Post by jackbull on Jul 22, 2011 18:54:24 GMT -5
Sunday, July 10th.
With his gym bag over his shoulder Bull marched out to his rented truck, head down. His old and scuffed trainers scraped along the concrete surface. He was leaving yet another arena, after yet another title match, and yet another defeat. Just the thought of it, the circumstances of his loss, made his stomach churn a little. Only holding back the Scorpion and denying him the title had given Jack any consolation.
From behind him, Bull heard a door open and a familiar voice called out across the parking lot.
“Jack!”
The sweet voice of Sarah Thompson.
“Jack, wait up,”
Bull paused for a second. He wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter, interviews or kind words. He pressed on.
“Jack wait!”
It was too late. Her footsteps had closed right in. She was barely yards away and closing. There was no choice but to acknowledge her.
“Hey Sarah. Uh look, I’m not really in the mood for giving an interview right now. Maybe you could call me during the week and we’ll sort something out,”
“No interviews. I just wanted to catch you before you left, you know, as a friend. Find out how you were?”
Bull stopped.
“Look Sarah. Interviews, talking, whatever, it doesn‘t matter. I just need time to chill out by myself right now. I just spoke to X, I need to get ready for next week, and that means getting home, having a nice warm shower and letting tonight’s events blow off. Ok?”
“I just wanted to see if you were ok?”
“Well… look I’m not. I just, I just wanna sit down with a beer and a Steven Seagal movie and just bum out for a bit,”
“Ok, well, maybe if I just…”
“MAYBE JUST NOTHING!!”
The outburst shocked Sarah. She jumped at first, but now froze solid as Bull slammed his bag into the ground.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST SHUT UP!!”
Bull turned. Laid out before him was a pristine black Ford Taurus, sparkling like new after a recent wash. Bull fired out with his right foot and smashed one of the head lights. Instantly the alarm began to sound, piercing the air with its incessant, repetitive whine.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK RIVERA WHAT HIS PROBLEM IS?!”
Again Bull fired out a kick, smashing the second head light.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD SIT DOWN WITH THE BOSS AND ASK HIM WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THAT RING TONIGHT!!”
The fire in Bulls eyes burned fear right into Sarah’s heart, a fear she had never felt before around him. She brought her shaking hand to her mouth to cover against making any sound, but she didn’t have enough breath left in her to worry about that.
“Maybe you could ask him how it was that once again, ONCE AGAIN…”
Bull fired off another kick, cracking the number plate.
“… I find myself in the middle of that ring, laying over my beaten and exhausted opponent and once again, ONCE A-FUCKING-GAIN…”
Bull kicked the grille of the car, but with little effect.
“… I don’t hear what I should be hearing. I can hear the fans in the background calling and cheering, but where’s that sound that really matters huh?! Where’s the sound of the ONE… TWO… THREE!!!
Bull slammed his hand down on the hood of the car each time to emphasise the point, leaving the center of the cheap sheet of metal buckled a little and his hand stinging and red. The alarm stopped abruptly. For a moment the parking lot was drowned in near silence, just the slightest sniffle audible from Sarah as she tried desperately to hold back her tears.
“SO NO!! NO I DON’T WANNA TALK!! I DON’T WANT ANY OF THAT TOUCHY FEELY SHIT! I DON’T WANNA ‘SHARE MY FEELINGS‘, OR ‘OFFLOAD MY PROBLEMS’”
Bull grabbed his bag off the floor.
“I want two things right now Sarah and nothing more; I want a fair shot at that belt, with no fucking ladders, or biased refs, or missing refs or any of that other shit getting in the way! And I want Rivera’s severed fucking head, pickled in a jar, on my fucking mantle piece! Now unless you can give me either of those two things then I suggest you just leave me the fuck alone for a while!”
Jack turned and stormed off to his hire truck, throwing open the drivers door and chucking his bag in, before climbing in himself. The engine fired up, roaring loudly as Bull handled the throttle aggressively. There was a vicious screech of tires as the traction control system battled with the engines torque to deliver the needed grip. Then in a flurry of steel, smoke and noise Bull swung the truck out recklessly and charged off towards the exit.
Left alone in the now quite aftermath, Sarah stared at the broken glass on the ground. The orange flash of the Taurus’s lights was caught in the tears that began to stream down her cheeks.
Finally, she was able to speak.
“But I didn‘t do anything,”
------
Wednesday, July 13th.
Jack answered the knock at his door.
In front of him stood an old man with well tanned, but slightly sagging skin. His white hair was expensively coiffed, his silver suit cut precisely to match his stature. His white shirt was pressed professionally and his pink tie gleaned as only the smoothest silk can.
“Hey Jack, how you doin’?”
Jack closed the door.
There was another knock. Jack sighed and opened the door again.
