08/19/2017
The Thames River
Immediately following the “Big Ben Brawl”
The emergency medical team have just finished fishing the unconscious Graves out of the Thames river and securing him to a gurney. Two men dressed in EMT uniforms lift the gurney up into the back of an ambulance and roll Graves in. One of the men climbs into the back with Graves, the other closes the double doors on the ambulance and then jogs to the driver's side and hops in. Lights flash and the siren squeals as the ambulance pulls away to presumably deliver Micheal to a local hospital. Inside of the ambulance, the two EMTs carry on a conversation about the fantastical match that they just witnessed.
Dan: So, that was pretty wild, yeah?
Says the driver as he looks back to his co-worker who is busy checking Micheal’s vitals.
Ben: For sure, The XWF has some neat special effects.
Ben doesn’t seem too interested in the conversation. Maybe he isn’t a wrestling fan, or perhaps he is just more focused on the task at hand.
Dan: You think it was all smoke and mirrors then?
Dan asks with a sarcastic tone.
Ben: What do you think?
Dan: I think that we just saw a dragon appear out of thin air and two men then fought on top of it!
Ben actually stops attending to Graves to shoot his co-worker a disapproving look before responding.
Ben: You can’t be serious. There’s no such thing as Dragons, and even if there were, they wouldn’t be on a wrestling show.
Dan takes his eyes off of the road again to look back at Ben.
Dan: I don’t know how to explain it, but I know it wasn’t just some cheap effect. For Christ sake, we saw it all live! Tell me, if it wasn’t real, how did they pull off that effect live, huh?
Ben pauses for a moment to give it some thought.
Ben: Holograms and wires if I had to guess.
Dan glances back again.
Dan: Are you fucking kidding me, that was no Holo…
CRASH!
A black sedan pulls into view as a man in a black suit and tie climbs out of the diesel truck that just crashed into the ambulance.The sedan parks just in front of the wreckage of the overturned ambulance as the man from the truck approaches the back and opens up the two double doors. Ben looks up, blood dripping down his face from a deep gash in his forehead. The unnamed man pulls a gun from under his arm and points it at Ben. Ben instinctively throws his hand up to shield his face.
Ben: NO, WAIT!
BLAM! BLAM!
The man with the gun turns his attention to the driver who is hanging from his seat by his seatbelt. He isn’t breathing, seems he was killed on impact. This mysterious man tucks his gun back into his jacket before pulling Graves unconscious body from the wreckage. He tosses Graves over his shoulder and carries him to the sedan and tosses him in the truck with very little care. He then climbs into the backseat of the car before it drives off.
08/20/2017
Undisclosed Location
A beautiful woman is standing in a well-lit hallway, silently peering through a window into a darkened room that contains Micheal Graves, who is still in some sort of coma and hooked up to various machines to monitor his health. Surprisingly, the beautiful woman is Michael's estranged wife Stephanie. The two of them haven’t spoken to one another since March, not since Micheal’s obsession with Dolly Waters lead to their separation and eventual divorce. She has a look of concern on her face as she fiddles with her gold necklace.
???: Any improvement in the condition of the subject?
Stephanie jumps, startled by the break in silence.
Stephanie Graves: No sir, he’s yet to regain consciousness.
The older man, who we first met prior to Micheal’s Big Ben Brawl with Jim Caedus, peers into the room. We haven’t learned much of anything about this person yet, other than he seems to be in charge of some sort of agency, and the agency has some sort of stake in Micheal Graves. He lets out a short disappointed sigh as he stares at the unconscious Graves.
???: Retaining his memories was problematic enough. Why in the hell is he not healing though?
Stephanie Graves: Our scientist looked him over when he first arrived. They had the same questions that you have…
???: And?
Stephanie Graves: They didn’t have any answers. The best guess that they could give us was that this isn’t actually Micheal Graves.
The man lets out another sigh as he turns his attention back to the room. He stares at Micheal as if doing so will somehow provide him with the answers he seeks.
???: You posed as his wife for twelve years… Is there a chance that’s not him?
She hesitates to answer. Is it because she cares for Micheal, or because she is unsure herself?
Stephanie Graves: I don’t have any reason to think that’s not Micheal…
???: Then get Reeves back in here to run some more test. We need to figure out why he isn’t regenerating and how he managed to retain his memories after we reconditioned him the last time.
Stephanie Graves: Right away sir…
Stephanie turns and begins to walk down the hall.
???: Oh, and Ms. Roberts, do try and remember who you work for. If you have any feelings for this man, I would advise you to forget them… Understood?
Stephanie hesitates for a moment, perhaps shocked by the accusation.
Stephanie Roberts: Yes sir Director McCoy…
Stephanie turns and disappears down the hall. The man that we now know as McCoy turns his attention back towards Micheal Graves. He silently stares into the room for a moment before deciding to open the door. McCoy enters the room and stands over Micheal Graves. The room is dark, but you can see enough of Micheal’s unmasked face to tell that his facial features are mangled and a bit horrifying. One of his eyes seems to hand slightly lower than the other, his nose is a broken twisted mess of flesh, and the majority of his skin seems to have a bumpy scarred texture.
Director McCoy: You people are supposed to be exceptional killing machines.
He whispers to himself as he stares down at Micheal.
