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Thaddeus Duke · (03-19-2019)

[duke]March 8, 2019 | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport | Arlington, Virginia[/duke]

Who says you can't go home again? Sometimes, things happen in life whether its the actions you take or the choices you make that force your lives to become significantly more difficult than they would be had you just stopped and thought about things a little more, had you not considered certain ramifications rather than simply reacting to things. It is a fact of life that no one is perfect and all people make mistakes. The world of professional wrestling would like you to forget the fact that no matter what your race is, no matter what language you speak, no matter what god or gods your profess your loyalty and devotion to, that each and every single one of those colorful characters you see on your television screens each and every week, that they are, in fact human, despite their best efforts to prove otherwise.

Simply put: humans beings are fallible creatures and none of them are perfect. Sometimes they have a guiding light, a trusted friend or family member in other words, to help them through the darkest of times. In a way, like a conscience. Without that light, that conscience, sometimes they burn bridges and scorch the Earth upon which they've finished traveling.

While it is still possible to go home again after burning bridges, the path to get there is far more treacherous, and far more dangerous. You are likely to meet significant resistance because choices do indeed have consequences.

Thaddeus Duke exits Illuminatus One on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia with his entourage following close behind him. The engines on the massive jet still winding down.

"Thaddeus can you tell me again why the fuck we're here?" James Edwards, Thaddeus' best friend and closest adviser asks, clearly annoyed.

[duke]"Because Jim, he's still my father and it is his birthday,"[/duke] Thaddeus responds quickly. He himself, as patient as he is, is getting annoyed at the constant hesitance of his friend in supporting this decision.

"We spent countless dollars and lost countless lives in the..."

[duke]"James!"[/duke] Thaddeus shouts curtly, interrupting his friend.

"But you never call me James," Jim says, shocked that he was just scolded.

[duke]"Listen to me for a minute,"[/duke] he starts as they wait for the heavily armored Cadillac to be offloaded from the belly of the airliner. [duke]"I was already here once and you didn't even know it,"[/duke] he explains.

With the armored Caddy now safely on the ground, the two young men file into the car and the driver starts off.

"When?" James asks, still perturbed.

Thaddeus only looks over at him, not saying a thing.

"The meeting in Philadelphi-er," James surmises. His British pronunciation of the "uh" in Philadelphia forces Thaddeus to crack a smile. "There was no meeting," again he surmises.

[duke]"There was a meeting,"[/duke] he chimes in. [duke]"It just had nothing to do with any pro wrestling executives or any company."[/duke]

"Was it even in Philadel… Philly?" James asked, now a bit self-conscious about the way he pronounces the name of the city of brotherly love.

Thaddeus shakes his head just once.

"You kept me busy purposely?" he asks as he begins putting the puzzle together.

Thaddeus nods affirmative.

"But why?" he asks, sounding hurt by this revelation. "Thaddeus, I have been nothing but supportive of you for the five years we've known each other. I would have understood! This fucking hurts."

[duke]"Yes Jimmy, you've shown me so much support since I broke the news to you that we were fucking coming here,"[/duke] Thaddeus snaps back. [duke]"He's the only family I got man, why can't you just understand that? Why can't you just be on my side? Be in my fucking corner like you always are?"[/duke]

James throws his hands up and allows them to free fall against his lap out of frustration. "I thought I was your family."

[duke]"Woe wait,"[/duke] he says, realizing James' hurt. [duke]"You ARE my family. My chosen brother."[/duke]

"If I’m your fuckin’ brother, then why couldn't you tell me?" James asks as the car arrives at the parking garage below Sebastian Duke’s building. ”You can tell me anything.”

[duke]"I didn't want you fighting me on it, which is exactly what you're doing."[/duke]

"If you wanted a fucking sycophant you chose the wrong god damn adviser, mate," James snaps at him. "I'm not here to tell you what you want to fucking hear. I'm here to consider the situations presented before you, assess them, and lend you the best advice I can.

"You took me out of the process and that fucking hurts mate."

[duke]"I'm sorry Jimmy, but this was never up for debate,"[/duke] he states as the car doors open.

James says nothing and steps out of the car. Behind him, Thaddeus too makes his exit and Jim reaches for his pack of smokes buried deep in the breast pocket of his bomber jacket. He lights one and takes a deep drag.

"How did that last one go?" Jim asks curiously about the previous meeting of father and son.

