Today’s date is Sunday, April 20, 2008.
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User identified: Leroy Bruce Stone.
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Opening folder: Security Level 10.
Opening program: Prototype international security database.
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Current program status: Incomplete.
Opening file: SS:11911JS:LF:160408.
File opened.
File information:
File also found under SW:18931RC:LF:160408 and OO:00000LS:LF:161408.
Two complementary files found.
Open file SS:11911JS:BI at end of original file? Yes.
File opened.
Open file SW:18931RC:BI at end of original file? Yes.
File opened.
File OO: SS:11911JS:LF:160408/SW:18931RC:LF:160408/ OO:00000LS:LF:161408
Location: Barrow, Alaska, United States of America.
Dated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008.
There are certain moments in one’s life where the control is taken completely out of your hands. It may involve putting your heart on the line, to ask out a member of the opposite sex who you quite fancy. It could also involve applying for a dream job, against one hundred other applicants who could be more or less suited than you are, but you have no freaking idea. Or, you could be standing in the doorway of a man who you haven’t seen in years – a man who literally saved your life, with a town that you don’t know the layout of, and the sheriff watching your every move from his pick-up truck parked not too far away.
Such is the position that I find myself in this chronicle.
I knock. Once, twice, three times. Sheriff Rick Crane looks on at me with anticipation, awaiting how I am to be received by the man the residents of this town have dubbed The Outsider. I know him as Kiano, or John Sloane. And outside of his husky southern accent, extreme acrobatic abilities, and preference to Pepsi over Coca Cola, there is just one other thing that I know for sure about this man: Neither Kiano, not John Sloane, is his real name.
I see a green eye peering through the tiny hole in the door. It then opens, and I see my target’s face, in person, for the first time sober (relatively speaking). In all of my dealings with him in the past, save for one, Kiano has worn a mask. That one other time, he came looking for my help, but found me needing to be saved myself, from myself.
I must admit, I was a tad nervous coming into this situation. And as we lock eyes, silently, time seems to slow. The decision that he makes here, may very well affect the course of my entire plan. This man, Kiano, John Sloane, or whatever the fuck I’m supposed to call him, may very well hold the fate of myself, my father, and God knows who else in his hands, and I don’t even know if he realizes it.
One of Kiano’s eyes trails off towards the pick-up truck on the road, where Rick Crane grins. Before I know what’s happening, Kiano has hauled me inside, and whatever slow-motion effect there had been on time before hand, is now completely reversed as the seconds begin to accelerate faster than my comprehension is able to keep up with them.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” he barks at me, tossing me into an armchair that nearly tips over with the weight of my whole body thrown against it.
“I need help,” I stammer, as he rushes back towards the door, and peers out the eyehole once again. He looks like he’s bulked up a lot since the last time that I saw him. He’s stronger now, but what effect that’s had on his quickness and agility remains to be seen.
“Of course you need help,” he hisses back at me. “The ‘great’ Lee Stone always needs help, because he’s too much of a fucking moron to help himself.”
“Hey,” I begin to complain, rising from the chair that he threw me into. “What the hell is your problem?”
“What’s my problem?” he repeats. “Maybe you should take a look for yourself, genius.”
He grabs me once more, and drags me towards the door. Driving me up against it, I look through the eyehole myself. What I see outside, completely justifies this reaction I’m getting. Sheriff Rick Crane is no longer alone outside. He is accompanied by two more vehicles, each containing two officers. One of them I recognize as being the officer that Crane was eating with in the inn, but I don’t have time to study the faces of the others. Instead, something a lot more sinister catches my eye. A rifle is cocked. Then another. Followed by three more. They’re armed. And they’re now looking directly towards this house.
“Fuck,” I exclaim, pushing away from the door.
“My thoughts exactly.” Kiano darts across the room, opening up a draw and withdrawing a shotgun. “They were waiting to get us together. You brought them here.”
“Wait, what the fuck are you doing?” I now take my turn in asking him, as he begins loading the gun. I rush over to him and yank it out of his hands. “We’re not shooting them!”
