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Hanari Carnes · (04-05-2020)

Paying Respects

The gate creaked as it swung open, then again as it shut. There was a light drizzle coming down the the cement sky, and a breeze that blew the flowers like a metronome.

Manicured grass provided a sea of green, with the dead trees casting shadows ominously, despite the lack of sunlight. It was like the were reaching for something that they couldn't quite reach. Hanari wore his best suit for this occasion. The pinstripes, with perfect cuffs showing off the nice cream undershirt, and Louis Vuitton cuff links. His Salvatore Ferragamo shoes click clacked on the walk way, an audible crunch with each step.

*Isn't that crazy? Expensive shoes are always loud shoes, like the people wearing them want you to know they are wearing them. Like HEY! LOOK AT MY SHOES! I'M IMPORTANT*

In one hand was a nice floral arrangement. It was custom in his culture to bring flowers, whether you knew the person or not. In the other hand was a Beanie Baby. A 1997 First Edition Princess Diana Beanie Baby. There was a small rumble of thunder somewhere off in the distance.

As he stepped down off the walkway and onto the wet grass, his head scanned the landscape, turning like an osculating fan until he saw what he came for.

There was a stone ahead. It didn't match all the other grave stones, it was, eccentric. Different.

As he approached he felt a knot in his throat, not from the object of death, oh no, but from how the death occurred. A cowardly way. A career, a title, a name, a lineage, an era............

Stolen from him like virginity on prom night. (Unless it's Atara Themis, we KNOW that bitch put out early).

When he got to his destination, he stood over the stone for a moment or two. Almost as if trying to compose himself. He had been to many funerals in his day, a lot of his friends.........this was different. He got down on a knee, the wet grass leaving an even darker spot on the already dark fabric. He set the Beanie Baby down, back against it with its arms crossed (he attempted the cross the arms, they wouldn't stay), and the flowers on the other side.

HERE LIES: THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND KNOWN AS THE ENGINEER.

He put his hands against the smooth stone, he fingers sliding in and out of the divots that formed the letters.

Another sniffle.

A man he looked up to, a man he idolized, a man who shaped the landscape on which he stood. The man who inspired him. The man........

Stolen away by some worm. Some coward who wasn't comfortable in his own skin. Stolen away by a man, if you can call him that, who was afraid of the Engineer. A man who took what wasn't his. This sniveling trouser stain robbed us of one of the best to ever do this, and embarrassed a man who could, some would argue, be the sole reason XWF is still floating.

Doggy paddling would be more appropriate.

He looked down at his watch. The Rolex symbol stared back at him, but he couldn't really see the time. He had all the time in the world now. Time didn't matter to him anymore. The man who lit up his TV years ago to the man who lay before him now.........

All the complexities, the personalities, the family of oddities he introduced us to.

*He felt his lip curl*.

Madison Dyson (even the name makes him itch).

All of the people he associated with were successful. Even his possibly autistic child Joachim.....

Stolen away by a man whose insecurities were insurmountable.

The Engineer was an icon, a legend, a pillar....he was the man Hanari wanted to be............and the man who he wanted to beat.

Standing up, he looked down at the grave once more. Engy was dead and buried, and the Shawn Warstein era had begun.

*It's times like this he wished Robert Main was still champion. At least he has SOME shred of respect.*

He turned to walk away. The conditions outside had gotten worse. His designer suit was completely drenched, but he didn't care. He needed to go there, needed to see him.........needed to know that for one last time he would be in the presence of greatness......

From here on out, he WAS greatness.

Turning to look back at the stone once more, he turned back. By this time his car was there, and a small man in a suit you can buy a Target stood in the gateway. He was wearing a stupid little hat.

"Your car, Mr. Carnes?"

"Gracias" he said as he walked past the man, "and take dat stupid hat off."

Walking by the man he got in the car. The man quickly snatched off the hat and hustled to the driver door, opening and starting the engine.

"Where to?"

2 Hrs Later

The restaurant inside the hotel would normally have been bustling. People talking in all directions, the clinks of glasses and silverware, soft piano music radiating from the corner to set the mood. Each table lit with candles, the table cloths and napkins a burgundy silk......

