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Thaddeus Duke · (05-25-2017)

February 1, 2016 | 1:42 PM | Papal Apartments | Vatican City

You know Thaddeus Duke and the Illuminatus no longer have their strangle hold on Vatican City. You know the crown was abolished the day Thaddeus unseated his father as leader of the Illuminatus. You know the Catholic Church once again sits upon the throne of Saint Peter. You know the relationship between Thaddeus and his father is more than fractured. What you don’t know, is why Thaddeus chose professional wrestling. You know his father trained him, at least if you’ve been paying any attention, you do. What you don’t know, is why? Why did Thaddeus Duke, then-Prince of the Illuminatus, and heir to his grandfathers immense fortune, choose professional wrestling? What drove him down this path? Fame? He seems oblivious to being known. Money? He’s already got that. Lot’s of that.

So… What is it then?

Prince Thaddeus sits in a comfortable arm chair, twirling his crown between his thumbs. Boredom has never served a Duke well and with the wars concluded and the Illuminatus rising to power in Vatican City, there’s very little for young Thaddeus to do, besides be alone with his own thoughts.

”What’s crackin’ homie?” Jim asks in his awkward British accent as he walks into the room and tosses his Prince a YooHoo.

[duke]”Not much of anything, really,”[/duke] he responds as he begins to shake the can.

”You look bored,” Jim says, stating the obvious.

[duke]”Boredom does not even begin to explain it. I’m a military leader with nothing to lead. I’m a Prince with no one to impress.

“I’d say pretty emphatically that yeah, I’m god damn bored.”[/duke]

Thaddeus is young and very energetic. Resting on his laurels isn’t something he does with much dignity or class. Jim sits in a chair and kicks his feet up on a table, then opens up a laptop. Being a big fan of wrestling, his first stops are always the wrestling dirt sheets before making his rounds on WWE.com and XWF99.com. Technically an employee of Thaddeus’ father, Jim makes full use of the lifetime subscription to the XWF’s streaming service where at the click of a mouse, he can enjoy any number of the XWF’s archived events.

Today though, Jim has an ulterior motive. That motive is finding a way to cure his best-friends life strangling boredom. ”Have you ever considered wrestling?” Jim asks. To which, Thaddeus scoffs. ”Seriously?”

[duke]”Not only have I never considered it, I’ve never even watched it,”[/duke] Thaddeus admits.

Jim looks sort of stunned and it’s no wonder why. Thaddeus has professional wrestling greatness in his blood. Both his uncle and his father reside in the top ten of the top fifty XWF stars of all time. Back to back. Eighth and ninth respectively. To think that all that greatness resides in one bloodline, yet the next generation hasn’t ever even laid eyes on the product is pretty unfathomable.

”You never even watched your uncle or your dad?”

Thaddeus shrugs. [duke]”I was busy. My priorities were to my men and victory. Nothing else.”[/duke]

”Want to watch a match?”

Thaddeus looks at Jim blankly. [duke]”If you really want me to. It doesn’t seem like my thing, but I’ll watch.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do.”[/duke] Thaddeus stands from his chair and ventures across the room to where James is seated. Once Thaddeus is seated, Jim clicks on Gauntlet City 2013. Then clicks on Mark Flynn vs Sebastian Duke. The volume is cranked and the fans are loud. [duke]”There’s a lot of people there.”[/duke]

”The XWF is the top company worldwide. For comparison, WWE events like RAW is about what you get to turn out for house shows in the XWF,” Jim explains, then realizes he’s talking to a non-fan. ”A house show is a non-televised live event.”

[duke]”That guy looks like a goat.”[/duke]

”That’s Mark Flynn. King of the Midcarders. Absolutely lethal on the mic. Leading up to this match, he had about three other matches with your father and your dad won them all. And your dad, wouldn’t let him forget it.”

[duke]”Shit why’d the lights go out?”[/duke]

Jim looks over at Thaddeus and smiles. ”Keep watching.”

BOOOMM!!

Thaddeus jumps back in his seat as the X-Tron on his screen bursts into flames. [duke]”Shit he’s usin’ Johnny Cash!”[/duke]

Knowing Thaddeus’ love of Johnny Cash, Jim just smiles, ”the apple doesn’t always fall far from the tree.”

Thaddeus watches his father on the screen and Jim watches Thaddeus as he watches Gauntlet City. [duke]”All those fans… screaming… losing their fuckin’ minds for my dad and he’s dull as shit.