“Hey there Jack…”
“Look dude, I already have a car, I don’t want double glazing, I have all the insurance I need, I don’t need nor want a prostitute, and I don’t believe in God so a bible is of no use to me, so thank you for stopping by, but no thank you. Now please leave me in peace,”
Jack closed the door again. There was another knock.
Jack bit his lip and balled his fist, before taking a deep breath and letting it go calmly. He opened the door again.
“Dude, you’re trying my patience,”
“Hey Jack relax! Do you even know who I am?”
“An old man with a death wish, presumably,”
The man chuckled and took a small handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
“My name is Terry Jones, you might have heard of me?”
Jones began to wipe his sweating brow, the oppressive nature of what the media were starting to call the ‘heat dome’ cooking him alive inside his suit.
“Wait, I recognise that name,”
“Outstanding! Now that’s what I like to call progress,”
Jones went to take a step inside. Without looking up, Bull raised a hand and pushed Jones gently back out of the doorway.
“You used to manage Titan?”
“Indeed. That was a mistake on my part. The kid isn’t all there upstairs if you see what I mean. Great physical prowess but no long term potential. I see that now. I was in error. But that part of my career is behind me now,”
Once again Terry moved to invite himself in and once again he was gently but firmly shown back to the doorstep.
“Didn’t you used to manage X at one point?”
“Xplode? Now you’re talking kid! That’s right, Xplode was my greatest work. He was my Mona Lisa, my Sistine Chapel,”
Again Jones went to step inside and once again he was coerced single handed back outside.
“You make it sound like you won the titles yourself,”
“Well obviously Xplode did the ring work, but there’s more to making a championship wrestler than just his ring work. There’s the preparation. The training. The mental conditioning. The strategy. No offence, but you don’t think a kid like Xplode became the Strategic Assassin overnight? He had to be guided. By yours truly no less,”
Satisfied that he’d made his case, Jones went to step inside once more. Again a guiding hand in his chest let him know that his proper place was where he already was.
“So all that means diddly shit to me because?”
“Because Xplode came to me this week. He came to me and he said ‘Terry, I have a problem. I need your help Terry. In fact, you’re the only person that can help me right now Terry. You’re the only person I could turn to. The only person I can trust,’”
“So I said ‘Kid. Whatever it is. Whatever you’re about to ask of me I’ll do it, because you’re like my family. You’re like my own flesh and blood. Like a son to me,’ I said to him. And I meant it. God as my witness I did. So he says to me ‘Terry, you’re the only man I can turn to. You’re the only man who can help me in this dark hour. You’re the only man I trust with this problem and I think you’re the only one who might even have an answer to it,’”
“The only one huh?”
“The only one. That was his words Jack. His words, not mine,”
“So if I ask him about it then he’ll corroborate this story right?”
“Oh I wouldn’t mention it to him Jack. He’s a very private person, you know that. I wouldn’t want him to get upset unnecessarily. If I’m honest, I shouldn’t even be telling you about the conversation we had. But I feel like I know a bit about you now. You seem very trustworthy, careful and upstanding. I know you wouldn’t go telling tales out of school to the rest of the world so it’s ok,”
“Very trustworthy and upstanding huh?”
“I can tell. I have like a sixth sense for judging people you know? I can look into a mans heart just by shaking his hand. It’s a gift and a curse Jack I can tell you,”
“So what happened to your sixth sense with Titan then?”
“What can I say, the man has a powerful grip Jack. But I saw through him soon enough,”
“I heard you got fired,”
“Then you heard wrong. We had a professional disagreement, and I used that as an excuse to break my bonds with him. I couldn’t wait to be free of the kid. He’s a waste of time!”
“As of Sunday he’s now a two-time World Championship winning waste of time,”
“And look how long his last reign as champion lasted! I can assure you it’ll be a similar story this time around. Some people are destined to just be flashes in the pan Jack. Others however are destined to leave an indelible mark on history. Look at Xplode. He’s left his mark on history,”
“So what about me? What does your sixth sense tell you?”
“I’m not a fortune teller. But I see bright things on the horizon. With the right management to focus your talents you could go a long way Jack,”
“A manager like you I bet?”
“Well, I’m just one of the many people who call themselves a manager. But there’s managers and then there’s managers. All those I’ve invested in have shown great returns. I have a thoroughbred history in my stable Jack. I’m just saying, if you ever need someone to guide you, there are few finer compasses than Terry Jones!”
“Right. So what was this secret conversation you were having with X that you could possibly tell me about?”
“Oh that? Come to think of it, where was I?”
“Something about being the only man who might have an answer?”
“That’s it! He said to me ‘Terry, you’re the only man I can turn to. See I got this big match coming up on the next show. It’s real important to me and I need your help Terry. I need you to manage my team,’. That’s what he said Jack. And that means him and you. That means Xplode and Jack Bull; the Chaos Theory,”
“So you came all this way to introduce yourself? Well it was nice meeting you Terry, I’m sure we’ll get along fine on Sunday. Have a nice day,”
Jack moved to close the door.
