Post by Admin on Aug 7, 2023 20:37:27 GMT
“I can’t even explain what it is like to live twenty years stuck in a psyche-based prison like I did. Growing up with Victoria (but not really), watching her watch old action movies with Ray, her adoptive father, learning how to bake with Susan, her adoptive mother. Meeting our sister, Cara, in kindergarten (and only me knowing the truth) and becoming her best friend.”
“When Vee met our dad for the first time, she didn’t know who he was. They shared a beer, talked about his career, and as they watched an angry blonde ride a bear and go off and kill a Viking Neo Nazi, he did what he does, and took her out in her debut. But she learned a valuable lesson.”
St. Elmo, Colorado
December 21st, 2020
Victoria’s POV
“Weird. Normally I don’t meet people with my type of eye colour.”
Victoria Strader looked at the tall, dark hair, fair skinned and handsome middle-aged man sitting beside her in an old tavern in the abandoned town. It’s being used in a brawl-for-all match that will be broadcasted throughout the night at the December Pay Per View in Project: Dishonour. They found a six-pack of tall cans, Old Milwaukee, a beer that could start a tractor.
“How long have you been wrestling, Mr. Knox?”
The man with the moniker “The Raven” chuckles.
“Call me Matt. Mr. Knox was my old man. Been wrestling a long time, but was away from the sport for a decade getting clean, not chasing the dragon anymore.”
“Why come back after all these years?”
“Looking to go out on my terms.”
“Good luck with that!”
The rookie and the veteran clink their old cans of beer, pouring the most likely expired adult beverage down their gullets.
ROARRRRRR!!!!!
Victoria and Knox look at one another, getting up to look outside for the source of the noise. A tough looking blonde wrestler sits on the back of a bear and gets it to scoop up a racist neo-nazi in the beast's mouth. The woman and the bear gallop out of sight with their victim.
“Bears in wrestling, heh.”
Before Victoria can respond, Knox grabs her from behind, laying her out with a reverse DDT and he makes the pin as a Project: Dishonour referee makes the count!
1!
2!!
3!!!
“Victoria Strader has been eliminated!”
Knox looks down at the young woman who he immediately took a liking to, as she reminded him of himself. Maybe it was the glasz eyes.
“Sorry kid.”
Victoria grunts as she slowly gets up, frustrated.
“Heck of a debut,” Victoria said, shaking her head. “As mom would say, onto the next.”
Veronica’s POV
Veronica had been trapped inside Victoria’s psyche, hidden away in what would come to be known as the “Mind Palace” where she had built a world to live in, so she didn’t feel trapped. But she was trapped.
When Victoria was younger, Veronica had taken control but Cara caused an accident when they were riding their bicycles by putting a stick in the spokes, causing a crash. Cara knew it wasn’t Victoria, and while she didn’t know they were sisters yet, she was her best friend and acted on instinct. When Veronica woke up, she was back in her mind palace and Victoria was once again in control.
Veronica knew things that neither Victoria nor Cara knew, like the fact they were sisters, and who all their biological parents were. When Veronica heard the echo of Knox’s voice, she left the palace to watch in on what was happening. The clink of the beer cans made her cringe.
“No, Vee. Don’t trust him. That’s the Raven and our father. We can’t trust that man!”
She watched the rest of the match play out like she knew it would. Veronica settles back into her Mind Palace, waiting for her chance to take over.
“When I killed my grandfather, I was being manipulated by the affliction. The Rivers bloodline that courses through me and Vee’s veins is the same as Supreme Machine, Queen Machine Jenny, or even our father, The Raven. I truly thought I was the Affliction. I had been manipulated, and it’s no excuse for my actions, but it happened.”
The Scorpion’s Tail
Houston, TX
March 27th, 2021
“Where am I?”
Victoria looks around and realizes she’s at the biker bar down the road from the Strader Estate, but has no clue how she got there. Pulling out her iPhone X, her mind racing.
“Last thing I remember was seeing Max leaving Gran’s house… that was… six hours ago?!”
“Can I get you another?”
“Uhh, sure? Thanks.”
The redhead server with tattoo sleeves up both her arms brings back a golden drink, setting it down in front of her.
“There ya go, Veronica.”
“Veronica?”
“That’s what you said your name was. Enjoy the scotch.”
“.... Thank you.”
Victoria picks up her drink and takes a sip. If anyone saw her reaction to the scotch, they’d be laughing.
“Gross.”
The sound of sirens catches her attention and she receives a text notification.
TEXT FROM MOM
Sweetheart, call me as soon as you can. It’s important.
Victoria wasn’t sure how much her tab was, but leaves a Benjamin Franklin on the table as she heads outside. She sees her Arch KRGT-1 backed up to the bar, her vintage pink German Motorciker Helmet hanging from the throttle.
