Somewhere Over The United States…


With less than an hour left in Theo’s flight from Phoenix to Hartford – Bradley Airport. Theo’s conference call with the United States and Japanese Governments ended a bit early. Early enough to give Theo some time to check out some of the latest promos that have gone on air.


“Eli James, you sure do like to drench yourself in irony don't you?”

“I mean seriously Eli. You want to lecture me on Secret Agendas? “

“Really?”

“That’s like Peter Gilmour lecturing, anyone on anything that involves logical thought.”

“Come on Eli.”

“Apparently I gave you too much credit. I believed you to be a lot of things.”

“Clever”

“Determined”

“Ruthless”

“Hairy.”

“Seriously though, that beard that you rock. It’s bitching.”

“Though I do have to wonder, does your face get hot in the summers? I bet it does. That’s why I don’t have beard. Well, that and I like to show off my well defined jaw line.”

“But of all the things I did give you credit for, I never, not in a million years considered you to be stupid.”

“How could I?”

“Not after that master stroke you pulled at Shove It a few months ago, taking out both Shane and The Administrator?”

“While I don’t approve of your methods I can at least admit the genius of it.”

“You told Shane for weeks that you were going to be his Reaper, he didn’t believe you, none of us did.”

“And yet here you are. The Grand Poobah of the XWF.”

“But enough about the past, let’s get back to what is at the heart of the matter.”

“Secret Agendas.”

“After weeks of back and forth banter, brawls to end a few different shows and now this pay per view the best you could come up with was some trumped up nonsense about a secret agenda?”

“Did you feel your nose grow as you said it Pinocchio?”

“Even that fantastic beard of yours can’t cover a nose that’s growing past that totally fit belly of yours.”

“Tell me Eli, are you doing one of those new trendy diets like P-90 X or the 30 Pack Diet? Seriously I must know how you get such a…svelte figure like the one you have?”

“Or perhaps you went the spiritual route and prayed to the Al Mighty, either way, please, share your secret. Don’t hold out on us.”

“But since you brought it up, let’s talk about this notion that I have a Secret Agenda.”

“I guess you could make that claim, if you ignored the countless times in which I went on air and publically stated exactly what my agenda was.”

“But since you suddenly want to play the role of a person who is hard of hearing let me reiterate what I have literally said a dozen times.”

“From the second The Company was formed I have said exactly what my agenda is, and that is to ensure the proper balance of the XWF and to see the end of your reign as owner.”

“Have you seen me do anything to the contrary of either of those statements?”

“Go ahead, have one of your acolytes do some digging, they won’t find anything. We both know that. Hell you knew that 30 seconds into your little tirade earlier.”

“But you needed something to say, you had to come out here and say something to fire back at your counterpart. I get it.”

“But just between old friends, it helps if what you are saying has a hint of truth to it.”

“Anyone can lie. In fact, people learn how to lie before they learn how to be honest. It’s one of humanities great mysteries.”

“Let’s see here, I beat John Madison and let it get to my head?”

“You might be a little right there; John Madison is an XWF legend after all. And who was I? A guy with not even two months of wrestling experience and yet I had just become the King of the XWF. So yeah, it’s absolutely possible that I let it get to my head a little bit.”

“But wanting it all?”

“Tell me oh great omnipotent preacher, what evidence do you have to support that claim?”

“In fact, the match I had with John Madison wasn’t even my doing. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t even want it. The fans voted me into it, and so I went out there and gave it my best shot. On that night, it was enough to win.”

“I wanted to be the leader of the Black Circle? Oh really? Is that why I left the Black Circle right after Shane’s demise?”

“A smart person would see the obvious power vacuum that was created by Shane’s death and used that to seize control of The Black Circle. And yet I didn’t do that did I Eli?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I didn’t want to be the leader of the Black Circle, that was Shane’s gig and now it’s John Madison’s. I never made a move to seize control of that group, though it certainly was John Madison’s biggest fear. But that’s not uncommon for guys like John. Once they spend enough time at the top they start to think everyone is out to get them. And maybe that is the case for some people. But I wasn’t one of them. It just wasn’t part of my…agenda.”

“You think that me leading the Company and being the voice for the Administrative Network means I want to seize ultimate control of the XWF?”

“I guess you missed the part where I said, last week, on air that if my team wins, the Admin Network will then select someone to run the XWF. I didn’t say they would select me.”

“And that’s not because I was being secretive.”

“And no it’s not because I have a secret agenda.”

“It’s because the Administrative Network will indeed pick someone to run the XWF. What I don’t know is who that person will be.”

“It could honestly be anyone. If they want to pick me, I would certainly consider it but I have not campaigned for the gig, and I won’t. I don’t want it.”

“Or haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“This isn’t about me usurping your power. This is about my taking your power from you and letting the Administrative Network decide what to do with it next. I’ve been very clear about that.”

“It is literally what I have been saying for 6 weeks now.”

“I could see how you might have missed that, what with all the work you have been going trying to add every single guy with a pulse into your Congregation. Last I had heard your group was founded with specific principals and yet, here you are, leading a group
guys who all seem to have divergent paths. Sure that can work for an event like the pay per view, but as a stable? As a group of guys you have elected to surround yourself with? I wonder how many of them will stick it out after you are no longer the owner and thus unable to hand out titles left and right?”

“Seriously Eli? What happens when the guys under your thumb have to actually start earning things instead of standing on the street shaking their little cup begging for handouts?”

“What then?

“I guess we will find out.”


"But before we do I want to ask you a little something about secrets. Eli you said you don't have any secrets, you don't have any secret agendas, that you have been completely forthcoming with your plans."

"You did just say that, I'm not making this up."

"But that's not really the truth is it Eli?"

"What happened to your betraying The Administrator?"

"Sure you took out like you said you would, but you didn't just stop there did you?"

"What was it you told all of us? That you would end , but you never said a word about taking out the Administrator and becoming the new Owner of the XWF did you?"

"No, no that was a secret. That was your, secret agenda."


"See how this works Eli?"

"But hey, at least we've found out what you are really good at, and that's peddling bullshit. Explains why you fit in so well with the holy roller crowd."


A voice comes out over Theo Pryce’s phone speaker.


“Mr. Pryce this is the Captain, we will begin our descent in a moment.”