“Well they seem pretty damn keen to shoot us so as far as I’m concerned, we don’t have a choice.” He reaches for the gun, but I hold it out of his reach and push him away.
“Think man, think,” I try to reason with him. “They’re from the sheriff’s department. If we kill them, we’re killing cops!”
“They’re working with them!” he pleads.
”With W.O.R.L.D.?” I ask.
“Not with W.O.R.L.D. This is bigger than them!” he informs me.
“Look…” I begin. “I’m here to try to figure out who is screwing my father over, and it has something to do with these W.O.R.L.D. idiots, or whoever is pulling their strings.”
“You’re not going to be much help to anybody if you’re locked up too, or if you’re dead!” He makes a very valid point.
“Then we make a run for it,” I tell him. “No blood will be spilt.”
“Run to where?” he asks skeptically. “We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
“My plane is at the airfield,” I say. “We’ve just got to make it there.”
“Will it be secure?” he inquires.
“Only one way of finding out”
“And you didn’t think that you could use some security?” He shakes his head at me.
“I figured I’d be less likely to be noticed if I was on my own in the township,” I explain.
“Well you fucked up there, didn’t you?” he says, unenthusiastically. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”
I drop the shotgun and he races towards the back door, with me in tow behind him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound of gun banging against the front door reminds us of the urgency of the situation.
“We know you’re in there!” Rick Crane’s voice shouts from the front doorstep. “At the risk of sounding cliché, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way!”
“They’re out the back door too,” Kiano whispers to me, after he looks through that eyehole. “Come on, down here.”
He leads me down a flight of steps in the corner of the room that I hadn’t noticed until now. Hurrying downwards, we wind up in a wine cellar of sorts. Feels more like where you’d find Batman though. Pushing through a series of intricate cobweb designs, and ducking between various empty shelves, we reach a ladder on one of the back walls. I squint through the faint light, and look upwards to where the ladder appears to lead to some sort of manhole.
“You first,” he orders me, and I make no hesitation in beginning my ascent up the rickety thing. Reaching the top, I cautiously push the manhole open a tiny fraction. Straining myself to look around, as the weight of the heavy metal pushes down upon me, I find myself out on the road, two houses down from where Crane’s pick-up truck is. I glance down at Kiano, and nod, before I slide the cover over onto the ground, careful not to make it make a sound.
I leap up out of the manhole, and duck in behind some bushes. I watch on earnestly as Kiano attempts to do the same. Just as his foot leaves the ground for him to dive in next to me, a gunshot ricochets off the ground right where he had just been. We look at each other for a split second, before we both take off. Another gunshot is fired, this one less on target, and we sprint away. Kiano leads us as we evade our would-be captors, using anything imaginable as shields to put distance between us and their eyesight. Buildings and trees become our friends. I don’t think I’ve ever been this thankful for large things made of wood before. Any doubts that I had about the shape Kiano is in, have been eliminated. If I wasn’t in ring-shape, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with him.
Eventually, the sound of yelling seems to fade away and we find ourselves in a position where we can organize our thoughts. We keep moving, but not at full pace.
“You know where we’re going, right?” I ask him, as I’ve completely lost all sense of navigation.
“Yes,” he informs me. “The airfield isn’t too far from here.”
“We’ve got to get my laptop,” I tell him.
“There’s no time,” he snaps at me.
“You don’t understand!” I say, a hell of a lot louder than I should have given the circumstance. He shoves his hand over my mouth and pushes me up against the wall.
“Keep it down, will you?” he snaps, his tone saying everything that his volume doesn’t need to.
“Dude,” I appeal to him, after he removes his hand, “that computer has everything in it. Everything. If they get into it, then I’m fucked. We all are.”
“And you didn’t think of building some sort of security device into it?” he asks of me, as we continue to move.
“Of course I did,” I say. “But if I initiate that, I’m going to be left flying blind until I can get back to HQ in New Zealand.”
