<i>(We fade in on a shot of a darkened, largely nondescript room. In the dim light, we can see edges and silhouettes of various pieces of furniture in the room, but the only thing illuminated enough to stand out is a large whiteboard. From its diagonal positioning in the room, we can probably infer that it is one of the mobile, rolling types. Aaron Jones stands center stage, looking directly into the camera)</i>
<b>Aaron Jones:</b> You can be sure, Anarky, that the new contrast between you and Him is not lost on Him.
He, too, is inclined to marvel at the fact that you have discovered newfound reason and pragmatism, while He has taken to crushing His opponents as the only way to accomplish His goals. The circumstances could not be more different from the way they were just a few years ago, when pragmatism was one of His greatest skills and violence was one of yours.
But the two of you have not done a complete switch, and He knows you are just as aware of this as He is. For all the changes you have undergone, He knows you are unlikely to ever think the way He did things was the right way – just as He is not doing things precisely as you used to do them. The casual observer might note that He has adopted some methods revered by the Anarky of, say, 2005. But those who bother to look beyond the surface will see the differences.
To illustrate this point, one need only look at your certainty that He will betray you at Aggression 56.
A casual observer might make that assumption. And He would understand that person’s line of thinking. But that leap of logic does a disservice to the importance of His mission.
I won’t try to convince you that you should not be worried about betrayal. There are good, solid reasons for you to be cautious – related both to your well-documented history with Him and to the decisions you have made as a member of the EPW roster. But every step He has taken, every goal He has set, every bit of pain He has wrought upon those who staunchly continue their gradual poisoning of this business has been for a purpose. The question you should be asking is not whether He will betray you – but why He might choose to do so.
Rest assured, if He perceives you to be a threat to the future of this business, and if you refuse to see His vision of a future where this business can once again thrive, your time will come. But an out-of-hand betrayal of you would accomplish nothing. A betrayal would need to further His goals. And an attempt to pad His score in the game of one-upsmanship the two of you have built over the last decade would not further those goals. It would be an act of selfishness. He would be assigning a higher priority to His career than to His efforts to drag this business from the black maw that threatens to consume it. And have no doubt about this, Anarky: He will not stray.
He is not interested in chaos. He is not interested in hate. He is only interested in preserving the future of this business, protecting it from those who would destroy it for their own personal gain. He has no interest in ruling over it, and He has made it clear that He wants it to be able to survive on its own. He is more than willing to raze what is left of this business to the ground and rebuild it in His own incorruptible image – but that is the last resort. He truly hopes it does not come to that.
At Aggression 56, He has more to care about than just you, Anarky. He has to care about Steven Shane, a man new to EPW but with an established track record of in-ring success. He has to care about Stalker, a man obsessed with his own relevance and his failed attempts to attain it. And He has to care about the continued efforts of EPW and its owner to bring an end to His crusade, to stop Him before He can render them as irrelevant as they deserve to be. And it may be the case that He is better off focusing his attentions on those others, rather than upon you, who, at least in some small way, can benefit from His survival. For now.
So know that He has concerns beyond you going into Aggression 56. Know that He may benefit more, at least for the time being, from your survival than from your destruction. Know that His betrayal, while possible, is not guaranteed.
But also know this.
If your goals are exactly as you state them – to preserve your legacy, above all else – then you lack the crucial vision He has. And if you continue to pursue only your own continued relevance, without any concern for those who will come after you in this business, then you will eventually be His target.
And He will not be inclined toward forgiveness forever.
<i>(Jones continues to stare straight into the camera. Off-camera to his right, the whiteboard is wheeled aside. As it rolls, Copycat can briefly be glimpsed standing in an area the whiteboard once concealed. A second later, we cut to black)</i>