Post by The Ace on Feb 7, 2010 16:17:59 GMT -5
*The scene opens with The Ace sat in an empty white room, his head bowed in reflection as he clutches desperately to a pale white hand in both of his own...*
I'm sorry I haven't been to visit much lately baby. I just can't stand to see you like this. I know. I know. It is my fault that you are laying here now, when you should be at my side. I should have told you to stay behind...but I know you wouldn't have listened to me anyway...you're just so damn stubborn!
*The Ace manages a little smile*
But I still love you. And so does Soli. We miss you terribly. Come on home to us soon, sweetie. I know you can do it. You are strong, stronger sometimes than even I can be. You are my strength and my weakness. At least in here you are safe. I can no longer put you in any danger. I can no longer have men like Falcon to be proven right. You do understand, don't you?
*The Ace closes his eyes and takes a deep breath*
I promise you I will get Falcon for what he did to you...no, what I did to you...Falcon asked of me, what drug am I on. I know now that the drug is love, my love for you, Kathleen. It makes me weak, yet the addiction is undeniable. The addiction gives me strength. What gives men like Falcon the right to question the love a man has for his wife? True, I may not be able to be here as often as I'd like to be, but I am a professional wrestler. I have to do my job. Even more so because I have to take care of our baby girl on my own now. You know that. Does that make me a poor excuse for a man? Or does it make me a loving father and husband who cannot stand to see the two most precious gifts in his life suffer?
*A tear strolls down The Ace's cheek*
I must admit the line has been blurred for me lately, blurred by tears. I never did thank you for giving me the gift of little Solitaire Marie Conway. But I thank you now, I just hope you can still hear me.
*The Ace sighs as he turns away from his comatose wife for a moment...*
Falcon wants to call me retarded yet again, I just wish he would stop. If recruiting another champion into your company isn't a tactically brilliant plan, then you obviously are much more of a bird brain than I first thought, Falcon...if I am a coward, then at least I am a coward with bigger fish to fry...you may be safe for now my friend, but mark my words...one day you will pay and pay dearly...and for each week that passes, consider each victory a message to you, it all starts at Collision and I assure you Falcon, I am a man of my word...
*The Ace pauses as he takes a card from his pocket, but this one has a thin gold chain through the top of it, it was Kathy's keepsake, a symbol of their love...he turns it over in the palm of his hand and stares at the Ace Of Spades intently...*
Xavier Cross...you are clearly a man who does not believe in luck, and that belief alone you are perfectly entitled to, but when you start confusing my belief in luck with my worth in this business or my ability as an athlete, then it is you who prove yourself to be the idiot, not I. I don't care if you put on a good show against AJ. I may not be an exciting opponent for you, but that doesn't mean that I'll let you get away with underestimating me. Greater men than you have made that mistake before, even greter men who share your name. They have all fallen, they have all paid, and so too shall you....
*The Ace sighs*
Cross, you are clearly a man who believes that it is clever to try and use gay jokes to throw me off my game, now normally I appreciate a good gay joke, but not today. You just picked the wrong day and the wrong man if you think I wont be all business in that ring come Sunday. Try to **** slap me, I dare you...see if I don't leave you clutching it in pain by the end of the match, if you do though. You also quite clearly do not understand the business of the Corporate Empire, and that is fine, we will leave you to your assumptions because quite frankly we do not want nor do we expect a man of your calibre to understand. It may not be very original of me to consider you a warm up Xavier, but the fact is that is all you are to me and that is all you'll ever be to me. Yes destiny and greatness are what all true Superstars in this business speak of, yet very few actually achieve. I know I am great, I have spent the past year striving to prove it in this company, and finally...finally some heads in management are beginning to turn. I've beaten one Xavier who liked to stroke his own ego by underestimating me already, you evidently are no different, Cross, that is why you too shall share his fate this Sunday. You too will fall, just like the man who was your superior before you did. If you think I am just some second rate flunky, then I would suggest that you stop listening to men like Falcon and do your own research, you see as well as already having held that title you now hold, I was one half of the best and most dominant tag team on the planet, and both of those reigns ended when I was screwed out of those belts. You see. its ironic, as much as people criticise me for pulling screwjobs. they fail to realise that that is the only possible way they can beat me too. See I am a master ring psychologist and tactician, I take the heroes of the people and I either destroy them, or I prove that they too can fall from grace...I'll admit, the latter, though considerably more rare as an outcome, is ultimately much more fulfilling...