“Wait a second kid! I’m here because X asked me to come here. Don’t you see that? You trust X right? Even if you don’t trust me, you trust X? We’ll I’m here because he wanted me to come and see you, to come and talk to you about the fight,”
Bull tapped his foot on the floor, the rhythm helping him to focus while he considered whether to send Jones on his way. It did seem a little harsh, given that he must have flown all the way out here on an early flight and then driven up from Fort Worth. If X had indeed asked him to come down, maybe he was at least worth five minutes.
“You got five minutes,”
“Now we’re talking kid,”
Bull stepped aside and finally let Terry in, waving a hand to guide him towards the living room.
“My God, you actually have working air conditioning. You must be the only person in this God forsaken state that does,”
“The entire house…”
Bull began as he shut the door and followed Terry through,
“… has been redesigned over the years to minimise heat intake in the summer and improve cooling. That’s why the chimney is painted black and all the walls are white. The chimney heats up and it sucks air up through it, creating a draught. The whole house is elevated off the ground, so the underneath is shaded and stays relatively cool. Cool air gets sucked up through the vents and rises through the house,”
“It’s wonderful. This damn heat dome is driving me nuts. Do you have a drink by any chance?”
Bull went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water complete with ice cubes, and a cold beer.
“There you go,”
He put the water down in front of Jones.
“Vodka? I like you style!”
“Water,”
“Oh, uh, thanks,”
“At least it’s cold. I’m not a complete asshole,”
“Obviously not,”
Jones took a sip of the refreshing liquid.
“That hit’s the spot alright. Wonderful. Thank you very much,”
“So, what’s the deal?”
“Deal? What deal?”
“Something tells me you didn’t come all this way just to rub my ego. So what do you want Terry?”
Bull cracked open his beer and took a sip, as Terry enjoyed another mouthful of ice cold water before speaking.
“I’m here… to find out if you’re for real,”
“Haha, what the fuck are you talking about?”
Terry placed the water down on the coffee table, the ice cubes clinking away as they swirled, then settled. His tone was more serious now.
“I need to know for myself whether my boy was right about you. Whether he can trust you or not,”
Bull put down his beer.
“Oh I see. So all of a sudden you’re looking out for X’s best interests? How nice of you to join the party,”
“Look kid I told you, he came to me! To me! Now why do you think he did that huh? Because he trusts me. Because he knows I wont screw him over. Me and Xplode go way back, to before you were even a rookie in this company. Now he trusts you, but if I’m gonna jump on board with him then I need to trust you to,”
“So what were you expecting? Some kind of blood oath? You want me to swear on the bible? You want me to give you the keys to my truck as collateral maybe?”
“I just needed to look you in the eyes. To see you for myself,”
“So you can engage your sixth sense right?”
“Kind of. I need to hear it from the horses mouth. I need to know that you’re really up for this, that you’re 100% behind X on this, ok? These Las Vegas guys, they’re not gonna be a push over. Now I have absolute confidence in my boy to get the job done but this match, it’s a team game. And I need to know that this team doesn’t have any weak links if you see what I‘m saying? I need to know that you‘re up to job, that you‘ve got Xplodes back,”
Bull chuckled to himself and picked up his beer to take another sip.
“Did I say something funny? Maybe you’re not taking this whole thing as serious as I thought? Maybe X was wrong about you?”
“Maybe you just don’t know enough about me? Have you thought about that Terry? What research have you done about me huh?”
Terry clasped his hands and stared at his shoes.
“Exactly,”
Jack put his beer down again.
“See if you had, you’d know that me and Luck go way back. And then you wouldn’t have to ask any stupid questions about me or my commitment. You’d know that we have a rivalry that can match any rivalry in the history of the EUW. You’d know that there is bad blood boiling under the surface that remains even to this day,”
“I can’t count the times that me and Luck have stepped in that ring together. But I can assure you right now that Luck is probably sitting somewhere right now with his boys telling them all about how much it doesn’t bother him to be facing me again, about how easy it’ll be beating Jack Bull, and how much he’s looking forward to shutting me up,”
“Underneath his calm exterior though, Luck is shaking. That’s how bad it is. He’s shaking Terry. I don’t know whether it’s fear. I don’t know whether it’s anger. It might be loathing. Hell, it might just be the withdrawal symptoms he’s suffering since our last encounter. But trust me, Luck is shaking,”
“See he likes people to think that facing me is nothing special. He likes people to think it’s just another match for Mr. Luck. But it’s not. It’s something far more personal, far more consuming than just another match,”
“Every time we have faced each other, it’s been a grudge match. In fact, I think between us we’ve set a new standard for what that term means. People use the term grudge match far too freely. Me and Luck, that’s what a grudge match should be. Two people in the ring who just pure, 100%, outright hate each other. That’s me and Luck,”
“Of course he’s a lot more bitter about it than I am,”
“Why’s that?”
