Directly Following Anarchy

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

The heart monitor affixed to Jennie Nickles chirps incessantly, the sound bouncing off the hard walls of her hospital room. She lay there lifeless: or at least, as close to lifeless as the living can get. Her breath is slow and unsteady, her eyes closed shut, and her face covered in freshly stitched scars.

“Why, God, why?! Why did you take away my baby sister!”

Jennie’s brother is clutching the sheets at her bedside, wetting them with wailing sobs. He trembles as he screams to the heavens, shaken and confused, as his sister rests comatose before him. The Nickleman pounds the table next to Jennie’s bed with a fury so righteous, it shakes the entire room!

“You should’ve taken me instead!”

Just then, there is a knock at the door. Charlie turns to see who it is-

But the Director steps through without bothering to wait for a response. Charlie wonders why his new tag-team partner seems to be popping up around him and his sister so often. Charlie wondered if the Director was merely coming to pay his respects…or did the masked man have a more sinister intent?

Charlie shook that treacherous thought from his mind as the Director spoke.

“Hey Charles…may I call you that?” says the Director, cautiously.

Charlie’s face was pale, and his eyes glazed. He turned back towards his sister as if he never even heard the Director’s question.


“My poor, baby sister…she’s barely breathing.”

The Nickleman throws himself on top of his sister’s body with a wailing sob as the Director watches the scene unfold from behind his mask…as the Director watches his puppet dance on the string, as if this was all part of his plan.

“Right. Well, I suppose I’ll just leave these on the table...” He sets a vase filled with three dozen roses down. He starts for the door and then stops just short- turning back towards Charlie like a viper closing in on its target.

“...Or, we could chat about the elephant in the room?”

Charlie slowly cocks his head towards the door, raising a curious brow at the Director’s words.

“Or are you too busy wallowing in grief to do what your sister would want? To get vengeance, the way The Scarlet Verdict would have wanted you to.”

“You don’t know what she would have wanted, you don’t know how pure in soul she was…”

“The purest, of course. She’d skin a man alive without hesitation if she knew he was a woman-beater. I admire her…dedication to the craft. Sadly, it seems some nefarious group sought to cut short your reunion. It’s a shame, really. What she could have done for our little brotherhood and you specifically. What kind of heartless bastard would do such a thing? I have a theory.”

Charlie shifts his entire body towards the Director, a hopeful yet nefarious look spreading across his face. Charlie was ready to fire a bullet at his sister’s attacker…he just needed a name. A name that, seemingly, the Director could provide.

“You know who did this?”

The pause is brief, but deliberate. Just long enough for hope to take root. The Director smirks from behind the safety of his mask.

“I thought that would pique your interest. I know you hand-picked me to join your group because you needed someone like me. Someone with resources, with cunning- someone with a plan.

Someone who knows that the simplest answer is usually the right one.”

The Director waves for Charlie to follow him through the door.

“Come, Charlie…walk with me. Let’s give Jennie some peace and quiet, for I fear you and I have much to discuss.”

The Nickleman takes one last, loving gaze at his sister- before walking through the curtain behind the Director…like a pitbull being pulled on an invisible leash. The pair walk out the hospital, towards the backseat of a chauffeured car.

“Where are we going?”

The Nickleman asks as a masked chauffeur opens the backseat door.

“Back to where it all began.”

The camera fades to black as Charlie and the Director duck into the car.







“The Director doesn’t believe me.

He tells me I’m being paranoid.

He says I’m making up connections in my mind, that just don’t make sense in reality.

But he doesn’t know what I know; he can’t see what I can see!

He says there’s no way Isaiah could pull off an attack this elaborate on his own: that he just doesn’t have it in him….but I know the truth.

I can smell it in the air.

Isaiah blames my sister for his downfall, and of course, why wouldn’t he?

She couldn’t carry him across the finish line at War Games, and like a butterfly effect, it set off a chain of events that led to Isaiah’s ultimate humiliation.