*The Ace smirks*
Impossible, I hear you cry...but let me remind you that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, and the truth is this simple bitch, this idiot of a man will beat you at Collision, one way or another, you will pay for falling into the propaganda that I am not a man to be feared or respected. Perhaps my love for my wife has the company thinking I've gone soft, but she wont be ringside on Sunday and then I will show each of you just how wrong you were about me. She was my one weakness you could have exploited, and I bet she was the one weakness you were counting on to exploit, but now you will have no such opportunity. What will you do now? You think burning a card and questioning who I am really is getting in my head? Oh, how wrong you are...you say you were knocked a few rungs down the ladder with this match, funny, because I don't even consider you a rung on my ladder to success, more a filler before the Road to the Gold tournament - a means to prevent ring rust, after all I was given last week off after management were informed that after her injuries at Battle Grounds, my wife was lapsing in and out of consciousness...I need to be at the top of my game if I am to win the tournament coming up...
*The Ace smiles*
You see I may not be important to you Xavier, but I am important to my family, my wife and daughter and I am important to this company and a valuable investment as the Executioner of the Corporate Empire...I don't care if you think I'm a corporate bitch or an ass kisser, just know that by the end of our match, I will have ensured that the canvas is the only one kissing your doughy white kiester...again you call me a moron, but I don't quite understand why...because you can't understand why anyone would care about me? Doesn't that make you the moron? You have recently asked a lot of questions of me Cross and most of them will be answered undeniably this Sunday by way of a simple FameAcer or Ace-Plant, just to really drive home the point while I drive your face into the canvas...see Xavier, you're young and whilst I can understand the blissful ignorance of youthful rookies when they make the mistake of dismissing veterans like myself as mere footnotes, I cannot forgive it...for all your talk of sandy beaches and crashing waves, perhaps I should remind you that life is a beach, and then you get beaten like one...
*The Ace laughs*
But I know you're hardly a man that appreciates such subtle humour, so allow me to be blunt, the sand which bares my name will be the quicksand I bury you in, the wave that seeks to crash down around me will be the very one I ride to success over you this Sunday...you obviously flatter yourself if you think you are any kind of threat to my existence, as I have said before, far greater men than you Xavier have endeavoured to crush and to destroy me and each of them have failed to do so, you, my friend will be no different. You are fortunate that I do not want this to be a title match, but not because I fear your little Xtreme Hell that you promised to put me through, but more so because I don't want to embarass you and also I don't want to risk my place in the tournament. You are just not worth such a bold sacrifice Cross.
*The Ace sighs*
I am simply better than that. I am simply better than you. But then of course I know that is the other thing that irks you about me, you cannot accept it, but after Sunday you will have no other choice. That is why for now you can hide behind your little gay jokes, but they will not help you come Collision. A man who makes such a point to attack another man's sexuality must surely be unsure of his own, but then what else can I expect from a man whose name can be represented by...
*The Ace 'draws' something with his finger in the air above him - an XX*
XX - is it a double X? Or a double Cross? Maybe one's an X and the other is a Cross, when you look at it like that, it all becomes clear because you end up with the female chromosome, add to this the X from your Xtreme Championship and you end up with a Downs Syndrome patient, but of course if I went that far and didn't just stop at questioning your gender, I would be insulting those patients, either way I think you get the point I'm making about taking a symbol too seriously...just like you seem to have done with my card...I may use it to represent myself, but it does not mean I am it, nor am I that easily destroyed or intimidated...you just wish I was.
