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The Engineer · (11-21-2017)

The camera pans over a high end restaurant. Glasses of fine wine serve as a twinkling accompaniment to the melodious sounds of a grand piano playing on a slowly rotating dias. Warm lighting plays over the patrons of the restaurant as impeccably dressed waiters answer their beck and call.

The camera finally settled on a single table for two. More specifically, your view looks over and across the table from the Engineer. Engy is astoundingly well dressed, especially for him. A fitted tux hangs over his stout form. His hair is slicked back from his forehead, giving him a sharp edged look that accentuates his facial features. He holds up a glass of wine to the camera sitting in the “date position” and smiles.

In the immortal words of Dumb and Dumber's Lloyd Christmas, “So you're saying there's a chance!”

Engy chuckles and takes a sip.

But in all seriousness Jenny, your response? Far better than I had hoped. To be frank, I was expecting a hard no followed by about eight and a half minutes of dry heaving. What I got was cautious mutual respect, a glimmer of hope, and even....an honest to God offer to give me a chance?! Well shit, I need to brush up on my dating skills! So that's why I'm here. Out in respectable society, behaving like a human being. You see, I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to the whole dinner and a movie dealio. I mean, yeah, I was with Tomi for a cup of coffee but our relationship was more of a....how do I put this....Netflix and Chill (and pretend to care) kind of thing. You? You deserve that red carpet girl.

Okay, okay, there was one teensy, tiny (inconsequential really!) gripe that I had with what you had to say. More on that in a bit. But for now, lets just enjoy each other's company from afar, let's commiserate, let's engage in...dare I say it, a touch of playful banter?

The champ smirks wryly a bit and takes another sip of the wine.

What I found most fascinating about you is that you said that even with as much as you've shown us, there's still so much more beneath your surface. Well, hey, do tell! I'm all ears. In fact, I'll show you mine if you show me yours, heh. Sorry, a bit forward that. But I'm so glad to hear that I was right about you. You know, everybody dogs you saying that you're vapid and shallow and cookie cutter. But I knew that wasn't true! You don't get to be people like us without having a slew of mental nooks and crannies where all manner of quirks, scandals, hardships, and triumphs lurk waiting for some kind of trigger event to unleash a flurry of post-traumatic neurotransmissions! Some people like to call us crazy Jenny, but me? I've always preferred COMPLEX.

~SEGUE~

Esteemed psychiatrist to your Xtreme champion, Dr. Bennie, looks troubled. His hands worry in his lap as he looks on longingly at the silent cell phone on his desk. It's illuminated by a small desk lamp, and it occurs to him with grim amusement that the light being cast directly on the phone almost makes it look like it's being interrogated. But despite the pressure of the imaginary little police officers that he sees reading the phone a pretend riot act, it fails to give up the goods.

No calls.

He scoops up the phone and dumps it into the side pocket of his tweed jacket. Something is very, very wrong.

He goes to the door of his study and casts it open, working his way down the dimly lit hall to the secret room he had added just past the bathroom. His fingers find the latch, almost invisible unless you know just where to look, and he pulls it. The door opens and he proceeds within, down a small flight of stairs and into a cellar room built adjacent to the den. The room is barren except for a simple folding chair standing before a series of screens. At present, the screens are alive with a silent static, but in a moment's time they would be occupied by some of the nation's biggest power brokers.

Bennie checks his watch nervously, reassuring himself that their appointed meeting was imminent, and almost as if on cue, the screens start to flutter to life sequentially.

~End Segue~

We return to the Engineer at the restaurant, who is continuing on as if nothing had happened.

You were spot on about a couple of other things too Jenny. We are both constantly under the gun aren't we? Always fending off haters...why, I just earned a brand new hater this past Saturday! But I guess that's what happens when you're successful like us, huh? You tend to harvest the wheat WITH the chaff. Too bad it usually seems like there's just so much more chaff lately. And believe you me, I know there's always people gunning for me. In fact, did you know that there is like an entire pocket dimension just for the Xtreme championship where people can pop in from out of nowhere and try to pin you for the title?

Okay, okay...maybe it's not all that. But...are you sure you really want this thing?

The piano is playing a rather unsettling and more aggressive musical selection now. Some of the other patrons are quirking their eye brows and shooting each other confused looks. The Engineer is turned towards the piano now, a wistful smile playing across his face.

I love this song. It's amazing what you can make happen with a Jefferson and an idea. Where was I? Oh yeah, the Xtreme championship. Well....remember when I said earlier that I had one minute, mote-like, really more like a big fat nothing issue with what you said? Here it is....

~Segue~

Bennie snaps to attention as the monitors awaken. He finds himself belting out their mantra like a Pavlovian response.

VOX AETERNA! HAIL....!

He stops short. The elders are unmasked. All of them. Not that it was a surprise who they were. He always knew, that was never the point of the masks. The point was always more of a symbolic one, that what these august men and women did in the light was the barest tip of the proverbial iceberg compared to what they did in the dark. The masks represented the unknowable awful truth of what their actual, base motives really were, that which the dumb blind masses could never know. Truth be told, Bennie wasn't sure what losing the masks signified, but it chilled him to the core nonetheless for reasons he couldn't quite pinpoint.