Thaddeus shrugs in response before he hops up on the trunk of the Cadillac, waiting for James to finish his cigarette. [duke]"A bit contentious at first. Things seemed to settle down after a few minutes. Emotions were high. It was the first time we saw each other since that time he nearly put me through the wall back home.

"At the end it was... I dunno… pretty friendly,"[/duke] he concludes.

"Have you talked to him since?" James asks as he takes one last hit of his cigarette and tosses the butt to the concrete floor of the garage and stamps it out with his foot.

[duke]"A couple times a week normally."[/duke]

"And those conversations?"

[duke]"Friendly,"[/duke] he answers. [duke]"Come in with me. See it for yourself."[/duke]

James hesitates as Thaddeus hops off the trunk of the car and heads toward the bank of elevators on the wall. James hurriedly catches up to Thaddeus.

Moments later the elevator dings and the doors open. The two men exit the doors and turn left down a hallway through a few dozen cubicles. Near the end, they turn right and then left through a closed door that has a brass fixture attached that reads "EXECUTIVE SUITES." A few paces later, they're approaching his fathers office whose door is wide open. He can clearly be seen sitting behind his desk and barking orders into his phone. James Edwards, is certainly uneasy.

"Thaddeus hun, he's just finishing up you can go in," Janet, his fathers middle aged personal assistant says as she never even looks up from her stack of papers.

[duke]"Thank you Miss Janet,"[/duke] he replies with a smile.

"No need for such formalities dear, just call me Janet."

[duke]"Yes ma'am,"[/duke] he replies as he steps toward Sebastian Duke's office.

"There you go again with those formalities sweetheart, whatever will I do with you two?" she asks, referring to both he and his father.

Thaddeus laughs lightly as he enters his fathers office.

"Excuse me," she says sternly. "Stop! I said Thaddeus could go, not you. I know Thaddeus, he's a sweet young man," she says as she stands up and approaches James who appears to be frozen. ”You I don’t know.”

Thaddeus stands in the door way of his fathers office watching this unfold with a smile on his face. Seconds later, Sebastian appears over his shoulder.

"Hey Thad, what's going on?" Sebastian asks, motioning his head toward Janet and James.

[duke]"Janet's giving him a hard time."[/duke]

"You didn't put him on the list," the elder Duke assumes. Correctly.

Thaddeus' smile grows a little wider as he looks up at his father and shakes his head.

"Sir you are not on my list, you do not enter that mans office if you are not on my list," she chastises.

"I mean, I wasn't aware of..."

"No, no excuses..."

"That's kind of mean," Sebastian says as he cracks a smile.

[duke]"He kind of deserves it. Better her than me,"[/duke] he concludes.

"Janet, its fine this once. He'll know better for next time."

Janet looks over at her boss and Thaddeus both smiling.

"Did you two set me up?"

"No ma'am."

"You set me up. You knew he was coming and made me read this nice young man the riot act," she says, scolding both Duke's.

"It won't happen again, I promise."

"Yes it will, you do it once a week, sir," she states as she returns to the chair behind her desk.

"All the more reason this conversation is pointless, Janet. I like to keep you on your toes is all," Sebastian informs her as he turns to head back into his office. "C'mon in guys. Thaddeus you know where the drinks are."

The three men each take their seats. Thaddeus momentarily gazes out the window passed his father at the white headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. Sebastian sits cross legged. James nervously fidgets with his fingers and bounces his leg up and down. Sebastian catches and follows his sons gaze out the window and has a peek also.

”So what brings you two all the way down here?”

[duke]”Happy birthday Dad,”[/duke] Thad answers back quickly and slightly uncomfortably as he retrieves a small package from inside his jacket and slides it across his fathers desk.

”What’s this?” he asks, lifting the package from his desk.

[duke]”If I told you, what would be the point of wrapping it?”[/duke]

Sebastian nods in agreement and uncomfortably opens it up, revealing a 4x6 picture in a wooden frame. The normally gruff man cracks a smile. ”Wow.”

[duke]”It’s the only surviving picture of all four Duke’s. It was taken back in Berlin,”[/duke] Thad explains to him. [duke]”Uncle Theo may not have our name, but he has our blood.”[/duke]

The elder Duke smiles fondly at the picture of himself with his father, his brother and his son before placing the picture upright on the corner of his desk.