*The Ace smirks*
You may be liberal Xavier, but you will never quite be as liberal as I will be in the beating I give you this Sunday, I don't care what the people think of me, or if management really did book this match for ratings, everybody knows I always deliver, and this Sunday will be no different. They want a ratings boost? I promise you they will get no higher than when I am beating you right in the middle of my ring...you think you can make me look good? Well I promise nothing less than to make you look bad. you want to bring me crashing down to earth, I just want to bury you in it...you think by beating me you will have proven that I am a destined loser, that no one has or will ever care about me...well sunshine, allow me to remind you that even destiny is prone to a quick...sudden...Reversal of Fortune...
*The Ace laughs*
Setting my card alight, how poetic, for I am a Smokin' Ace after all, the leader of that most dominant team infact, and the man you will face in a few short days from now...my best shot will be the one that knocks you unconscious...you talk of my death, yes, life is short, I appreciate that, perhaps more so than a lot of other people, but you Xavier will not be the man who makes my perpetual journey to the grave or my limited time here any less enjoyable...you cannot understand Hell quite the way the Face of Satan does, far greater men have made those promises of unleashing a 'living hell' upon me, yet each of them have failed...you say luck is for fags...I make my own luck...you speak of endangering my existence whilst my wife fights for hers, and just like I know she will get through this, I will get through you...and if you think any differently, then Adam Knite isn't the only one who is ****ing nuts...
*The Ace turns around back to his wife, and presses the card that used to hang around her neck into the palm of her hand as he closes his eyes...*
I love you Kathy...
*The Ace gets up and kisses his wife on the temple...*
Fight it sweetie...I know you can...for Solitaire...for me...we need you...
*The Ace turns away before emotion overwhelms him again, he heads out the door, wondering if she deserved a far greater man than he who had failed her...again...the scene cuts back to Kathy, laying there still unconscious, the card still resting flat on her palm...slowly her fingers start to twitch, and slowly they close in around the chain and the card as the camera focuses on the remarkable moment, Kathy grasps the card tight in her hand, as if drawing the strength to continue from it...the scene slowly fades to black...*
I'm sorry I haven't been to visit much lately baby. I just can't stand to see you like this. I know. I know. It is my fault that you are laying here now, when you should be at my side. I should have told you to stay behind...but I know you wouldn't have listened to me anyway...you're just so damn stubborn!
*The Ace manages a little smile*
But I still love you. And so does Soli. We miss you terribly. Come on home to us soon, sweetie. I know you can do it. You are strong, stronger sometimes than even I can be. You are my strength and my weakness. At least in here you are safe. I can no longer put you in any danger. I can no longer have men like Falcon to be proven right. You do understand, don't you?
*The Ace closes his eyes and takes a deep breath*
I promise you I will get Falcon for what he did to you...no, what I did to you...Falcon asked of me, what drug am I on. I know now that the drug is love, my love for you, Kathleen. It makes me weak, yet the addiction is undeniable. The addiction gives me strength. What gives men like Falcon the right to question the love a man has for his wife? True, I may not be able to be here as often as I'd like to be, but I am a professional wrestler. I have to do my job. Even more so because I have to take care of our baby girl on my own now. You know that. Does that make me a poor excuse for a man? Or does it make me a loving father and husband who cannot stand to see the two most precious gifts in his life suffer?
*A tear strolls down The Ace's cheek*
I must admit the line has been blurred for me lately, blurred by tears. I never did thank you for giving me the gift of little Solitaire Marie Conway. But I thank you now, I just hope you can still hear me.
*The Ace sighs as he turns away from his comatose wife for a moment...*
Falcon wants to call me retarded yet again, I just wish he would stop. If recruiting another champion into your company isn't a tactically brilliant plan, then you obviously are much more of a bird brain than I first thought, Falcon...if I am a coward, then at least I am a coward with bigger fish to fry...you may be safe for now my friend, but mark my words...one day you will pay and pay dearly...and for each week that passes, consider each victory a message to you, it all starts at Collision and I assure you Falcon, I am a man of my word...
