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X-treme Wrestling Federation »   » Archives » High Stakes Battle Royale RP Board
The Ares Project: A Devastating Loss
Author Message
Thaddeus Duke Offline
Lionhearted
Management Lv. 2


WWW

XWF FanBase:
Some of everyone

(cheered; very rarely plays dirty but isn't lame either; many likable qualities)


#1
10-20-2020, 11:13 AM


Illuminatus Compound || Old Saybrook, Connecticut


Things on the war front have been quiet and uninteresting. We continue to trail a step behind the Ares Project and that doesn’t bode well when things do finally pop off again. It’s war. It is inevitable that at some point in the future, the Ares Project will strike again, or that we will finally deliver a devastating and much needed blow to our enemy.

It’s half past two in the morning and all is quiet. The Illuminatus Compound is deep in their slumber, resting up before the days events. Aside from the Ares Project, which takes precedence over all other things on the agenda, other items of note take place. Things like weapons training and vehicle maintenance. Things like intelligence briefings and fact gathering. So much of it, the world never sees and that’s by design. Running a nation, even one so small as the Illuminatus Nation, one without any physical borders no less, can be drab and mundane. Moreover, things don’t usually happen in the dead of night. At least, nothing more than the typical satellite surveillance team tracking the enemies as best they can.

Tonight, things get thick. The moment we’ve been waiting for finally arises.

“Thad!” I call out after a knock on the door and a quick entry into his bedroom. ”Thad, wake up!”

”Hmmm? Thaddeus replies, likely unaware at all that he’s being awakened.

Venturing over to the side of the bed I nudge my best friend. ”Thad, you need to wake up, we have a situation.”

”What time is it?” he asks with a sleepy voice.

”Oh two thirty-four,” I answer him. ”Asmodeus air base is under attack!”

The news jars Thaddeus from his sleep.

”Mother fuck!” he shouts as he stumbles out of bed in only a pair of boxer shorts.

”What’s wrong baby?” Liz asks, still mostly asleep.

”I have a situation, go back to sleep,” he replies to her as he wrestles his Wranglers onto his legs.

Liz lifts her head off the pillow. ”What’s the situation?”

”Asmodeus is under attack,” he replies as he buttons his jeans and pulls up the zipper. ”Go back to sleep babe, I’ll handle this.”

Liz rolls out of bed in her silk pajamas. ”I’m in this with you, I’m coming too.”

Within a few minutes, the military chiefs have filed into the Sit room along with Intel chief Lincoln Tritter. Not long after, Liz and Thaddeus enter the room. As is the custom, they stand when he enters a room. Any room.

”Keep your seats,” Thaddeus says emphatically as he passes by his chiefs toward the head of the table. His chiefs rest.

”What do we got?” Liz asks as she and Thad take their seats.

”A few minutes ago,” I begin to explain. ”We got word that Asmodeus Air Base in Berlin was attacked by the Ares Project. They tried to send out a distress signal to the cells in Germany, but their communications were jammed and wouldn’t send.”

”So we got our asses kicked,” Thaddeus assumes. ”Again,” he emphasizes, his stare burning a hole through Lincoln Tritter. ”If communications were jammed, how do we know about the attack?”

”One of our boys escaped the base before it was over and got to a safe house,” the Air Force chief replies. ”According to him, they rolled in with a small number of tanks and obliterated us.”

”Obliterated?” Thaddeus clues in on the word. ”Meaning what exactly?”

”Sir,” the chief begins. ”We were wiped out. Asmodeus has fallen.”

”And you didn’t see this coming, Linc?” Thaddeus asks his Intel chief, his voice level raising a few octaves.

”We had no hard evidence that...”

”No hard evidence,” Thad interrupts. ”Which means you had an idea and you didn’t tell me about it! Either you’re incompetent or you’re working with them. That’s my view at this moment, Lincoln.”

”Thad, I can assure you...”

”Shut the hell up right now, because I have half a mind to take you out back and have you shot for treason, so spare me anymore of this excuse making garbage,” Thad interrupts angrily. ”You didn’t have any hard evidence to bring me, but obviously you thought something was coming. You should have fucking informed me because I would have had the base on high alert and the cells on standby for back up.

“Instead, I’m sitting here looking like a mother fucking idiot with my dick in my hand, so tell me Lincoln, what the fuck is it? Are you incompetent or a traitor?”
The cells Thaddeus refers to are splinter cells of Illuminatus combatants that take up residence in nearby communities just for this very reason. To go into action if something were to happen.