That led to the lowest point of his once storied career.

That led to his complete and total debasement, at the hands of his own tag-team partner no less!

And Isaiah, knowing that he could never challenge Seb’: had to find a new outlet for his rage.

An outlet, in the form of the Nickles girl, who couldn’t save him from his fate.

I was there when you were the Sole Survivor: when you ‘Captained’ a team to a War Games victory.

You don’t have to admit it on camera, but:

We both know I was the workhorse for our team. I was the one who rallied the troops, and carried them across the finish line.

The biggest achievements you’ve ever had in this company…

I was always there.

I was always the cause!

When you beat Sebastian and Bacchus to win the big one at Snow Holds Barred, I was there…

I was the cause!

If I hadn’t come down to the ring and gifted you a victory over Seb’ that night, you never would’ve gotten one.

You haven’t had one since.

Every peak in your career has someone else’s fingerprints on it.

So of course…

You drafted my baby sister to your next War Games team- because you knew you needed a Nickles to win!

But Jennie’s no NICKLEMAN…

Just like Isaiah’s no KING…

So when the bell rung at War Games-

Seb’ rang your bell, because Charlie wasn’t there to save you. Charlie wasn’t there to win the match for you!

And ever since that moment?

You’ve settled comfortably into your new role as Seb’s gimp-slave bitch!

Because Seb’ can win matches FOR YOU, just like ol’ Nickles used to do!

But recently?

Your tag-team daddy’s been winning more matches AGAINST you!

What a fall from grace. How sad, how fuckin’ pathetic. Where’s your pride? Where’s your confidence? Where’s your righteous self-indignation?!

You’ve just swallowed it all, gritting your teeth and forcing a smile as Sebastian does whatever the fuck he wants to your legacy.

I know you’re angry.

I know you’re PISSED.

I know you took it out on my baby sister!

A mistake you won’t even have the chance to regret.

A mistake you won’t even realize you’ve made until you’re staring up at me from HELL!

Because unlike Zay’, I never misdirect my anger!

My chairshots always find their target.

My bullets always have a name on them!

And at March Madness:

Isaiah’s crown is in my iron sights.

I’m going to rip away the last shred of legacy Zay’ has left: that tag-team title Seb’ so mercifully lets him wear!

That tag-team belt Zay’ keeps trying to tarnish, every time he lets his own partner drag him through the mud!

The Director can have Seb’s belt- for some reason or another, he seems to really want it.

But my bloodlust won’t be sated until Zay’s gold, his crown, and his hide are mine!

And if Sebastian tries to get in my way?

THEN HE CAN DIE, TOO!

The Scarlet Verdict demands vengeance…

And only I can be her harbinger!”

The Eve Before Madness

The midnight moon howls in the sky as two pairs of boots march along a familiar path. The camera follows the boots as they come upon a rosebed, glowing unnaturally in the darkness. The roses have been arranged meticulously into three rows, divided by color: red, white, and green.

While these colors might not mean much to the Director, they once meant everything to the Nickleman.

“Why did you bring me back here?”

“To fulfill your purpose.”

The camera zooms past the men and onto an XWF-branded briefcase resting peacefully in the rosebed, directly in front of a tombstone. It’s the briefcase that Peter Principal gifted Charlie Nickles when he first joined The Corporation: the briefcase that contains the universal title Sebastian Everett-Bryce introduced into the XWF. The universal title that Charlie retired in favor of ‘Big Gold’.

A pair of withered hands reach down into the darkness, unclasping the case. As the case opens, the belt inside sparkles.

“This championship belt…it was supposed to fulfill my promise to my late daughter, forevermore...”

The camera zooms out as we see Charlie and the Director standing atop the grave of Robyn Gonzalez. Charlie’s eyes are staring at his daughter’s tombstone, but the Director’s eyes are locked onto Sebastian’s belt.