“Flynn wants to wrestle? He’s completely...”[/duke] on the screen, Thaddeus’ father wants no part of a wrestling match with Mark Flynn and sends an elbow into Flynn’s face and goes to work. [duke]”...ohhh. Smart move dad.”[/duke]

As the match continues on, Thaddeus inches closer and closer to the edge of his seat, getting more and more enthralled with the art of professional wrestling. Late in the match, Sebastian Duke hits the Soul Shot which is a variant of the clothesline from hell, but simultaneously Mark Flynn hits him in the head with brass knuckles and the referee calls for the bell.

[duke]”That’s fuckin’ horse shit! How they gonna end this match with a disqualification!? Wait who’s that?”[/duke] Thaddeus reacts to the introduction of Tyrone into the match. Tyrone at the time was a sort of enforcer to then-Warfare General Manager Wallace Witasick. [duke]”Oh shit, they’re restarting!”[/duke]

The match continues on. Thaddeus is now standing and pacing back and forth as he watches his father at work. Cheering on his every success and mourning his every failure. Pandora’s Box is applied.. [duke]”Oh fuck that looks painful.”[/duke] Flynn regains control of the match and hits Duke with his finisher but the referee was knocked out previously. The fans count in his stead and N.A.Z.I., one of Sebastian Duke’s brothers from The Black Circle is in the ring and beating the hell out of Mark Flynn.

[duke]”Oh that’s not honorable! Not even a little!”[/duke]

”That’s your father’s boy! They were stabled together.”

Thaddeus looks at Jim for the quickest split second, and then back at the screen. Duke makes the three count, unaware of what just really happened, becoming the new United States Champion. Jim closes the laptop and Thaddeus is staring at him.

”What?”

[duke]”I didn’t say I was done watching!”[/duke]

”Fifteen minutes ago you’d never even watched a match.”

[duke]”That shit looks fun as hell man. I thought you had to be a god damn freak of nature like my father’s size or some shit. Flynn was my size and was god damn awesome in the ring!”[/duke]

”Flynn was good.”

[duke]”Whatever happened to him? Is he still around?”[/duke]

”He flamed out. He lost to your dad then his career never quite recovered.”

Without another word, Thaddeus abruptly exits the apartment. Jim hurries to catch up. But Thaddeus is already out of sight. Knowing what he witnessed, he’s headed one of two places, either his fathers office, or the gym in the Sistine Chapel.

Inside the famed Sistine Chapel rests the unused gym installed by the Illuminatus King with the intentions of preparing for his in-ring XWF return. Weight machines scattered through out with a full size XWF wrestling ring in the center of the large room. Adjacent and at times even attached to many of the support pillars, is Sebastian Duke’s XWF memorabilia. His gear. His titles. Framed pictures of memorable moments. All of it stored and displayed with great pride.

Thaddeus nears the tall lighted glass cabinet containing his father’s entrance cape. Long, black, leather and absurdly heavy. He opens the cabinet and reaches in for the cape, realizing its heft, he uses both hands to carefully unseat it from its displayed position. He slides his arms through the cape’s arms and grabs his father’s Prime Time fight gloves.

”That’s too big for you,” says the previously unseen Sebastian Duke, startling his son, intentionally or not.

Thaddeus turns his head quickly toward his father standing several feet away leaning against a doorway. [duke]”Jim just showed me your match at Gauntlet City...”[/duke]

”Mark Flynn. I was on a roll then. Number one on the PWI’s top 50 for the month of February.”

[duke]”That must have been pretty exciting,”[/duke] Thaddeus says. [duke]”All those fans screaming for you. Loving you, hating you. And that entrance! Jesus how awesome.”[/duke]

Sebastian stops leaning against the doorway and strolls inside the Chapel, coming closer to his son. ”I never really cared much for the fans, Thaddeus. They could boo me or cheer me, it never made much of a difference to me.”

[duke]”I mean its better to be cheered and loved though, right? I mean to have the adoration of millions who just eat out of the palm of your hand...”[/duke]

”I’ve never really thought about it. I did it because it stopped me from hurting people.

“Put that away before you get it all dirty,” Sebastian orders as he begins to make his exit.

[duke]”Dad!”[/duke] Thaddeus shouts. To which Sebastian stops and turns his head. [duke]”Will you train me?”[/duke]

”I just said it was too big for you. Did you think I was talking about the cape?