“Siri, call mom.”
RING RING
“Victoria, sweetheart. Where are you?”
Vee hears the shakiness in her mom’s normally calm tone.
“At the Tail. What’s wrong, mom?”
There’s a prolonged silence before Meghan’s cracking voice responds.
“Scott was killed earlier today at Gran’s house.”
Victoria almost drops the phone when she hears it, her stomach in knots.
“I’ll be right there, mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
Victoria has an uneasy feeling in her gut. She may have been estranged from him after he hooked up with her now ex-girlfriend, but something in her gut tells her there is something more to this situation. Seconds later, she peels out of the bar’s parking lot onto I-45 toward the family estate.
“My mom took the initial blame for the death of the former Strader Patriarch, who was the sonofabitch known as Scott Nash Strader. Luckily, though, the case had fallen apart, and she was released. I didn’t think she knew, but I would later find out she knew it was me that pulled the trigger. Thankfully, she understood and realized it was the Affliction that was manipulating me.
Meghan Strader’s Ranch
Strader Estate, Houston, TX
October 5th, 2021
Victoria sat nervously on the back porch facing the barn and cattle in the field. Meghan’s Harley Davidson Road King parked nearby beside the silver 1998 Pontiac Trans Am that was her first car that she had given to Victoria. Meghan steps out from the kitchen door onto the porch, placing two glasses down on a small coffee table that sits between the mother and daughter. She pours Veronica a stiff rye whiskey with a splash of Coca-Cola. Victoria can’t help but admire her mom’s beauty, especially the icy blue eyes that are a Strader genetic trait.
“Thanks for coming to see me, sweetheart.”
“My pleasure, mom. It sounded pretty important,” Victoria said, trying to read her mother, but Meghan had become a master at hiding her body language. But she knew something was up. “So what’s going on?”
Meghan sighs, taking a long sip of her whiskey settling her nerves.
“I need to tell you something, and you are right…. It is important,” Meghan said, giving her oldest child a reassuring smile. “It’s about your dad. Your biological father.”
Victoria takes a sip of her whiskey and coke, feeling the apprehension build. Meghan pulls out a Marlboro Red Soft Pack, setting the brown tipped filtered cigarette between her dark red lips. The ember illuminates her face with the sound of crickets singing their song in the moonlight.
“I sat down with him in California last week at your grandfather’s beach house in Venice, where we met in late 1999.”
Strader Beach House
Venice, Beach California
October 3rd, 2021
Meghan was not a woman who got nervous or anxious as she aged into wiser years, but this was different. Discovering that not only did she have one kid at the tender age of fifteen, she actually had twins. Her father sold baby Cara to grieving parents who had birthed a stillborn baby girl, and Victoria legally adopted. She missed out on them growing up; learning how to ride a bike, learning how to swim, spelling bees, extracurricular activities, first dances, first dates, just so much. She had also accepted that the unstable Ryan Guadet was their father until a letter from beyond the grave found its way to her, written in her father’s hand. A letter of admission, guilt and sacrifice.
Meghan had spent years hating Scott Nash Strader for being an absentee father, but over the past few weeks, she began to empathize and understand why he was the way he was. He wasn’t able to handle the guilt of protecting his grandchildren and daughter and couldn’t handle having a normal relationship with that kind of secret.
The Knox family had ties to the Yakuza Crime Syndicate, and things weren’t as pretty as their PR department made it seem.
DING DONG! KNOCK KNOCK!
“Well, Meghan, it’s now or nothing… he’s a Raven; you are a Cowgirl From Hell and a Strader woman. You got this.”
She walks to the mirror, psyching herself up. She looked at the front entrance that was adorned with a red door, like Nancy Thompson’s house. In a pair of light blue jeans, a black hemp belt, an old And Justice For All t-shirt, she checks her hair. Meghan takes a deep breath, hoping her small pep talk would be enough to get her through this.
She opens the door, and she is greeted by The Raven’s devilish grin.
“Meghan, my dear, I’ve come with a motorcycle and bad intentions. What are we doing, Vic here yet?”
He was still in that beat-up leather jacket he always wore, with a simple black tee and jeans, far more casual than the usual pompous ass he was on social media. But this was a comfortable friend he was with—no need for pretense or bullshit.
“And what did we need to talk about, anyway? The tag tournament? You already know any of you want in; it’s a go.”
“Ha, if Meeks and I decide we want one last brief run, you’ll be the first to know,” Meghan said, giving him a wink. She steps to the side, motioning to come inside. “So, Victoria won’t be joining us; she doesn’t know you are here.”
“Probably better that way,” Knox said, stepping in and removing the gloves from his hands. He flexes the long, pale fingers. Nerve damage had made it so he couldn’t feel them first thing in the morning, and after a long ride on the Shovelhead, they had been shaken back into numbness. “If she thought we were out here trying to parent and mentor her, she’d reroute and go be lonely and miserable somewhere else. That’s what I'd do, anyway.”