*The Ace pauses as he takes a card from his pocket, but this one has a thin gold chain through the top of it, it was Kathy's keepsake, a symbol of their love...he turns it over in the palm of his hand and stares at the Ace Of Spades intently...*
Xavier Cross...you are clearly a man who does not believe in luck, and that belief alone you are perfectly entitled to, but when you start confusing my belief in luck with my worth in this business or my ability as an athlete, then it is you who prove yourself to be the idiot, not I. I don't care if you put on a good show against AJ. I may not be an exciting opponent for you, but that doesn't mean that I'll let you get away with underestimating me. Greater men than you have made that mistake before, even greter men who share your name. They have all fallen, they have all paid, and so too shall you....
*The Ace sighs*
Cross, you are clearly a man who believes that it is clever to try and use gay jokes to throw me off my game, now normally I appreciate a good gay joke, but not today. You just picked the wrong day and the wrong man if you think I wont be all business in that ring come Sunday. Try to **** slap me, I dare you...see if I don't leave you clutching it in pain by the end of the match, if you do though. You also quite clearly do not understand the business of the Corporate Empire, and that is fine, we will leave you to your assumptions because quite frankly we do not want nor do we expect a man of your calibre to understand. It may not be very original of me to consider you a warm up Xavier, but the fact is that is all you are to me and that is all you'll ever be to me. Yes destiny and greatness are what all true Superstars in this business speak of, yet very few actually achieve. I know I am great, I have spent the past year striving to prove it in this company, and finally...finally some heads in management are beginning to turn. I've beaten one Xavier who liked to stroke his own ego by underestimating me already, you evidently are no different, Cross, that is why you too shall share his fate this Sunday. You too will fall, just like the man who was your superior before you did. If you think I am just some second rate flunky, then I would suggest that you stop listening to men like Falcon and do your own research, you see as well as already having held that title you now hold, I was one half of the best and most dominant tag team on the planet, and both of those reigns ended when I was screwed out of those belts. You see. its ironic, as much as people criticise me for pulling screwjobs. they fail to realise that that is the only possible way they can beat me too. See I am a master ring psychologist and tactician, I take the heroes of the people and I either destroy them, or I prove that they too can fall from grace...I'll admit, the latter, though considerably more rare as an outcome, is ultimately much more fulfilling...
*The Ace smirks*
Impossible, I hear you cry...but let me remind you that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, and the truth is this simple bitch, this idiot of a man will beat you at Collision, one way or another, you will pay for falling into the propaganda that I am not a man to be feared or respected. Perhaps my love for my wife has the company thinking I've gone soft, but she wont be ringside on Sunday and then I will show each of you just how wrong you were about me. She was my one weakness you could have exploited, and I bet she was the one weakness you were counting on to exploit, but now you will have no such opportunity. What will you do now? You think burning a card and questioning who I am really is getting in my head? Oh, how wrong you are...you say you were knocked a few rungs down the ladder with this match, funny, because I don't even consider you a rung on my ladder to success, more a filler before the Road to the Gold tournament - a means to prevent ring rust, after all I was given last week off after management were informed that after her injuries at Battle Grounds, my wife was lapsing in and out of consciousness...I need to be at the top of my game if I am to win the tournament coming up...
*The Ace smiles*
You see I may not be important to you Xavier, but I am important to my family, my wife and daughter and I am important to this company and a valuable investment as the Executioner of the Corporate Empire...I don't care if you think I'm a corporate bitch or an ass kisser, just know that by the end of our match, I will have ensured that the canvas is the only one kissing your doughy white kiester...again you call me a moron, but I don't quite understand why...because you can't understand why anyone would care about me? Doesn't that make you the moron? You have recently asked a lot of questions of me Cross and most of them will be answered undeniably this Sunday by way of a simple FameAcer or Ace-Plant, just to really drive home the point while I drive your face into the canvas...see Xavier, you're young and whilst I can understand the blissful ignorance of youthful rookies when they make the mistake of dismissing veterans like myself as mere footnotes, I cannot forgive it...for all your talk of sandy beaches and crashing waves, perhaps I should remind you that life is a beach, and then you get beaten like one...
