[CAST]
[RP
IN] "Any luck?" Talia Richards asked as Steve Jason stepped through the door separating the safehouse from the stairwell below. Steve had spent the last few days since his capture of Heather Halliwell holed up inside one of the many safehouses the Richards Conglomerate owned. This one was a tiny apartment- two-bedroom at the absolute most- in the heart of town. It was plainly decorated- comfortable but definitely utilitarian and by no means fancy, with plain white walls, blue tiling and sparse lighting. A single wooden table was set up in the main area, where Talia sat in a black blouse and jeans, and Dougy sat in his standard Hawaiian wear. "None." Steve replied as he stepped into the room, adjusting the black cap and the thick jacket covering the t-shirt and jeans over his form, "We were out there, and we looked pretty damn hard, but there's no trace of Hallie and Chloe anywhere. I had to call off the search- we're already looking pretty damn suspicious, and I'm starting to wonder if people might be suspecting we had something to do with swiping Heather, so I'm trying not to draw attention to us." "Smart move. I'm still getting very uncomfortable with having a prisoner in our custody..." Dougy remarked, "Even if she's on our side and she's secretly being controlled by her lunatic sister, we'd have a hard time explaining and keeping our arses out of jail." Steve nodded and crossed over towards the table. He was followed inside by his fellow Avenger, Serena, a young, slender woman somewhere in her early to mid twenties. In contrast to Steve's dark clothing, she wore a pure white sweater and jeans, her long light brown hair falling down around her, bangs finishing just above her wide ice-blue eyes. She doubled over towards Steve, falling in behind him. "I don't like it either..." she said in a dubious sounding voice before spreading her hands, "But it's that or let her go back to her sister." "My point exactly. As it is, I'm just glad to get off the streets and back into safety." Steve drew a chair back from the table and slumped into it slightly, "Any news from the Rival Factions front come in for me?" "Not that I can tell. There's that stuff from Jason Blade that you saw before, and it looks like Eric Anderson's finally making himself known, but other than that it's quiet. Almost too quiet, to be honest." She shrugged, "Funnily enough, I think you XWF guys have been the noisiest." "I noticed that too. Strange. I would have expected people to have at least tried to tell us to screw off a few times right now. Blade tried, but..." Steve shrugged ever so slightly, "He didn't really do all that good a job of it. Kept complaining about my spot in the main event. I don't completely understand what he hopes to achieve, he's going to have to fight me one way or the other." "How's the preparation going, anyway? Rival Factions is coming up fast..." Dougy placed heavy emphasis on the word 'fast'. "It's been more or less the same as always when facing an unfamiliar opponent. Study the tapes, get the biographical information, try to map out how the guy thinks and how he works. I think I've got a fairly decent amount of info on him. It's just a matter of shooting out one more Steve's Thoughts promo and then lash into him." "Think you can bring him down? I mean, in spite of the reputation the guy seems to have with the Rival Factions crowd? They give the man a lot of praise..." "Yes." Steve's voice was the picture of confidence. "What are we doing after this, Steve?" Serena asked, raising a hand, "I know you came back for this Rival Factions thing, but what happens once it's over?" "I don't know. I've committed myself to getting Heather taken care of. And now that Lillith is back..." Steve chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully before continuing, "Well, I've got to get to the bottom of that. I'm not sure if I'll be around in a wrestling capacity, but I'm not going anywhere until I've sorted things out with both Lillith and Heather. That includes trying to sort out this 'trying to murder each other' problem'." He grimaced, "That's gonna be a freakin' interesting phone call with Lillith. We're probably gonna get into a shouting match over it, particularly if she's still hellbent on hurting Heather because of me like in 2004..." "I wouldn't worry about it, Steve..." Talia suggested, "Right now, you've got to worry about Rival Factions- and get to the bottom of what's wrong with Heather." "Hell. Speaking of which, she's in the cooler and I really need to go talk to her..." He motioned to a solid, locked, bolted iron door on the far end of the apartment, "Not sure if I want to, to be honest. Particularly not if I draw the psycho version of Heather and not the normal one." "You can only put this off for so long, Steve..." In spite of that statement, Dougy's face was covered in sympathy for his best friend's situation, "Ready to go interrogate her?" "I suppose I'd better." With that and a rueful sigh, Steve rose up from his seat and crossed over towards the iron door, stepping towards it. He removed the thick iron bar blocking it, then began undoing the various bolts holding it shut. Finally, he produced not one, but two keys, slid them into keyholes in the door, then turned the keys. That finally unlocked the entire door proper, allowing Steve to haul it open. The door shrieked in protest, but soon enough access was allowed to the room. Steve stepped through quickly, then hauled it shut behind him with an abrupt clang. Despite the obvious fact this room was built specifically to keep people from getting out of it, it wasn't quite the dungeon or third-world basement that some people kept their captives in. But then again, Steve wasn't exactly holding Heather as a hostage or as somebody to be mistreated. The room itself, despite its fortified walls and lack of a window, was relatively comfortable, with a single bed, table and chair. The only mess in the room appeared to be discarded food which had been thrown onto the far end of the room- and a puddle of water that Steve's shoes slid across momentarily before he regained his equilibrium. Sure enough, Heather was on the far end of the room. She was curled up against the wall on the bed- and while she didn't seem to be asleep, she was definitely in a daze of some kind. Whether she was