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Zoey Ryback · (09-01-2014)

-- Relentless, Day 1 Aftermath --

The shot cuts in, a soft humming of the lights above the sink in Zoey's locker room bathroom can be heard, along with the sound of running water. The light flickers overhead, Zoey raises her head to the mirror, the blood now washing away with the water from the sink, painting her face a soft pink under the light. She tries so hard to fight back the tears as her eyes momentarily acknowledge the camera. She wipes her face with a towel, breaking the clotted blood from around where Loverboy hit her with the belt thats rightfully hers. As it flakes away it begins to bleed again, running down her face and dropping into the sink. Nick approaches from behind, softly kissing the back of her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist. She pauses for a moment, taking a breath and looking at her own face in the camera. Both of them lock eyes with each other, but only for a moment before Zoey looks away. She turns to Nick, looking at him shyly, she puts her hand over the cut on her forehead, self conscious of how it might appear to him. He smiles at her and kisses the hand over the wound. She sighs and puts the clean side of her face against his chest.

Zoey Ryback - "So... what are we gonna do?"

Nick rocks her back and forth for a moment, resting his chin on the top of her head. He knows the scenario, he's played it before, the only problem now is his heart, she can hear it, flutter in his chest.

Nick Cagero - "Zoey... we have to get you fixed up first, then... then we figure out how we're going to get your sister back."

"What do you think they're doing to her?"

The question scares both of them, suddenly a world of possibilities flies through Zoey's head. She asked only because she needs a bit of comfort, she hopes for McKayla, not knowing just what is going to happen to her.

"Well... I guess if I was them... I would want to keep her alive. Zoey, I need to to explain to me what that was, how you did what you did on that roof, its something that.... that.... is impossible."

Zoey sighs and steps passed Nick into the locker room, where a medkit and a stitch kit is set out on the bench. She sits down, Nick slowly making his way over to her. There are a few tense moments as Nick sits down, Zoey thinks about how she's going to explain, because truly, she has no idea.

"Nick... thats not the first time that's happened, that night in Charleston South Carolina, in that hotel room, I did the same thing, its like my heart starts pounding, and the world slows down, and I can... move... through it? I don't know exactly how to explain it."

Nick nods his head as he prepares a syringe full of Lidocaine, he pushes Zoey's face to the side and begins injecting it into the open wound.

"Zoey, why didn't you tell me sooner? This is kind of serious..."

Zoey winces as the injection sort of stings.

"How would I have? I dont know what this is... I... cant even begin to understand what is happening, its something I've sort of had all my life. Ever since I can remember."

"What do you mean?"

"Even when I was a kid, I would get into these... situations... my parents fighting... my dad leaving... my mother dying... where I could feel my heart pounding... and all I can see is the situation, all I can see is what needs to happen, but I was never strong enough to change anything that ever happened. So Nick, I really dont know whats wrong with me, or how I did what I did. Its just something I've always felt, always had. But only when McKayla was in trouble, and I knew what I had to do, and where I had to be, could I do the things I've seen you do, so maybe you need to tell me... how I am the way I am."

Nick sets the syringe on the bench, grabbing the suture kit and prepping it, he shakes his head, not sure really what to tell Zoey, not sure what to say to her.

"Zoey... the only thing I can think is. When the Program first started back in the Late 80s, it wasn't an american project. It started in London, in the United Kingdom, they said that the British government had found something, a person, they said like no one they had ever seen before. When they finally convinced him to submit to the Program, they found that ontop of being able to skip to anywhere at any time, he had enhanced strength, senses, and even a sort of omnipresent perseption. They called him The Anomaly."

"The Anomaly...."

"The man they found, they thought, was the first recorded true decendant to this "God Race". You hear about it alot in the program, because really, ever since that man was found, scientists from the States, The UK, as well as China and Russia, have all started these programs, trying to geneticly alter humanity to follow the Anomaly, trying to build from what we've already been given. As it stands right now, The United States, the U.K. and Russia, are the only ones who have come close, people like me pay the price, people aren't made the way he was, and they, the program conspirators, have yet to come to that conclusion. Because they themselves really have no idea what the subjects go through, outside of the program itself."