Your faces....they are uncovered...

The elders all look uncharacteristically nervous. This makes the ulcer in Bennie's gut throb ever more intensely. These people were seminal puppet masters. When lunatics decried the antics of the Illuminati, the Bilderbergs, the Masons, they unwittingly stumbled on the machinations of these very men and women. But not even the most psychotic schizophrenic, the most disturbed mental patient, could possibly imagine the depths of depravity that these faces were truly capable of.

And my God, something had THESE monsters scared.

Why aren't you speaking? What's wrong?

And it was right about then that Dr. Bennie felt the breath on the back of his neck.

~End Segue~

We once again return to Engy in the restaurant. His unusual piano concerto continues to play in the background.

I was tempted to be mad Jenny....I....I....let me back up a bit. I mean, heh....I'M SURE IT'S NOTHING! But towards the end of your promo you, well, you started saying some things that started to confuse me. You started implying that maybe I could make you happy by going easy on you and heh...I was all like, huh?

Jenny Myst. The toughest bitch in the XWF. Jenny Myst. The woman who threw off the shackles of the dead weight that is Chris Chaos and went on the claim an entire division. THAT Jenny Myst is asking me to pitch her a soft ball?

Engy makes a confused expression.

Jenny, you don't need me to do that. You can beat me all on your own. There,I just put it right out there. You can do what Jim Caedus, Robert Main, John Samuels and yes (because I know you can't hear it enough) Chris Chaos, failed to do! You have all the temerity and toughness you need to beat the Engineer, hon. So why you would ask me to go easy on you is just utterly beyond me.

But then, and again I'M SURE IT'S NOTHING, you asked me what was more important to me, the Xtreme championship....or you? And that's when I started to get it.

The Engineer takes a deep calming breath, which the jarring piano music in the background cuts a jarring counterpoint to.

There's one awful reality to abuse victims like us Jenny. More like an uncomfortable truth.

We don't know what healthy relationships look like.

And how could we? Our formative years were nothing but adults undermining the loving bond that is SUPPOSED to exist between a parent and a child. So is it any big surprise that folks like us grow up falling into one degenerate relationship after another? You yourself spelled out the dysfunction that existed between you and Chris. And for years I thought that Madison using me was the way friends were supposed to act.

So you'll have to forgive me if I heard what you said and wondered if maybe, just maybe, you were trying to con me. To use my feelings for you against me. It....

Engy looks away from the camera a bit to wipe away a black tear that had escaped from the corner of his eye.

It makes me think of something my psychiatrist Dr. Bennie, good ol' Dr. Bennie, used to say to me. He said, “Dex, healthy relationships aren't....”

~Segue~

Dr. Bennie winces despite himself. The small hairs on his neck stand erect. There's only one person it could possibly be.

Dexter, how long have you known?

The Engineer leans in even closer, if that's possible. Dr. Bennie's eyes pinch shut.

Long enough. And it's a damn shame, doc. You goin' behind my back, cavortin' with some freaky deaky cult to use me. Not very THRAPEUTIC, wouldn't you say?

He glowers at the power brokers on the screens. One of them starts to stammer out a defense but Engy cuts him off abruptly.

SHUT UP! Now doc, these fine people on all the little TV's, they're reasonable sorts. I had some chats with them. Some very productive chats. And it turns out that our aims ain't so dissimilar after all. So as it turns out, not much is gonna change except for one glaring thing...this is a PARTNERSHIP now. A partnership where every decision gets passed through me, but a partnership nonetheless. No more keeping me in the dark. No more back alley scheming. Just all nice and above board. As it should be. Because what is it you always said about healthy relationships?

Engy rests his chin on Dr. Bennie's shoulder. Bennie shudders.

Healthy relationships aren't....

~End Segue~

...MANIPULATION.

He speaks this word with an air of finality. You also notice that he's been rubbing his thumb on the edge of his butter knife so hard it's started to bleed. His lip tics before he starts to speak again.

Healthy relationships aren't manipulation, Jenny. Now, because we are the same kind of fucked up, I'm thinking you said what you said without even thinking. It's just second nature for people like us. Using and abusing because we don't know anything but. Which is why I'm gonna give you a do over. You get another shot at being straight up with me. You want my title? Sure. Who doesn't. You want to give me a shot at loving you? That's more than amazing.

But if you want to try to use my feelings to get me to give you a win? Refer to point A.

One do over. It's one more than I give anyone else. Don't waste it.

In the meantime, because I'm an optimistic sort, I'll keep brushing up on my gentlemanly skills while I await your response. I'm sure your as smart as you are beautiful. You'll do the right thing.

Engy looks down at the small pool of blood his wounded thumb has created on the pristine white tablecloth. He calls out to the waiter without looking up from it.

Check please!

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