“I don’t care what people say about you, Charles. You’re a good man- a family man, even. It’s a great sentiment…but you left that belt here for a purpose that you can only now begin to understand.”

Charlie turns towards the Director with a crazy look in his eye. It’s the look of a man who’s been sent over the edge, the look of desperate flailing- the look of a man willing to latch onto anything for hope.

“I had already found my purpose in life- it was caring for and protecting my innocent baby sister. And now…she’s gone. Gone just like Robyn.”

The Director struggles to hold back a laugh. “I’m sorry. Are we talking about the same Jennie Nickles? The one who cost you a chance at the Universal championship? The one who went to prison for murder is your sweet innocent baby sister? What happened to the other killer in the Nichols clan? Where is the legendary Nickleman?”

Charlie looks down at the grave of the daughter he slaughtered.

“The other killer? Funny. I promised Jennie I’d never go back to being that person…”

“You and I? We’re not much different. We would do anything for family. Even at our own expense. I gave up my wrestling career to take care of my father. I recently learned something else that changed everything for me. I know you love your sister. No one is doubting that, but Charlie God Damn Nickles won the Universal championship without his sister. Face it, since Jennie showed up in the XWF, you’ve been distracted. You let the Universal title and your wrestling career as a whole fall by the wayside.

You became a shell.

But shells can be reloaded and used.

Shells can be aimed at the right target and they can kill.

Are you hearing me?”

Charlie appears tantalized by the Director’s words, but he looks away with guilt in his eyes.

“You live your life behind the safety of a mask. You wouldn’t understand…”

The Director sighs. “Always about the mask. People are so caught up on this identity thing that they forget that sometimes people have good reasons to hide their faces. Some scars we wear proudly, but others…”

The Director unties the mask in the back and turns to reveal a scar in the shape of the word “VOID” engraved on his neck.

“And it’s not only the scars. When I left wrestling, I thought I was unique. I asked father repeatedly about the scar. Never got a clear answer and then there was the curious other thing. Perhaps it’s easier to show you.”

The Director lifts the mask, his back still turned toward Charlie. He slips it off and lets it drop to the ground. He turns toward Charlie, revealing his face at last.





It’s unmistakeable. The Director, unmasked, is the spitting image of Sebastian Everett-Bryce.

“You see, I was here before he even entered a ring. I had this dream and when I left, I just kept seeing my face on the TV. XWF, UGWC…it didn’t matter, he was everywhere and it made no fucking sense. Worse yet, my father was gone. So I did some digging. One Halloween, two boys were born to the Everett-Bryce family. The golden child, given the third of his name and me, the bastard they didn’t want. There were complications. I was breach and they thought I wouldn’t survive the night. My mother in perhaps post-partum psychosis, wanted nothing to do with a useless child and borrowed the doctor’s scalpel to do the deed. Then, she gave me away. Spent my whole life under a different name, no idea that I had been ripped from an entire other bloodline.”

The Nickleman’s jaw slacks as he takes a step back from the bombshell being dropped.

“Sebastian is….YOUR LONG-LOST BROTHER?! Just like, Jennie was my long-lost sister…”

“Bingo! Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Jordan Penn. Born first, by the way. Everything that belongs to my brother was mine by birthright. I should have been Sebastian Everett-Bryce III, but because they couldn’t be arsed to give me a fighting chance, I grew up alone, abused and lied to. That belt you gave your daughter? Technically it should belong to me.”

Charlie looks between the belt and Jordan Penn, clearly torn.

“But, I gave this belt to Robyn to fulfill my promise to her…that one day, I would make her a universal champion.”

“Shoe on the other foot, what would Jennie do in your position? If it was you lying in that bed and she knew that The Exiles put you there, would she cling to the promises of the past: or would she make a new alliance to get revenge?

You and I need to do to my brother what he did to your sister!

So give my brother’s belt to me, Charlie- and let us give no mercy to Jennie’s assailants.”

