---

The sound of a telephone ringing broke the silence, as a pair of eyes opened.

It had been several weeks since the XWF had last seen Mastermind, and he had disappeared. But he sat up in bed, and looked across to his phone. It kept ringing.

MARIA: "Are you going to answer it?"

"No, I know who is calling me."

MARIA: "Who?"

Maria sat up next to Mastermind.

XWF Management. I've gone on sabbatical, and they're probably wondering how long am I out for."

MARIA: "They are worried about you."

"They don't need to be worried about me. I'm fine."

MARIA: "I'm worried about you. You've been here moping around for the last couple of weeks, or being in bed. I'm trying to figure out how I can help you."

"You don't need to worry about me, baby, I'll get out of this funk, sooner or later."

MARIA: "Hopefully it's sooner rather than later, because we will have a baby to think about soon."

"I know that, don't you think I know that."

MARIA: "I know you know. Like I said, I'm worried."

"I just needed a few weeks break away from the XWF, away from other things. I will be fine."

The phone stopped ringing. A couple of minutes later, Mastermind's cell phone started ringing. But Mastermind just grabbed it, and turned it off. He got out of bed, and walked out of the room.

---

Mastermind is sitting in his chair in the thinking room, looking down at the back of the room, where he sees his victory clothesline. He gets up, and walks down, and studies all of the t-shirts.

There was a rap on the door. Mastermind turned around and saw his father.

"Dad? What are you doing here."

Jack walked into the room.

JACK: "I got a call from the XWF. You haven't been answering any of their calls."

"I've taken time off."

Mastermind looked one last time at the t-shirts, and then turned and walked back to his chair. His father walked up to him.

JACK: "They know you've taken time off, but they just wanted to let you know something."

"So why did they call you?"

JACK: "Because they know I am your father, and I watch XWF while you've been competing there."

"So what do they want?"

JACK: "They wanted to let you know that Wednesday Night Warfare was having a world tour. New Zealand is part of the destination this time around."

"Okay.... And?"

JACK: "They've decided to host the show here."

"Where, here in Wellington?"

JACK: "Not just Wellington but here in your Mansion. Everyone will be here soon to set up the event. And not only that. You're the guest referee for the Main Event. The Universal Title Match between Peter Gilmour and Doctor D'Ville."

"Wow okay."

JACK: "So you need to get things sorted."

"Oh I will."

---

---

The XWF Cameras fade into the thinking room of Mastermind, and finds him sitting in his chair, facing the cameras.

"Hello everyone. I bet you are all wondering where I have been, well I needed a break so to speak and boy did I need it. I want to welcome you to my Mansion when you the locker room gets here.

"As for Peter Gilmour and the Doc, I am the guest referee for the match, and I understand it's a last man standing. Now to answer your eventual question Doc, yes I am still a member of Aslyum, but that won't play a part in the match. I will referee straight down the middle but knowing you Peter, if you do not like my calls then that's your bad luck. What I say goes.

"This should be a fun match."

Mastermind smiles, and the camera fades out.