*The Ace laughs*
But I know you're hardly a man that appreciates such subtle humour, so allow me to be blunt, the sand which bares my name will be the quicksand I bury you in, the wave that seeks to crash down around me will be the very one I ride to success over you this Sunday...you obviously flatter yourself if you think you are any kind of threat to my existence, as I have said before, far greater men than you Xavier have endeavoured to crush and to destroy me and each of them have failed to do so, you, my friend will be no different. You are fortunate that I do not want this to be a title match, but not because I fear your little Xtreme Hell that you promised to put me through, but more so because I don't want to embarass you and also I don't want to risk my place in the tournament. You are just not worth such a bold sacrifice Cross.
*The Ace sighs*
I am simply better than that. I am simply better than you. But then of course I know that is the other thing that irks you about me, you cannot accept it, but after Sunday you will have no other choice. That is why for now you can hide behind your little gay jokes, but they will not help you come Collision. A man who makes such a point to attack another man's sexuality must surely be unsure of his own, but then what else can I expect from a man whose name can be represented by...
*The Ace 'draws' something with his finger in the air above him - an XX*
XX - is it a double X? Or a double Cross? Maybe one's an X and the other is a Cross, when you look at it like that, it all becomes clear because you end up with the female chromosome, add to this the X from your Xtreme Championship and you end up with a Downs Syndrome patient, but of course if I went that far and didn't just stop at questioning your gender, I would be insulting those patients, either way I think you get the point I'm making about taking a symbol too seriously...just like you seem to have done with my card...I may use it to represent myself, but it does not mean I am it, nor am I that easily destroyed or intimidated...you just wish I was.
*The Ace smirks*
You may be liberal Xavier, but you will never quite be as liberal as I will be in the beating I give you this Sunday, I don't care what the people think of me, or if management really did book this match for ratings, everybody knows I always deliver, and this Sunday will be no different. They want a ratings boost? I promise you they will get no higher than when I am beating you right in the middle of my ring...you think you can make me look good? Well I promise nothing less than to make you look bad. you want to bring me crashing down to earth, I just want to bury you in it...you think by beating me you will have proven that I am a destined loser, that no one has or will ever care about me...well sunshine, allow me to remind you that even destiny is prone to a quick...sudden...Reversal of Fortune...
*The Ace laughs*
Setting my card alight, how poetic, for I am a Smokin' Ace after all, the leader of that most dominant team infact, and the man you will face in a few short days from now...my best shot will be the one that knocks you unconscious...you talk of my death, yes, life is short, I appreciate that, perhaps more so than a lot of other people, but you Xavier will not be the man who makes my perpetual journey to the grave or my limited time here any less enjoyable...you cannot understand Hell quite the way the Face of Satan does, far greater men have made those promises of unleashing a 'living hell' upon me, yet each of them have failed...you say luck is for fags...I make my own luck...you speak of endangering my existence whilst my wife fights for hers, and just like I know she will get through this, I will get through you...and if you think any differently, then Adam Knite isn't the only one who is ****ing nuts...
*The Ace turns around back to his wife, and presses the card that used to hang around her neck into the palm of her hand as he closes his eyes...*
I love you Kathy...
*The Ace gets up and kisses his wife on the temple...*
Fight it sweetie...I know you can...for Solitaire...for me...we need you...
*The Ace turns away before emotion overwhelms him again, he heads out the door, wondering if she deserved a far greater man than he who had failed her...again...the scene cuts back to Kathy, laying there still unconscious, the card still resting flat on her palm...slowly her fingers start to twitch, and slowly they close in around the chain and the card as the camera focuses on the remarkable moment, Kathy grasps the card tight in her hand, as if drawing the strength to continue from it...the scene slowly fades to black...*