A girl was kidnapped yesterday.

Vita spent most of the night looking for her.

Morning isn't far off when she ends up staring at the nastiest house on an already pretty nasty street. Chipped paint. Porch kinda sinking into itself. Bad roof.

She hears crying.

Little girl. Inside.

There's a man pacing.

Vita gets closer. Slowly, because charging through walls based on a hunch is generally frowned upon in the world of superheroing.

But then she smells blood.

"Okay... nope."



The window explodes and Vita comes through shoulder-first.

The guy spins and throws a punch before he knows what hit him. 

Good! 

Now she can honestly say he swung first.

Vita snatches his wrist and twists until something pops. He screams and somehow still elbows her in the eye.

He's probably going to regret that elbow...

"You kidnapped a child!"

He definitely regrets it after she punches him in the mouth, sending teeth scattering across the floor.

"And you hit like crap! ...Okay, that's not important, I'm just pissed!"

She drags him to the bedroom. The girl is tied to the bed. Bruised. Crying.

"You hit her?"

He tries to get away.

Wrong answer.

Vita's fangs come out. So does her foot, directly into his balls so hard he goes through the wall.

Vita checks on the girl.



"Oh, COME ON!"

Cameras.









Twenty minutes later, the girl is safe.

Two hours later, Vita Valenteen is a threat to America.

Controversy tonight after professional wrestler and admitted vampire Vita Valenteen viciously assaults—

—described a substantial amount of blood at the scene—

—what could happen should Valenteen ever taste human blood—

—if someone with predatory instincts should really be involving herself in situations where children are—

"OH COME ON!"


"I TOTALLY SAVED HER!"

The dryer buzzes.

"Don't start..."

A few minutes later Vita is sitting on the laundry room floor folding towels because apparently death doesn't get you out of chores.

"I didn't bite him. I didn't drink anything. I saved the girl! She's home! Everybody should be happy!"

Towel gets tossed into the basket.

"But nope. Monster."

That's always where it ends up.

Vita became a superhero because of Ruby. But Ruby never told her to become Ruby.

Ruby knew Vita before the fangs. Knew about all the stupid, angry crap in her past. 

Ruby just wanted her to make better choices.

And seriously, it's 2026. Kristoffer Arroyo drinks blood ON CAMERA and people still buy his shirts.

"He doesn't even TRY!"

Vita throws another towel down.

"So fine. I'm a vampire. Whatever. I don't eat people. Pigeons? Sure. Possums? Unfortunately. My diet's all pests and vermin..."

And somehow that makes her think of Oz.

"Oh.

Wait.

OH!

Oz!

Dude!

I've been getting mad because people see my teeth and decide monster no matter what I do, but we kinda got that in common!

One look at Mister Oz and everybody see's a monster. You're huge. You hit like a truck. Then you start flying around and it's like... dude, pick a frickin' lane.

And I'm saying that as a compliment!

You've won stuff. You've been here forever and fought almost everybody. I would be lying if I said seeing your name across from mine didn't make me go, 'Oh crap.'

But!!

Then you start talking and it somehow makes you less scary...

You called yourself one of XWF's top performers, which okay, cool, but then YOU said you're probably never winning the Universal Championship.

Why would you say that!?

No, seriously.

I'd understand if I said it.

I'm trying to beat you!

You're saying it about YOURSELF!

If I had your body, all that experience, all those belts and all your money... actually, forget the money. That probably doesn't help wrestling.

Unless you bribe the referee.

Don't do that!

Point is!!

Why aren't you mad!?

I'd be furious!

Instead you have this whole thing where wins and losses take a backseat to how much you hurt people.

Also!! 

You said it wouldn't matter if somebody beat you fifteen times.

Fifteen!

Oz, buddy, they own you at that point.

You also said people pay attention to your reputation and your presence.

And I guess they do...

I just don't know why you're so content with that.

You lose? Well, at least they were scared.

Kinda sounds like the Billion Dollar Championship. You made your own belt, controlled when it was on the line, and somehow even lost THAT. So yeah, I gotta wonder if 'scary' is just the new consolation prize?

And I'm not calling you fake!

NO WAY!!

You really are dangerous!

Meathooks of Horror is probably going to SUUUCK!

I'm gonna bleed. Probably a lot. You might throw me around like I weigh nothing and I'll spend the next week wondering what the hell I was thinking coming back for this crap.

And heck yeah I'm scared!

Just... not the way you want me to be.

I'm scared of the blood.

Mine. Yours. Doesn't matter.

I'm scared something clicks in my head and I stop being me long enough that I do something I'll regret.

That's real fear.

You?

You're just a wrestler.

A really big one, granted...

But I have something you lack. 

I CARE if I win!

Somewhere along the way you got really, really comfortable being the guy nobody wants to fight.

I wanna know why you're not the guy nobody beats!

Maybe you'll show me?

Maybe you'll hang me on one of those hooks and I'll go, 'Yep. Okay. THAT'S why.'

But you gotta DO it first!

I don't think you're a monster because of your looks or rep.

Would be kinda hypocritical for me to think so, wouldn't it?

She shrugs.

"But on the outside. To everyone else. I guess we're both monsters... 

But!!

We should TOTALLY both be judged on what we DO!

So! Enough with you telling us how scary Mister Oz is!

Time for you to SHOW ME!"