He pays a shrug.
“So what’s up Meghan? Feel like we've been meaning to talk about something for a month or two. Anticipation is killing me.”
He looked around the house with a chuckle.
“I feel like I've been drunk here before.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t 100% positive if we needed to have that talk.” Meghan rubs her hands together anxiously. “Can I get you a drink? Still no booze?”
“Nah, it’s uh..” his grin changes instead to the smallest, warmest of smiles. "Found out I’m gonna be a dad again, so I’m...commiserating, you know?” he gives a slight chuckle, not anticipating how many kids he has at this point. “Here I am at 40, still doin’ silly shit.”
He shakes his head.
“But Nah, no drink. Just lay it on me, Mama Bear. Someone fuckin’ with you? Is it my brother?”
Meghan can’t help but let out a chuckle as she leads him into the main living area. They sit down on a black leather couch as Meghan crosses her legs to face him and looks the Raven in his eyes.
“Not your brother, but your uncle. I got to be razor straight with you, Matthew; I recognized you when I tuned in to watch my baby girl’s wrestling debut in that abandoned town. You were the last person I expected to see my kid with, especially in that setting.”
She watched his glasz eyes, and she couldn’t believe she needed a piece of paper to believe it. He tilts his head lightly, an eyebrow arched.
“Well, modestly, Meghan, I have a reputation in the business, and I have a lot of tape out there. I’m sure it was just my star power.”
The Raven chuckled, shifting in his seat and running his fingers through his hair.
“But, if that’s not it… What do you mean? See me back when I was young, dumb, and gettin’ beat up at the VFWs?”
“Close. I am not at all surprised you don’t remember you were quite the party animal back then, and I was an angsty teenager mad at her daddy.”
Those words left her crimson red lips with a small sigh.
“So again, for the sake of honesty, I’ll just say it: you bent me over a barrel and showed me at least twenty-seven states; you were only a teenager yourself.”
She had hoped her attempt at levity would help ease that bit of information for him. Matt froze; he laughed at the phrasing before the weight of it set in.
“Oh, wait, you and me?”
He took a moment, letting it sink in.
“This uh...You don’t feel like I took advantage, do you? I mean..When, where..”
Meghan could see the realization strike him hard.
“Wait, the fuck..I HAVE GOTTEN DRUNK HERE!” he declared, standing up and pointing out toward the back patio. “The lights were out on the deck, and….wait, YOU were the angry chick my partner said would kill me if I made a move?!”
He grasped the side of his head, drunken memories unlocking.
“Oh, my god...well. Shit, that explains why it’s always been mellow with you and me. You’ve already seen me naked.”
Now his own attempt at levity was shining through.
“Damn…”
“Ha, no. You didn’t take advantage of me. I would’ve ripped your sack off if that was the case. You were a complete gentleman; that’s what got you laid. I’m glad you can see a bit of the humour in this awkward situation because there is something else I need to tell you.”
Those icy blue eyes of hers look down for a few seconds before locking with The Raven’s.
“A piece of that night is now a very important young woman to the both of us…”
He furrows his brow before the eyebrows almost fire off the top of his head.
“No...you’re kiddin’?” The smile is instant, a chuckle escaping him. “No way, you and me...The gir-” a pause followed by a horrified look, “Oh god...Cara?”
“No! Oh god. I probably should have led with that, but no, she has a different father. A monster named Ryan Gaudet. It’s a rare pregnancy where two different men fertilize - - -“
Meghan stops herself so as not to make the guy much more uncomfortable than he already clearly was.
“It has a long, boring clinical name. Victoria is your daughter, Matthew. Our daughter. Although I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, I am a bitch sometimes, but you two ladies have quite the mood swings.”
She squeezes his knee. Meghan decides she needs another drink and heads over to the bar near the patio entrance; she calls Matt over her shoulder.
“Sure you don’t want a drink?”
She’s definitely having a stiff scotch.
He let out a small chuckle before reaching a hand across the table and laying it on top of hers as she returned with her drink.
“Hey, I know she ain’t…” he stops for a moment, a small smile plastered still as he takes a steadying breath. “She ain’t in diapers or nothin’, you ain’t alone with her now, Meghan. That’s our girl; her problems are ours now. Thank you for telling me; I know it woulda been easier just to keep on like it all was…” a long sigh, nodding his head. “So...when do we tell her?”
“I don’t know. The sooner, the better. My old man was concerned about your family to the point he hid Cara from me and let me give away Victoria because of the outlaw life he led. He destroyed any possibility of having a relationship with me and both his granddaughters. I know a little about the Yakuza connection, but the ultimate concern was your Uncle… I need you to tell me everything about why my outlaw father was fearful of our girl's safety.”
