Something watches as Todd and Gator are back in their home in Boston after a short trip to South Korea. Gator, stood in the kitchen making a cup of coffee, the TV title over his shoulder and the Heavy Metal Weight belt around his waist. Todd sits at the table, reading a newspaper and eating cereal despite it being 2 in the afternoon.


Gator: "I love that Ozy has a private jet. It's made doing so many activities so much easier."


Todd: "Yup."


"Did you hear that?"


"Hear what?"


"It sounds like something is rumbling."


"I think you're losing it man. You took your pills today?"


"Yeah, this morning… Seriously you can't hear that?"


Todd turns his head around trying to find the source of the noise, but the kitchen remains silent.


"Dude, it's nothing."


"Maybe you're right."


Gator places his belts onto the counter top and takes his coffee to the table and sits down.


"Ever since… you know. I've been feeling really strange. Like, hearing noises, whispers even. It's like someone keeps scratching at my mask or placing their hand on my shoulder."


Gator quickly turns around.


"But, no one's there."


He turns back to Todd, who looks at him quizzically.


"And when I'm feeling sick. I feel really fucking sick, like someone's got a hold of my heart and is just pulling at it."


"It's just side effects from the pills man."


"It feels like a missing a piece of me."


Todd sets down the newspaper.


"You're fine, just need to relax is all. You've got two big matches Saturday and Monday, just chill out for the time being and help with my Warfare debut."


"Yeah, who you up against?"


"Manu."


"Man U? Like the football club?"


"No, the kiwi warrior. And Woe."


"Spawn."


"More Bane but yeah. And I'm partnered with The Crimson-"


"DONG!?"


"No! The Crimson Face-"


The HMW belt on the counter rumbles and falls on to the floor. Gator and Todd stare at it, watching as it twitches on the linoleum. The pair move away from the table and back away from the belt.


And that was the moment in Gator and Todd's lives when

Gator's hands are flung up to the sides of his heads, pressing his palms against his own ears as Todd is about to ask him if he's alr-

Gator's cries of agony as he hears that which Todd cannot.


Todd's inability to remove even one finger tip from the wall that every fiber of his being is plastered to by a force like none of this Earth.


And my,
MY will being distributed through a gateway that has been forged by the blood that pumps through a man's heart. The Heavy Metal Weight championship; my vessel, my example. The gold at the start of any rainbow represents the leprechaun’s devious sham of rock, steel and liquid. My place was never here; so young and tender this world of illuminated illusionists, ill will, and illustrious illustrations so vibrantly digested by the neural structures relied upon as life preservers in the aftermath of a storm's wreckage.


I speak: " I should not enjoy this moment; so impure and programmable even by the most amateurish of coders' kind, but alas, time has a way of returning interest to even the most rudimentary of worn experiences. Remember me, Jacob? "


And as he allowed his senses, most notably his ears, to adjust to this compressional state of being engulfing him, Gator at last is able to make sense of what he had been feeling and hearing all along. His eyes no longer shadowed by light, his own darkness permitted to creep forth over my sentience—quite simply, he recognized the one before him.


"Oh fuck. Not this asshole again!"


Gator's greeting is not one I'd have appreciated under normal circumstances, but the here and now is far from any commonplace meeting. Todd, no longer bound to the wall by my will, has now crashed down to the floor and knocked over an unimportant opus of furnishing in this domain—music to these ears, indeed.


" Is that truly your most welcoming address? I come, supplying answers; explanations abound merely by the observance of my presence, and to expect you to be grateful is unwarranted on my part? No 'hello old friend' — no warming, humanly embrace? Not even after the moment we shared as I tormented and owned every fiber of Vinnie Lane's existence just days ago? "


I've known the human race to be susceptible to some of the most improbable feats with but one small example of execution, so I reach my flesh and bone limb out to my left and open up my hand, allowing Todd's own throat to pull his entire body across the floor and magnetizing to my palm—a choke, as Gator would recognize it to be. I raise Todd by his wind tunnel, crushing it just enough to save him the trouble of inhaling as his feet dangle as freely as Gator's own will at this point.


" It's your move, Jacob Woods. If I am to be perceived as but a mere…asshole…as you so elegantly put it, surely the power within yourself to look down upon me is strong enough to have you standing over me in no more than a few well placed strikes following the very onrush you are currently contemplating under that lavish red mask of yours—yes? "


A tilt of my head just a few degrees to the right, just enough to visibly express my own inquisitive nature while firmly cementing my complete lack of concern for anything either of these beings may choose as their next move—I own this all; this vapid impression of nature's way which surrounds and supports our physical proportions.


" Come to me, Jacob. Show me that I have a reason to spare this one's life, " I retch forth the words like tridents on the wings of vomit as, off to my side still danging helplessly, Todd's face starts to become blue; his grappling and pulling of my hand offering no chance of his wish for freedom.


A sudden burst of power from Gator's lungs: "Aaaaaah," as Gator has elected to charge at me with all of his might! At last!


" Aurhg, " is the sound my human body produced from my throat as Gator drove his shoulder into my gut with a maneuver I know this plane identifies as a spear. One of my favorite things about possessing a human vessel is the occasional audible that wasn't actually intended—in this case, my expressing of 'Aurhg.'


My body is sent crashing backward as my hand follows it, allowing Todd to drop from his place in mid air and regain the right to suck oxygen into his unimpressive form. It would seem that isn't enough to appease my friend Jacob, though, as he lands on top of me with a crushing thud and begins to rain down into my masked face with a series of heavy right and left punches. Hrmm, a ground and pound, perhaps? This world establishes many amusing terms for various acts of a physical nature but the fact remains I am having my synthetic, elongated nose nearly beaten clean off of my red face at the moment. I had no idea the passion this man possessed for unrelenting aggression. I like it.