Zoey listens, in a sort of trance of disbelief. Nick speaks while stitching the cut, Zoey doesn't feel a thing as he tugs at her flesh.

"What happened to the man... the Anomaly?"

"Eventually they put him to sleep, hooked to a machine that retains his higher functions, I've read the report time after time, and the official report says that its to monitor some sort of state he's in, but what it really is, I believe they are afraid. Afraid of what he might do, after he finds out just what they've been doing with his "Borrowed" DNA."

"So they convinced him tp submit his body to this experiment, and then put him to sleep because they didn't want him to find out what they were doing with him?"

Nick puts the last stitch in, pulling back and looking at the work.

"If what they believe to be true about this man is legitimate, it doesn't matter if he's conscious or not, he knows what they did with what he gave to them, which means they are only taking away his ability to do anything about it. Makes me really believe that they entirety of the people associated with this project fear what this man is really capable of... and now.... you."

She is taken aback momentarily, her breath falls from her lungs and heart seems to drop into her stomach.

"What does any of this have to do with McKayla? What do they need with her?"

"Im not sure Zoey, but if it was me, first I would want to figure out if she is anything like you, second, I would want to figure out a way to lure you right where I wanted you to be... if they know who you are, and what you've done, then they like me, know what you can become, so fighting with you to them, to me, is Suicide."

"But I'm not what they think I am, I'm just a girl, just..."

the tears in her eyes finally begin to run down her cheeks, she shakes her head with her hand over her mouth. Nick holds her by the back of her head and pulls her to him.

"Zoey, believe me thats what I see when I look at you, but fate it seems has a different path for you. What you have to concentrate on now, is finding a way to become what you are meant to be."

She sobs softly against his chest, wetting his shirt with her tears, she grips him tighter.

"How do... how do I do this? How did you do this?"

"I can show you, but the things I can do are just a mere percentage of what you can, but to walk in there, with them, prepared as they will be, I think you need to understand more of what it is you are capable of. Because getting McKayla back and walking out of there, wont be easy at all."

She nods her head, pulling away from Nick to wipe the tears from her face. Nick smiles for a moment, and tries to take some of the pressure off with lighter conversation.

"You did good out there tonight you know..."

Zoey shakes her head.

"You know it doesn't matter Nick, theres so much more that I've got on my plate right now I can't even think about what happened out there. It just seems like everything I've done in this company has been for almost nothing, I've been stepped on, beat up, disrespected, doubted, and belittled ever since I walked through those doors. It doesn't matter, my heart wasn't in it out there, and Loverboy took advantage.... just like everyone does."

Nick nods, he understands her standpoint better than she knows.

"Then what a story it shall be Zoey, to overcome all of it, and become something great here in the XWF, and indeed, the entirety of the world. Someone like you has the power to change everything. Set a new standard, so should you win the day, the people who stood against you, who told you it could never be, will stand with their manhoods cheap. But before any of that can happen, you have to get your head in the game, you have to find your reason to fight again Zoey, I see it in your eyes like the feeling has been in my own, you need your reason."

"My Sister."

"We are going to save her Zoey, believe me, I can't hurt you like I've hurt everyone else."

"It would seem that I'm the reason now, I can't let this happen. Nick, when can we start?"

"Whenever Your Ready...

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-- The Shoot --

Fade from Black, Zoey sits alone in a parking lot, flicking her cigarette onto the ground she steps towards the camera, a low rumble, the camera falls out of focus, and flickers slightly as she looks towards it. She smiles as the rumble begins to fade.

