Post by patera on Oct 19, 2011 5:03:16 GMT -5
"Front Runner"
by TITAN
A key slides into a door lock, twisting slightly until a click is heard. With a grasp of the bronze plated handle, the door is swung open, revealing what looks to be a busy office building. Walls covered in tans and dark shades of grey are shown prominently as dark office furniture blaze to life, each user behind them focused solely on their individual tasks. Stepping in to the bustling lobby and letting the door swing shut slowly behind him, Barry Jordan tosses his blue New York Yankees ball cap unto a nearby clothing rack and smiles at the receptionist desk. His eyebrows twitch slightly, trimmed and thinned to perfection, as a smile awakens upon his well exfoliated face. “Hello, Marion. Any messages while I was away?”
With her eyes widened and twitching from left to right, the receptionist known as “Marion” nods her head as she hastily types upon a large computer screen. A blue glare flashes before her facial features, starting from her forehead down to her slightly exposed cleavage. “No, Sir. I am taking it that your trip to Montana went well?”
“Not really, but it went as expected.” answered Jordan with a sly demeanor, neither describing nor betraying any sort of private information in the statement. “Let’s just say, I am happy to be home. If that is all, I will go ahead and carry on to my office. I have a few phone calls to make anyway.”
Walking away now, Barry Jordan begins to whistle to himself as Marion is shown in the distance. Suddenly, her facial expressions change from calm to nervous, and yet she says nothing. Heading around the corner and into the back area of the building, Barry smiles to himself. He had just come back from a long trip across the country to the state of Montana. It was not a vacation trip however, as his sole plan was to visit a certain redneck from the area. Jordan’s prized client, EUW Champion: TITAN, was poised to step in the ring with possibly his greatest challenge yet in his young career in Brett Cross. The stage was set to be broadcasted at the greatest show in the industry.. Prestige. Sadly, while TITAN should be using his time training for this epic clash, he would have to take care of a little side project.
Chuck Johnson had returned to the company just two weeks prior in grand style, dispatching promising young rookie Immanuel Taylor without blinking an eye. The fans also reacted to the redneck in a fever never before seen since the earliest days of Oblivion. The locomotive that was Chuck Johnson was all set to carry on down the tracks, and his next stop was TITAN himself. These two men had quite the history, creating a storybook of destruction and mayhem. As of this moment, it was TITAN that boasted the winning score between the two. In what could be considered one of the bloodiest matches in the history of the business, TITAN literally ripped apart Chuck Johnson at last year’s Prestige, leaving the redneck battered and broken.. and placing him on the shelf for half the year. Barry felt a twinge of resentment for that. Had he been TITAN’s manager at the time, something his rival Terry Jones was during that tenure, he would have made sure that TITAN finished the job leaving no chance for another future match ever again. Sadly, that was Terry Jones’s way of doing business. Excellence coupled with Mercy was not in Jordan’s dictionary at all. It was all about ruthlessness… and destruction by example.
Arriving at the door to his personal office, Jordan sighed as he swung the door open entered the room. Reaching out for the light switch dial, he began to switch on the light when a low growling voice spoke to him from the darkest reaches of the room. “Leave the fucking light off….”
Turning around quickly, Barry Jordan searched out the origin of the voice but could see nothing. Yet, the voice was familiar, almost begging him to figure out just who it was. “Can I help you, friend?”
“Friend..” continued the voice with a sneer. “Is that what you call it?”
“Have I wronged you somehow? Why don’t we talk about this man to man. I am sure we can work this out and-”
“LOOK AT YOU!” interrupted the voice now as it’s rage sent shock waves through Jordan’s very bones. “You’re standing there about to shit your pants, trying to figure just who the hell I am! All of the time we spend together, the money I make you even.. and you don’t even know my voice.”
With his eyes open wide now, Barry Jordan takes a deep breath. Instantly he knows just who is speaking to him. This angered voice, raspy and true, comes at him with an intensity that only one man can bring. That man… is a TITAN. Doing his best to keep control of the situation, Barry clears his throat and begins to plead his case. “Billy? I am glad that you are here actually. I have a lot to speak to you about.”
“I know you do.” answers TITAN now. “Tell me, asshole. What the fuck is the reason for you visiting that piece of shit Chuck Johnson?!!! Why, Barry?! Do you not believe in me?!”
“Of course I do, Son.” answers Jordan. “I went down there to get in his head, you know? I was just doing the job that you hired me to do. I went out to get a feel of where Johnson’s head was at. He has been gone awhile, after all..”
“BULLSHIT!” shouted TITAN now! A piece of furniture suddenly shatters and collapses into the corner of the room. “It was all over the damn news!! You tried to pay him off!! You went down there to try and talk Johnson into throwing the match against me. ME!!! I SAID ME, DAMN IT!!! I AM THE WORLD FUCKING CHAMPION!! I HAVE SLAYED THEM ALL!! WHY, BARRY??!!! WHY??!!!”
