Phone Call - 7:15


Nathaniel glared at his cell phone, stirring him from slumber a whole fifteen minutes before his alarm was due to sound. It would be one thing if it rang an hour before the alarm went off, then he could just go back to sleep but fifteen minutes? There's no point in even trying to do that. This just meant he had to get up earlier than he intended. After working a double shift, he was kind of looking forward to sleeping the full time that he intended on. With an annoyed huff, he snatched the cell phone off the bedside table and as he wiped away the sleep from his eyes, he glanced at the screen.


Lila Laroque.


As soon as he viewed her name, he ignored the call. He knew why she was calling. Somewhat. There really could only be one reason and that reason, came with two options that could lead to 2 very different outcomes. One could potentially change everything and really fuck up his plans and the other, altered nothing at all. The whole thing left him unsure of how to gauge his emotions and that didn't sit well with him, he couldn't process it. Too much drama and emotional bullshit. Those were two things that did not fit into his way of life or thought pattern and he had no time for such things.


He preferred straightforward, precise and uncomplicated, any other approach was unnecessarily convoluted and pointless. What was happening between Lila and him, shattered the foundation of that and he didn't want to deal with it right now. So he didn't. The most annoying part of all though, ignoring the situation didn't make him feel any better. This entire ordeal was really throwing a fucking monkey wrench into the works. He couldn't win and if he couldn't successfully win an internal struggle, how the hell was he supposed to overthrow multiple countries and become the next Führer?


Phone Call - 10:25


After successfully removing a kidney from one patient and transplanting it into another, Nathaniel was on his way to find out where he was needed next, when he felt his cell, vibrate to life. Swiftly retrieving it, he took a look at the screen and rolled his eyes. Lila Laroque. Ignore. Then the phone went right back into his pocket. If he didn't want to dive into that pool when he was at home, he most assuredly didn't want to do that while he was at work.



Phone Call - 12:37


Lunchtime. Nathaniel was in mid-bite of his sandwich. Turkey and swiss on... white bread. At precisely the same time, his cell phone beckoned him to notice it. Finishing that bite, he placed the sandwich back on the plate and as he chewed and swallowed down that portion, he checked his phone. Lila Laroque. Well, that destroyed his lunch break like a hand grenade tossed onto his lap. He swiped the phone icon to the red and shoved the cell back into his pocket. Really hoping that this wasn't going to go on all day.


Phone Call - 3:49


Another successful surgery. Valve repair in a patient's heart. Nathaniel strolled down the corridor, headed away from the operating room, not even a full ten paces away, his cell called for attention. He had a sinking suspicion of who it was and yet, he brought out his phone and directed his focus to the screen anyway. Much to his dismay. Lila Laroque. Nope. He was not answering that. Couldn't she take a hint and maybe wait for him to call her back? That could happen.


Even trying to convince himself that blatant lie was the truth, pissed him off. He didn't know if he was going to call her back. It could be later today or never. Deep down, he kinda wanted it to be the latter. It was shitty and pathetic but this entire mess was producing all sorts of weird thoughts and feelings from Nathaniel. If only he could time travel, he would go back in time and smack the shit out of himself and then tell his past self, to never stick his dick in that woman. Ugh. Did he honestly just think that? See? His brain was all haywire and discombobulated because of this malarkey.



Phone Call - 5:32


In the midst of surgery. Removing fragments of a shotgun shell from some guy's side. Cell phone rings and a nurse standing nearby, reached into Nathaniel's trouser pocket, quickly showing him its face. Lila Laroque. He shook his head and the nurse hit ignore. Seriously? Why wouldn't Lila leave him alone? Fuck. He really needed a cigarette after this procedure was completed.


Text Message - 6:45

Nathaniel we need to talk

No shit. Really? Nathaniel rolled his eyes.


Text Message - 6:46

Call me

Stationed on the rooftop of the hospital. Nathaniel sighed, took a pull from his cigarette and put his phone away. Although, he really wanted to throw it off of the roof at this point. Pull back and give it a proper baseball style pitch. Watch how far it went before smashing on the concrete down below.


"Wow. You look like you're having a real shitty fuckin' day."