“Well losing always makes someone more bitter. And man has Luck borne his share of losses. In fact, it all started almost one year ago at the original Scars and Stripes Pay Per View. I can remember it like yesterday. The fans spitting at him, booing his ass out of the building. Me getting all the cheers, the entire crowd riding behind me,”
“And I beat him Terry. I beat his ass in a match that was supposed to put all that bad blood to rest. Right there, when it mattered on the big stage, I won. I don’t think he ever lived it down to be honest.”
“A loss at a big event can be quite disheartening, but it’s still just one loss,”
“Oh no Terry, that was just the start. That was just the first loss. Then came the Prestige Pay Per View. The Pure title on the line Terry. For both of us it was our first chance to really make it, our chance to have a breakout match. And once again I beat him. I beat him and then I beat Cross to become the champion,”
“The fact that I had a handful of Lucks tights only made the moment all the more sweeter for me and all the more bitter for him. It was like I beat him at his own game. One of the dirtiest, most rotten scumbags the EUW has seen in a long while, beaten with one of his own little cowardly tricks. You think he ever lived that down? I don’t,”
“Ok, so you beat him twice. It’s been a long time since Prestige though,”
“Not twice. Three times,”
“Three times?”
“We had a tag match. Him and big Dave were touting themselves as the big fucking hot shots of the EUW. I can’t remember if they were tag champions at the time or not. But then me and Chuck Johnson came along and bam! Three in the bag. His little glory run as a tag team with Dave was shot down almost the moment it started. Now tell me that doesn’t bite?”
“Ok, I can see that biting,”
“You bet your ass it does! That guy hates my guts! And you know what, I hate his too!”
“What for? You beat him didn’t you?”
“Beating Luck isn’t enough Terry. That's what nobody will ever understand. I want to hear him say it! I want to hear that arrogant asshole publicly admit that I got the better of him all those times. I beat his ass three times fair and square and he won’t even admit that I’m better. He just lords it up, trying to tell the world that somehow I’m some inferior little maggot compared to his majesty,”
“I want him to squirm in front of a camera and admit that I’m the better man, the better wrestler, the better fighter! But no, he just hangs his coat on his one recent win as if it matters a shit in the grand scheme of things,”
“Ahhh, so he beat you? Now the plot thickens,”
“Technically speaking,”
“Technically speaking? A win is a win Jack,”
“A win is not a win. Not when there are three or four other guys in there as well. Not when there’s three guys standing over you, beating you with chairs and shit. He’s too much of a pussy to get it done himself, so he had to try and recruit help to make it happen. Then to top it off he gets a guaranteed title shot out of it. Out of a fucking triple team? Please!”
“Sounds like you might be the bitter one? By your tone it sounds like you might be a little humiliated?”
Bull stared at the floor for a moment.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,”
“To think, to think of all the times that I beat that scumbag! To think of all the work I put in to overcome him three times before. Then all the work I put in to prepare myself for that match, only to get triple teamed? Are you kidding me? So yeah, I did feel a bit humiliated. And yeah, I am bitter even to this day about it. But none of that matters now because I’ve got Luck right where I want him,”
“Dude probably thinks that I’m doing this for Oblivion, or that I’m doing this for X. Well I’m not. Don’t get me wrong. I respect the hell out of Oblivion and I hate what Luck has done to him. I respect the hell out of Xplode to. If he’s truly like a son to you, then to me he’s like a brother. And I mean that Terry,”
“But my interest in this match is all about me. This is about my desire to get even again with Luck. This is about my desire to make that son of a bitch pay several times over for what he did to me in that cage match. It’s about making him pay for taking MY title shot away from me. It’s about me proving which of us is truly the best, truly the most worthy,”
“I will not, WILL NOT, let him get away with it this time. So you wanna know if I’m good? You wanna know if I’m cool? You wanna know if you can trust me? Then all you gotta do is show up on Sunday night and watch. Then you’ll see. You’ll see one pissed off son of a bitch fighting and scrapping like a damn tiger for every last second that he’s in that ring!”
“I gotta lot of shit I wanna get off my chest and Luck is the perfect recipient for some of it. Mark my words now Terry. You have nothing to worry about on my end. You with me?”
“Yeah, I think I’m with you kid. So I guess then it’s time to get your butt to Bakersfield. I got us two open ended return tickets to California, first class,”
“What for?”
“Because now that I’m happy that you’re fully in on this, that you’ve got the balls to see it through, now it’s time for you to see what I bring to the team. It’s time to get you and X in the ring together so we can start building some magic! As the boys at Southwest are so fond of saying, ‘Grab your bag! It’s on!”
