“Papa said… Somebody’s slept in my bed…”

The camera creeps into a bedroom...

A figure looms over a crib.

“And Mama said… Somebody’s slept in *my* bed…”

Mark Flynn.

“Then, Baby said…”

“Capitalism robs us of rest… A vampire sucking labour’s lifeblood!”

…

“And that bourgeoisie vampire… is in *MY* bed!”

Reading a lullaby…

To his NorthKoreanWarBaby…

The infant’s eyes flutter exhaustedly…

“So! The industrious bears DEVOURED Goldilocks! RIPPING FLESH FROM HER BOURGEOISIE THROA-“

…Flynn’s eyes escape the storybook…

Spotting the camera.

…

He draws a finger to his lips.

…

He sets the book down…

Tugs a periwinkle blanket onto his ten-month-old…

Pecks his forehead.

And quietly exits...

…

Flynn eyes the camera sheepishly.

“Communist fairytales. Nothing else puts NK to sleep.”

…

“Here for Gravy?”

“Un momento. I’ll… find him.”

Flynn enters an adjacent closet.

…

Hangers shifted! Coats scattered!

“Y’know what PISSES me off about Matty Syn?”

The closet opens.

“He’s a fake.”

‘Graves’ emerges…

“PHONY.”

The ‘Dark Warrior’ mask gleams…

“Pretending to be what he’s not.”

‘Graves’ straightens his shoulders…

…Before catching his reflection in the camera…

…

“Okay, that might seem… *hypocritical*.”

“Let’s get this straight.”

“This?” ‘Gravy’ points at his get-up.

“Necessary.”

“No, MANDATORY!”

“To overthrow the system.”

“MARK FLYNN...” Finger-quotes. “Had an Anarchy-brand LIFETIME BAN.”

“Micheal Graves? Doesn’t.”

“And why’d Flynn get perma-banned?”

“Because Jett Sterling hated Flynn’s free speech.”

“Jetti-Spaghetti couldn’t stomach Flynn calling Anarchy the B-SHOW.”

“Hated FLYNN’s DECLARATION…”

“That, if Flynn wanted to work Thursdays?”

“He’d TAKE Anarchy…”

“JUST.”

“LIKE.”

“THAT.”

…

“By-the-way… After Madison Dyson?”

“INDISPUTABLY! Anarchy’s BEST WRESTLER!”

“Beat EVERYONE ELSE FOR THE BELT?”

“....(while Flynn couldn’t compete).”

…

“How many MATCHES did it take? After Flynn and Gravy… ‘joined forces’?”

“To EXTERMINATE the MAGgots?”

…

“TWO MATCHES.”

“Who killed Project Mammon?”

The figure points at himself.

“Micheal Graves.”

…’Graves’ winks through his mask’s eyehole.

“This? Was METAMORPHOSIS.”

“TRANSMUTATION!”

“A chameleon shedding dead skin…”

“So, I could *emerge* ANARCHY CHAMPION.”

“I’ve GIVEN my whole-and-entire self.”

“To ELEVATE the ROSTER.”

“Raising Thursday Nights...”

“To A-SHOW STATUS.”

…

“Meanwhile… Matt?”

“Prefers talking.”

“Promising Revolution.”

“UPENDING THE STATUS QUO.”

“THE WORLD WILL FOREVER CHANGE ONCE MATTERHORN HAS ASCENDED!”

“Synnamon swears he’ll ERADICATE ALL SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION!”

…

“And, by day…”

“He’s…”

…’Graves’ fishes into his pants…

A notecard briefly clings to the pocket’s sticky interior, before snapping off…

‘Graves’ eyes it carefully.

…

“An Underground… Casino owner.”

…

“I’ll repeat that.”

“Mattias Syn!”

“EQUALIZER!”

“PLAYING-FIELD-LEVELER.”

“Makes his living...”

“ROBBING the DESPERATE.”

“DESTITUTE.”

“POOR.”

“Promising AN OFF-CHANCE at non-poverty…”

“Before snatching *their* chips…"

“Into *his* winnings-pile.”

…

“The house always wins.”

“And Matty?”

“YOU’RE the house.”

“The OPPRESSOR.”

“YOU, MATTER-OF-FACT, ARE THE BOOT ON THE WORKING MAN’S NECK.”

…

“Wanna dispute that, Matty?”

“Lemme ask…”

“What’ve *you* done?”

“You’ve promised ‘Revolution’ since…?”

“Your debut? May?”

“Whatcha done since then?”

