Continued from Carnage 26/08/16
As Grace disappeared from view, Bo Brim dropped a hand onto the top of the padded barricade wall and threw his legs over with a practiced hop. Both Bo and Bridget had been ringside for carnage at the request of Sabastien and Abban and while things might not have gone as the tag team hoped the two wrestlers from developmental decided there were more important things at hand than rubbing that loss in.
Trine Larsen had slowly started to shift onto her feet, keeping her eyes trained on the space that both Grace and Nobody disappeared through as carnage came to an end. Her palms had left damp handprints against the slick, rubber of the floor mats for brief moment before the recycled air of the venue saw fit to whisk away the moisture.
The collective rumble and shuffle of fans leaving their seats and heading for the exits was overwhelming- even the soft hum of the carnage soundtrack had been completely drowned out by the sound. It wasn’t the first time they’d pulled something like this and it more than likely wasn’t the last. The attacks, while startling at first because the reality was you never did know when someone like Wretched Nobody was going to snap and go too far, had started to leave her in a silent fury.
She gingerly ran her fingers across her neck, raised streaks of bruised skin where his fingers had been like crude braille wrapped around her neck. There was nothing to say. Not in that moment at least.
”Jeez, are you okay? I think you passed out for a bit...I uh...you want help back?””I’m fine.” Despite her proclamation Bo still waved Bridget over and the dark haired wrestler leapt the barrier, making her way to the pair. Trine narrowed her eyes at Bo as she bent down to pick up the belt at her feet, before stubbornly making an attempt to walk unassisted. The first few steps were slow and shaky, but the effort only seemed to exacerbate the fuzz of light headedness that gripped at the corners of her vision. By the fifth step she felt her knee buckle beneath her own weight, the belt now slung over her shoulder wavering precariously with the motion.
Bridget and Bo Brim exchanged a worried glance, before both of them stepped forward to help their friend the rest of the way back up the ramp, but as soon as Bridget had shifted beneath Trine’s arm. The blonde twisted to get away.
”I’m fine!”Bridget’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion, before she huffed holding a hand out towards Trine like she’d been presenting evidence to a jury.
”For the record your definition of fine **** sucks.”Trine narrowed her eyes, turning to look at Bo who had frozen halfway through trying to help as well. Blue eyes burrowed into the honey brown of his own as if to say ‘don’t you dare’. He held both of his hands up and took a step back.
”You weren’t breathing for a sec there, okay? We’re just worried. That and you haven’t been sleeping ever since that match with Collins-”The blonde pressed a finger to Bo’s chest, cutting him off.
”I sleep like a baby. And like I said; I’m fine. It’s going to take more than a bad case of sausage fingers and Grace’s mouth to mess me up. Can we drop this!?””Um. No? We can’t. Because Wretched Nobody’s....choke….party….aside you haven’t been sleeping like a baby.” Bridget Anderson stepped out from her spot behind Bo, holding her phone screen to face Trine as she scrolled through the @BismrkBmbshell’s twitter feed.
”Two Am.The expression on Trine’s face fell before almost immediately being replaced by more frustration. It was bad enough to continue having people dote and worry without them digging up the proof that they should be doing just that. She wanted to be fine. She knew she wasn’t.
She knew every time the A/C in the hotel room clicked off and everything got too silent she was scanning the corners. The dark spaces in the room she never realized were there before. She thought about that smirk in Collins face as she walked the last few steps up the ramp. The way the red light on the tron washed over him in thick, heavy, rays of colour and he just watched. It was like he knew something she didn’t and he’d just been waiting for her to figure it out for herself.
Marcus Collins gave her so much space and so much silence. It was that distance that had every nerve ending firing in frenzied bouts. If he wasn’t attacking her on ringside...where was he? If he wasn’t talking about his plans...about that smirk that had her skin crawling...then what was he thinking…
Fear of the unknown was the most crippling sort of panic she had ever experienced because if she didn’t know...she couldn’t control it. And as long as her imagination was willing to play the game the ‘what ifs’ had no limit. The ‘what ifs’ were what kept her awake as she tried to dissect every interaction she had with Collins. Was there a sign somewhere? Was this a game he wanted her to figure out? Did she make a mistake? Had she already lost? Was he even playing a game?!