With his gym bag over his shoulder Bull marched out to his rented truck, head down. His old and scuffed trainers scraped along the concrete surface. He was leaving yet another arena, after yet another title match, and yet another defeat. Just the thought of it, the circumstances of his loss, made his stomach churn a little. Only holding back the Scorpion and denying him the title had given Jack any consolation.
From behind him, Bull heard a door open and a familiar voice called out across the parking lot.
“Jack!”
The sweet voice of Sarah Thompson.
“Jack, wait up,”
Bull paused for a second. He wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter, interviews or kind words. He pressed on.
“Jack wait!”
It was too late. Her footsteps had closed right in. She was barely yards away and closing. There was no choice but to acknowledge her.
“Hey Sarah. Uh look, I’m not really in the mood for giving an interview right now. Maybe you could call me during the week and we’ll sort something out,”
“No interviews. I just wanted to catch you before you left, you know, as a friend. Find out how you were?”
Bull stopped.
“Look Sarah. Interviews, talking, whatever, it doesn‘t matter. I just need time to chill out by myself right now. I just spoke to X, I need to get ready for next week, and that means getting home, having a nice warm shower and letting tonight’s events blow off. Ok?”
“I just wanted to see if you were ok?”
“Well… look I’m not. I just, I just wanna sit down with a beer and a Steven Seagal movie and just bum out for a bit,”
“Ok, well, maybe if I just…”
“MAYBE JUST NOTHING!!”
The outburst shocked Sarah. She jumped at first, but now froze solid as Bull slammed his bag into the ground.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST SHUT UP!!”
Bull turned. Laid out before him was a pristine black Ford Taurus, sparkling like new after a recent wash. Bull fired out with his right foot and smashed one of the head lights. Instantly the alarm began to sound, piercing the air with its incessant, repetitive whine.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK RIVERA WHAT HIS PROBLEM IS?!”
Again Bull fired out a kick, smashing the second head light.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD SIT DOWN WITH THE BOSS AND ASK HIM WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THAT RING TONIGHT!!”
The fire in Bulls eyes burned fear right into Sarah’s heart, a fear she had never felt before around him. She brought her shaking hand to her mouth to cover against making any sound, but she didn’t have enough breath left in her to worry about that.
“Maybe you could ask him how it was that once again, ONCE AGAIN…”
Bull fired off another kick, cracking the number plate.
“… I find myself in the middle of that ring, laying over my beaten and exhausted opponent and once again, ONCE A-FUCKING-GAIN…”
Bull kicked the grille of the car, but with little effect.
“… I don’t hear what I should be hearing. I can hear the fans in the background calling and cheering, but where’s that sound that really matters huh?! Where’s the sound of the ONE… TWO… THREE!!!
Bull slammed his hand down on the hood of the car each time to emphasise the point, leaving the center of the cheap sheet of metal buckled a little and his hand stinging and red. The alarm stopped abruptly. For a moment the parking lot was drowned in near silence, just the slightest sniffle audible from Sarah as she tried desperately to hold back her tears.
“SO NO!! NO I DON’T WANNA TALK!! I DON’T WANT ANY OF THAT TOUCHY FEELY SHIT! I DON’T WANNA ‘SHARE MY FEELINGS‘, OR ‘OFFLOAD MY PROBLEMS’”
Bull grabbed his bag off the floor.
“I want two things right now Sarah and nothing more; I want a fair shot at that belt, with no fucking ladders, or biased refs, or missing refs or any of that other shit getting in the way! And I want Rivera’s severed fucking head, pickled in a jar, on my fucking mantle piece! Now unless you can give me either of those two things then I suggest you just leave me the fuck alone for a while!”
Jack turned and stormed off to his hire truck, throwing open the drivers door and chucking his bag in, before climbing in himself. The engine fired up, roaring loudly as Bull handled the throttle aggressively. There was a vicious screech of tires as the traction control system battled with the engines torque to deliver the needed grip. Then in a flurry of steel, smoke and noise Bull swung the truck out recklessly and charged off towards the exit.
Left alone in the now quite aftermath, Sarah stared at the broken glass on the ground. The orange flash of the Taurus’s lights was caught in the tears that began to stream down her cheeks.
Finally, she was able to speak.
“But I didn‘t do anything,”
------
Wednesday, July 13th.
Jack answered the knock at his door.
In front of him stood an old man with well tanned, but slightly sagging skin. His white hair was expensively coiffed, his silver suit cut precisely to match his stature. His white shirt was pressed professionally and his pink tie gleaned as only the smoothest silk can.
“Hey Jack, how you doin’?”
Jack closed the door.
There was another knock. Jack sighed and opened the door again.
