“Roy, Mark really stuck it to you this time.” I hear Morgan yell from the house. Her gleeful tone causes me to groan from under my bike. Unfortunately the one I had used in the states couldn’t come back with me, so instead I just built my own. I grab a nearby wrench to tighten one of the bolts up when I hear her always recognizable heels click across the pavement.
‘This isn’t gonna be good is it?’ I hear Tai sigh as I tilt my head up and look across my chest to see her slender legs straddling mine. She obviously wanted to either talk or fuck with me, probably both, regardless ignoring those legs and tone was impossible.
‘With Morgan, it rarely is.’ I respond as I push myself and the board I was laying on out from under my new baby and end up under my old one. She was fucking with me alright. With her leaning up again the bike when I wheel myself out from under it I ended up with a full view up her skirt.
‘This bitch doesn’t take a hint.’ I add shaking my head and pushing myself farther away with the help of her legs.
“Want to know how he is?” Morgan asks referring to Mark Rivera as I stand up and wipe the sweat and grease of my face. Now able to see her I let out a mental groan. Morgan was dressed like a secretary, heels, stockings, skirt, blouse, tie, glasses, and pony tail, she was really trying to piss me off or jump her, not sure which.
Wiping my hands I shrug, “It really doesn’t matter unless he took away my title shot against Danny.” I toss the rag onto the board as I walk over to my bike, passing Morgan without any desired effect.
Morgan begins to tap her foot annoyed as I sit down on my bike and bring it roaring to life. Frustrated with my lack of interest she bites her tongue as I play with a few of the settings and making sure the throttle was working correctly. Powering my freedom ride down, Morgan moves to the front and grabs my bars locking eyes with me. “You’re facing Hetfield in a singles match at the next Sunday Night Vengeance. So there are disqualifications, there isn’t chaos, and while we can be ring side no one can help you as one version of insane takes on another.”
I raised an eyebrow at her tone and the name.
‘Hetfield, hmm, so the insane meets the insane? This could be fun. What couldn’t or wouldn’t we do to each other to win? Regardless, we’ll bring down the house, give the fans a show, and I’ll knock off a world champ contender proving I’m as good as I say I am. So everyone wins except him.’ I think to myself as my crooked smile annoys Morgan even more since she can tell I’ve zoned out.
‘Roy, you do realize that he is the guy that took Oblivion to his limits, right? A guy that got rid of his partners because they held him back? A guy that, while similar to you, has no limits. There is nothing he won’t do, nothing he wouldn’t give up to win, and I know you can’t say the same.’ Tai tells me while I ponder what the match could be like. Counter after counter after counter, speed, finesse, athleticism, and high flying. Basically, Mark screwed himself by making this a regular match. Committing Hetfield and myself to standard rules limited the show. Well, only if we both played by the rules - we wouldn’t. I could feel my blood flowing in my veins from just the idea of the potential clash. This would be a match the fans should only see on pay-per-view and they would be getting it for free, and I would be getting to shock the world again as I took out the crazy contender for Titan’s Title.
“ROY!” Morgan shouts pulling me back to reality. I quickly wipe my mouth - I had apparently started to drool, before focusing back to Morgan and her need for my attention.
“Yes Morgan?” I ask through gritted teeth. She had just pulled me off my train of thought and ruined the fantasy of this match, ruined my first mental taste of what Hetfield could, and most likely would, hit me with.
We lock eyes again, this time to see whose mental will would break first. “Roy, Morgan, stop whatever you’re doing and get your asses in here. Mark’s making a public announcement about the locker room and how it will affect the next Sunday Night Vengeance,” Leo calls from the house. Sharing a quick glance with each other, I sighed, knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, Morgan leaped towards me, and unless I wanted her to bust her ass on the ground, which would be funny, I catch her and carry her down the walkway, that connects the garage to the house, as fast as I can. As I run down the walkway I feel Morgan’s eyes on me as she snuggles close in my arms. She was reminiscing of old times, times when I was less focused and more hers, times when I was sane and hers to control, times long lost to me.