“You may not have a choice,” he coldly states. He stops now, next to a large tree that leads a branch onto the roof of the nearest building. “Climb up here and get a look around, I’ll wait down here to keep a lookout.”
“You sure?” I query.
“Do it!” he orders me, in a disturbingly quiet shout.
I don’t need to be told twice, and I clamber up the tree in record time. Quietly creeping over the rooftop, trying to avoid alerting anybody who may be inside, I reach the apex of the roof and look around at my surroundings. At first, I try to locate our chasers. To my relief, we’ve successfully managed to elude them. I then turn my attention towards the inn where I stayed last night – where my laptop is currently located. There are people everywhere, non-civilians too. It’s like the population of Barrow has doubled with people here to find Kiano and I. That’s definitely not a good thing. I now notice something that is even less of a good thing. Three black jeeps are making their way towards the airfield, which I note is not far from us now. We’ve got to get there a.s.a.p.
I leap down off the roof, into a huge pile of snow right next to Kiano. My jacket keeps me relatively warm, but it gets rather damp.
“We’re clear from Crane and the others,” I say, giving Kiano the good news first.
“What about your computer?” he asks.
“The place is swarming with non-civilians,” I reply. “We can’t get in to get it, let alone get out afterwards.”
“And the airfield?”
“Clear, but not for long. It’s just over the ridge there,” I point behind Kiano. “But there are three vehicles on their way there right now.”
“Can we make it in time?”
He reaches the jet first, and with the door open as per my requests to the pilot when we landed yesterday – given that I had no idea the kind of situation under which I’d be returning, Kiano gets inside. I follow behind, as the trio of jeeps pulls into the airfield.
“You guys alright?” my pilot, Kevin Senior II asks, as he turns around from the cockpit.
“Get us in the air!” I scream, as men begin to file out of the vehicles. Men with guns.
The plane’s engines start immediately, and we’re hurtling ourselves down the runway before I have time to slam the door shut.
Looking out the window, I see flashes from the guns as the men open fire on us. We are lucky to escape without any of the bullets hitting us, and as rise into the air and circle over the city, pointing us southwards to safety.
“Lee…” Kiano walks up beside me. “The security measure.”
I nod, and regret what I’m about to do, due to the potential casualties that may result from it. I reach into my pocket, and pull out a small, stopwatch-type device. After pressing a sequence of buttons, a red light begins to flash on the device. It flashes three times, and then glows a solid red. I press one more button.
BOOM!
A small explosion is seen out of the window of the plane, at the inn where I stayed.
I wonder how many lives I’ve just changed for the worse.
File SS:11911JS:BI.
Overview:
Security level 5 required for general biography.
Security level 8 required for security and threat overviews.
Personal security level: 1
Security level 9 required for detailed biography.
Security level 10 required for extensive summary notes.
File SW:18931RC:BI
Overview:
Security level 5 required for general biography.
Security level 8 required for security and threat overviews.
Personal security level: 1
Security level 9 required for detailed biography.
Security level 10 required for extensive summary notes.
Opening folder: Security Level 1.
File information:
File WX:41149DM:PR:200408.
“Finally…
I had thought that I was fighting a losing battle. So many times I had spoken out, so many times I had both metaphorically and literally attempted to beat it into him, but to no avail. I had almost given up hope, but through stubborn perseverance and a refusal to admit that I can’t do something, I have finally made a little bit of leeway. Bitches and gentlefucks, Daniel Malcolm has listened to me!
I’m so happy, I could poo.
Of course there are still a few kinks for me to iron out come this Monday, meaning that Danny Boy is still not quite there, but by God, I feel like a proud father. If he takes my lesson to heart, then come Hell on Earth, I’ll have birthed a monster perfectly capable of taking out Bigg Rigg once and for all. Consider that my good deed for the week Dan. By being subjected to the unfortunate position of being Lee Stone’s opponent, you have become better suited to taking on anybody else. Because no matter how twisted you think John Gambino’s mind may be, no matter how quietly confident Christian Connolly is – it doesn’t get harder than dealing with Lee Stone. Even by losing to me, you are made that much stronger, because it tells you that there is still work to be done.