The night would turn out longer than neither of them expected. Truths and horrors being told for the first time in decades out loud outside their own last names.
Unknown Location
August 5th, 2023
~ START TRANSMISSION ~
“I would like to start this off by thanking Serena Riot and FCW for hosting this match. I am not as popular as Serenity Holmes, Lissie Hope, Atara Raven, Sebastian Everett Bryce and so on, to be invited to a show. I knew I had to find a place that would be interested in hosting this match and FCW stepped up, so thank you.”
Veronica gives a nod.
“When I started preparing for this match, one man kept coming up on my mind… The Raven, Matthew Knox. Matt to some. Knoxxy to others. But to me and a solid seventy-one others, daddy dearest.”
She raises her right brow, looks down for a few seconds, smiling to herself before returning her gaze to us.
“I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? As Victoria was struggling about learning who our dad was, she was getting prepared to wrestle you, Sebastian. What was it they called you? The Smoulder Brothers? Actually, it was probably self-named by my dad. Or maybe it was you."
“I look forward to your correction or affirmation.”
“I bring it up because Victoria was struggling. Good ol’dad was sticking up for Atara Them- - - excuse me, Atara Raven, and Jason Cashe. Sticking up for them after they broke her heart. But it’s crazy, right? Because just like a little while before, our dad, mom, auntie, uncle, Tony Savage and Atty all banded together to rescue her from our horrible Uncle Dio.”
“He hates it when you call him that.”
The Scorpion side she has embraced, showing itself.
“I know, I know… I am sugarcoating it. It was because of me. When dad tried to kill our cousin (mind you, when I defeated SuMa, it was one and done), it was me that pushed Victoria to recommend kerosene at Uprising’s Solstice Supershow because it burns hotter and faster. Deep down, he knows that was when he knew we were his children, but that’s another story. SEB, with all that happened after Pro Wrestling Valor, that allowed me to take over briefly, you were actually my first professional match.”
“And you got the job with, what was it…. Nine or ten seconds before the time limit was up. Everyone told me I should be proud of going the time limit with a journeyman of the sport. Well, a long time after, I wasn’t exactly loved by everyone at first. Throwing Cara off the OCW Arena put a bit of a damper on the whole family bonding thing.”
“But don’t worry, we have made up and I love her with all my heart. Even if she wants to be my… ‘Sista-Mama’.”
Veronica shakes her head with a slight shudder, but for a second, you can see her laugh under her breath.
“And that’s why I don’t feel bad for coining the phrase ‘I threw my sister off an arena roof. Imagine what I’ll do to you’.”
A wink and the scene lights up slowly, revealing a familiar-looking brick wall behind her.
“After you I went on a prolific run, a Hall of Fame one, taking OCW by storm, and making a lower rung championship as popular as my husband’s OCW Championship. A record run, well, your UGCW out ran mine, but it doesn’t make it any less impressive. After I was let go, I went to the ultra-violent CU:LT and got my hands on the SNUFF Championship and beat Peter Vaughn cleanly in a traditional wrestling match on his turf.”
“I’ll stop bringing it up when beating someone of his calibre isn’t something to be proud of. I just don’t want that all to be something I am proud of.”
Veronica turns to the side, looks up for a moment and back to us, the sneer becoming clearer.
“Lists have become popular again. People writing names on paper. People get upset because no one has put their name on said list. I have three people of mine, and it starts with you, Sebastian, because you took away a debut win from me, and simply?”
“I want that one back.”
“If I am being honest? It is a bit of jealousy. I can’t believe I am going to say this aloud, but I’m jealous of the way my dad showed you more admiration and love than he did me for a long time. I mean, he was supportive of your UGCW run, put down my TransAtlantic run because I was to ‘blame’ for the Purge and stripping Betsy Granger of it.”
“Granted, I didn’t make it easy. I blamed him for Valerie, the actual Affliction, who Victoria sacrificed herself to take her out and save me. That’s when things changed for me in that regard. A lot has changed for me, as I am sure it has for you.”
“I lost my mother to cancer. I lost my soul mate, but by some miracle of God, Vaughn brought Christian back to me and our everything, Christian-Michelle. Honestly, it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Becoming a parent. A mother. I hope you have that joy one day, Sebastian.”
We pan back to see that Veronica is standing in front of an empty OCW Arena in Key West.
“But in reality, I have to put that all aside and return to what OCW made of me. I’ve come home to get the scent. Because, Sebastian, as much respect as I have for you, even though you no-sold how far I pushed you in my debut, I want to hear my name called as the winner.”
“And if I don’t even score, it’s going to feel like I did.”
“God forgives, Sebastian.”
“I don’t.”
~ END TRANSMISSION ~