Trine learned very quickly she had a very good imagination. And that Marcus Collins knew how to get in her head because he was there. He was there in every lapse of silence, every time her mind wandered just a little too long, and every time she tried to close her eyes to sleep.
Bo Brim and Bridget Anderson had ample reasons to worry, but Trine Larsen would never admit that. Not to them and more importantly not to herself.
”Are we done?” she huffed, stepping around the two wrestlers, away from the phone that so proudly displayed her short comings with neatly placed timestamps.
The tap of her boots against the pristine tiled floor was the only sound in the backstage hallway for a few beats.
”You’re gonna have to talk about it eventually!”Bridget jumped, startled by how quickly Trine had jerked to a stop a few feet down the hallway before she whipped her head around and fixed Bo with a glare so heated he should have melted on spot. Brown eyes watched in with a growing anxiety as the blonde haired champion cut her way back to where they stood and promptly came to a stop- toe to toe with Bo Brim.
”There’s nothing,” she all but hissed,
”to talk about.”Trine Larsen and Bo Brim locked eyes, neither of them willing to back down or give any sort of leeway. The two of them had been two of the most stubborn people Bridget had ever known. There were a few times they’d swung at each other when Bo pushed a little too far for the smaller woman’s tastes and more often than not the redhead would ground her with a submission and wait for her to give up. The problem was she wasn’t exactly the type to give up...and the first time she ended up passed out on Bridget’s living room carpet. Every time after that Bo eventually learned to let her out before that happened again.
”Well, let’s talk about nothing then. Shall we?” the redhaired wrestler, dropped his hands to Trine’s shoulders and gave a sharp push, sending her a step back,
”Let’s talk about how you walk around checking over your shoulder all the time!”He stepped closer now and Trine’s eyes went wide. She planted her hands on his chest and pushed back, but he’d been ready for it. Bo took another step forward.
”Let’s talk about how every time you get quite you look **** terrified.”His hands dropped to her shoulders again and he pressed her back a step. Trine pushed forward hitting him in the diaphragm with her shoulder, Bo stumbled, but immediately brought them toe to toe once more.
”Oh! I know! Let’s talk about how if they haven’t left yet you continue to push the people close to you away because you’re too **** stubborn to admit you need help!”Trine stepped back, planting her foot, before rushing forward and slamming into Bo’s midsection with a spear sending the two of them crashing down onto the tile floor in a heap. The title belt sliding across the tile for a few inches before Bridget picked it up and out of the way of the two brawling bodies on the floor of the venue.
”GUYS!”She could feels he curve of her elbow burning where it had slid across the smooth surface of the floor. The skin there now an angry red. Her wrist had been caught beneath Bo’s back and it was that pain that had pushed to the forefront- demanding she acknowledge it, but Trine pushed past it. Instead she wormed her arm out from beneath Bo’s weight, but as she moved to get up the bearded man snapped his arm out. He hooked the back of her neck into the crook of his elbow as he half sat up in order to reach her, before tucking his arm tight against his side- effectively trapping her head between his biceps and his ribs.
The blonde growled, trying to push her way through the hold- digging the balls of her feet into the floor and nearly running forward. Bo slid, but only an inch or two before he yanked, bringing her down to her knees and locking the hold in.
”I don’t need help because there is nothing to help with you ****!””Knock it off you two!””It’s just a **** talk! You’ve been quiet and weird and you look like **** because you’re not taking care of yourself!””I’m a grown ass woman! If I want to look like **** I can!””You know that’s not the point! You dick!””**** you, Brim!””**** you, Larsen!”GUYS!””WHAT?![/size]” ”Can we not do this in the middle of the freaking hallway?”Bo opened his arm, releasing Trine from his hold, before slowly moving to his feet. Trine sat on the floor a moment longer, glaring down at her hands until her line of sight was interrupted by the World Title as Bridget held it out for her to take. Blues looked up to the dark haired wrestler who just continued to frown. It was obvious that Bridget was worried, but she was doing her best to keep it to herself now.