Realizing that he was now in a very bad place to be, Barry began feeling for the doorknob behind him. “It isn’t.. It isn’t..”
“NO ONE can hurt me.” continued TITAN once again. “Chuck Johnson? Really?! Have you not seen what I did to Chris Sabora? Remember him? What about everyone else I have stood in the ring with? I am a TITAN not only by name.. but by action. NO ONE handed me that World Championship. NO ONE wanted me to even win it! NO ONE has ever believed in me…. Not even you.”
“Billy, listen.” began Barry Jordan now. “Johnson is on fire right now. He is hungry. There is no thoughts of being the best in his head or any of the stuff that champions tend to adopt as time moves along. He just wants to win, and make a name for himself. I worried about you, Billy. With you going into Prestige and facing Cross like you are, I just didn’t want any unwanted mistakes to happen.. Especially against a man who is hoping for just that like Chuck Johnson. I am on your side, believe me, I just know that even the best of us can slip from time to time… even a World Champion.”
The sounds in the room go completely quiet now, save for the rhythmic panting from Jordan’s own lungs. Loosing his cool a bit, Jordan quickly reaches out and twists the dial now, instantly illuminating the room. Standing in front of him, in the center of a pile of wreckage that once was Jordan’s own desk, was TITAN. Before Barry could even react, TITAN reaches out and grips him around the neck, slamming him backwards into the glass wall. A large spider webbed patterned crack split’s the window behind him. Leaning in close to Jordan, TITAN begins to speak. Random bits of saliva flings from his lips as he does so. “The next time to go behind my back and pull some shit like that again, I will end you. The only thing you did was give the world the opinion that you doubt my ability to handle business. Chuck Johnson is nothing. He is less than the shit that gets stuck between the treads under my shoes. I am going to break him, and leave him bitching and complaining after like he always does. This is MY time… without or without you. Do you understand me?! DO YOU?!!”
“Y.y..yes.” stumbles Barry now frantically. “I do.”
“Good.” answers TITAN with a smile. He then opens the door and steps out of the room.. Flicking off the lights once again and leaving Barry Jordan alone in his own freshly made piss filled pants.
What the fuck?! WHY?! At a time when I should be getting ready to beat the crap out of that jackass Brett Cross, I am forced to fight a man who has NO fucking business standing in the ring with me. Chuck Johnson?! REALLY?! Look, I am not going to beat around the bush here. I don’t have time for it. The last time I faced that man, I had hoped that he would learn a lesson. I beat that little shit within an inch of his life and figured he would heal with the never ending memory of my boot up his ass. Yet, here he is again in all of his Jerry Springer contestant glory…
Well I have news for him. You see, I am annoyed now. Let me rephrase that. I am downright pissed! Chuck Johnson is a “front runner” , plain and simple. What do I mean by that? It’s simple. He is one of those guys who talk a big talk, and even come across as a decent man to watch in the ring from time to time. When it comes down to the big match though, when titles are on the line and all, he fades out and becomes just what he really is. He is like a polished turd, all taken care of and what not. Underneath all of that “Hale the Ale” exterior though is a piece of shit.. and that is what he will always be.
I respected what he did by defending the honor of Jack Bull at the last show. Don’t get me wrong. Johnson proved himself to be a damn good friend as he broke off that other “front runner” Immanuel Taylor. If he was a smart man, he would have just taken that feel good moment and went home but of course.. He didn’t. He decided to get involved in my affairs and even find a way to come up with some sort of connections between his and my own careers. Well let me clear the air on that. Chuck Johnson and I have NOTHING in common. He came into the EUW with all kinds of fanfare, touting his own horn to whomever would hear him. He won a few matches and spoke a few catchy phrases only to get his ass beat by a 12 year old (Danny Tenfold). Then, in his moment of triumph, he decided to cry about the loss until his ass was sent packing out of the company. That is Chuck Johnson.
As for myself, I have never been accepted. From the start people shit talked me, calling me a mindless freak. Some bitched whenever I was scheduled to fight, while others down talked my ability in the ring going as far as calling me a rip off of another popular star. Yet, I persevered. I continued destroying opponent after opponent until I was eventually forcing you all to respect me. Pick a big name during that time period and chances are.. I defeated him. Remember Chris Sabora? The man who loved to remind you all that he went undefeated last year? Well, I beat him and ended that streak. Not only did I beat him.. But I retired him. That’s who I am. THAT… is TITAN.
So let’s just get right to this. I don’t have time to fuck around. Chuck Johnson, I am going to fucking bust you up. I am going to hurt you. When the final bell rings, you will hardly be able to walk again. There will NEVER be another match between us. You will take your “front runner” ball and finally go home. Then, you will have that connection between our two careers that you seem to seek so much…
That connection will be that you were retired… by me.