I’m not going to lie to you. This hasn’t been some sort of benevolent course of action the entire time. As far as I’m concerned, you and Rigg are going to tear each other apart so badly that at Hell on Earth, only Christian Connolly and I will be physically capable of reaching the Universal Title. And that suits me just fine. I’m not here trying to pick and choose which one of you survives, Dan. I’m simply here to make sure you don’t start thinking that you’re something you’re not. Every single thing that I’ve said to you is the truth. I was never trying to inspire or motivate you. But the fact that you’ve listened, means that you’ve learned. And learning from the best in the world, can’t be such a bad thing, can it?
But as far as this match goes, where it’s just you and me out there, mano-a-mano, you’re still weeks behind in preparation. You see Daniel, you’ve only now cottoned on to the notion that underneath the bravado and arrogance, there is a deep sense of humanity. By only understanding that now Dan, you only now understand – by proxy – that I’m susceptible to the most humane of all characteristics. I am mortal, and I am flawed.
With that, you’re in a position of great revelation Daniel. You know, that somehow, Lee Stone can be beaten. Lee Stone can be stopped. Lee Stone can be killed if the situation arises. Of course, the last time I stepped into the Helldome, I happened to have my life ended. History says that when Lee Stone dies, he wins the Universal Title within a month, so maybe you might want to avoid that if you can, and instead focus on the first two aspects. I can be beaten, and my momentum can be halted.
It’s funny, I shouldn’t really have any momentum at all going into this match. Through various forms of the ‘screwjob’ ploy, both direct and indirect, I’m currently on a two loss losing streak. And yet… I’m still considered the favorite? That is most peculiar. I suppose the pundits realize that for Lee Stone to lose three matches in a row, it very well may be the longest losing streak of his entire professional career. So therefore, it’s just not all that likely, is it? Not when I’m in my prime, which for the record, I still most certainly am in.
I’m going to clarify something for you, Dan. It’d be foolish for me to think that I’d still be Universal Champion now, some 29 months or so after I won the belt. A two-year reign is unheard of in today’s business, especially with the increase in sniveling little pricks who will lie, cheat and steal to get the belt from you. The issue I’ve had this entire time, is that I’ve had to wait so god damn long, jump through so many fucking hoops, just to get my shot again. This bogus fucking point system cost me a shot for so long, when it isn’t even always taken into consideration, as was the case when Raziel faced Famine of the Vile for the Universal Title, and as is also evidenced by some new chick with an amazing rack – Ashley Divine – getting a TV Title shot, right off the bat! Morons like Hardcore Smitty and Jon Brown handed out title shots to jackasses like the aforementioned Raziel and Famine, and a guy we both know and agree is undeserving in Brad Pierce, while I had to sit back and earn my way back up the ladder that I had no idea I had fallen down. They were willing to call me a legend before they gave me a shot at my belt. How fucked up is that?
When I take that belt from you Dan, I’m going to acknowledge that I lost the belt. I won’t be a one-time Universal Champion, I won’t attempt to write off the reigns of yourself, Christian Connolly, Aidan Collins and the rest. I will be the two-time champion, who never lost the gold, who never fell down the mountain, and who slaved for three years to be recognized, and then two more years to be recognized again. I have had to work harder than anybody else to get back to where I am, and you have the fucking nerve to tell me that I never take a stand? What would you have done Dan? Walked out to the back, found the Universal Champion – which happens to be you – and punched him right between his eyes like he so rightfully deserves, and then taken the Universal Title? Would you have had me steal the belt? No Dan, you wouldn’t have. You would have had me do the exact same thing that I did… work my god damn ass off to prove that I deserve to be where I am. Nobody questions how much I deserve this, for a reason. Because they understand that I made a stand, I led by example and worked for every single thing that I have ever had in this company. Every opportunity that I’ve been given is a result of broken bones, bloodied noses and gallons upon gallons of sweat.