herself or this... hostile figure she referred to in the letter she'd sent Steve was yet to be seen- and Steve had a feeling there was only one way he was going to find out. Nevertheless, he didn't move just yet, remaining just in front of the door, watching her cautiously. For someone in captivity- and somebody who'd tried to total her room- she looked surprisingly relaxed, eyes closed and calm expression on her face. "So, there's only one thing that's on my mind at this exact moment..." Steve announced himself with that one phrase, stepping into the direct light in the center of the room, his ice-blue eyes narrowing down towards Heather under the brim of his cap, "Who'm I gonna draw? Am I going to draw Heather Halliwell, or am I going to draw the suicidal lunatic who actually believes she can side with Hallie Halliwell and piss off Lillith Groves without either coming back to haunt her?" Judging by the flinch on Heather's face that followed her turquoise eyes snapping open, Steve already knew his answer. Nevertheless, he remained silent, allowing Heather to shift from her resting position to a sitting one, her turquoise eyes gazing into his for a moment and softening suddenly, as if relieved to see him. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke. "It's me, Steve." "Well, that's one thing going my way today at least..." Steve remarked bitterly before crossing his way closer to Heather, "How do you feel?" "I'm fine. I've been sleeping a lot..." A weak smile crossed her face before adding, "A lot more than I should be." "Yeah. I'm sorry about that, Heather, I really am. You have no idea how much I hated having to tranq you. Unfortunately, I didn't have any other options. It was that or Hallie got you and Chloe- and God knows I'm having a hard enough time just with her in Hallie's clutches." "It's OK. Your friend came in here before..." No doubt she was referring to Serena, "...and explained. OK, I never actually thought you'd kidnap anyone, but..." She shrugged. "But right now I've reached a point where I've got to do whatever it takes to get the job done." Steve finished her own half-complete sentence, "As it is, I understand I probably won't have a lot of time on the clock, so we need to talk. You mentioned a chip in your head that's responsible for all this mess." "That's right. I don't know where Hallie got it from, but... it activates. On its own. And when it does, it changes me. I'm sure you've seen what it does." "Oh, I saw it all right." Steve's reaction dripped sarcasm, but at the same time a worried grimace crossed his face as he continued to speak, "That chip has got you in a mess of trouble with Kitten. You mentioned in your letter that you didn't know what happened with her. Well, to put it simply... you crashed her return party. It pissed her off something fierce. Fighting was involved, and people were beaten down. Namely, you." As the news of what appeared to have happened sank in on Heather's face, her eyes opened in surprise and shock, as if she was having a hard time believing it. After a few moments, she gulped and nodded. "I see. You have to believe I wouldn't have done that if I were in my right mind, Steve." "I know. But there's one problem. Kitten doesn't know that and I'm not sure she'll believe. Hell... I'm not even sure she'll want to believe. She's in an absolute rage, Heather, and it's not gonna end with what happened on Saturday. She wants to fight you. Furthermore, she wants to fight you in X-Treme rules. Which gives her leeway to do whatever she wants to you." The look of amazement on Heather's face would have been priceless if Steve wasn't extremely concerned at the level of danger she was in right now. "Do you think she can be reasoned with?" she asked quietly. "I don't know. I'd have to get close to her to find out exactly how enraged she is. You know what she's like at her worst. I'm going to try to get to the bottom of that, but we have to prepare for the worst- which means we need to get you back to normal pronto so that we don't have to worry about Hallie doing something to make this situation worse than it already is. And besides, you're going to need your faculties if you're going to stand a chance of beating Kitten, believe me. So I need to know..." He paused before moving in closer to Heather, the dead seriousness in his face amplified as he sank down to his knees to go eye-to-eye with her, "What do I have to do?" "I think all you have to do is get the chip out." she answered, "It'll take some doing to get the chip out, but once it's out, hopefully this will all come to an end." "There's one problem. I'm not a surgeon, Heather. I know how to maintain a body, and I know damn well how to break one, but I don't have a complete understanding of someone's skull. If I slice into your head, I could cut something, damage something... and that's the last thing I want." "Great..." She curled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them to hug them, "What do we do, then?" "I can't get that chip out..." Steve began, "...but I know people who can. It would take some time for them to get here and for them to work out what they need to do, but if you're prepared to do that, we could have you back online before you have to fight Kitten. Maybe even before Rival Factions, if we're really lucky and it doesn't involve doing too many insane medical things to you." "I... would appreciate that." Despite that appreciation, there were a million unanswered questions written all over Heather's face as she added, "What do we do after that, Steve? I mean... when the chip's out of my head? What's our next step?" "We're going to Rival Factions, of course. I'm going to win my match, and you're going to win yours, and we're going to prove once and for all just why the XWF has been reputed as the juggernaut machine that it is. And once we're done with that, then we're going to find Chloe and set her free. And then..." He paused, a grim look crossing his face as, for the first time in several weeks, steely, solid resolve began to bubble inside him, coursing around his nerves and setting his body afire with energy, his eyes even more icy and distant than usual, his voice determined and devoid of emotion... "And then we're taking Hallie down once and for all." [Steve's Thoughts Promo] **Your television screen, which, presumably, has