All things considered, that could not have been a better start to Steve Jason's career.

It was a late Friday night in 2001, four days before September 11 changed the world forever. Damn near a decade ago, to be precise- something that the present-day Steve Jason couldn't really get his head around. Twenty-four-year-old Steve Jason emerged from the passage that led to and from the main ringside area of the Carver Championship Wrestling Federation arena, breathing heavily from exertion as the victor of his very first professional wrestling match.

It was extremely rare to win one's first match, and as a result Steve was surging over with satisfaction and excitement. His ice-blue eyes were wide with disbelief, and a satisfied smile crossed his now clean-shaven facial features underneath buzzed, short-cropped black hair. His body was lean- and lacked the long rib-to-hip scar that his later version would sport as a sign of war- and a pair of long silver ringtights with golden flames down the legs covered his lower form, a vastly different set of gear to the loose boardshorts XWF fans knew so well.

Victory was his, and all things considered he was much more content to just rest out the rest of the night in his locker room- and that was where he strode casually, barely even paying attention to the halls around him. Before he could move past to the locker room, however, a voice called from behind him, startling him out of his wits.

"Yo. Steve Jason, isn't it?"

Steve whirled on his heel at that, his eyes flashing cautiously. There was a man leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. A mane of long blond hair hung down around his shoulders, and he had a certain 'renegade' look about him. A black and green football jersey covered his upper frame in addition to his ringwear. This was a person that Steve knew of by reputation- he was somewhat higher up the ranks than he was and reasonably well-known- but Steve hadn't actually met him or spoken to him until this very day. He raised a brow slightly, then replied calmly.

"That's me. And you would be... Centurion, right?"

"The very same." Centurion pushed himself off the wall at that, taking a few steps closer to Steve, "I saw your match out there tonight. Nice work, man. You've got some potential, I'll say that."

"Uh... thanks?" Steve honestly wasn't sure how to take that praise, an eyebrow raising slightly.

"I'm being serious, man. A lot of the people here won't take you seriously, but I'm smarter than that. You're gonna go a long way if you play your cards right. And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You know about that Eagle guy, right?"

"The sociopathic lunatic who's stalking all the women with those jackoff sidekicks of his?" A visible look of contempt crossed his face.

"I can see you don't like him either. Somebody's got to do something about that punk acting all high and mighty, and I've got a group of my guys on it. But after tonight, I'm impressed enough to know that your help could be pretty valuable. And you need to make your mark. Cruising with us would be a good way to do it."

"You're offering an alliance?"

"I guess you could say that." Centurion's smile was genuine, "We take care of you, you help us out, and the Eagle gets run out of town. Everybody wins."

Steve pondered that for several moments. He'd heard stories about what happened to people who picked the wrong partners- usually wound up betrayed, and that was if they were lucky. Still, there was something about this young man- some kind of sixth sense- telling Steve that he could trust this man. Furthermore, he had a feeling that this was meant to happen; that it'd be a long-term destiny kind of thing as opposed to a temporary alliance. It was pure intuition, and it was likely a foolish thing, but for some reason Steve's judgment agreed with it. He flashed a grin at Centurion, then seized his hand in a firm handshake.

"Alright, let's do this."

[FLASH FORWARD]

DATE/TIME: 10:30 PM, Saturday, February 21, 2009
LOCATION: Farmland, not far from Lexington, Kentucky

[CAST]

 

Nearly eight years had passed since that fateful day when Steve Jason and Centurion first formed their alliance. And that gut feeling had never let Steve down. There were a lot of friends and tag partners who had turned their backs on Steve- whether due to personal grievances or a chance for personal gain- but the one man who could forever be known as loyal and a worthy ally was Andy Cortinovis.

And now Steve Jason had entered the town where they would finally get their eight-years-in-the-making shot at greatness. Even Steve's various issues in his personal life right now took a back seat to the feeling of exhilaration and anticipation running through his body. It had been a long time since Steve had felt this purposeful, this much driven to do something. In the XWF world, Steve had more or less done it all, or so some would say. This, however, was the one thing on his list of things to do that hadn't been checked off. This weekend had taken far too long to come- but Steve was ready.

Steve wasn't in Lexington itself, but he wasn't very far from the city. He stood out in the middle of an isolated piece of farmland, with bluegrass stretching about as far as the eye could see. What made this choice of place particularly odd was the fact that it was night-time, and were it not for the stars and the moon up above, Steve would have been in complete and utter darkness. He was dressed in a nondescript fashion- black sweater and blue jeans. By his side was Chloe O'Brien, dressed in a surprisingly similar fashion to him.

They weren't alone, however. Standing opposite them was none other than Walter Crowe, Andy Cortinovis' business associate. As always, he was dressed in an impeccable tuxedo in start contrast to the farmland around him. He had a surprisingly shrewd look about him as he was speaking to them in a clear, cultured tone.

"And they've been friends since. Now, eight years later, it finally gets to culminate. Are you ready for this, Steve?" Walter asked.

"As ready as I'm gonna be." Steve shrugged, "I've trained myself up about as far as I can do. All we can really do now is wait."

"And keep our eyes open. You know Famine, and you know he may have some tricks up his sleeve."