The Nickleman stood quietly for a minute, pondering Jordan’s words. After a short reflection, a savage grin spread across his lips. Then, Charlie handed the old universal championship over to Jordan Penn.

“You’re right…The Latina Submission Machina doesn’t need GOLD…when The Scarlet Verdict demands RED!”

With the belt over his shoulder, his mask still on the floor and Charlie Nickles following the plan, Jordan grins like he got away with murder.

“For too long my brother and his sidekick have had a stranglehold on those titles. Now, it’s time for us to put a stranglehold on their necks!”

Jordan and Charlie share a wolfish grin as they step away from the gravesite- and towards their date with destiny at March Madness.






Sebastian Everett-Bryce…

Jordan told me all about you.

And the more I think about it…

The more I think he’s right.

Zay’ could never be the Mastermind of this plot.

Of this vicious attack...

Zay’ is a consummate professional. He takes it on the chin from you all the time, and he always swallows his pride- among other things.

Because for him, this world isn’t about egos, it’s about getting others off, or over- or whatever.

But you, rich-boy?

You’ve never met a brother you wouldn’t betray-

Or a sister you wouldn’t send to the grave!

I’m booked across you for gold, and no less than 24 hours later-

My precious Jennie is in a coma?

I don’t believe in coincidences, and I damn sure don’t believe in accidents!

It looks to me like you’re trying to get down to some gang-bangin’, set-reppin’, suicidal nonsense!

But you never should’ve pulled my G card.

Taking out my baby sister doesn’t intimidate me, it doesn’t make me shiver in my boots, and it damn sure don’t rattle my mental!

It just means that your girl is next.

And trust me, lil’ rich boy- I’m CUMMING for her- and there ain’t a damn thing you can do to stop me!

I know where your bitch is gonna’ be on the 29th- and I’m getting my vengeance back in blood.

Betsy’s blood.

Or did you forget to ask that little slut just who the fuck I was?

In case you didn’t know, I’m the demon that chased your bitch out of this federation the first time!

I’m the demon who took everything Betsy had, while she screamed in front of thousands! I’m the one who took her blood, and freed it from her flesh- and I’m the one who took her gold, and freed it from her waist.

It wasn’t that other demon- he didn’t make her run away…she LOVED him!

But she never could bring herself to love me…and so, I ripped her entire career away.

Or maybe, you did ask Betsy who I was-

And she just lied to you.

But that’s what you get, for trying to turn a WHORE into a housewife!

Like the time that you asked Betsy if she was still fooling around with James Raven- and she played in your face.

We all saw the tapes from last Warfare, where Betsy’s heart ached and her pussy quaked for her ex-love…

But did she show you the tapes they filmed in secret, where his cock was slapping across her face?

IMPOSSIBLE TRAVEL, INDEED!

The way James Raven’s nuts brushed across the same lips you kiss, every night before bed.

But hey, who am I to judge?

Maybe you’re into that, Seb- you dirty fuckin’ dog! You one-round, one-pump chump!

I mean, you love humiliating your tag partner-

Maybe you like some other kinky shit, too!

…..

You never should’ve dragged my sister into this- because now SEB, you’ve made our match personal.

AND I DON’T HANDLE MY PERSONAL ISSUES VERY FUCKING WELL!

But I’ll handle you, rich-boy…you can be damn sure about that.

Because if you can’t beat Scoops McGee, you damn sure can’t beat me!

Scoops treats you like you treat Zay’: just pounding your ass, just EMBARASSING you in front of the entire XWF universe, everytime you share a ring!

But Scoops stops at embarrassment…

And The Nickleman doesn’t stop until dismemberment.

So in an X-treme rules match, SEB?

You’re nothing more than a VIRGIN PUSSY, just waiting to BLEED!

Men like SEB think family is blood…but me and Jordan know family is the chain that binds you.

The chain that reminds you, anything is worth it for vengeance…

ANYTHING!

Directly Before The Tag Match