“Hey there Jack…”
“Look dude, I already have a car, I don’t want double glazing, I have all the insurance I need, I don’t need nor want a prostitute, and I don’t believe in God so a bible is of no use to me, so thank you for stopping by, but no thank you. Now please leave me in peace,”
Jack closed the door again. There was another knock.
Jack bit his lip and balled his fist, before taking a deep breath and letting it go calmly. He opened the door again.
“Dude, you’re trying my patience,”
“Hey Jack relax! Do you even know who I am?”
“An old man with a death wish, presumably,”
The man chuckled and took a small handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
“My name is Terry Jones, you might have heard of me?”
Jones began to wipe his sweating brow, the oppressive nature of what the media were starting to call the ‘heat dome’ cooking him alive inside his suit.
“Wait, I recognise that name,”
“Outstanding! Now that’s what I like to call progress,”
Jones went to take a step inside. Without looking up, Bull raised a hand and pushed Jones gently back out of the doorway.
“You used to manage Titan?”
“Indeed. That was a mistake on my part. The kid isn’t all there upstairs if you see what I mean. Great physical prowess but no long term potential. I see that now. I was in error. But that part of my career is behind me now,”
Once again Terry moved to invite himself in and once again he was gently but firmly shown back to the doorstep.
“Didn’t you used to manage X at one point?”
“Xplode? Now you’re talking kid! That’s right, Xplode was my greatest work. He was my Mona Lisa, my Sistine Chapel,”
Again Jones went to step inside and once again he was coerced single handed back outside.
“You make it sound like you won the titles yourself,”
“Well obviously Xplode did the ring work, but there’s more to making a championship wrestler than just his ring work. There’s the preparation. The training. The mental conditioning. The strategy. No offence, but you don’t think a kid like Xplode became the Strategic Assassin overnight? He had to be guided. By yours truly no less,”
Satisfied that he’d made his case, Jones went to step inside once more. Again a guiding hand in his chest let him know that his proper place was where he already was.
“So all that means diddly shit to me because?”
“Because Xplode came to me this week. He came to me and he said ‘Terry, I have a problem. I need your help Terry. In fact, you’re the only person that can help me right now Terry. You’re the only person I could turn to. The only person I can trust,’”
“So I said ‘Kid. Whatever it is. Whatever you’re about to ask of me I’ll do it, because you’re like my family. You’re like my own flesh and blood. Like a son to me,’ I said to him. And I meant it. God as my witness I did. So he says to me ‘Terry, you’re the only man I can turn to. You’re the only man who can help me in this dark hour. You’re the only man I trust with this problem and I think you’re the only one who might even have an answer to it,’”
“The only one huh?”
“The only one. That was his words Jack. His words, not mine,”
“So if I ask him about it then he’ll corroborate this story right?”
“Oh I wouldn’t mention it to him Jack. He’s a very private person, you know that. I wouldn’t want him to get upset unnecessarily. If I’m honest, I shouldn’t even be telling you about the conversation we had. But I feel like I know a bit about you now. You seem very trustworthy, careful and upstanding. I know you wouldn’t go telling tales out of school to the rest of the world so it’s ok,”
“Very trustworthy and upstanding huh?”
“I can tell. I have like a sixth sense for judging people you know? I can look into a mans heart just by shaking his hand. It’s a gift and a curse Jack I can tell you,”
“So what happened to your sixth sense with Titan then?”
“What can I say, the man has a powerful grip Jack. But I saw through him soon enough,”
“I heard you got fired,”
“Then you heard wrong. We had a professional disagreement, and I used that as an excuse to break my bonds with him. I couldn’t wait to be free of the kid. He’s a waste of time!”
“As of Sunday he’s now a two-time World Championship winning waste of time,”
“And look how long his last reign as champion lasted! I can assure you it’ll be a similar story this time around. Some people are destined to just be flashes in the pan Jack. Others however are destined to leave an indelible mark on history. Look at Xplode. He’s left his mark on history,”
“So what about me? What does your sixth sense tell you?”
“I’m not a fortune teller. But I see bright things on the horizon. With the right management to focus your talents you could go a long way Jack,”
“A manager like you I bet?”
“Well, I’m just one of the many people who call themselves a manager. But there’s managers and then there’s managers. All those I’ve invested in have shown great returns. I have a thoroughbred history in my stable Jack. I’m just saying, if you ever need someone to guide you, there are few finer compasses than Terry Jones!”
“Right. So what was this secret conversation you were having with X that you could possibly tell me about?”
“Oh that? Come to think of it, where was I?”
“Something about being the only man who might have an answer?”
“That’s it! He said to me ‘Terry, you’re the only man I can turn to. See I got this big match coming up on the next show. It’s real important to me and I need your help Terry. I need you to manage my team,’. That’s what he said Jack. And that means him and you. That means Xplode and Jack Bull; the Chaos Theory,”
“So you came all this way to introduce yourself? Well it was nice meeting you Terry, I’m sure we’ll get along fine on Sunday. Have a nice day,”
Jack moved to close the door.
