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X-treme Wrestling Federation »   » Archives » Bad Medicine RP Boards 2022
Beacon of Light
Author Message
Ned Kaye Offline
per cogitabat, per facis
TITLE - Tag Champion



XWF FanBase:
The IWC

(gets varying reactions in the arenas, but will be worshiped like a god and defended until the end by internet fans; literally has thousands of online dorks logging on to complain anytime they lose a match or don't get pushed right)


#1
11-26-2022, 06:28 PM

Notorious No More 
Pt. 6
Beacon of Light

Previous NNM Entries



If you destroy the working parts
What you'll get is a broken machine

A beacon of light from a burning screen


October 29th, 2022


8:34 am


A large buzzer sounded as the door unlocked allowing the visitor to finally meet the man within. The prisoner was cuffed to the table, though his demeanor was uncannily casual. At least for that particular man's standards. It was difficult to find any trace of levity in The (former) Custodian of The Chameleon project, Dante Cormack, yet it manifested in certain ways. The visitor took a seat, pleased to finally be rid of the constant surveillance of armed guards. Still, he took the caution of checking over his shoulder to ensure that their business discussion wouldn't be eavesdropped so heavily upon.

“What's the status of your TC-02 initiative?” The Custodian asked, an expression of perhaps curiosity and slight inconvenience covering his face. Mr. Cormack had always been unnecessarily difficult to read, but the visitor assumed that was largely by design. No reason to believe otherwise, to be quite frank.

“It's... not in an ideal state right now,” the visitor responded, avoiding eye contact with the cold glare of the man sitting across him, “we were able to recover a fair bit of the core data, but it's all mapped to TC-01. Unfortunately, with our dwindling funds I haven't been able to get a complete scan of his brain to start reverse engineering everything yet.”

The Custodian's gaze narrowed, his control of the conversation transcending his chains, “Not even following that stunt with the simulated casino?”

“Look,” the visitor replied defensively, “it was a solid plan! Due to that and some helpful consultation, we've got a brain mapping of Kaye-”

“TC-01,” Dante instinctively corrected.

“...ahem, TC-01 at about 75% completion. And that required intercepting those experimental meds for Ms. Ellis' sister.”

“Ah, Ms. Ellis,” Cormack briefly recollected, “what a waste of her talents following that failed experiment around. However, it has culminated in her becoming a valuable asset.”

“What do you mean?” The visitor gulped, knowing what Dante was hinting towards, but attempting to remain in denial. His delusion would not be long-lived.

“You already manipulated TC-01 with her well-being. Perhaps a more... head-on approach is appropriate while you are nearing ever so closer to revitalizing the project.”

The visitor's head dropped, starring at the reflective steel of the table, his own face smeared in the glazed mirror beneath him. He uttered a quiet phrase as he watched his own unrecognizable image.

“God help me...”

Dante was right. He knew Dante was right. But he didn't want to do it like this.

“It is a difficult line of work we find ourselves in,” Dante interrupted, “however we must make these difficult choices. Otherwise, no one else shall. Choose wisely, Custodian.”

The visitor looked up, realizing that he had come too far to throw it all away now. What was a few sins more in the face of a fortune? Of a life never left wanting for his children? Of the completion of this project he had dedicated years to? He took a deep breath and readied himself for the challenge ahead, knowing the only option and accepting whatever damnation came with it.



November 19th, 2022


4:36 pm


It was pitch black as Ned walked in, closing his eyes as he took long, steady breaths. Reluctantly, he placed The Chameleon mask over his head, feeling it unfurl as he pulled it downwards, finally covering his head completely. It was a perfect fit, something that unsettled Ned thoroughly, though he deliberately shoved the thought away as best he could. He was here for Darcy. That was all. Ned Kaye doesn't abandon people. He needed to prove that was the case. He needed it to be true.

In a flash, the lights shot on, somewhat overly blinding at first, but slowly revealing the old Avalanche HQ interior, seeming to be untouched by the garish additions to the complex. He was cautious with each early step, doing his best to try and step around any hidden tricks the people behind this had added. Taking a moment to assess the situation, he called out to whoever was running the PA system.

“Alright, you got me here! Where's Darcy?” Ned called out, his speech somewhat warped by the mask, but not nearly as much as he expected. Suddenly, the ground beneath him started to crumble under his feet. Thinking swiftly, he leaped onto a stable piece of ground, patting himself to reassure his nerves that he had indeed survived. Following this, the intercom system finally answered with a voice eerily familiar to Ned.