Exhaling a cloud of smoke, Nathaniel turned and seen a girl with a black mohawk approaching. Dressed in 10 eye, blue rub-off Grinders, tight dark blue jeans, an Angelic Upstarts t-shirt and a black biker jacket, covered in cone studs, pins and patches of varying punk bands, horror and science fiction films and random obscurity, a bullet belt and a plaid spiked collar - she was a woman that really stood out in the crowd, on the empty rooftop she was a stark poster of rebellion.


However, by this point, Nathaniel simply saw her as Frankie Styles. A daughter of one of the nurses that worked in pediatrics, Frankie met him on the roof in a scenario much like this one, minus the incredible annoyance of what today was providing. Being that she was a very outspoken individual that obviously spent a great majority of her life talking, she attempted to strike up a conversation.


To no avail.


Nathaniel should have simply went with it because ignoring her was the worst mistake he could have ever made. Frankie then made it her project to befriend him and took every opportunity, moment and chance, that she could to pester the shit out of him, in an effort to make him cave and talk to her. She was her mother's ride to and from the hospital, you see... so she was always around. Making her plan, quite diabolical.


One time, Nathaniel was exiting the hospital, after not running into her for a full shift and he thought,... this might be the first day that he didn't have to deal with Frankie's shenanigans, maybe he won and she gave up? Hahaha! No such luck. She pulled up alongside him in her bright purple 1970's Mustang, with Bound For Glory cranking, singing along with "Doctor Marten Dental Plan" and then sped off. Leaving Nathaniel in her dust, shaking his head.


In the end, she won and Nathaniel caved. That's right, Frankie Styles defeated Nathaniel Adolph Zachary Idenhaus and he finally talked to her. It wound up being a good conversation. That was seven months ago. Now they were actually friends. Which was funny, considering that he pushed Sasha away and turned her into his enemy, when she wanted the same thing. Frankie was different though, she had a way of worming her way into your life and once she did, you couldn't get rid of her.


Oddly enough, you didn't want to get rid of her. She was a rare exception, a girl like no other. Nathaniel was even considering to let her and her family live after he became the next Führer. In spite of her many flaws that would otherwise make her unworthy. Frankie had done the impossible, what no one else could, except maybe Azrael Erebus. If that wasn't proof that this girl was extraordinary and unique, there wasn't any. And no, this had nothing to do with him fancying her.


"It has definitely been a day."


Firing up a cigarette, Frankie joined Nathaniel at the edge of the roof. Resting her arms on the waist high barrier that existed around the perimeter of the roof; as she slightly hunched over, Frankie took a drag from her cigarette and glanced toward Nathaniel, his gaze already cast back at the city that stretched out below.


"Do you want to talk about it? She asks her cold, complacent, icy hearted rooftop companion, knowing full well, that he would rather dive off this roof, chin first like his name was Kratos, than discuss his feelings."


"Cold, complacent, icy hearted rooftop companion."


A puff of smoke released by Frankie.


"Would you have preferred pure blooded, German friend, with a desire for world domination and mass genocide?"


"That is a bit better."


"Noted. So tell me Brain, what are we going to do tonight?"


"The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world."


"Shut the front door! You did not just say that!"


Taking a draw off his cigarette, Nathaniel briefly placed his sights on Frankie and smirked.


"Say what? I didn't say anything. Did you hear me say something? You know, you are standing on the roof of a hospital, you could pop down to the psychiatric ward and have that checked out. Hearing voices is serious business. I bet since your mom works here, they'll even give you a discount."


Instant laughter, Frankie turned around and hopped up into a sitting position on the barrier.


"Go down to the fourth floor? Nah. I've already been down there. They say I'm both untreatable and incurable."


"Well I won't disagree with that diagnosis."


Pause.


"How's your mom?"


"Eh, you know, overworked and underpaid, hates her boss but loves her job cause she has a big heart and enjoys taking care of children. So she doesn't say anything to her boss and vents to me instead, thus driving me crazy cause this is almost an everyday thing. I mean, I'm basically her free therapist, driving her to and from work but it's not like I'm going to say shut up."


"Y'know what I'm saying?"


"That would be hella rude and totally mean and there's no way, I could ever be those things to her. In spite of her making me nuts on a fairly regular basis. She's my mom and on top of the fact that I love her, she's too sweet and kind for anyone to be a dick like that to her, least of all her daughter. Which is why I intend on punching her jackass boss in the throat, if I ever catch him outside of the hospital. Anyway, besides all that, she's good and was really impressed when you managed to catch that kid, when he took a running dive off the third floor balcony."