As I walk through the door with Morgan in my arms and a smile on my face I hear Mark’s voice coming from the TV. “Also due to some personal issues the Main Event has been changed to Roy Viper against Brett Cross. Please tune in and see the Cobra take on the King.” Everyone’s eyes turned to me as I dropped Morgan on her ass in shock and anger. My arms began to twitch with the sudden rush of blood pumping through them at Mark’s announcement.
‘Roy?’ I hear Tai weakly as I take a deep breath in hopes of calming myself. Mary rushed for Morgan as soon as she fell and after seeing me wrapped her arms around my ex protectively and slowly dragged her away. Still in control of myself I look around the room sharing everyone’s gaze briefly before I turn around and slam the door behind me. Though with my mind and anger being what they were the door fell off its hinges from the force as I walked back to the garage, with my gym in mind.
“WHY IN HELL AM I FIGHTING HIM!?!?” I yell out as I kick the gym door open and begin to turn the place upside down. “HE’S WORLD TITLE I’M PURE TITLE WE SHOULDN’T BE FIGHTING ANYMORE. WHOSE CRAZY IDEA IS IT TO MIX TITLE CONTENDERS? WHY AM I FIGHTING HIM AND NOT HETFIELD? I WANT HETFIELD.” I continue as I throw the seventy-five pound weights across the room one by one breaking a few mirrors in the process. As I take a few breaths I see the punching bag suspended from its chain hanging in the middle of the room. Without much thought I burst into a quick run before bicycle kicking the bag back ten feet and letting it swing wildly as I looked around the room.
‘Roy this isn’t how to handle this. Calm down and think. Let go of your anger it’s out of your hands.’ Tai says with his voice renewed with its usual teaching tone. My panting and stillness must have let him realize I was done with the immediate response to Mark’s news, but that left the time bomb that always seemed to follow.
“Why Tai? Why should I calm down and accept what has just happened? Why should I be okay with the fact that I’m facing Cross again? The one that disrespected the Loinheart Title, the one that beat ME at Retribution and Scars and Stripes, the one that has become my new Scorpion that’s always just a fraction ahead of me. Why Tai?” I ask out loud still fuming and wanting to cause more destruction. My breaths were slowing as I regained my natural rhythm and could feel the desire to destroy in every fiber of my being.
“Because now you can win. Because you can show the old fart how you’ve changed since your last match.” I hear Mary call from the door. I spin around with all my muscles pulsing and see her leaning against the doorframe and can see the rest of the Seven Sins walking over behind her. Her smile and focused eyes caught me off guard as she and Morgan walked through my wreckage and both put a hand on my shoulder. “Because you are no longer a rising star but are a wrecking ball. You hadn’t taken out Kirk then, you hadn’t brought us in, you hadn’t become the Main Event you are last time you two fought,” she whispered lightly into my ear.
Her words ring in my ears as I watch Shamus, Leo, and John start to put the gym back together while Peter makes a b-line for me. I close my eyes and listen to the beating of my heart slow and feel the urge to destroy subside. “Because I believe in you Roy. You’re the sickest, most twisted, sadistic son of a bitch in that locker room and I know what you can do. But you have to use your head.” Morgan says as I feel her brother stop in front of me. His breaths are those of a raged bull letting me know how pissed he is for whatever reason.
“And because who else can show that old Viking that he needs to consider retiring with X and Oblivion at Prestige?” Peter says before laughing. His reaction catches me off guard causing me to snap my eyes open and see everyone smiling and laughing at Peter’s comment. “Why are you sweating the Viking that needs a walker and wheel chair to get him to the arena? Who’s breath announces his arrival ten minutes before his beard does” Peter continued slapping me lightly on the cheek before helping the boys clean up the gym.
“Which is five minutes before you finally see him” Shamus adds to Peter’s joke, lightening the mood as they all remind me of why I chose to stay here. Here was my family, while sure Mary was my only living relative I never really left the family when Morgan and I split and I guess they all felt the same. As I reveled in the aura everyone was giving off I felt Morgan pull on my left shoulder. Taking a calming breath I look down at her and get blind sided with her lips against mine.