“Well, TC-01, you are going to have to wait a little longer for that to be revealed, but I assure you that she is safe, merely further in this facility. You'd better press on.”

It was Dante Cormack's, but... something seemed off. Getting up off of the ground, Ned continued walking forward, doing his best to prepare for another ambush.



The screen showed Ned head further on into the digital recreation of Avalanche HQ, much like the earlier simulation renderings Darcy was used to seeing. She was handcuffed to a terminal, but she was close enough to the equipment to have a good view of the screen and a progress marker labeled at around 87%. Her captor wore a Chameleon mask to hide his face and voice, but she caught a fairly good glimpse of his silhouette as he typed rigorously, making some final adjustments. Perhaps it was being kidnapped or simply her natural snark that caused her to speak up at the strange man.

“You know, as somebody who worked on the real Chameleon project, this is a pretty pathetic recreation.”

Silence from her captor. She tried again to bait him into a response.

“Not one for talking, huh? Well, it's gotta be really embarrassing being the only person brave enough to abduct a gal while being too much of a wuss to talk to her.”

Still nothing.

“I guess I shouldn't mention to Ned when he finds you that the two guys you hired to come get me bailed on you once they realized you could barely pay their fee for that job, huh?”

“Would you please let me concentrate, Darcy?”

There it was.

“I don't see why we need to be pleasant to one another when you only think of me as bait,” she replied sharply to him.

“I assure you that I like this process no more than yourself but putting the simulation chamber at the entrance of the building has expedited this process. Once I have a complete mapping of Kaye's brain, you're free to go. Believe it or not, I actually quite admired your work on this project. Before you got soft, at least.”

“Thanks... I guess?” Ellis did her best to try and formulate some way to get closer to the controls, “I mean, maybe I can show you some of my skills at working on this stuff if you let me try your setup ou-”

“Nice try, Darcy,” the man responded, “but I'm not that stupid, believe it or not.”

She huffed softly, trying her best to think of some way to help Ned. Whatever this guy was planning had to be bad news, so the least she could do was try and assist a little. While she was thinking, a little chime sounded, and the man prepared to leave the room, taking her chance of assisting with her.

“Apologies, Ms. Ellis, but I'm going to have to leave you alone for the time being.”

“Wait!” She shouted, her glasses tumbling onto the floor, giving her an idea, “Can you bring a monitor closer to me? I can't see what's going on at all!”

He twisted to face her, noticing her lack of spectacles, “I could have sworn I told them to bring your glasses with...”

She braced herself slightly, and softly cracked the glasses beneath her foot, doing her best to hide the sound by talking loudly, “Well, then they must be on the floor! At least be a gentleman and pick them up for me!”

He sighed, hesitant, but grabbing a broom and sweeping the glasses from underneath her towards him, only to discover them unusable. Muttering under his breath, he spat out, “I don't have time for this,” before grabbing the laptop showing the main feed and moving it close enough to where she could see it, while barely being in arm's length range, which didn't matter too much due to her restrained hands. Shaking his head in frustration, he left the room. Darcy smirked, finally close enough to the controls before realizing that she could barely make out the keyboard.

Great thinking, Darcy, blind yourself to save the day. Better planning has never been seen before. Round of applause.

After mentally berating herself, she remembered a three key shortcut to induce a lucidity error, something she discovered after one of the first simulations she had seen. Kicking off her shoes and socks, she looked over to the monitor to see the percentage displayed.

92%.

Feet don't fail me now, she thought as she leaned back in her chair, doing her best to try and hit all three keys, struggling due to never having used a keyboard both without looking at it and with her feet prior, she stumbled a bit at first before calming down.

Come on, Darce. You can do this. He needs you to do this.



Ned clutched his side, a slice in his attire stinging. They had placed traps around this place thoroughly and it was only a matter of time before he was going to get caught off guard and get seriously injured or... Kaye shook away the thought and reassessed his position. He knew where he was in the hallway and his old room was just on the left. Gulping, he approached the door carefully, hugging the wall before reaching out a hand and slowly twisting the door handle before flinging the door open, his hand recoiling almost instantaneously as a set of knives flew out the open door, embedding themselves in the wall. He nearly began to step inside before pausing, yanking one of the knives from it's snug spot in the drywall and flinging it in the room, watching as it was crushed under a falling steel mass after cutting a wire on the floor.