”There was no indication... they were going for the air base, sir,” Tritter answers with far more respect than he typically shows in these private settings. ”My team thought that… they were gonna hit the Compound again.”

”Clearly that would have been much better to still not be fucking prepared for!” Thaddeus shouts angrily. Lincoln Tritter’s failures are wearing on him at increasing speeds. ”My family lives here you fucking neanderthal numb skull!”

”Sir,” Tritter says with a slightly sheepish nod.

Thaddeus palms his forehead and runs his finger through his hair a moment, trying to calm himself down a little. ”General?” he says with a much more even tone. ”How many survivors?”

”Sir?” the General replies, unsure of how to answer him.

”Survivors, General!” he shouts, losing his shit again. ”How many of our people survived this attack?”

”The one that escaped, Sir,” the General replies quietly. The color drains from Thaddeus’s face. ”He managed to get out just before the base fell. He saw our men and women being executed.

“We can only assume there are no survivors.”


Thaddeus leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling for a moment.

”General Thomas?” Thad says, referring to his army General as he continues to stare at the ceiling.

”Yes sir?”

”Approximately how many soldiers do we have in Germany and Poland?”

”Roughly twelve thousand, sir.”

”Do we have enough tanks to hit back?”

”We have hundreds of tanks at our disposal, sir. In the Berlin region, there’s about three dozen.”

”Is it enough to retake that base?” he asks, finally looking down again from the ceiling.

”They took it with seven, sir.”

”The base fell to just seven tanks?” he asks dejectedly.

”Sir if I may,” the air force general interrupts, to which Thaddeus nods in his direction. ”The air force base is manned with airmen, sir. They’re not equipped for ground fighting. Not adequately trained to do it at least.”

”How many F-16’s are still in the bunker outside Rome?”

”Twenty.”

”If we roll in with three dozen tanks and bombard the shit out of them with fighters backed by bombers, while mobilizing the twelve thousand ground troops, what are our chances of successfully retaking the air base?”

”Sir, we don’t know how many men the Ares Project has occupying the base or what type of weaponry they’re equipped with.”

”You gotta give me something, General.”

”Sir,” he begins. ”We have the most elite air force on the planet. We’re equipped with the most nimble and lethal fighter jets in the world and if you use them, you will retake that base.

“Now I can’t promise you we won’t lose a lot more lives, but I guarantee that Asmodeus will return to Illuminatus hands.”


Thad sits quietly as he contemplates. As his best friend, I hate to see this for him. For us really, but mostly him. In previous wars, he’s been the aggressor and the victor. This time, things are very different. With intelligence failure after failure, he keeps compounding mistakes with more mistakes. In war time, you’re only as good as your intelligence gathering allows you to be and on that front, Lincoln Tritter has been outsmarted and outmaneuvered at nearly every turn. That has put us all in a position to keep taking on shit while not at all being able to dig ourselves out of it.

”General Thomas, how long to get the tanks and soldiers mobilized and in position to strike?”

”Eighteen hours from the word go, sir.”

”And the jets at the ready?” he asks of his air force general.

”Long before the army.”

Thaddeus sighs deeply as he turns to Liz.

”Liz, you’re gonna have to take Frankie somewhere and get a hotel for a few days.”

”What? Why?”

”Because if this was just a distraction to take my eye off the ball and they decide to hit the Compound while I’m in Europe...”

”No way! You are NOT going...”

”I am, Liz. It’s my duty. Take Frankie and get the hell out of here before I leave.”

”Other nations leaders don’t take up arms themselves, Thad!”

”No, but I’m not other nations leaders,” he replies to her before turning his attention to me. ”Jim, get Illuminatus Two fueled up. I want to be wheels up within the hour.”

”Right mate,” I reply to his orders.

”Babe,” he says, returning his attention to Elizabeth. ”I’m not waiting for the next thing. I can’t. I have to hit them back and hit them hard.”

He may not admit it, but Thaddeus loves this stuff. He loves a good fight and to finally have the opportunity to hit back at the Ares Project which he has longed for since the day they attacked the Compound is just too good to pass up.

”Your orders sir?” asks the air force general for clarification.

”I want the base surrounded by the time I get to Rome. The sound of multiple incoming fighter jets is pretty unmistakable, General. They’ll know when it’s time.

“This is your ‘go’ order, gentlemen.”