Inhaled smoke, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged.


"I wasn't even trying. All I was doing was passing through and I seen everyone looking up, so I did too and the next thing I knew, a child was falling from the ceiling. Kind of felt that it would be an asshole move to let him go splat, on the linoleum tiles."


"Really? That's insane. So are we honestly going to pretend like I didn't find you on the roof, looking like Darius Xavier and Kuda both took a nap in your bed and you just found this out, after you spent a night sleeping in it?"


"That would be very unfortunate for them if they ever did such a thing. Anyhow, you can do as you will, I'm merely smoking a cigarette on my break."


To emphasis his point he held up his cigarette as he exhaled smoke, immediately followed by another hit from it.


"Come on. Tell me what's going on. Letting stuff out is better than keeping it in. Kinda like a fart or my uncle BoBo-JoJo's gut, after he eats a really big meal. And I mean really big cause he can put away a lot of food."


"You have an uncle named BoBo-JoJo?"


Smoke seeped from his nostrils as he breathed and raised a brow in inquiry, a look of confusion filtering onto his face.


"Sure do. He works for a traveling carnival as a performer... well, side attraction. One of the biggest men in the world. At eight feet tall, six hundred pounds. They travel him around in the back of a big rig, that doubles as the place that he lives. When I was six, I seen him take a bite out of the side of an entire roasted hog. It was still on the spit!"


"Yes, I understand now, the error there was that I asked a question, when I should have kept quiet."


"If you like that, I could tell you about my friend Zanzabar Duke, he says he's Sebastian Duke's long lost brother. I find the story a tad suspect, cause he's from Angola. Born and raised. He does only have a mother and never knew his father. So maybe it's true."


"You're going to keep doing this until I tell you what's wrong, aren't you?"


"Gotta do something until that happens."


"Fine. If you must know, I'm getting phone calls and texts from someone that I don't particularly want to talk to at this current juncture."


"Who?"


"A woman named Lila Laroque. Do you know who Azrael Erebus is?"


"The super powered alien that's always doing stuff to save the world and wrestler for the XWF, yeah I know who he is. Who doesn't know of him?"


"Lila is his daughter."


"Holy shiza! For reals! Why don't you want to talk to her?"


"Because that would mean dealing with a subject that I don't particularly want to deal with it at this present time. And no, don't ask what that subject matter is cause I don't want to get into it with you either."


"Did she do something to you?"


"No. I might have done something to her though."


"What? Did you sleep with her and she got pregnant but you don't know if your the father or not? Oh crap. Did she have the baby and get a paternity test and now, she wants to let you know cause she has the results?"


"That is a creepy accurate guess."


"I watch a lot of movies and television. Seems like a common subplot for a drama."


"Interesting."


"What are you going to do?"


"I don't know."


"Ignore her forever? Cause that's super lame. How are you going to be the future Führer, if you can't handle this shit? You should call her and get it over with. Come on man, rip the band aid off. I know if I were you, I'd want to find out as soon as possible, so I didn't make myself mental, wondering what could or might be. I also would change my name. Since having the acronym for Nazi as a name would be fairly obvious to those trying to locate known Nazis aiming to commit world domination and mass genocide, that also insist on being open about it."


With a nod, Nathaniel took a drag and then flicked the butt of his cigarette off of the roof.


"You're right."


"About changing your name? Cool. What are you going to change it to?"


"What? No. You're right about talking to Lila sooner, rather than later."


"Ah."


Frankie took a final pull off her cigarette as well, except she died it out on the barrier and put the butt in her pocket, to dispose of later. Rather than flip it off of the roof.


"That's cool too."


From there, she jumped down off of the barrier and started for the door.


"I'll leave you to it then."


When she reached the door she looked back and smiled, warm and encouraging like.


"Good luck."


"Thanks."


Then she disappeared through the door and began her trek back down into the hospital. As this occurred, Nathaniel pulled out his cell phone and dialed Lila's number. It went straight to voicemail. Sighing, Nathaniel put his cell away and exited the roof. When he returned to his floor, he stopped dead in his tracks. Eyes fixated on the nurses' station. More specifically, someone standing by the nurses' station. Lila stood there, holding a little boy, with grey eyes and hair, that looked to be about a year old.


