South Carolina. A hot and sticky day, one of those days where you feel like your skin is suffocating under the weight of your clothes, where every part of your body yearns for ice and water and cold. One of those days where walking made you sweat like you were jogging, where jogging felt like sprinting and where sprinting... well, sprinting just wasn’t an option.

That was outside though. In here, the god of air condition had been generous and kind. In this vast and virtually empty arena, a healthy and comfortable 60 degrees, and well worthy of a visit even if just to hide from the heat.

This arena was empty and would be for a few more days yet. It wasn’t time yet, tonight wasn’t the night, but it was drawing closer and closer... And as Gabriel Adams had nothing better to do, he decided to come to this place and sit and wait. He’d wait for as long as he needed to, because he could sense it. He could smell it. He could taste it. The night was coming soon.

And so, that night, the night when he was unleashed and allowed to finally express himself in the way he wanted to, the night he could finally make his family proud would be a beloved occasion, one well worth savouring. Tonight, he found himself wandering peacefully through the long corridors and halls of an empty arena.

Something tremendously peaceful about this place with no one here: these corridors would soon be teeming with muscle bound monsters, raving mad men, fan favourite heroes, Machiavellian villains, half naked women, power crazy leaders and finally... him. Where did he fit in here? Was he a mad man? A fan favourite? Or would he prove to be the villain of this particular story?

As he wondered from hall to hall, he realised the beauty of the situation: It didn’t matter. It did not matter if he attacked people from behind, if he hugged women and children in the crowd, if he set people on fire, if he attacked and beat indiscriminately, if he got cheap pops from the crowd, none of it mattered. In this world, this environment, everything and anything goes. Chaos rules, and the one perfect and crystalline truth is that chaos, above all else, is fair.

He continued to wonder until a voice in the distance attracted his attention. ”H-hey! Excuse me! You’re not supposed to be here!” shouted one of the arena security, running down towards him. He was a short and chubby little man, and this small jog down the corridor seemed to really take it out of him. Gabriel made no effort to run and simply watched the porky little fella’ approach, with an eyebrow raised quizzically.

”You’re... you’re not...” he rasped, almost doubling over. ”Take your time, my friend. There is no rush.” Gabriel interrupted, a faint smile on his face. The security guard, who Gabriel identified as Ted by the badge pinned on his wide, man-boobed chest, nodded in appreciation and began to catch his breath. ”Can I ask you somethin’, Teddy?” Gabriel enquired, still smiling. Ted nodded, and Gabriel continued. ”Two questions, actually... Firstly, why are you such a fat little piece of shit?” The question came so quickly and aggressively that Ted reeled for a minute, unsure of how to react.

”Why do you overeat? You hate yourself? Huh?” he asked aggressively, staring Ted in the eye before continuing. ”And why do you hate yourself, Boy? Your momma not love you enough? Your daddy love you a little too much? Or maybe your wife just left you and you thought you’d prove how wrong she was by eating yourself to death? Am I warm yet, my friend?” he reeled all of this off quickly, giving Ted no time to react or even absorb the verbal attack coming his way. ”I... Uh... I don’t...” he tried to get out.

”Second question!” Gabriel bellowed, interrupting once again. ”Are you blind?” he asked, and Ted understood this question. It was simpler, more straightforward and less personally invasive. He shook his head. ”Then how... little fat boy... have you yet to mention that I’m holding this pool cue?” he asked, raising his favourite weapon of choice to eye level. He stared at it, then looked around and stared Ted in the eye.

Moments later, and Gabriel would need to pick up a new pool cue tonight. It would take far too much time and glue to reassemble the splinters of wood all over Ted’s head back into a cue. He dropped the remnants and continued deeper into the arena. He pulled back a black curtain and walked out into the promised land. No ring, no stage, no screen, not yet. But there would be, and this would be where it happened. He did not know the two men he would be facing, but it didn’t matter.

Christian Malice and Bobby did not strike fear into his heart, and he would teach them a lesson. A lesson he wanted to teach everyone that crossed his path. He very well may have to teach that lesson to his partner, David O’Conner. There can be no mistake, Gabriel would have preferred to do this alone, but if he had to cooperate with another for just a short time, then so be it. That uneasy alliance, however, would certainly not last long beyond the end of the match.

Gabriel had gone through life, drifting indiscriminately, trying to latch on to something and to find his path. Now, for the first time, at the thought of taking on Malice and Bobby, on inflicting pain upon their bodies, at the thought of making them bleed and weep... he was excited. As he looked over the rows and rows of empty seats that would soon sit thousands of people to bare witness to his brutality, an honest and utterly genuine smile spread across his bearded face.

Finally, Gabriel Adams had found a home.

And Thursday night would be his house warming party.