The gym erupts in laughter as Morgan skips out of the gym leaving me stunned and stammering in the center of the room. ‘Well are you going to be able to focus now or did that just knock you out like Cross did at Retribution?’ Tai asks me as I try and get a grip on what had just happened and tune everyone’s comments out.
‘I can focus,’ I say to Tai as I shake my head after rolling my eyes to move past Morgan playing her games. For the most part the gym equipment had been set back up as it had before my outburst, however the glass and weights were still on the other side and due to their size it would take a broom and a few trips to clean it up.
“In the ring lover boy,” Mary teases as she shoves my shoulder playfully. Everyone was all smiles and laughs after the announcement, what was I missing to make Brett verse me such a funny thing? Brett was bigger and stronger, but then again I was faster and smarter. I could have the Seven Sins at ringside, and I hadn’t been pinned since Retribution. All Brett had done was claim a title and then chase another, whereas I had shocked the world and been front page news every week. Chuckling to myself I climb in the ring and realize what I had been missing.
Yes Cross was a big challenge but a simple one. Be quick, be fast, and chop the big man down. Everyone is the same size when on the mat. As I looked at Shamus across the ring from me I nodded as we rushed in for the collar and elbow tie up. If I was going to beat Cross I’d have to go back to my roots and instead of wearing down an opponent I was going to have to out maneuver one. If I was caught I was at his mercy. Shamus takes me over and puts me into a cravat hold before delivering several knees to my head.
Groaning in frustration at my stupidity for allowing Shamus control I continue to think about Cross and how to beat him. Cross was nothing, nothing more than the old walls the Romans put up to keep the Celts out because they could not defeat them, nothing more than an eye sore than just doesn’t know when his time has come. Peter was right, who would be better to show to Cross that his days in the Asylum were numbered than me. Me the guy that headlined shows, the guy that keeps the fans paying to see what I’ll do next, the guy that can make or break this company with a steal chair. I twist my head as I deliver my own hard knees to the back of Shamus’ forcing him to a knee and to relinquish the cravat.
With my head free I stand up to my full height before kicking Shamus in the back of the head and sending him to the mat. Cross won’t be this easy but the style is the same and so long as he’s on the mat his size and strength don’t matter.
‘Brett Cross your time is up and you are mine,’ I think as I slam the heel of my boots onto Shamus’ exposed hand.
After Roy’s outburst of anger at the fact that his dream match was no more the Seven Sins not only calmed him down but refocused him. With their help he quickly forgot about what was taken from him and instead focused on what he could and would do to Cross to put him, once again, on the front page of every paper. By the end of the week Roy had called into a few radio stations and thoroughly bashed the King’s reputation and ability, calling him old, slow, stupid, and everything else that would be disrespectful and ear catching.
At home the boys would face Roy in groups to get him use to the amount of punishment he would take from a few of Cross’ punches and at times were allowed weapons while he was left to defend himself with only his fist, but Roy didn’t care he needed to be stronger and tougher than he had ever been in order to beat Brett Cross.
It was the mentality that nothing could stop him, that Roy and the Seven Sins knew would push him the extra mile needed. Nothing had stopped him from bashing Kirk’s head in, nothing had stopped him from bring the Seven Sins, nothing stopped him from knocking Danny out, so what could stop him from destroying Cross? Nothing. Even if Cross one the match the Seven Sins would be ring side and while Cross was strong Brett couldn’t take seven Asylum quality wrestlers at once and would be made an example of at the end of the match.
Come October 9, Brett Cross would face Roy Viper again, and this time he wouldn’t walk out of the arena. Roy knew he was out matched in strength but brains and speed were in his favor. Brett likes to call himself the God of Midgaard, well we all know that Thor can barely take Loki, but what would happen is Loki had his own army at ringside? We’ll find out when “The Cobra” Roy Viper takes on “The Norse Hammer” Brett Cross. It’s a battle of opposites and only one will have his hand raised at the end of the night.