”...sorry….””It’s fine….just….be careful….”The blonde shifted, moving to take the belt and get to her feet. Trine sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, brushing the stray strands of hair back and away from her face.
”I’m okay. Seriously. Just relax.” she looked from Bridget to Bo who had been glaring off into a corner until he felt eyes on him and looked back to Trine.
”You let Collins get to you and now you won’t even let us help. And we’re suppose to relax?””You-! Nevermind.” she grumbled, before turning to start making her way down the hall.
”That’s right! Just ignore the problem! It will just fix itself I’m sure!”The blonde sighed, trying to hold on to whatever energy she had left to make it back to the parking lot. She turned the corner and her body language shifted, collapsing now beneath the weight of exhaustion and the realization that the only two people she had left as immediate support she had left at the other end of the hall stewing in anger and worry. Distanced and alone again. Had Marcus planned this? Had he just pushed over that first domino and just waiting for her to self destruct. Waiting until she was isolated...no Kid Genius at work and Kenneth Mason in Minnesota with Tony, no friends because she continued to push them away, no allies because she couldn’t trust anyone enough anymore…
She could hear another set of footsteps in the hallway with her, but she hadn’t bothered to look up even as the familiar curve of wrestling boots flashed at the corner of her peripheral.
”Trine.” it was a smooth, soft, sort of confident greeting. Like they hadn’t a worry in the world, but she knew that voice.
Trine snapped her head up, caught up in a stutter step as blue eyes met a much lighter shade of their own. Marcus Collins passed by her without missing a beat that smirk still twisting the corner of his mouth with a sinister arch. She could feel the hair at the back of her neck stand on end, sending an icy chill down her spine and he just looked...relaxed…
Like all was right in the world.
Like it was that simple.
That easy.
That predictable.
”W-wha…” she planted her foot and turned around, watching Marcus’ back as he left,
”What is your deal?!”He continued to walk, but shrugged, lifting his hands at his sides. Trine bit the inside of her cheek trying to will down the sudden rush of anger and frustration as he simply seemed to shrug off the hell he’d been putting her through.
”I’m not scared of you! Or your stupid friends for that matter!” he glanced over his shoulder, the smirk still in place, and shrugged again,
”What the **** are you smiling about!?”Silence.
”SAY SOMETHING!”He shifted and the movement had been so fast her tired mind barely had the time to process. She could feel it instinctively along every nerve ending in her body before it registered- he was right there. In a few expertly placed steps he was right in front of her and every step she took back he took forwards until she felt the wall behind her.
”That’s the thing, Larsen. I don’t have to say anything,” he chuckled and it came out thick and rumbling,
”You’ve got it all in here…”He lifted a hand and she flinched, only to find he’d poked her in the center of the forehead with his pointer finger.
”You’re doing all the work for me, aren’t you?”Trine took a deep breath in, trying to make herself bigger somehow, to keep the confidence to stare down the man in front of her. She stared him down indignantly refusing to play his game.
”Good girl.” he slid the back of his hand down the side of her cheek, the curve of his knuckles drawing across her skin.
She curled her shoulders forward, her hands balled into tight fists at her sides before she mustered the courage to push the hand away. Collins smirked watching as she glared off to the side in silence and with that turned away, continuing on down the hall with a furious Trine Larsen watching him leave.
--
The invention known as the Internet is a glorious thing for a number of reasons; most would argue and statistics would show **** as being one of those, but that is not the particular reason for why Trine Larsen found herself thankful for the World Wide Web.