Director McCoy: You are the first Weapon to reappear. The only one left alive as far as anyone knows.
McCoy looks up to the ceiling, it’s almost like he is about to ask for some sort of divine intervention, but instead, he just releases a frustrated sigh and looks back down to Micheal.
Director McCoy: Of course it would be you wouldn't it? The black sheep of DRW. The guy who managed to slip away from the grasp of their mind control for no other reason than the fact that your mind was already so broken that nobody can put the pieces back together well enough for you to perform any function other than whatever crazy nonsense pops into your head from one moment to the next. You couldn’t even defeat Jim Caedus despite the fact that all you had to do was throw him into a damn river. Why was that? Was it because you weren’t physically capable of performing such a task, or were you simply fighting our programming like you did with DRW?
McCoy pauses, almost like he expects an answer.
Director McCoy: Make no mistake Mr. Graves, you will work for us, even if it ends up killing you. The only value that you hold with me is as a lab rat. You are the key to our nation's military advancement. Imagine an army of enhanced soldiers who can heal near instantaneously? Soldiers who obey any and all commands without question, and who are all focused on a singular mission.
McCoy places his hands on the bed at either side of Micheal’s head and leans down close as he continues to whisper, but now in an angry tone and through gritted teeth.
Director McCoy: You will wake up… You Will heal… And you will eliminate the next target…
Micheal Graves: Your breath smells like stale cabbage…
Micheal’s eyes fly open as McCoy’s seems to nearly pop out of his head. Before McCoy can react Graves reaches up and grabs him by the throat. McCoy grabs Graves wrist with both hands as he desperately gasps for air. Micheal swings his legs off the bed and sits up without releasing his grip on McCoy.
Micheal Graves: While Gravy Co. appreciates your interest in our popular toy line, we regret to inform you that our products are rated for ages 16 and under.
Graves drops his feet to the floor and stands up, still maintaining his tight grip on McCoy’s throat who at this point looks to be within seconds of passing out.
Director McCoy: A… Acquire target… Target:ChrisValerius…
Graves eyes begin to dart back and forth as he twitches.
Micheal Graves: ...
Graves loosens his grip on McCoy, allowing him to slip out. McCoy backs up a few feet and props himself against the wall as he both massages his throat and tries to catch his breath. Micheal doesn’t move a muscle. After a moment Director McCoy grabs a walkie talkie from his belt and pulls it up to his face.
Director McCoy: I need somebody to come to the subject's room right now!
A male voice on the other end responds.
Is everything ok sir?... over.
McCoy stares into the blank emotionless eyes of Michael Graves for a moment before responding.
Director McCoy: Yeah… Yeah, everything's fine. I want the subject prepared for reinsertion into the field.
Present Day
Unhinged, out of control, anarchist. I have watched video after video of this man. Match after match, and every time that he comes up on my screen, I am filled with an uncontrollable hatred.
His face and the goofy looking expression that seems to adorn it more often than not causes me to long for the days to pass quickly so that I will be afforded the opportunity to peel the skin from said face and ensure that I’m never again forced to gaze upon it. Chris Valerius has the one thing that every man and woman strive for. The one thing that every creature that is locked away thirsts for. The one thing that has been stripped away from me.
Freedom…
It’s something that every living creature strives for. Its something that once you have it, you take it for granted.
More specifically, I’m talking about free will…
It was handed out to all humankind and more often than not, within that free will people waste it away by choosing self-destruction.
Chris Valerius uses his free will to reign terror in the XWF. He is cold and calculating. He does whatever he deems necessary in order to maintain his relevance, to stay ahead and to prove his dominance. His actions, like the ones featured in his last two showings at Savage. They show that through the use of his free will, Chris Valerius is setting himself down a road that will only end with his own demise.
It’s the same road that I followed when Jim Caedus, Robert Main, and myself formed an alliance and decided that we were going to get ahead by any means necessary. Our actions, at first seemed to accomplish exactly what we set out to do. We were the talk of the XWF, and we would go on to win a lot of titles in a very short amount of time.
However, all of that noise that we were making drew the attention of another group of men. A group of men that would ultimately lead to the destruction of our group.
The Kings(™)
Now Chris Valerius has attracted the attention of someone who is going to lead to his own personal destruction.
Micheal Graves
Chris Valerius longs to be viewed as an unhinged, tough, in your face, badass who will take the XWF by storm. Yet when faced with his first real challenge in Neville Sinclair, he allowed the veteran to outwit him simply by running out the time limit. This forced Chris to desperately try to force a submission with only seconds left in the match, and we all saw how that ended.
Now you are set to face Micheal Graves. Arguably the toughest man in the XWF today. It states in your official profile page that Chris Valerius doesn’t go down simply because he doesn’t want to. That comment implies both a strong will and a complete lack of self-preservation. If you lose control of a fight, the best strategy is to go on the defense, create some space, and plan a new offensive approach. Not take a volley of hits, and refuse to drop just to prove how tough you are. That’s some Apollo Creed shit, and I’m sure you know how his story ends.
I now have my sights set on Valerius and if he plans on going toe to toe with me… if he plans on refusing to go down while I’m unloading hit after hit if he really thinks that he stands a chance… then his story will end in the same way.
Target:ChrisValerius
If he dies, he dies…
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