Now, it was empty. Everywhere was empty these days, with this damn virus going around. Hanari sat by himself at a table, with a balcony view, overlooking the city. There was a small glass in his hand with a gold liquid.

Tequila, of course.

Setting it down after taking a sip, he began to speak, his back to the camera, the view of valley with the city lights below.

"I used to think legacies meant something. I use to think dat being a campeón was a high honor. Campeón universal being de highest. What has dis company become? Ambushes, sneak attacks, title changes when the campeón es defenseless. I used to think so highly of de campeones here. All of em. Not a single one of em have any heart anymore, any grit, any toughness. All want to take the cheap road, the easy road. Men who work their entire lives to get to these moments have them taken away by cowards....vermin....scummm........"

He slaps the table, making the drink shake.

"The men on dis roster who call demselves campeón is appalling. Men who take short cuts then puff they chest out. Men who hid behind the shadow of their cowardice, pulled the wool over all of our eyes. Made fools of us. All of us dat believed in them. All of de fans who held der signs and bpught der shirts. Bought into de lies."

He reaches for the glass, taking another sip before setting it down rather forcefully back on the table.

"I have always believed that a campeón is to earn that title. If chu get in de ring and lose, there es no shame, because chu fought for it. Like a man. If chu win, chu did it with hinor, class, and grace. Shawn Warstein, who I used to look up to as Fuzz, has no class, has no grace, has no guts, chico. And now management wants to put Griffin in de mix, just to stir de pot. Just to stop me from teahcing "Fuzz" the lesson he deserves to be taught. I will break his arm, then he's out of the picture. I no longer have respect for anyone on dis roster. They are all....expendable."

Just then two security guards walk in, asking Hanari to leave. The restaurant is closed due to COVID 19 and nobody is allowed in the building.

He laughs to himself, taking another sip.

They emphasize, with a little more oomph in their voice, that he must leave or they would have to remove him.

He gets up, moving the chair to face the men, a big smile on his face. He sits back down, pulling a cigar out of his pocket. Flipping his torch lighter, he brings the flame to the end.

"Sir you can't smoke that in here."

He smiles again, blowing out a cloud and taking another sip.

"Let me ask chu, mang. Do chu like ya job?"

The man did not seem amused.

"Let me ask chu.......if chu got hurt on de job.....I don't an accident persay........."

*He takes another sip as the man cocks his gun*

"......and chu could no longer work. A man, several levels below you, suddenly becomes you. Suddenly has chor job, chor pay, your recognition........"

The man's badge said "Senior Security Supervior".

"This man took chor benefits, chor pension, he wiped any existence of chu clean off de map.........."

The man bit his lip. Was this a threat?

".........but den, when chu es laid up, retired.....watching Jaws 3 reruns on de TV eating full bags of chips in one sitting........chu find out he planned it. He ambushed chu, he set chu up, he TOOK what was YOURS without earning it. Chu would be pretty mad, wouldn't chu hombre?"

The man said nothing.

"Chu would. Chu would be steaming. Chu would want revenge......"

"Sir, whatever happened to you, I am sorry. But if you need to file a report, or talk to someone, we can arrange that but we can't have anyone in the building. It's regulations."

"Regulations......my ass."

The man took a step closer.

"I am here to pay respects to a man whom I respected....to a man whom I looked up to. I am here to vow revenge.........."

He finishes his drink and sets the glass on the table.

"And if chu want me gone, chor gonna have to shoot me."

Turning his seat back around to face the bright lights of the city below, he took another puff. The smoke billowed in a small cloud above him before disappating.

His tone was much calmer now.

"This was my match.......my opportunity. To face de best.....everything I have fought for, bled for.....to face de Engineer. Just once........but dat has been taken from me now........this es not about wins and losses....dis es about respect. That shot at Engy was mine, et was everything I had built for....... I was supposed to make de Engineer tap out................and one man took it all away in de blink of an eye."

The man, walking towards him now with his gun drawn, the other holding position at the entrance.........

".......a man named Shawn Warstein."

"Sir.....sorry I don't follow. Whose Shawn Warstein?"

Hanari turns around with a smile on his face.

"Exactly".

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