Post by Evan De Parker on Oct 26, 2013 18:53:32 GMT -4
”What’s the big deal about being on television?”
oct.24.thirteen1:19pm
”I don’t know how I’m supposed to train for something like this.”
”I sincerely hope for your sake that you didn’t come here seeking advice.”
”Should I not?”
”...I’m not exactly the authority on Extreme Elimination Chambers.”
”But you know what it takes to--”
”To… what? Choke when the pressure is on? I know a lot about that, so… at best, I could soften the blow if things don’t go your way in that Chamber. Luckily for you, I know a lot about ‘crazy’ as well!”
”But I’m not cr--”
”You don’t have to be… you simply have to act like it. You’ve done that, right?”
Our scene blinked into color, revealing none other than the Undisputed Champion, Aubrey J. Parker, seated on a beige couch with the title lied across her lap, and her dark-brown locks tied into a ponytail behind her shoulder… but her eyes were focused directly on the man sitting across from her, in a recliner. As he unknowingly became the subject of the scene, he smiled. With his hair cut a little shorter than most of us were familiar with, clad in a black long-sleeved tee and a pair of jeans, our champion sat mere feet from Michael Callahan.
”We can cut to the chase.”
She simply arched an eyebrow, giving him a look of confusion which earned a chuckle from him in response. He reached behind the recliner, retrieving a familiar metal baseball bat.
”You need Martinez.”
Aubrey’s eyes widened, delightedly at the sight of the potential weapon and a smirk crossed her lips.
”Oh, God, Mike. He’s beautiful.”
”Isn’t he?!”
”I’m suuure Sally will remember him.”
”Uh... So we’re clear-- this isn’t exclusively for Sally, is it?”
”Would that matter?”
”Noooo, no, no… Aside from the fact that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, no. Not one bit.”
”It’s for Sally. It’s for Mannie. It’s for Shadow. And it’s for Blade. And if Terry decides to get his shit together and show up to the Chamber--”
”Did I ever congratulate you?”
Aubrey paused and looked at Callahan for a few seconds, as if something he said had caught her off guard. Inexplicably, a small smile found its way onto her face and she shrugged.
”Probably. Maybe.”
”Well, congrats. I always wanted to do something in celebration of the win, but I guess our paths just never crossed, and… and I never got to ask you about the whole Terry thing. I mean-- what’s that about?”
"Haha, so vague...”
”Why did you do it?”
”What? Do what?”
”No need to BS me. You know I’m not judging you. I just wanna know.”
”I did it bec--”
”I wanna know the truth, too.”
Aubrey’s mouth was still slightly ajar, caught in mid-statement before interruption. She narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat, folding her hands on her lap in front of her… and for seconds, the look she gave Callahan was enough to make him shift slightly, eyes glancing down toward that bat, partially wishing he’d waited a moment before relinquishing it. He raised his eyes back to meet hers and steadied his jaw, tightening his features to appear more… stationary.
”There’s nothing more important to me than this championship. I loved Terry to death, but when it comes between him and this... this… this always wins. And I get that people think I peaked too early, and that I’m walking into a losing situation at One Night in Hell, but I know what I’m doing. I knew the risks I was taking and the target I was putting on my back by winning the title in the fashion I did, in the setting I did. It wasn’t advertised for months on end like Shockwave was, or like One Night in Hell is… it was free television. It was unexpected. People felt robbed.
People felt that a champion as illustrious and prominent as Terry should’ve had-- had like, some huge buildup leading to his dethroning, but unfortunately for them, that’s not how it works in wrestling. We couldn’t write this shit if we tried, you know? We make our own destiny… forge our own paths… and Terry’s monumental four-hundred-plus day reign ended on an episode of Sunday Night Asylum because I wanted it to! Because I couldn’t wait another three weeks to get my hands on the championship. October 6th, 2013 became the most important date in history. Because I made it so...
Was that a good answer?”
Michael raised a brow, a small sound-- a chuckle-- rumbling from behind his lips.
”You’re a showman.”
”Wouldn’t it be like… showperson?”
”Ha, alright. Showperson. But, that’s not gonna cut it. The spice, and the flash… they’re all there, but you’re not gonna scare anybody out of a Chamber with that act. Trust me; I know.”
Aubrey lowered her fingers to the gold-plated championship and sighed, lightly. Michael’s eyes drifted toward the bat which was resting, partially balancing across her knees.
”I could say that I’m going to go out there and fracture alllll of their skulls with this bat… but someone in this room’s already done that. I’ll have to do one better. Yeah?”
She sighed delightedly and leaned back on the couch, gazing up toward the heavens with a wondrous gaze.
”I’ll have to win, Michael.”
Quickly, abruptly, she sat upright and narrowed her eyes, looking ahead at Callahan.
”I have to derail that fucking hype train. Blade-- ohmygod-- did you SEE HIM just swoop in like a… like… I dunno, something annoying and steal my thunder? He just obliterated Terry like it was his business at all, and he didn’t even touch me! Didn’t even give me a second look! What gives?