”There are those that look at things as they are and ask why… I dream of things that never were and ask why not?” Robert Kennedy.

That’s the question, isn’t it? Why? The powers that be want to know how or why we’re going to put it all on the line and come out victorious with the Universal strap around our waist. If you ask me, it’s a pretty dull and boring exercise. Like a verbal essay trying to explain to the world what being the Universal Champion would mean to you.

Here’s a reality check: the fact is I already earned my shot at the Universal title. I earned it by defeating the number one pretender not once, but twice inside of a month. I earned it by being the fucking Lionheart. I earned it by routing Relentless weekend and defeating three guys in a single fucking event in a variety of brutally epic matches.

This isn’t about the number one pretender. Rules stipulate I’m not allowed to talk shit, because… I don’t really know why.

It’s about me. It’s always been about me. See, this company has this uncanny ability to overlook where their bread is buttered. When my name is on the marquee, ratings go up. Buy rates go up. My merchandise flies off the shelves. There are more asses in seats because the XWF Universe, whether they love me or hate me, knows that what they’re getting with a Thaddeus Duke match is nothing but his absolute fucking best. But nah Thad, we’re going a different direction. Maybe down the road you’ll get a shot.

Despite my unrivaled ability to steal the fucking show on any given night, despite my meteoric rise to one of the most popular stars to set foot in a wrestling ring anywhere, not just the XWF. Despite my limitless potential, despite my willingness to put my body, my future, my career… on the line to send the Universe home happy, despite running the table at Relentless on a sprained ACL… Despite all of that, yours truly still gets overlooked and put on the back burner for less qualified, less popular, less interesting, less entertaining commodities.

So the question I pose to the powers that be in the Xtreme Wrestling Federation is why not Thaddeus fucking Duke? What more do I need to do to prove that I’m the real number one contender? What more do I need to do to prove to everyone that I am the real deal, that I have always been the real deal and I’ll continue to be the real deal regardless of the final result of this battle royal and the ensuing miserable failure coming our way on the follow up Warfare?

If you think I’m taking being overlooked lying down, you haven’t been paying attention. If you think that if I don’t win this fucking battle royal that I’m not still going to climb to the highest mountain with the loudest megaphone and the most powerful speakers and shout to the world that Thaddeus Duke deserves to be slotted into the Warfare main event as the second challenger to the number one pretender and whomever does win the battle royal, once again, you haven’t been paying attention.

Yes, I’m angling for what I deserve. Battle royals are a crapshoot and have never been about who is better. Wrestling matches are. So, when I talk about getting eliminated, that’s not me conceding that someone else is better. It just means exactly what I said, you don’t have to be the best to win a battle royal. You only gotta be in the right place at the right time.

So while I have every intention of going into High Stakes where quite literally the stakes have never been any higher, and walk out victorious as your new Universal Champion, I’m fully prepared to invoke Plan B if necessary. And that’s appealing to the sensibilities of the ruling class and Derrick Diamond.

You name me one mother fucker more worthy of a legitimate shot at the Universal Championship and I’ll pack up and go the fuck home. I say it because its true. I say it because there isn’t a man or woman on the roster more deserving of a shot, let alone the title itself, than your Lionheart. I’m coming to High Stakes for what I’ve rightfully earned. I’m coming to High Stakes to put the stamp on my still very young career. I’m coming to High Stakes because I deserve to be the man. The Universe, the XWF deserves for me to be… the man.

Y’all can say whatever it is you like about me. The fact is I have never lacked in self confidence. I have never thought that someone was better than me in that ring regardless of whether I’m a victor or a loser in any given contest. I’m going to use my god given agility and athleticism to my advantage in this match and become your new reigning defending Universal Champion simply because no one in this company deserves it more than I do.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone hungrier than I am, especially after sitting on the sidelines with a headset and clipboard since Relentless just when my star is soaring.

I’m entering High Stakes and I’m outlasting whomever wishes to enter simply because I fucking want it.

[Image: wgqr9W2.png]
74-31-1
Semi-Retired


1x  XWF Universal Champion || 3x  XWF Xtreme Champion || 1x  XWF Supercontinental Champion (First)
1x  XWF Hart Champion (Last) || 2x  XWF Television Champion || 1x  XWF Tag Team Champion
1x  OCW Savage Champion || 1x IIW Tag Team Champion  || 2x  SOTM (9/20, 7/21)
2021 Male Wrestler of the Year (shared w/ Alias) || XWF Hall of Legends
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