Fate, its something that comes into play for each and every one of us. The luck of the draw, the way the proverbial cookie crumbles, the cards fell in our favor last week. And rightfully, I should have a peice of those Trios belts just like my two team-mates, but for me, I seem to have something of a streak here in the XWF. Always the short end of the stick, always the odd person out, what is it about me that makes people hate so much? What is it about me, that forces them to doubt me? Is it the things I do? The things I Say? Or is there just something about me that broadcasts weakness? I would like to think otherwise. But what really is there for someone like me? I've managed to do so much already, there is a line of men and women who can say that I am something of a different breed, that I might be a cut above the rest. And really, I think thats just it, you can see it can't you? This is why men like Frodo, Mastermind, and Loverboy want to make me feel this way. Because maybe they fear the person I might become.

I walked out on the air last week, and I made it known that to me, the trios belts weren't my concern, there is so much going on right now, that truly I have no idea how I'm standing in front of this camera today, how I'm still worried about the XWF, how my head is still in the game, and its because Ive got someone behind me, because I have people who still believe in me, and what I can do, and really thats all it takes, is a few. The masses cheer my name, but they wave and chant, to the beat of everyone else as well, and the words spoken to any of them are instantly believed. Actions speak louder than words they say, but words cut to the core of everything we are, kind of funny if you think about it. Which is why I am standing here now, because of the actions of my partner Vinnie Lane, you've made a mistake, in calling me into that ring Loverboy. I stood with you, did the best my heart could handle out there, and what was it for? Nothing, just to be stabbed in the back by someone who I considered a partner, everything it seems, goes back to my conception of trust. Clean only stood there, but somehow I can't help but believe that he felt the same way. So what do we do about the situation Vinny?

I'll give you your match, and after I'm done, you'll understand that what happened out there in that ring was truly the last time I will be disrespected, by you, or anyone else in this company. You thought I was going to leave you out there to hang, both of you did, yeah, I got the voicemail, I read the cute little craigslist add you had put up for me. And by all rights, I should have left the both of you to hang for all of it, I should have walked away, and laughed. Clean, make no mistake, I have no real problem with who you are, and if it could have been just you and me out there, I think things would have gone pretty much the same. But where our team now will faulter, is in what happens between Vinny, and Me. Because we can't see eye to eye anymore, I can't. The things that have happened to me here in the XWF have to stop, and an example has to be made, so if I have to end the career of my own Trio's partner, than I will... we can replace him. We can find another way around his absense. And we can hold these belts, and return them to the heights for which they were once intended.

If I had my way, this would happen on the First of September, but instead my attention must be turned, to someone who just this weekend found himself in quite the same scenario I have found myself in, can you feel it Blizzard, the entirety of the XWF building against you? You like me, got screwed out a title that was rightfully yours, so believe me when I tell you that all of those emotions, the confusion, the hate, I am feeling at this very moment. The two of us this week, could make quite the impact if placed on the same side of the ring, but leave it up to the booking staff, not to see something like that. No, instead the two of us have no choice but to walk into that ring and beat the living hell out of each other. But to me, it seems as if the XWF works against both you and I, so whos to say something bigger isn't happening here. Believe me, I have developed something of a sense for these things, and to me it seems like we are agreeing to be ambushed. My advice to you, keep your eyes open, because I get the feeling I'm not the only person you have to worry about out there.

The same goes for me, so don't take me for being arrogant, because I know that most of these people would watch me burn just as quickly. We could sit here all day and assume, but what I want to ask you now, is why you think it is the XWF chooses people like you, people like me, and turns what seems like an entire world against them. I might not have it as bad as you, not now, with management standing against you, what chance do you really have? The chance your willing to take Blizzard, the chance your willing to take. But are you going to step up? And take what yours? Am I? I guess that too is all in the hands of... no... not fate.... its up to us now. I wouldn't blame you at all, if your head wasn't really in this match, mine is elsewhere as well, but rightfully so, you have alot going on right now, and so do I. I just want you to understand that I know, whatever the outcome of this match might be, I am just another Opponent, your real enemy won't be the person standing in that ring, keep your eyes open.

Wide Open.

- instant black -

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