What she held most dearly about the Internet was emails. They just seemed to take the dread and severity out of everything. Hard copy paper? That was another story. There was something so final, so daunting, about paper marked in ink. So, when she had received the email that gave the locker room a heads up on what the card looked like and Trine read; “The Syndicate” it didn’t seem too bad. After all right next to her name was both Kai Shepherd and Rayven. The former she had come to respect and the latter was one of the best people to step in the ring with on the occasion that she wasn’t ready to slam your face in with a sledgehammer.
Standing in the Talent Relations office, with Hassan perched at his desk, staring up at the official paper tacked onto the crock board, however, made it seem…
Awful.
There it was in long, fluid, cursive handwriting. Black pen on white printer paper.
“The Syndicate
(Marcus Collins, Maxwell Lord, Wretched Nobody). vs Kai Shepherd, Trine Larsen and Rayven”
Blue eyes stayed fixed on the first name.
”So! As I was saying...with Kandi Washington having been absent recently we’re going to need you to up the ante a bit. You’re our World Heavyweight Champion and a female.”Trine turned to look over her shoulder at the Hassan. He’d been leaning back in his chair, balancing a pen across his upper lip, and dressed in a pressed, clean, suit. Across the desktop were Manila folders with contracts, a clipboard with a check list, and at the far right corner a golden paperweight in the shape of a bulldog. The blonde’s eyes went wide as the realization of just how familiar that tiny little icon was started it sink in.
...Delly….”Can’t you ask Rayven?” she replied, not taking her eyes off of the bulldog.
”No. Are you kidding me? She just got out of a psych ward and you want me to throw her into a sea of fans? She could...she could….I don’t know bite someone or something. Who knows with that one!””Some people are into that…” she grinned, as a scowl slunk across Hassan’s face.
”Yeah, “Meet and Greet with Rayven. (Make sure you get your shots up to date just in case) Has a bad ring to it.””...fine…” she grumbled turning back to look at the paper.
”Excited? Should be a pretty good match if you ask me.”The office was silent for a moment. Hassan didn’t seem to mind as he started to busily flip through his papers, dragging his pen across a few in quick sweeps as he signed on dotted lines.
”I’m excited to work with Kai Shepherd. I really didn’t expect that to be honest with his contendership coming up…””mMhm” he wasn’t listening already tuned out and onto better things.
”It’s good to know we have such a solid wrestler in our corner. He ended Jason King’s win streak which was impressive in its own and then he pulled the number one contendership which is even more impressive. Now, I guess we’ll have to work together to beat “The Syndicate”, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to be watching him carefully either. We’re both going to have to give up something to the other in order to work together, but...I think it’d be stupid of me to throw everything in my arsenal out there. It’s just more he could use against me later.
Each of us can hold our own. So, together we should be near unstoppable.
Rayven has been warming up slowly since she got out. Taking out each of them on her own has probably knocked off most of the ring rust and as long as she has her head in the game I know she’s a force to be reckoned with. She has all of that history with the family still going left unsettled...who knows how she and Wretched Nobody are going to go through this match...but I have her her back. I know she had mine. And I will have Kai’s back until we stand face to face in that ring.””Mmhmm, yeah and to be frank The Syndicate is still pretty dysfunctional...so...the who knows how much of an advantage they’ll have…””That’s true...they did seem like they were held together with scotch tape when they were talking. It’s like three separate people with their own agendas all sort of mashed together. Grace seems like she’s trying...which is kind of morbidly funny to me...but Collins has and will always do his own thing. It’s just how he is. I’ve never seen him turn down something advantageous like you watch my back I watch yours, but I don’t think he’s ever had any legitimate ties to anyone since The Ascension split. Maxwell is...is...hard to pin down. I think he has his own plans, but is sort of using this partnership as insurance. Nobody...who knows anymore. I stopped trying to pin him down a long time ago. It’s just too unpredictable.
The only thing I can count on is he is going to try to hurt me every chance he gets. This is the perfect chance for that. I’m going into this smart and while he may be a powerhouse sheer power can’t overcome technique. That is the whole point of being a technical wrestler in the first place. It give you more power than you could muster physically- if you’re technically sound there are things you just can't power through. That’s the whole point. “Hassan just nodded silently, still going about his work, before looking up from the paper in his hand.