And when Shadow was jumping me from behind, like the future felon he is, his attention… his focus toward the end of it? It was on Terry. As if HE is the one parading around with this championship right now! As if HE is the guy to beat! I’ve held this thing for weeks, and it still hasn’t registered with these people that I am the be-all, end-all of APW. Not… Terry… Marvin…”
By this point, she was up. Michael's eyes followed her with a humble half-smile on his face, knowing that anything he said would fall upon deaf ears. He watched, intrigued, as she paced around the room, dragging Martinez alongside her, barely holding onto the weapon with two gentle fingers.
”So Blade’s gotta be the first one that I take out, right?”
Michael didn’t respond, because he knew that the question wasn’t for him. For all he knew, it was for an invisible figure in the room that only Parker could see.
”And if I don’t start in the ring with him, then I have to… relieve... the first competitor from the Chamber. Like-- I have to swing for the fucking fences. Like… I have to put everything I have behind it, and I can’t miss. I can’t miss.”
SWOOSH!
That deceptively soft, but malicious sound of steel slicing through the cold air captured Michael Callahan’s attention. He adjusted his posture in the recliner, resting on his heels, ready to pivot and move either toward or away from Aubrey if the situation called for such action.
”Then I’ll make my way over to his cell, his ‘pod’, and I’ll swing until it fucking breaks, and I’ll get him… I’ll get the big, scary man, and I’ll leave him bleeding, and twitching, and crawling through glass, and just WONDERING WHY of all the nights he had to choose to come back to APW, WHY OH WHY did it have to be One Night in Hell? Out of all the paths he could’ve crossed, why, God, did it have to be Aubrey J. Parker’s?
Ha! Think that’d get me some attention? Think that might turn heads my way?”
”It could!”
”It could. Well… uuugh... that doesn’t… it doesn’t sound definitive enough! Hm. What if I did it to Sally? What if I just came after her… right… and I just didn’t stop. Not for anybody. I just keep going, and I eliminate the idea that there should’ve ever been a competition between the two of us. At the end of the day, the winner is the one that’s able to walk, and I don’t foresee Sally walking around too much longer. Not outside the walls of a hospital.”
”...I owe Sally a lot. I don’t think it’s a secret that I’d…”
Michael shrugs.
”I’d rather not think about things like that if I don’t have to. Besides-- you wouldn’t do that.”
”HA! I wouldn’t?!”
”No. You need Sally.”
Aubrey, now gripping the baseball bat firmly takes a small step toward Michael, her eyes narrowed, her mouth pulled into a frown in confusion. Michael continued.
”You complain about being compared to her all the time. You want to be your own person, and you want to prove that you’re the best, but how are you going to be the best without Sally? Sally is the best there is in APW. That doesn’t have to be what the record books reflect, my friend, but that’s what all of those people will tell you if you ask them. You need her around, for as long as it takes for people to believe that as long as you exist on the same plane as Sally… you’re better. You’d hurt her. But you wouldn’t finish the job. You know that if Terry tucks his tail and leaves, then you still need someone to threaten you and that title, or nobody’s gonna buy a word you say.”
”Wow.”
Aubrey leaned backwards a bit, pressing the bat into the ground, driving her palms into the grip, smirking down at Michael.
”You really gave this thought. That actually pretty good. No-- you’re right. I wouldn’t want to take Sally out. I’d want her to stick around, so people have plenty of time to really grasp the truth. But as of late, it would seem like Sally can’t really exist without Mannie, doesn’t it? I mean, I never would have thought it, but… but Mannie’s like, the most interesting thing Sally’s got going for her right now.”
”Oh, don’t be so crude.”
”It’s true! This hurts me just as much as it hurts you, Mike! Sally Talfourd hasn’t been interesting since she came back. She used to be a really polarizing figure on this brand, but now she’s something like another name on the roster. Instead of being like a Terry... Sally’s more like a Mannie.
Mannie’s this pest that I just can’t seem to get out of my hair. The first time he jumped me from behind, I let it go, because our entire problem stemmed from me believing-- no-- from me KNOWING that Mannie was going to blow his opportunity at the Undisputed Championship. And I give Mannie credit, okay? He gave Terry a great fight. We were expecting a few seconds of offense, at best, but Mannie was manhandling Terry Marvin for a majority of that match. He showed that he’s capable of putting on a main event-calibre match, and unlike a lot of people that claim to wrestle with dignity and respect, I’ll admit that. Mannie’s tough. On any day of the week, he can hang.
At best.
But guess what he can’t do.”
Michael laughed and Aubrey dropped down a bit, taking a seat at the edge of the table, drawing herself nearly a foot from the former World Heavyweight Champion, her chin resting on top of both hands, which rested on the vertical baseball bat, Martinez.
”I’m gonna go ahead and guess…”
”Mmmmhmmm…”
”Thaaaat the answer iiis…”
Aubrey raised an eyebrow in anticipation.
”Young Mannie is incapable of closing the deal.”
”WINNER! We’ve got our answer, and it wasn’t too hard to get there, was it?”
”It’s a statement with merit. But I’d rather not see Martinez go to waste, if you catch my drift.”