Ned exhaled a ton upon the sight, wondering why he left himself get into such a mess. Still, he knew this complex better than them and he knew its secrets. He tiptoed throughout the room, staying light on his feet before getting to the poster he had hidden a room behind. Slipping inside, he could see it hadn't been touched since he last left it, noticing a mirror on the far side of the closest thing he had to a safe room. Unfortunately, the mirror didn't reflect perfectly. He knew this hallucination. He knew the delusion well and had lived it for long enough to know how it would act upon seeing him.

“Hello, Ned. Long time, no see,” The Nefarious One greeted him.

He shook his head, trying to drown out the voice and ignore it. It wasn't real. It never had been.

“Don't you want this bad dream to be over? All you have to do is shake my hand, friend. You've done it before, why not once again for old time's sake?”

“You're just me channeling my emotions in an unhealthy way. There was no deal. I wanted to act poorly, so I did. All you are is me trying to absolve myself of blame from that fact,” Ned responded, his patience already wearing thin.

“Is that your brilliant way of telling me to shut up?”

“No, this is: Shut up.”

“Bold. Didn't expect that behavior from The Notorious Ne-”

Quiet,” Ned finally looked the reflection in the eye, anger beginning to sear through him, causing the slice to wane in feeling slightly.

“I thought I wasn't real, Ned. Why waste the energy to look?”

Kaye walked over the mirror, sick of the day's constant surprises and threw a fist at the mirror, intending to shatter it and be done with the grim reflection. But his fist didn't break the glass. It traveled right through and collided with The Nefarious One's face. Ned hesitated before it all sank in.

“You're right. You're not real. None of this is. And that means,” Ned grasped his hands around the doppelganger's neck squeezing as hard as he possibly could, causing his fake to smile.

“I seem plenty real to you.”

“You're not. You're just a simulated figment of my brain and I have been meaning to squeeze the life out of you and what you represent for a long, long time.”

“Doesn't that make me real, Ned?” The fake coughed out, “You dislike me because I make the “wrong” choices without a care in the world, or say you say. I think you hate me because you know that deep down, you will make the wrong choice. You want to. It's what we are.”

“You don't have a fucking clue about what I am,” Ned said as the lucidity error took hold, dissipating the simulated world around him, including his injuries. He tore off The Chameleon mask before running to the exit of the simulation chamber that led further into the building, not letting the simulated recreation of his assumed darker persona get in his head. Or at least, trying not to. As he rushed deeper into the makeshift facility, sterile silver walls surrounding him as he looked for any sign of light or life, finally seeing one to his left.



Darcy heard someone rushing around the corner, sighing in relief as the figure ran into the room.

“Boy, are you a sight for sore eye-”

She stopped, her words caught in her throat as she saw her captor in full lighting, The Chameleon mask ripped from his face and an angered expression on his face. Sure, it was blurry, but she recognized the face regardless and his voice was enough to send chills down her spine. Douglas Donohue. Her partner for the TC-01 project.

“What did you just do, Darcy?!” He screamed.

Dougie...? You have to be-”

Shut up!” He yelled, tossing the laptop to the floor as he neared her face, “Do you know what you have just cost me?!”

She watched on in a confused horror as it all fell into place, Donohue's head falling in his hands as he screamed from the bottom of his lungs, the percentage stopped at 97%.



Ned looked into the room, expecting to see Darcy, only to see his old friend and therapist Dr. Urias Pheelanruff sitting at a desk, his eyes wide in fear at Kaye's appearance.

“Oh my God, Doc,” Ned said, rushing up to the doctor and giving him a quick check over, trying to make certain he hadn't been harmed, “I didn't know they got you, too!”

“Well-uh-” Urias stammered, his lower lip quivering as he tried his best to obscure the documents sat on the table behind him, knocking them over with his best efforts. Ned glanced down at the document, picking it up as the odd behavior of his friend began to sink in, his eyes quickly fixating to the title of the document.

“Mental Profile of: Ned Kaye. - Dr. Pheelanruff”

Ned looked up to the desk, seeing the monitors and various documents detailing his psychology and its relation to The Chameleon data.