I recognize the sensations rushing through me as what was once introduced to me as pain, long ago on this stage. I welcome it, but I respect its ability to represent imminent danger so I bring my hands up to my face and begin to block his shots, followed by a sudden and unexpected extension of my arm so fast that in the eye of a camera played back in slow motion it would appear only one frame had moved between my blocking and my full thrust of my palm strike directly to Gator's chin. A human reaction could never have even taken place in time to anticipate or soften my blow—part of the allure of not only controlling, but encoding fragments of existence out of forged will.


A follow up strike, this time a closed fist from my other hand as Gator's head was still only in the beginning stages of flinging back from the original blow. This combination is enough to send him falling back and off of me as I push myself off of the ground and fully extend my frame. I stand tall, arms crossed, eyes piercing his soul as he rushes me againbut he soars through empty space as I appear behind Todd and, simply by existing, frighten him to the point of leaping clear across the room to escape any potential risk of being in my grasp. The fool; for had I intended to capture him again, he'd already be struggling for his life. My stance pure, straight, and unthreatened as my head is held high and my nose nearly touches the ceiling of this Gator lair.


" I grow weary of this game, Jacob. I've demonstrated my ability to change any and every path your heart could ever hope to be set on, and that was before today. Now, I've shown you that even in your experience of feeling my ire previously, you remain incapable of understanding our very different holds on this realm. Your raw physicality and passion is admirable, landholder, but I am a creator; a coveted agent of the very codex that binds your anatomic assemblage to the transparent particles padding every fiber of your being. "


Gator doesn't seem to want to listen to reason as he produces a barbed wire 2x4 from behind a seating apparatus. He winds up and lunges at me with a swing that takes my head clean off of my shoulders.


Ah, yes… and it's now that they both begin to realize I have been speaking nothing but arrant, stomach turning truth.


How can my body still be standing here,Todd and Gator both look on in amazement as my head rolls clear across the floor and into another room after bouncing off of the wall. Now out of sight, I call to them as they remain in close proximity to my body.


" Is the lesson becoming clear?! " I ask, making sure to speak as loudly as I can from where I have rolled under a piece of furniture. I go on, continuing to say, " Keep in mind it will do you no favors to attack my body. Have either of you listened to a single word I've spoken? Do you understand what this is? " But for course it was clear to me that they still had not come to embrace the notion; I imagine they're looking at each other in dumbfounded shock, looking at my headless body standing tall with its arms crossed, and then looking back at each other in continued disbelief. It's possible they still aren't even listening to me.


And that's when I decide to hit the reset button.
And that's when I decide to hit the reset
And that's when I decide to hit the
And that's when I decide to hit
And that's when I decide to
And that's when I decide
And that's when I
And that's when
And that's
And


Back inside of the Heavy Metal Weight championship belt, I prepare to play again.

Quote:Gator: "Yeah, who you up against?"

Todd: "Manu."

"Man U? Like the football club?"

"No, the kiwi warrior. And Woe."

"Spawn."

"More Bane but yeah. And I'm partnered with The Crimson-"

"DONG!?"

"No! The Crimson Face-"

The HMW belt on the counter rumbles and falls on to the floor. Gator and Todd stare at it, watching as it twitches on the linoleum. The pair move away from the table and back away from the belt.

And that was the moment in Gator and Todd's lives when

everything,
changed.
Or so I thought.

Gator's hands are flung up to the sides of his heads, pressing his palms against his own ears as Todd is about to ask him if he's alr- are already grasping the barbed wire 2x4 — are already grasping the 2x4--?

" H-how? How can this be? This is not the correct setting, " I say to myself in disbelief. He's already holding the weapon—he's expecting me.


But that's when I reassess the situation, backtracking in my own control center every iota of data that has been compiled and I remember what my sister Aiylar told me when I was still very new to my own kind. She informed me that legend has it we may come across a point in time that cannot be fully manipulated, erased, or even realigned. Her elders had once educated her on the matter but without personal experience, she could not tell me more. All she knew was that the risk was there, and it was the one mystery our kind had never unraveled; had never been able to duplicate at will and examine accordingly. Some how, some way, although rarer than an honest human; all coders were at risk of this one anomaly… and it would appear I've arrived at that quandary.


It is then, as I continue to observe Gator and Todd before materializing myself before them, I feel what can only be described as a pain in the heart I rely upon to maintain my existence in this world. A shooting pain that feels like it's exploding out of myself and forward, directly into the path of Gator who now clutches his own chest and drops the 2x4.


It is then that I revisit that fateful encounter and examine what I've done with eyes afresh.

(08-31-2014, 05:01 PM)The Return of The Crimson Face Said: It's as though the mindless one, the red faced impostor, thinks I am unable to affect his world.

For it is you, Gator, who has referred me into 100% embodiment of this existence I used to only visit remotely.

Now, with you my "referrer" as they say, we are forever entwined. It looks like Earth as you once knew it when you had a fully functioning mind is about to get interesting again as I dangle you from strings your petty choice of observance cannot even gauge.

Pissed me off? No, you pissed me in. Into your very being.

Forever entwined. Fool! How could I be such a fool?!


I instantly materialize in front of Todd and Gator and put my hands up as I say, " I mean you no harm. We need to talk. " The pain within me ceases as Gator stops holding his own chest. Something tells me as I look into his eyes that a part of Gator deep within already understands what I've also come to now realize.

We

And that was exactly why on 09-10-2014, Todd Moschitti would make his in ring debut alongside a red faced ally—the face of crimson that no onlooker could fathom a reason for his pairing with, but one who would make complete sense after all. One who he has already been standing beside all along, in ways no common flesher could possibly understand on their own.