been tuned to X-Treme Wrestling Federation programming up until this point, is suddenly interrupted by a burst of white snow-style static with a deep blue tinge soaking it. The broadcast returns to normal soon enough and continues for several seconds, then the blast of static returns again, this time for much longer than before. It then fadeses out, now revealing a new scene on the TV screen. The setting seems to be a glass dome of some kind inside what seems to either be an underwater setting or alternatively a giant aquarium. Dark blue water surrounds the glass walls of the domes- a sandy ocean floor can be seen in the background with various rock structures, and various fish- and even a few manta rays- can be seen in the background. On the main focus of the screen is a stainless steel desk on top of the marble floor of the dome, on which the same logo is embedded. None other than Steve Jason sits at the desk. Today he looks slightly more on-edge than usual, decked out in a black short-sleeve shirt and jeans. He eyes the camera solidly, then begins to speak** The main thing I'm going to address tonight is an attitude that seems to be prevalent among some of the wrestlers, media and major figures in this event. It seems that there's an opinion backstage that claims that yours truly isn't 'ready' for the main event slot at this event. I've even heard there are a few bitter- and insecure- individuals who seem to believe that I didn't 'earn' the spot and therefore should not have it and shouldn't have been given the post in front of what is no doubt a long list of hopeful contenders. I've even heard the rumours that one person who holds such an opinion is none other than my worthy opponent for Rival Factions himself, ECFW's own Jason Blade. Now, obviously rumours can be right or rumours can be wrong, but nevertheless I feel this is a concern I have to address right away. So the question has to be asked- how do I feel about that belief, the fact that there are other people who earned their spot? Eh. They may have a valid point for all I know. I have no doubt there are a lot of people who have been waiting a very long time for this slot and who for all I know may have more to their name for it. But that's not my concern, ladies and gentlemen. Whether I 'deserve' something, whether I've 'earned' something is not important right now. It's irrelevant, because the bottom line is whether I've earned it or not, I am here, I will be marching into that arena for Rival Factions, and by God, if I have it my way, I'm marching out victorious- again, whether I've earned it or not. Therefore, my advice to Jason Blade if he does feel this way is simple- whether I've earned it or not I'm still going to show up and you're still going to have to work out a way to put me down. I would advise you spend a little less time whining about something that cannot be changed and focus just a little more on getting the job done. I am not suddenly going to wake up and go 'you know, he's right, I haven't earned this, I might as well surrender now.' Hell, if anything, it's more of an encouragement for me. Clearly some of you don't think I'm worthy. Well, it's now going to become a personal mission of mine to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am worthy and I do deserve this. I can say about a million things to refute Blade's claims- but I'm a big believer in actions speaking louder than words. Suffice it to say, Jason, that if you hold this belief, you sure as hell will not by the end of the night. That's something I guarantee. As it is, if you want to underestimate me, go for it. That's not something I'm new to. Back in the XWF, it happens quite a bit. Some rookie sensation thinks I'm a tired old battlewagon, somebody else thinks my rep is based on all talk and no action, the list goes on. They ignore what my capabilities are and my very real accomplishments in the vain hope that it won't matter. Is that what you're doing, Jason? Seems like a very foolish tactic for a supposed experienced veteran to make. I urge you to reconsider your stance if you don't want this match to end very quickly and in a very humiliating fashion for you. To be fair, I've heard that you're at least acknowledging that I have some kind of accolades. Well, I suppose that's competence at least. You could have just shrugged me off as being some nobody who's achieved nothing of relevance and blinded yourself to the truth, but it seems you're at least prepared to acknowledge I've done something. With that said, you've obviously compared everything I've done to your own achievements and shrugged them off as simply inferior. Fine, fair enough, that's your right. But I still beg to differ. You don't think I've been watching you, Jason? You don't think I've been watching your last few matches? I've seem them, and I've seen the effort that you've been putting out night after night. And that's formidable. It is. But my advice to you would be to actually go and talk to some of the XWF stars and ask them about what I've done. Suffice it to say that I've probably beaten as many, if not more, impossible odds as you have. Suffice it to say that I've faced down some powerful opponents. And suffice it to say that I've almost been killed only to come back so many times that I don't think you could ever just shrug that off. I've faced certain annihilation and won so many times that people are wondering how I don't get tired of it the next time it happens. But most importantly of all, I've shredded a hell of a lot of people who would rather protect their ego than understand who they're getting in the ring with. Make no mistake about it, for all your ECFW accolades and your bigshot reputation among this confederation of wrestling organisations, you face a very real threat and quite possibly the one man who can tear it all down. And trust me, Jason... by the end of the night, nobody is going to be more certain of that fact and more sure of it in their heart than you, my friend. And that... IS UNDENIABLE! ** Soon static begins to fill the screen one last time, and the same unique logo appears above the static for several seconds before the screen flickers into a 'turn-off' effect, narrowing down to a thin line before disappearing. ** [RP OUT] |
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