“Doc... please tell me what I'm thinking's wrong,” Ned said desperately, hanging onto hope for another explanation, “Please, Urias, tell me you're not working with the guys who kidnapped Darcy!”

He shouted, tears beginning to well in his eyes as Urias answered sheepishly, looking down in shame.

“You're right, Ned. You're right...”

TO BE CONTINUED






“You and I are superficially similar, Charlie.”

“Alike in ways that seem profound only to those who are trying needlessly to find a connection where none truly exists. We've both taken on different personas, yes. We've both even had our fair share of time on the indies. Hell, we're never count them out kinds of wrestlers. But that's all very flat. What are we made of? What comprises a Charlie Nickles and differentiates him from a Ned Kaye?”

“Well, firstly, I give a hot damn about deserving things. It's why it was the first thing I mentioned the last time I spoke about Nickles. It's why I've been working my ass off before this match because doing right by my allies, friends, and self matters to me. But for Charlie he could really care less. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his interest in facing me was simply because he saw me as an easy victory to pad his title reign. Charlie thinks that way about people because he's incredibly insecure about being that for others. Because every time he's started to get a good run together, he ruins it. And of course he does. He'd rather be a backstage diva than an on-stage talent any day. Charlie would be 10x better to himself and this company if he could just accept a little bit of responsibility for himself, but that's simply never going to happen. As aforementioned, it is always someone else keeping Charlie Nickles down.”

“You wanna know the reason why I'm aware Charlie has that mentality? It's because when I went through my worst moments, I externalized my struggles, too. However, you can't do that forever. I've owned my mistakes as mine and while I'm not proud of them, I'm proud of my regret for it is a reminder that today I am striving to be a better person than yesterday. Charlie is a man without shame. Hell, if he felt it, he would probably liken it to the influence of a sinister jockstrap that holds dominion over his mind because the truth is far more difficult to live with. That Charlie is just a downright shitty human being who pushes away everyone around him and does nothing to confront those demons, instead choosing to forget about them the second he dons a new persona or begins whatever new misadventure he's set on numbing people's brains with this week.”

“And why wouldn't he? Acknowledging his faults isn't macho or cool, it's just a decent thing to do and Nickles hasn't cared about decent since at least his mid-20s and at most birth. For Charlie, the weakest thing anyone could ever do is admit to failing and it's because of his own warped perception on the matter. He doesn't think he has to grow or change or adapt, so he assumes other people doing so is a reflection of their imperfect selves compared to his amazing perfection. The world must be Charlie's to rule over or else it is not a world he wants to live in. Newsflash, buddy: It isn't about you! People have so much more to worry about than your dollar store Thunder Knuckles routine matched with a constant need to implode. The only way you are ever going to be the best in the XWF is if your idiotic fucking behavior cause everyone else to leave and at some level you are fully cognizant of that. That's why I'm going in there to kick your ass. I want you to know that all your whole routine got old the fourth time around and that this federation doesn't need you as some demented jester.”

“You want to be a face of this company? Then do more than win one match, Charlie. Be better. Do better. Or don't. The fact is that no amount of strategy will throw me off, no amount of pestering will break me down. I am kicking your teeth in for a cause and that cause is the XWF, something bigger than you or I. One day, you'll learn that. In fact, I can tell you the day.”

“November 27th, 2022. Bring everything you've got so I can show the world why your way doesn't work. Or half-ass it and act like it's a big plan. Either way, you're not walking into Bad Medicine like a champion, so don't plan walking out of the show as one.”

"You can't run from yourself."
[Image: riNkNZw.png]
XWF
Wins | Losses | Draws
52 | 37 | 4


Indie Darling Eternal

#33 on The XWF Top 50(2021)
1x Tag Team Champion[with Isaiah King](Current)
2x [Image: CbviDqC.png] (Former)
1x X-Treme Champion(Former)
The Final Supercontinental Champion
1x Television Champion(Former)
Star of the Month - April 2019 | March 2021 | December 2022
RP of the Month - March 2021 (Void of the Mind)
Winner - Leap Of Faith Rafter Match 2019
1x 24/7 Briefcase Holder
Winner - War Games 2023(With Mark Flynn, Isaiah King, & Crash Rodriguez as G00D-B01)


All Time Career(Interfed)
Wins | Losses | Draws
52 | 38 | 4
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