He gestured toward the bat.
”I don’t wanna see you get thrown out of the Chamber because you underestimated someone… someone like Mannie of all people. I don’t think I’d ever be able to live that one down.”
”Like I said, the first time he jumped me, I let it go. But with his sights set on Terry Marvin, whom, may I add, is NOT the king of the fucking mountain, he took advantage of me just seven days after I won the Undisputed Title. He hit me from behind again. He hurt me again, and I owe him for that. I’ll put Mannie down for that. And when he goes down, then I guess he takes Sally with him, because she forgot how to stand on her own damn two feet while she was gone.
But if, by some act of God, Mannie’s able to knock this one out of the park, becoming the most prestigious champion in this industry, I’ll applaud him. History says that he CAN’T though.
Mannie’s been in a Chamber before, just like Sally, like Terry, and I’ve always got that swimming around in my mind, buuuut unlike them, Mannie doesn’t know what it feels like to win it. Mannie doesn’t know what it takes to climb through five other Megastars and walk out of that Hell structure with gold. He does not... I really need to stress this… he does NOT get that experience at MY expense, Mike! He doesn’t get to take my moment from me. Not him. I’ll stop him myself, Sally be damned.”
She raised a hand to her chin, looking away, into the distance for a moment, thoughtful.
”Then there’s the Shadow problem.”
”Another one I was meaning to ask about…”
”Ask? Why? I think it’s pretty simple!”
She lifted the bat, bringing it up quickly and forcefully-- stopping just an inch from the bridge of Michael’s nose. Michael did not flinch. He did not move from his position. He kept his eyes locked on Aubrey and she smiled broadly.
”Shadow’s forgotten his place. He’s forgotten that his claim to fame is taking out nameless, talentless hacks that never should’ve been given contracts in the first place. Shadow, no matter how much he wants to undersell the women of this business-- he was never able to truly hang with the real, real bad guys that he claims to fight against, and hate so much. Shadow is blinded by his own delusions of grandeur, and for as good, and as powerful, and as vengeful as he may be, he’s dangerous, but he’s not, by any means, unstoppable.
I know how to beat Shadow. I’ve done in multiple times. I know that stepping into the ring with him… he’ll hurt me if he gets his hands on me. Hell-- he’ll hurt any of the five people he’s locked in the Chamber with, but just like Mannie, Shadow's HISTORICALLY incapable of getting shit done. BUT LOOK WHAT HE DID TO MY BELT!”
Aubrey reached behind her onto the couch and grabbed the championship belt. She held it up to Michael’s face and it took him a moment to observe the damage. Two gems, typically lodged into the championship near the top curvature of its design were missing, leaving hollow, dulled, empty gold in their place.
”I want him to hurt. Like… I wanna beat Terry again to solidify myself as a champion, and I wanna beat Mannie to gain some measure of revenge for what he’s done... I wanna beat Sally to prove to those people that I’m the best… I wanna beat Blade because he doesn’t deserve to be here, no matter how close he’s gotten to this championship… but… but Shadow… I want to beat him, badly, because I know he’ll hate himself. He’s priding himself on ambushing me, and it means so much to him to see me struggle, but in spite of him, I’m going to be… the best. And these people…”
She briefly trailed off before smiling softly.
”Everybody’s gonna love it.”
For seconds, the two friends sat in silence. Michael laughed lightly, maybe nervously, and kicked his leg out a bit, nudging the bat with his foot.
”You’re gonna bring Martinez back in one piece, right?”
Michael counted eleven seconds before her face changed, and before her lips parted to give him a response.
”We’ll see how things go out there.”
“I'm somebody, now, Harry. Everybody likes me! Soon, millions of people will see me, and they'll all like me. I’ll tell them about you… It's a reason to get up in the morning… It’s a reason to lose weight. To fit in a red dress. It's a reason to smile. It makes tomorrow alright...”
aug.16.twelve12:03pm
”...So you think, with all this in mind, that APW is the place for you? You’re saying you’re coming as a package deal with Logan Alexander… you’re saying--”
”There’s nothing more important to me than my friends.”
”Really? Not even a World Championship?”
”Nothing’s more important than loyalty. Not even a World Championship.”
We’re greeted to a scene of Aubrey J. Parker sitting across the table from one President Jeff. Jeff narrows his eyes at the young APW hopeful, idly fiddling with the bottom of his tie. Aubrey maintains eye contact, but she’s sure in the silence of the room that he can hear her heartbeat. Jeff smiled and pushed himself to his feet.
”You’ll change your mind eventually. The allure? It’ll get to ya... gets to everyone.”
Aubrey pushed herself up as well as Jeff extended his hand, which she firmly accepted.
”Not everyone cracks under the pressure, you know.”
He laughed loudly.
”Yeah... Well... welcome to APW, Aubrey. I'll be seeing you around, I hope.”
And with that, the two parted. Jeff turned, and left Aubrey alone in his office. Her heart continued to pound. Her nerves were rattled, but it took everything in her power to avoid screaming.
Aubrey J. Parker was an APW Megastar.
but i'm about as big as it gets
fin.