”You’ve got ring time. In a few minutes. It’s cleared one of the matches went too quickly due to an injury anyway. We need the time killer. You ready?””Always ready.””You uh...might want to run…”--
Trine Larsen made her way down the ramp, the World Heavyweight Championship slung over her shoulder. She stepped up to ring side, sliding the belt into the ring, before climbing in after it. Any sort of sound drowned out by her entrance music and the collective sound of the crowd. She steps to the opposite sides of the ring and the house show camera crew slide their way along ringside, as the blonde catches the microphone tossed to her before stepping to center ring as the music fades.
”This won’t take too long. I just had a few things I wanted to say before this next carnage- if that’s alright.”The World Heavyweight Champion shifted on her spot in the ring, the bruises on her neck where Wretched Nobody’s hands had been a week before we're now a yellowed grey as they started healing. As usual she had dressed casually; a T-shirt with “I want you; to watch your language.” and a picture of Captain America printed on it, a pair of torn jeans, and white converse. Her hair that was usually pulled up into a ponytail was now down, more than likely a failed attempt at trying to camouflage the marks on her neck.
”Do you all remember this?” she turns, pointing to the tron as it whirs to life. On it is a simple video clip from last week’s carnage, the end, just before things had gone black for Trine once Wretched Nobody revoked her body’s privilege to oxygen.
”I’ll tell you what, sweetie… if you handle a dick like you handle that belt - I can tell you why You don't have a man who'll do what you want, like I do.”[deepskyblue]”For the record
Gracey you might not want to say I handle dicks the way I handle a belt that I slapped your man in the head with not ten seconds earlier. Just saying. I mean unless you guys are into that sort of thing,”[/color] she held her hands up,
”No judgement! I’d just like a heads up the next time you decide to bring me into one of your weird, cosplay, erotic asphyxiation binges in front of a venue full of people. So, I can politely tell you to **** off before things get awkward.
And second; You assume I want a man to “do what I want (as you so elegantly put it) like you do.” I don’t. If I was going to bother being in love with someone it wouldn’t be because I would get to make them do what I want. They’re their own person and in my case would be a grown ass man. He could do what he wanted because I’m not his mother and I have no business telling him what to do.
I know it’s probably hard for you to see considering all of the obvious daddy issues, but your relationship goals are a little jacked up.
By a little I might mean a whole lot.
So, just know this six person tag match coming up? You can bet your perky, pasty, ass that I am not going into this scared of Wretch. All choking me proved was that he’s good at assaulting someone a third his size, after a hard fought match, when they’re not expecting it. It does not prove he is a better wrestler. And this week I will prove that I am the better, more technically sound, wrestler. The announcers have even said it and since this is a wrestling company and not a fetish video? That’s all that matters.
Your ridiculous “Syndicate” is about to get dismantled by three of the top technical wrestlers this company has to offer.
The fact that the three of you feel like you need to “watch eachothers backs” is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. Who the **** is coming after you?! Nobody is! Because nobody cares! This is just Grace, or Wretch, or Lord (though I doubt it) trying to find strength in numbers because God knows you’re not strong enough to get the job done yourself.
I’m the World Heavyweight Champion! If anything I’m the person people in this company are gunning for! I don’t need someone to watch my back because I can handle myself just fine. I can get **** done on my own.
Try to discredit me, discredit Kai, discredit Rayven, but when the three of us walk away victorious it will just prove what everybody already knows: No one is out to get you guys! You need the syndicate because in the wrestling world you're **** weak!
But...for right now….back to Wretch and Grace? Gather your numbers. Make your deals. Act like you’re doing Mike Mewes some kind of bullshit favour by giving him a half chub and then ‘sparing him your wrath’ in the ring. Hurt me all you like. All it says is that Wretch is a punk and a bully. And you’re a **** who’s only claim to fame is her mouth.”