And you want to say that I don’t ever take a stand?
Who was the first man who cottoned onto the influx of Cyren, Jayde, Faceless, John Gambino as ‘Wolf’ Ashen Iscariot and all the rest of them, with some strange connection between them all, back in late 2005, early 2006? That was me. I went into the lion’s den, where you and Stevie J and all your camp was and I said ‘we need to do something’. That was me taking a stand.
And as far as Jon Page goes, did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, there was a reason I didn’t appear over in Dynasty Wrestling to fight the ‘evil power’? I was the Universal Champion Dan, I still had the belt in my possession. Page approached me, thanks to our old connection through Fully Loaded in 2003/2004, and he asked me to be a part of the roster. I turned him down in order to preserve the Universal Title as an XWF belt, not a DW belt. I signed on to a one-night-only deal, in the Battle Royal to crown the number one contender to Jet’s World Title, and I realized too late that Page wanted me to win it, because he wanted me to be contractually obligated to sticking around for a while – with the Universal Title in my possession. I couldn’t wriggle out of the contract for that match, so as I made it to the final five, staring Cyren, Raziel, Christian Connolly and the eventual winner Steve Jason down, I waved goodbye and eliminated myself, effectively saving the Universal Title from falling into Dynasty Wrestling’s hands. And apparently… I don’t know how to make a stand. Yeah… right.
I was a part of the White Order who made a stand against you, you forgetful piece of shit. As a member of the Vigilantes, we began by making a stand against the Blood Hounds, and now we make a stand against the mediocrity that this company has fallen pray to. We have made every single person lift their game to match our own, because of the stand that we made. Your claims Dan, are not only wrong, but completely and utterly illogical. I’m here making a stand today. I’m making a stand against you because I think you’ve let your success go to your head. And I know that sounds rich coming from me, but I actually back it up every time. You’re a little less consistent.
You know, I don’t even know where this whole ‘Lee Stone is a cocky little dick’ thing comes from. I tell people what they don’t want to hear, and all of a sudden I’m arrogant? I hardly make any jokes, and I’m supposedly a smart ass? Sure, I’ll goof around backstage when I’m hanging out with my buddies, but if you go and re-watch any of my promos, you’ll see that I’m all business. And as far as being cocky goes, it’s not cockiness if it’s the truth. Judging by what people are saying about me for the ‘Hall of Legends’, it seems that they’re finally realizing that. It’s about damn time too! But now go back and apply that mentality to the past three years of my career. If I really am that good, then by me claiming to be… aren’t I just being honest? Sure I could be more modest, but that only explains the ‘dick’ part, not the ‘cocky’. As I’ve said time and time before, I’m not cocky, I’m not arrogant, I’m realistic.
Daniel, if you think – nay, if you believe that you’re going to beat me, then who is being cocky now? If you believe that you’re going to beat me, then who is the arrogant one? If you will, let us both be realistic for a moment. Let’s both put aside our egos, at the risk of them both becoming too bruised. Dan Boy, I will give you credit where it is due. You have come a hell of a long way since the last time I faced you, even further since the first time. When you walk out into that ring, I hear the crowd cheer for you, but do you hear them cheer for me? Do you understand, that while many love an underdog story, many more just love me. I’m going to pose a question for you, Dan. How will you react when some of the same people who will cheer for you to rip Rigg’s head off, cheer for me to do it to you. Every single one of those fans of yours, understands that Lee Stone on form is a sight to behold. It’s almost… unnatural.