[duke]”I have a copy back home. Yours is the original.”[/duke]

”Thank you Thaddeus. That really does mean a lot to me.”

[duke]”So um. I have a question,”[/duke] he stammers. [duke]”I’m headed to California to meet with Vinnie...”[/duke]

”You’re re-signing?” Sebastian interrupts.

[duke]”Yeah.”[/duke]

”Good, but what do you want from me?”

[duke]”I had a match for Elysium Pro Wrestling a few months ago. Some place out of Toronto and I gotta tell ya, I felt like I was fucking horrible.”[/duke]

”He was fucking horrible, actually,” James interjects, breaking his nervous silence.

[duke]”Dick… Anyway I was hoping that maybe you could work with me and help me knock off the rust,”[/duke] he pauses as his father stands up and starts to pace in front of the window. [duke]”I’m coming back on pay per view Dad, I can’t suck.”[/duke]

”Okay,” he answers as he stops pacing.

[duke]”You’ll do it?”[/duke] he asks excitedly.

”Yeah of course, but I’m gonna kick your ass so I probably wouldn’t get too excited.”

[duke]”Give me a few rounds old man, you can’t keep up with me,”[/duke] he jokes.

”Pffft,” Dad scoffs.

”That’s where you fucking get it,” James interjects, talking to Thaddeus and referring to the scoff.

[duke]”The last, I don’t know, six maybe eight months, all I’ve wanted to do was get back in the ring. But you have a shadow in the XWF that looms so large, and I just don’t want that shadow. But no matter where I go, no matter where I tryout, I keep turning my eyes back at the XWF, you know, just making sure she’s still there.”[/duke]

Sebastian retakes his seat and crosses his leg. ”Look kid, whether you like it or not, your name is famous in this business. I can’t change that and I wouldn’t if I could. You can’t shy away from the legacy I forged.

“Embrace it.

“Add to it.

“As long as you are in a 20x20 ring son, you’re gonna get compared to me. Own it. Cherish it. But be you. Don’t be the next Sebastian Duke. Be the first Thaddeus Duke. I watched your matches and fuckin’ hell you’re so good. Some of the shit you do in the ring is fucking bizarre. Your talent is matched by very few.

“Take the road I paved for you kid, and make it your own. Make ‘em forget there ever was a Sebastian Duke.”

[duke]”Was?”[/duke]

”It’ll be a lot easier for you to step out of my shadow, if I’m no longer there to cast it.”

Thaddeus looks at James and back to his father with a great deal of apprehension. He inches closer to the edge of his seat. [duke]”What? Wait, no. That’s not what I want.”[/duke]

”Well that’s what you’re getting,” he replies. ”It’s a young mans game.”

[duke]”You’re only 36, that’s ridiculous.”[/duke]

”Take my world, take the legacy I created, and make it your own.

“You’ve done it before, you should be used to it.”

”Shots fired,” James jokes as he leans back in his chair, his nervousness all but gone.

[duke]”Shut up Jim,”[/duke] Thad fires back. [duke]”Dad that’s not why I came here. I didn’t want you to step out of the ring...”[/duke]

”Thaddeus, I don’t love it anymore,” Sebastian interrupts. ”It was fun while it was new. Then I won pretty much everything and winning was no longer bringing satisfaction. There’s nothing left for me to do now, except run my business and try to be a better father.

“I know I haven’t always done right by you, but it’s time for that to change.”

[duke]”Dad I just...”[/duke] he begins but stops himself. He knows his father well enough to know that once a decision is made, that decision is final. He resigns to defeat. [duke]”I don’t know how to tell you how much this means to me. I can’t find the words for it,”[/duke] he admits.

”I mean, it means a lot to me too,” the elder Duke replies.

Jim’s phone buzzes. He pulls it out and looks at it. ”We gotta go Thad, or we’ll be late for your meeting with Vincent.”

[duke]”I’ll rent a building or something down here, so you can still be here to run your business.”[/duke] Thaddeus stands up, reaching his hand out to his father. Sebastian stands up and steps around his desk, clutching Thad’s hand momentarily, then pulls him into a hug. Thaddeus is uncomfortable for a moment, before resigning to defeat again, wrapping one arm around his father.

”Don’t be late. Keep him waiting, he might short change your paychecks.”

Thaddeus smiles and he and James make their exit. Off to California now to sign his new XWF contract.

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