Axe of Redemption
[FADEIN]
The camera closely follows the tattooed, defined shoulders and greasy, unkempt brown hair of a figure cutting through the middle of a cramped and obnoxiously zealous hallway. Overworked production team members, construction crewmen and other backstage staffers all clear the way at the last second and are noticeably taken aback by the stern and quick stride of the subject. He eventually reaches the double doors at the end of the hallway and throws them open, entering a large, dark and empty storage room, the camera following him through. A single halogen light hangs from the ceiling, creating a veritable spotlight in the open area of the room. The camera halts as it's subject moves forward, revealing him in his wrestling gear and a black tank top, and he enters the glowing circle, finally speaking as he turns to face the camera.
AXION: It's ironic that the final days of a once mighty blade will be spent serving as the honing steel for a new, unbreakable axe...
Kendall Codine has made it clear that this is the end. He can't help but mention it every time he talks. Every one hangs on his words, remembering all those times during his prime when he backed up what he said. He always seemed clairvoyant, like everything had already been revealed to him. It's no different here today than it was before, but somehow that's what's the most intriguing part of all of this. He was always right, and today, he's more dead on than he ever was before in a manner he never expected.
The young man pauses and slicks back his hair. He stretches his pectoral muscles by swinging his arms in front of his chest and out to his sides, and cracks his neck.
AXION: I was 12-years-old the first time I watched "The Blade" dominating the opposition in CSWA. I'd sneak into the foster home basement after quickly finishing my store brand mac-n-cheese just in time to see him call out his enemies and drop them like clockwork. His intensity resonated with me. The purposefulness of those blows, the fortitude it took to get up every time Nemesis dropped him on his neck. It was inspiring for a kid who everyone had written off, watching a warrior who paved his own path...
But, you see... you failed me, Kendall. I was never given the keys to success like you were, never given the opportunity to lose everything I had. I had nothing from square one, and then one of my only inspirations, one of my only heroes quit on me. Even for a young kid, it was easy to see that I could only be inspired by myself. I was my own hero. No one was gonna be there when it counted; not my parents who I never met, not my foster mom who smoked herself into a hospital bed, not Dan Thompson, the older kid who'd beat the sh*t out of me just because he felt like it, and not even you.
Taking a deep breathe and letting out the frustration slowly in a long exhale, the man returns his gaze to the camera, his muscles tensing up, the tattoos of skulls, angels, birds and weapons coming to life.
AXION: When I was invited to ULTRATITLE, I knew I was finally going to get my chance to rise above everything that's ever held me down. What I never expected was the opportunity to bury a ghost from my past that I never thought I'd be able bury, and to do it in Chicago, IL, the harbor of all those memories, no less.
But this won't be about redemption or satisfaction. It's never been about that, really. Like you said, Codine, it's about action. It's about acting with the power, the strength and the smarts that you've honed for yourself. It just so happens that the actions that are about to take place out in that ring are going to be the exact redemption you're begging for...
The book of your career isn't about to shut, Codine. It's about to be cloven in two. Its the ending you've always wanted... one where you'll achieve the goal of redemption, simply by giving a disenfranchised boy the chance to roll you into the grave you dug for yourself almost two decades ago. You knew it would come to this. Whether it was your son or someone else you failed, you knew that the end was going to be written by a force that was perpetuated by your actions...
My name is Steve "Axion" Jackson, and I got into this industry because of you, Kendall. But I became the death knell for your career that you never anticipated because of the selfishness that you're striving so passionately to get away from. There's a well known saying; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That reaction has taken a long time to recoil, but it's finally here in the form of an axe.
The camera pushes in as Axion is seen breathing heavily, his blood boiling. He lifts his fists to the camera, showing tattoos on his knuckles reading "hopeless."
AXION: The axe always falls, Kendall. You and everyone in ULTRATITLE are about to understand that. And you're as hopeless as ever to stop it from ending what you started.
Axion walks out of the frame.
[FADEOUT]