Fran Damage has stripped me of my World Title. Zach Rizza has screwed me out of my Tag Titles. But it was all worthwhile. Fran never gave me the chance to decide to keep the World Title, or go after the Universal, but he never had to. I would have always chosen you Dan. I would have chosen the Universal Title over and over again. The World Title is valuable, but it is not the pinnacle. If you’ve got to ask why I’m gunning for you, then you’ve lost already. I know I am the best. I want to face the best, defeat the best, and hold the best belt. Is that selfish? Hell yes! But if you’re really going to tell me that you would be fine with being second best, then you’re a fucking liar. I don’t need the money, I don’t need the fame, I don’t need the approval. I don’t give a crap if people love me or hate me. I need the competition.
Dan, if you want to be the moral compass so badly, consider me your measuring stick. Consider me the scales of justice. Justice and morality are two completely different things. Justice has to be willing to compromise morality, and I’m willing to do that in a second. My entire life has been about making stands Daniel. And the longer you, Steve Jason or anybody else tries to impose their own morality on everyone else, the longer I’ll have to keep on standing. Who says that your morals are right Daniel? Did you not just try to blind a man? Should you not be trying to take the high-road above Rigg, if you are so morally superior. Truth is Dan, you’re not superior at all. You’re just another vermin who wants things to be done his way, and hates to be told no.
I’m telling you no, Dan.
I’m making a stand.
This is our fourth one-on-one match, not our third. The first was X-Mas X-Treme 2005. The second, Snow Job 2006. The third was when you were still the XWC World Champion, before Autumn in Hell 2006. You were always BoonDock Saint in those matches, but it doesn’t matter if it’s BoonDock Saint, ArchAngel or Daniel Malcolm out there. It’s going to be Lee Stone walking away on Monday with the W, and on Sunday with the gold. Meanwhile you Dan, just have a very bad day…
Close file? Yes.
File closed.
Name: John Sloane; Kiano; other aliases. Birth name unknown.
Base of Operations: Mobile, formerly Detroit, Houston and Barrow, Alaska.
Occupation: Espionage agent. Trained assassin. Officially classified information.
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 230lbs
Proceed? Yes.
Incomplete.
Unable to process request.
Skip? Yes.
Proceed? Yes.
Enter access code: **************
Access granted.
Description: Non-employee. Information able to be provided on request however, as value in current situation is unrivalled.
Security threat level: 3
Description: Trustworthy, although recent events have gone unrecorded. Research into those events is required to gain adequate understanding of true security threat.
Physical threat level: 10
Description: Unstructured combat training, to an extreme degree. Unlikely to participate in structured combat, which leads to far more danger. Vast knowledge of personal tactics. Keep on side at all possible times.
Proceed? No.
Proceed? No
Close File? Yes.
File closed.
Name: Rick Crane.
Base of Operations: Barrow, Alaska, United States of America.
Occupation: Sheriff of Barrow.
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 235lbs
Proceed? Yes.
Research into the events of April 16 have led to the belief that Crane was planted in the sheriff’s department after subject SS:11911JS:BI relocated there. It would appear that Crane was a low level agent for a group affiliated to the Worldwide Organization Regarding Liberty and Defense terrorist cell. He was planted in the role of sheriff after the ‘accidental’ death of the former sheriff. It would appear that he was the only member of the department who had ulterior motives, and the rest of them were merely following his orders. Subject SS:11911JS:BI appeared to be aware of the sheriff’s true motives.
Proceed? Yes.
Enter access code: **************
Access granted.
Description: Non-employee and non-civilian. Considered an enemy to peace.
Security threat level: 6
Description: Personal threat level is low, however his role in a larger movement raises his own threat level.
Physical threat level: 5
Description: Unknown full extent of training, however due to physical factors, unlikely to pose too much of a threat in unstructured combat, and unlikely to engage in structured. Still, caution is to be advised in any future dealings, to be on the safe side.
Proceed? No.
Proceed? No
Close File? Yes.
File closed.
Opening program: Public wrestling promotions.
Add promo? No.
View Promo? Yes.
No access code required.
Opening file: WX:41149DM:PR:200408.
One complementary file found.
Open file WX:41149DM:BI at end of original file? No.
File not opened.
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America.
Dated: Sunday, April 20, 2008
Close File? Yes.
File closed.
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