“Wait a second kid! I’m here because X asked me to come here. Don’t you see that? You trust X right? Even if you don’t trust me, you trust X? We’ll I’m here because he wanted me to come and see you, to come and talk to you about the fight,”
Bull tapped his foot on the floor, the rhythm helping him to focus while he considered whether to send Jones on his way. It did seem a little harsh, given that he must have flown all the way out here on an early flight and then driven up from Fort Worth. If X had indeed asked him to come down, maybe he was at least worth five minutes.
“You got five minutes,”
“Now we’re talking kid,”
Bull stepped aside and finally let Terry in, waving a hand to guide him towards the living room.
“My God, you actually have working air conditioning. You must be the only person in this God forsaken state that does,”
“The entire house…”
Bull began as he shut the door and followed Terry through,
“… has been redesigned over the years to minimise heat intake in the summer and improve cooling. That’s why the chimney is painted black and all the walls are white. The chimney heats up and it sucks air up through it, creating a draught. The whole house is elevated off the ground, so the underneath is shaded and stays relatively cool. Cool air gets sucked up through the vents and rises through the house,”
“It’s wonderful. This damn heat dome is driving me nuts. Do you have a drink by any chance?”
Bull went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water complete with ice cubes, and a cold beer.
“There you go,”
He put the water down in front of Jones.
“Vodka? I like you style!”
“Water,”
“Oh, uh, thanks,”
“At least it’s cold. I’m not a complete asshole,”
“Obviously not,”
Jones took a sip of the refreshing liquid.
“That hit’s the spot alright. Wonderful. Thank you very much,”
“So, what’s the deal?”
“Deal? What deal?”
“Something tells me you didn’t come all this way just to rub my ego. So what do you want Terry?”
Bull cracked open his beer and took a sip, as Terry enjoyed another mouthful of ice cold water before speaking.
“I’m here… to find out if you’re for real,”
“Haha, what the fuck are you talking about?”
Terry placed the water down on the coffee table, the ice cubes clinking away as they swirled, then settled. His tone was more serious now.
“I need to know for myself whether my boy was right about you. Whether he can trust you or not,”
Bull put down his beer.
“Oh I see. So all of a sudden you’re looking out for X’s best interests? How nice of you to join the party,”
“Look kid I told you, he came to me! To me! Now why do you think he did that huh? Because he trusts me. Because he knows I wont screw him over. Me and Xplode go way back, to before you were even a rookie in this company. Now he trusts you, but if I’m gonna jump on board with him then I need to trust you to,”
“So what were you expecting? Some kind of blood oath? You want me to swear on the bible? You want me to give you the keys to my truck as collateral maybe?”
“I just needed to look you in the eyes. To see you for myself,”
“So you can engage your sixth sense right?”
“Kind of. I need to hear it from the horses mouth. I need to know that you’re really up for this, that you’re 100% behind X on this, ok? These Las Vegas guys, they’re not gonna be a push over. Now I have absolute confidence in my boy to get the job done but this match, it’s a team game. And I need to know that this team doesn’t have any weak links if you see what I‘m saying? I need to know that you‘re up to job, that you‘ve got Xplodes back,”
Bull chuckled to himself and picked up his beer to take another sip.
“Did I say something funny? Maybe you’re not taking this whole thing as serious as I thought? Maybe X was wrong about you?”
“Maybe you just don’t know enough about me? Have you thought about that Terry? What research have you done about me huh?”
Terry clasped his hands and stared at his shoes.
“Exactly,”
Jack put his beer down again.
“See if you had, you’d know that me and Luck go way back. And then you wouldn’t have to ask any stupid questions about me or my commitment. You’d know that we have a rivalry that can match any rivalry in the history of the EUW. You’d know that there is bad blood boiling under the surface that remains even to this day,”
“I can’t count the times that me and Luck have stepped in that ring together. But I can assure you right now that Luck is probably sitting somewhere right now with his boys telling them all about how much it doesn’t bother him to be facing me again, about how easy it’ll be beating Jack Bull, and how much he’s looking forward to shutting me up,”
“Underneath his calm exterior though, Luck is shaking. That’s how bad it is. He’s shaking Terry. I don’t know whether it’s fear. I don’t know whether it’s anger. It might be loathing. Hell, it might just be the withdrawal symptoms he’s suffering since our last encounter. But trust me, Luck is shaking,”
“See he likes people to think that facing me is nothing special. He likes people to think it’s just another match for Mr. Luck. But it’s not. It’s something far more personal, far more consuming than just another match,”
“Every time we have faced each other, it’s been a grudge match. In fact, I think between us we’ve set a new standard for what that term means. People use the term grudge match far too freely. Me and Luck, that’s what a grudge match should be. Two people in the ring who just pure, 100%, outright hate each other. That’s me and Luck,”
“Of course he’s a lot more bitter about it than I am,”
“Why’s that?”
