Residence of William Prydor
March 25, 2008, 11:48 a.m.
“I understand, Jack.
Do what you must.” A brief pause
followed this as the voice on the other end of the line spoke. “No, I get what you’re saying. You have to do what’s best for NLW. You worry about that; I’ll be ready for
whomever it is come Uprising. After all,
it’s not like I can predict who you’re going to have face me if you’re leaving
it to Harvey Danger.”
A nod followed this that the other person (presumably Jack
Sullivan) could not see, and then he spoke once more. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to call him later today
to see how things are going. I have to
run, Jack--with this development I need to start scouting everyone in NLW so I can be ready for Uprising. Take care...you, too. G’bye.”
He disconnected the call, and breathed a heavy sigh of exasperation. He was so close to the summit, and now
another avalanche, bigger than the threat that was Xavier Lux, threatened to
send him tumbling back to the base.
True, he couldn’t blame Lux--from what he had heard, the accident was
the other driver’s fault. Plowing into
the driver’s side of a vehicle when you do not have the right of way will be
your fault every single time.
He made a mental reminder to call the Houston hospital where Lux was recovering to
wish him the best of recoveries before turning back to his screening room. With “Venom” unable to wrestle at the next
Uprising, Jack Sullivan had told him that it was up to the commissioner, Harvey
Danger, to decide the other participant in his NLW Championship match.
He shook his head at the irony of it all. It seemed there was always another obstacle
that would inevitably find its’ way into the path before him. There was nothing left that he could do now
except to be ready for anything. He had
just under two weeks to prepare; he would use every second he could for that
one chance to realize his dream, and finally be on top of a promotion.
Walking back into the screening room, he queued up as much
footage as he had on each of the remaining NLW wrestlers. It was time to get started.
Undisclosed Location
March 25, 2008, 1:22 p.m.
I looked over at him and watched as he paced to and fro,
moving fluidly as a jungle cat would.
This development wouldn’t be beneficial to our plans, and he obviously
knew it. I could almost see the gears
turning in his mind as he tried to think of an altered plan. When he turned to me a moment later, his eyes
blazing with intensity, I believed he had found it.
"OK...we stick with the original plan. We can’t try to pin it on Venom,
obviously. Someone may think conspiracy,
and right now that may be our best way to avoid the limelight. Keep a low profile and have them go do it.”
Two questions:
where and when? If he holds true
to form, he’ll be going to the next show early in order to become acclimated to
the environment and get rid of the jet lag prior to showtime. So do we do it
here, where he might get media attention because he’s a local celebrity...or
wait until he gets to The Big Easy, and hope that it’s enough then to keep him
out of Uprising?”
“You bring up good points. Very well, have them ready to go at him in Louisiana. We shall figure out the ‘when’ part of it at
a later time.”
I nodded at this.
Besides the fact that he would be half a country away from his normal
haunts, he’d also be half a country away from what some claim is the best
hospital in the nation—Johns Hopkins.
By the time we were done with him, he would need a
hospital. I could promise him that.
Residence of William Prydor
March 25, 2008, 6:58 p.m.
Some seven hours later, he had finally finished his scouting
report on the entire NLW roster. Of the
eleven other wrestlers presently in the federation, he had them grouped by how
likely it was that they would be chosen due to recent in-ring ability, or other
factors that he knew of. Glancing down,
he looked at his list once again:
Prime Candidates
The Black Phoenix: Lots
of momentum coming off win against D. Hazard.
Has Anarchy X title shot in the works, but may forgo that for a shot
here. Brawler with a smattering of other
wresting essentials, could pose a tough problem.
Kevin Heat: Lost NLW Championship match to Venom, also
lost Legacy title recently. May have
something to prove, and will come out with all guns firing hoping to claim what
he was denied during the PoD tournament finals.
Scheduled for a match next show.
The Ice Man: May still have old grudges to settle due to
kidnapping prior to Uprising 4. Has a
title to prove he’s worthy; win over Venom last show may give him the nod as he
beat the former champion.
Middle of the Pack
Kylo: Mental breakdown may force him out of the
title picture. Do not take lightly; he
may be an alcoholic but he can get it done in the ring. Is already scheduled for a match next show.
Aphrodisia Jordan: New holder of the Legacy title, may need
time to recover before going into this sort of match. All-around hit-and-run wrestler, need to take
out her speed. Also scheduled for a
match next show.
El Linchador: It may be a stretch to put him in this
group, but one has to figure that since he has gotten the taste of success in
the ring, he may want more.
Rear of the Field
Draco/Josh Allen: Being the enemies of Jack Sullivan, in
addition to losing last week, do not bode well for these two. In addition, JA is scheduled already for a
match.
Drake Hazard: Ibid, plus is already scheduled for a match.
Sam Lampshade/Archangel:
Have yet to debut, nothing known
about them, plus both are in a match.
Sounds like me two months ago...
He looked back up, his gaze settling on the now-blank screen
in the room. The smart thing to do would
be to prepare for the top three on his list, the top six at most. But in this case, he couldn’t afford to do
that. With the NLW Championship on the
line, anything less than full-blown perfection was simply putting his fate into
the hands of someone or something other than himself.
And that was the one thing coming into this contest that he
swore he would not do.
New Orleans, Louisiana
March 26, 2008, 4:39 a.m.
He decided to take an earlier flight to The Big Easy,
wanting distance between himself and Brandy in order to focus. While barren land was scarce around these
parts, there were plenty of locations he could go to isolate himself. He had a few mapped out, and decided that
today, he would start training and preparing in earnest for whomever the
Commissioner elected to send his way.
That was the reason he was awake before the sun even rose.
Leaving the friendly confines of the Motel 6 on 10 Service Road in
the outskirts of New Orleans,
he walked out towards his rental vehicle.
He was about halfway there when a white Ford Explorer, complete with a
custom paint-job showing a devil on the hood of the vehicle came screaming
around the corner, heading right for him.
Thinking as fast as he could, he leapt to one side...but the driver of
the vehicle turned in that direction, as well.
The impact caught him flush on the torso. It spun him in midair, causing his legs to
hit the side panel of the vehicle.
Disoriented from the aerial spin, he wasn’t able to brace himself for
the fall, as the back of his head hit hard against the pavement. The last thing he heard made him think he was
in an old Batman movie, as a deep male voice said:
“Tell me, Phoenix...have
you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?” The squealing of tires followed this, as he
fell into the blackness clouding his vision, and knew no more.
Undisclosed Location
March 26, 2008, 4:51 a.m.
The ringing of the phone woke me from a dreamless
slumber. “Hello?”
“It is done.”
I smiled at this.
“Very well. Come on back; your
job is complete.”
...At least, that’s what I told him. Secretly, I was beginning to think that maybe
this was done too early, and he’d be able to recover enough to somehow make it
to Uprising. In any event, it was out of
my hands now; any more interference would surely draw attention to me and my
partner.
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