"I'm not afraid of him, if that's what you're asking." Steve said flatly, "So the man got buried and escaped. It's not the first time and it won't be the last. It's impressive, I'll give him that, but I'm not going to be intimidated by it."

"Good work. It's not like that balderdash about demons is actually true..." Walter scoffed.

"Actually, you're wrong, Walter..." Chloe suddenly turned to Walter, giving him a very serious and penetrating stare, "It's real. I'm not sure whether Hadrian Burke is one... probably not... but there's a lot of the occult that has a fair bit of basis."

"Right... um... we'll have to agree to disagree on that." Walter was obviously trying to be polite, but it was obvious he didn't quite believe Chloe's words, instead turning back to Steve, "What about Dan?"

"What do you mean?"

"You trained the boy. You may have to put him through a table, you know. Are you going to be able to put your compassion aside and do that if you have to?"

"It's a match." Steve shrugged, "I can put all of that aside. It's something Dan needs to learn, anyway. The guy takes this business a little too personally, and it's something that'll destroy him if he's not careful. And besides... maybe winning will get him away from Famine. I owe that to the kid. I don't want to leave someone as impressionable as that under the influence of Hadrian Burke. Centurion said something about that, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Dan's only going to be in peril while he's with Famine."

"Do you think he'll leave Famine if you're successful?"

"What else do they have in common?" Steve spread his hands.

"Good point." Walter scratched at his chin in thought, "At any rate, I just wanted to make sure you were ready. I'll get the word to Andy. He'll meet you about midday tomorrow. You do know it's his birthday tomorrow, correct?"

"Of course." Steve smirked, "If all goes well, I'll give him a present he'll never forget, and a rather nice afterparty too."

"I'm glad to hear it." Even Walter had to chuckle at that, "At any rate, I need to be going. I'll give you a call if there are any developments."

"Sure."

After Walter had departed, that had left Steve and Chloe alone in the moon-lit farmland. Steve knew he had to eventually take the long trip back into town, but there was just something magical about the cool winter air and the illuminating moonlight flooding the entire farm causing him to take his time, relaxing and soaking up the scene. Chloe, on the other hand, wasn't quite as relaxed; on the contrary, she seemed to be rather bothered about something.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Huh?" Chloe blinked, caught out of her reverie as she floundered for words, "Oh... oh nothing, really. Just thinking."

"What about?"

"Oh, it's really not all that interesting..."

"Try me."

She seemed to grapple with that request. Obviously Steve had put her on the spot, and she immediately seemed to look for a way to avoid the question, but she found none. After several moments, she drew in a breath, then spoke quietly.

"I... care for you. I know that's a crazy thing to be saying after we've worked together for so long, but ever since you came back to the United States, I've been looking at you in a different light." It was obvious Chloe was having some difficulty with this- and that didn't surprise Steve at all. He himself was taken aback by her sudden confession, completely unsure precisely what to say.

"Before I proceed any more and make a dick out of myself- by 'different light', we're talking sexual attraction here, right?"

"Yes, Steve." It came out rather flatly.

"Good. I didn't want to deal with this one wrong." Steve chewed on his lip speculatively, then finally spoke, "Truth be told, Chloe, I've kind of been feeling the same way. Course, that might have been colored by the time I accidentally crashed into your bathroom when those ninja were chasing me. and you were in the shower. Boy, was that awkward."

"Honestly? I wish you'd gotten in with me."

"That's blunt enough." Steve said flatly, "That said, you know this is uncharted territory, right? You're the right-hand in the inner circle. I've never been involved with the right-hand before. Then again, Talia was more like a sister, so it was way off-limits. What I'm getting at here is that this is going to involve a lot of juggling. Are you game for that?"

A sly, almost impish smirk crossed Chloe's face at that, "I'm a lawyer, Steve. I was born to juggle."

"Just checking." Steve didn't even give Chloe time to react to that sentence, stepping in towards Chloe abruptly before locking her slender form in a tight embrace. She leaned into him, pressing herself up close against him before craning her head up, giving Steve a perfect opening to join his lips with hers.

In all seriousness, Steve couldn't remember how long that went for. What he did know was that it was starting to get intense, very fast. Obviously Chloe had been holding in a surprising amount of emotion and passion, and she practically stuck against him, kissing him with a fiery intensity that he'd never seen before. Just when he thought it couldn't get any more insane, a hand suddenly reached up for his collar, fumbling around for his buttons.

This was definitely getting out of hand.

"What, here?" Steve blinked.

"Why not?" Chloe replied with a short wink, "It's not like anybody's going to come along, is it?"

Steve tried to come up with a response to that, but fell completely short as she went back to grabbing his collar. She reached up towards one of his buttons, then suddenly and abruptly, 'Rock and Roll Queen' by The Subways blasted out of his pocket.

"Oh, you are kidding me..." Chloe muttered in irritation. Steve reached into his pocket and produced his phone. Oddly enough, it looked like Walter was calling him back.

"I'm sorry. This could be important..." Steve apologised before unflipping his phone and lifting it to his mouth.

"SJ."

Despite the fact Walter had left only fifteen or so minutes ago, the voice seemed excited, as if he had something important to say.

"Steve. It's about the twins. I think we've found something..."

 [CLICK TO CONTINUE]