“Well losing always makes someone more bitter. And man has Luck borne his share of losses. In fact, it all started almost one year ago at the original Scars and Stripes Pay Per View. I can remember it like yesterday. The fans spitting at him, booing his ass out of the building. Me getting all the cheers, the entire crowd riding behind me,”
“And I beat him Terry. I beat his ass in a match that was supposed to put all that bad blood to rest. Right there, when it mattered on the big stage, I won. I don’t think he ever lived it down to be honest.”
“A loss at a big event can be quite disheartening, but it’s still just one loss,”
“Oh no Terry, that was just the start. That was just the first loss. Then came the Prestige Pay Per View. The Pure title on the line Terry. For both of us it was our first chance to really make it, our chance to have a breakout match. And once again I beat him. I beat him and then I beat Cross to become the champion,”
“The fact that I had a handful of Lucks tights only made the moment all the more sweeter for me and all the more bitter for him. It was like I beat him at his own game. One of the dirtiest, most rotten scumbags the EUW has seen in a long while, beaten with one of his own little cowardly tricks. You think he ever lived that down? I don’t,”
“Ok, so you beat him twice. It’s been a long time since Prestige though,”
“Not twice. Three times,”
“Three times?”
“We had a tag match. Him and big Dave were touting themselves as the big fucking hot shots of the EUW. I can’t remember if they were tag champions at the time or not. But then me and Chuck Johnson came along and bam! Three in the bag. His little glory run as a tag team with Dave was shot down almost the moment it started. Now tell me that doesn’t bite?”
“Ok, I can see that biting,”
“You bet your ass it does! That guy hates my guts! And you know what, I hate his too!”
“What for? You beat him didn’t you?”
“Beating Luck isn’t enough Terry. That's what nobody will ever understand. I want to hear him say it! I want to hear that arrogant asshole publicly admit that I got the better of him all those times. I beat his ass three times fair and square and he won’t even admit that I’m better. He just lords it up, trying to tell the world that somehow I’m some inferior little maggot compared to his majesty,”
“I want him to squirm in front of a camera and admit that I’m the better man, the better wrestler, the better fighter! But no, he just hangs his coat on his one recent win as if it matters a shit in the grand scheme of things,”
“Ahhh, so he beat you? Now the plot thickens,”
“Technically speaking,”
“Technically speaking? A win is a win Jack,”
“A win is not a win. Not when there are three or four other guys in there as well. Not when there’s three guys standing over you, beating you with chairs and shit. He’s too much of a pussy to get it done himself, so he had to try and recruit help to make it happen. Then to top it off he gets a guaranteed title shot out of it. Out of a fucking triple team? Please!”
“Sounds like you might be the bitter one? By your tone it sounds like you might be a little humiliated?”
Bull stared at the floor for a moment.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,”
“To think, to think of all the times that I beat that scumbag! To think of all the work I put in to overcome him three times before. Then all the work I put in to prepare myself for that match, only to get triple teamed? Are you kidding me? So yeah, I did feel a bit humiliated. And yeah, I am bitter even to this day about it. But none of that matters now because I’ve got Luck right where I want him,”
“Dude probably thinks that I’m doing this for Oblivion, or that I’m doing this for X. Well I’m not. Don’t get me wrong. I respect the hell out of Oblivion and I hate what Luck has done to him. I respect the hell out of Xplode to. If he’s truly like a son to you, then to me he’s like a brother. And I mean that Terry,”
“But my interest in this match is all about me. This is about my desire to get even again with Luck. This is about my desire to make that son of a bitch pay several times over for what he did to me in that cage match. It’s about making him pay for taking MY title shot away from me. It’s about me proving which of us is truly the best, truly the most worthy,”
“I will not, WILL NOT, let him get away with it this time. So you wanna know if I’m good? You wanna know if I’m cool? You wanna know if you can trust me? Then all you gotta do is show up on Sunday night and watch. Then you’ll see. You’ll see one pissed off son of a bitch fighting and scrapping like a damn tiger for every last second that he’s in that ring!”
“I gotta lot of shit I wanna get off my chest and Luck is the perfect recipient for some of it. Mark my words now Terry. You have nothing to worry about on my end. You with me?”
“Yeah, I think I’m with you kid. So I guess then it’s time to get your butt to Bakersfield. I got us two open ended return tickets to California, first class,”
“What for?”
“Because now that I’m happy that you’re fully in on this, that you’ve got the balls to see it through, now it’s time for you to see what I bring to the team. It’s time to get you and X in the ring together so we can start building some magic! As the boys at Southwest are so fond of saying, ‘Grab your bag! It’s on!”