“Let’s get an UPDATE on your noble quest to BREAK the SHACKLES forged by corporate overlords?”

…

“Last I checked…”

‘Graves’ flips his notecard…

“You…”

“ONE → Got some recovering addicts wasted.”

“TWO → Parked outside a struggling town to mock it.”

“And THREE → Advertised your INVITE-ONLY, CATERING-TO-THE-ELITE UNDERGROUND CASINO.”

…’Graves’ tosses his notecard away, revolted.

“That’s what DISGUSTS me about you, Matty.”

“You claim you’re an AVATAR battling society’s injustices.”

“When you’re just a cog in the change-suppressing machine.”

“You’re capitalism’s most PARASITIC LEECH!”

“The FALSE IDOL.”

“Hearing the people’s frustration…”

“Their fury…”

“THEIR ANGUISH!”

“The teeming masses pleading that someone stop the machine CRUSHING them to DEATH.”

“Seeing the the system lapping up the people’s blood.”

“And thinking…”

“Aha!’”

“‘Sheep-to-FLEECE.’”

“Lambs-to-SLAUGHTER.”

“Pilfering the pockets of society’s forgotten.”

“STEALING COINS OFF THE EYES OF DYING SOULS, SHIPPED DOWN THE STYX.”

…

“Matty.”

“You’ve built your #BRAND…”

“Advertising the cure to injustice.”

“While pumping customers with manufactured PLACEBO ANGER.”

“The same people that should cry havoc? Protesting tyrants bleeding them dry?”

“Paper their cage-homes with Syn posters.”

“Ordering Matty merch online.”

“Thinking to themselves… ‘Ha! THAT’LL show ‘em’!”

“As you rob their children of milk money…”

“And mail the XWF their percentage.”

…

“You’re no revolutionary, Matty.”

“You’re as subversive as the month Ford rainbow-fies its logo.”

“Counter-Culture as a ‘#CANCELLED’ comedian! Claiming ‘THEY’’re suppressed! …To sold-out arenas.”


“...You’re a conman, Matty.”

“Tricking desperately-starving wretches into believing YOU’VE monopolized truth.”

“When you’re only peddling more lies.”

“And they wanna believe *so* badly… that someone… ANYONE! Could alter the trajectory of their miserable, wretched existences…”

“They BLIND themselves…”

“To the FRAUD you are.”

“Partaking in shared delusion.”

“Or, in French…”

“Folie à deux, you fucking Joker.”

…

“Seeing the real Matty, yet?”

“I’ll point him out.”

“He’s that snot-nosed, mealy-mouthed SHIT.”

“Who KILLED his high-school girlfriend.”

“And… Lacking the TESTICULAR FORTITUDE to own his fault…”

“Decided HE wasn’t the problem.”

“The problem was society, maaaaaaaaaan…”

“He’s a CARIACATURE. A PARODY of Revolution!”

“Catering to disaffected tweens littering Middle-America’s dwindling Hot Topics.”

“The latest in XWF’s historic line of faux-revolutionary PLACATERS…”

“Ben Crane.”

“Johnny Madison.”

“Charlie Nickles.”

“Guys who SWORE they’d set the world’s rulebook ablaze.”

“Their *true* objective?”

“Getting their name on the book’s cover.”

…

“But.”

“Matty.”

“We agree on one thing.”

“The system’s broke.”

“Warfare? Anarchy?”

“Run by non-wrestlers.”

“Middle-managers.”

“Hired because they’d worn nicer suits the day Theo and Jett split.”

“Trained chimps.”

“Treating our BIWEEKLY BLOODSPORT. The last oasis… Too PURE for this diseased world to taint…”

“As just another product.”

…

“Our employee healthcare? Rests on Theo Pryce’s pinky-promise.”

“Jason Cashe walked.”

“Vinnie’s playing paddleball as company morale CRATERS.”

“Thaddy Warbucks can’t steer the ship… Too busy combing his post-divorce beard and texting Misty ‘u up?’”

“SOMETHING.”

“MUST.”

“BE.”

“DONE.”

…

“It’s time for TRUE REVOLUTION.”

“To save XWF from its pitiful, incompetent executives.”

“And there’s no room…”

“For a pretender...”

“CHARLATAN…”

“CULTURE WAR PROFITEER.”

…

“But?”

“What better way to kickstart the uprising?”

“Than decapitating…”

“The corporate stooge.”

“Playing ‘revolutionary’ on TV.”

…

“Bread time’s passed.”

“Circus left town.”

“The only entertainment now?”

“Is the guillotine.”

“Viva La Revolución.”