rest until you are forced to pound the mat, the pain coercing you to
submit or risk permanent injury to your ankle.
Consider this your lone warning, Maurako…for The Phoenix shall see it
done.”
His gaze burned into the camera as the shot faded to black.
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