(Quick explanation: Lila is half Dareikar Navaar, she had the baby in January, three months after that he would have aged a year. Dareikar Navaar children age 1-2 years, every three months, till they turn 23. Then the aging process goes by a standard, year to year basis.)


Taking a deep breath, Nathaniel continued forward. Not knowing what to say or how to word it, he remained silent when he neared Lila and waited for her to speak first.


"I have been trying to reach you all day."


"I've been busy. What's going on?"


"I have the results. You know, the test results. I brought them with me too, so you can see them for yourself."


Lila produced a folded sheet of paper from her purse and handed it to Nathaniel. He hesitated for only a moment and then unfolded it, swiftly scanning over every inch, before he returned his attention to Lila.


"I'm..."




"It seems I've gotten myself placed within a contendership match for the right to go on and face Mastermind, for his X-Treme Title. And all I had to do was sign up to fight. Strange. Just a few months ago, Sebastian Duke and I were having a discussion about relevancy. Back when he was making up excuses as to why he couldn't face me. A lot of gibberish and nonsense got thrown at me, during that conversation but one thing that I remember is that he seemed to really believe, I wasn't noteworthy as a wrestler. I was nothing without him and therefor not worth his time because, he didn't want to garner me any attention, based off his grandiose presence. You know, due to the fact that nobody would pay me any mind without ol' Duke, pulling me into his spotlight. Yet, here I am, haven't wrestled in months and right off the bat, I'm tossed into a contendership match. While he's off grazing in a pasture somewhere. After doing absolutely nothing of value in the terms of wrestling. It's interesting."


"Yet it has nothing to do with this fight."


"So I'm going to switch gears and focus on my opponents. Bearded War Pig. Zane Norrison. And Luca Arzegotti. What can I say about these men?"


"Well, Luca and I go way back to the days of the Black Circle, when he was running around with us and carrying our bags. Even when he was on crutches. I've seen that guy go through more plastic surgery than a single person should and now, it appears that it's caught up with him. Along with the virtual cornucopia of narcotics that he subjected his body to on a regular basis. From what I am to understand, he's also come out of the closet. I can't say that surprises me, the way that he carried on with Azrael, his frenemy. It was always a working theory that there was something more behind their shenanigans. Now it seems the assumptions were accurate."


"Obviously his new status changes nothing in the terms of the damage that he'll receive but I'm sure he knows that. Although, when I stomp his skull in... and that is definitely my intention, I will stomp his skull in, I'll more then likely make him bite the steel steps, really put solid effort in it too. Ensuring that he won't walk away from this fight and if he does manage to survive, his jaw will most assuredly be broken and he'll be missing all or most of his teeth. Certainly, that'll have no effect on his personal life, afterwards. Being the 'Meme' Queen' I'm positive that he's already forgotten how to speak with actual words by now."


"On to Zane Norrison. Mr. Norrison, I heard your promo and you seem to know quite a bit about me, while I know absolutely nothing about you. You know that I'm a werewolf and have knowledge of my agenda. All I know is that you're a zombie. Which doesn't frighten me one bit cause I do carry a gun on me, pretty much at all times. A luger. I have it on me now. If you lose control, become overcome with rage, I will gladly put you down with zero hesitation."


"Keep that in mind when we're in the ring and maybe it'll help to subside that uncontrollable force that overtakes you. Cause it does seem like you enjoy your existence, in spite of being a disgusting, walking and talking corpse. If you lose control and come at me, you won't be lurching among the living anymore. You will die, again and this time it'll be permanent."


"Finally, Bearded War Pig. What can I say about you? You seem like someone that would definitely make the list of vermin to exterminate. I don't know if you're a redneck or a hillbilly or simply some deranged nutcase, that lives off the grid in a shack in the woods. Surrounded by booby traps and guns. Drinking well water and feverishly writing your manifesto."


"I don't really care either."


"You're clearly unsubstantial, worthless, white trash and when the time comes, you will definitely be rounded up with the others. Most likely the ones that nothing gets wasted on, in terms of your death. You'll merely get tossed in a pit and wither away till you die with a bunch of the other undesirables that aren't worth the cost of bullets or gas. Before that happens you have the privilege of getting beaten down by the next Fuhrer. Lucky you."

Current Hart Champion
1x X-Treme Champion
1x Television Champion
1x SOTM November 2013