“One Duke was enough.”

Thaddeus looks stunned and heart broken. [duke]”Is that what you’re here for?”[/duke]

”What?”

[duke]”To fail me and crush my aspirations before they even get off the ground?”[/duke] he says to his father, a single tear hangs perilously from his bottom eyelid before dropping off and rolling down his left cheek.

Sebastian watches the tear roll down his sons cheek but doesn’t respond. He gulps silently, then walks away. Thaddeus drops the gear and stands by the ring apron. He folds his arms in front of him and leans forward. Mocking a ring announcers voice and completely alone with his thoughts, [duke]”From Old Saybrook, Connecticut… weight 2 hundred 78 pounnnnds…. The biggest piece of shit father on the face of the Earthhhh...”[/duke]

In the distance, the sound of wood banging off the marble floor startles Thaddeus.

”Shit! Sorry!” James says as he lifts the fallen broom from the floor and places it back against the wall.

[duke]”How long have you been there?”[/duke]

Jim strolls over and leans against the ring apron, shoulder to shoulder with his best-friend.

”From the second you opened the cabinet,” James informs him.

[duke]”Nothing is ever good enough for that man. Crush Poland in weeks? ‘You got shot down kid.’ Defeat Italy and have the Vatican surrounded by air, land and sea? ‘This should have been quicker kid.’ Will you train me to wrestle? ‘Wrestling’s too big for you kid.’

“Yeah fuck you.”[/duke]

Thaddeus lowers his head.

[duke]”Why doesn’t he love me man?”[/duke] Thaddeus breaks down, unable to contain his emotions. James being the friend that he is, pulls Thaddeus’ head into his own chest and lets him drain his emotions as the scene fades out.

"You haven't really been yourself,"says Sam Roberts from behind the camera. "You know, since you betrayed Dolly Waters." Sam Roberts has been following Thaddeus around since just before Lethal Lottery.

[duke]"Betrayal? That's sort of a strong word,"[/duke] Thaddeus says as he stares out the window of the travelling Lincoln as it rolls down the highway.

[duke]"I suppose I haven't been myself."[/duke]

"Was Chris Chaos right?"

[duke]"About what?"[/duke]

"He said that this isn't you. It isn't your style."

[duke]"He also said I wasn't better than him. He said he'd beat me. None of those were correct,"[/duke] Thaddeus momentarily turns his head toward the camera.

[duke]"Chris Chaos doesn't know me anymore than you do Sam. One can think they know what goes through anothers mind, but its all just talk.

"One may smile and smile and be a villain.

"Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison, JFK,"[/duke] he says, turning his head back toward the rain covered window.

"But you don't smile much anymore," Sam retorts.

[duke]"No."[/duke]

"And it has nothing to do with Dolly Waters?"

Silence.

More Silence.

"Anything to do with all those fans, those kids that used to adore you? Admire you? Hold you up on a figurative pedestal? Maybe even loved you?

"Do you know how many kids cried in the front row when you superkicked Waters? You broke their hearts man."

Thaddeus looks down for a moment, then back out the rain covered window, then quickly to the camera. [duke]"I don't suppose many of them are old enough to quite understand yet. One day they will,"[/duke] Thaddeus says, before facing the window again.

"Really? I've been a fan of this sport all my life.

"I don't understand."

[duke]"I'm very young. This I know, Sam. But I'm not stupid. I'm not an idiot. Everything I do, every move I make, is very calculated.

"There are reasons why I did what I did. At some point, and not now, those reasons or motives or whatever you want to call them, will become clear to you Sam, to Dolly Waters, to the fans. To everyone."[/duke]

"She trusted you."

[duke]"Move on, Sam."[/duke]

"Think back, to when your relationship first began. You came to the ring, plain clothes. You kicked Luca Arzegotti in the face after he lost the tag team title match, teaming with Waters against Doctor Satan.

"You knelt down. Dolly cradling Luca's head in her lap. And you spoke to her. From the heart. You told her how she trusted the wrong people. Her father. Morbid Angel. Paul Heyman. Arzegotti.

"You told her, that she should trust you. Join you. Conquer the world of professional wrestling with you."

[duke]"Sam, when I said move on, that meant that I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT DOLLY FUCKING WATERS!"[/DUKE] Thaddeus shouts, having heard enough.

Silence.

"You've scaled back your scheduling as of late. Is there a reason?"

[duke]"Oh let me guess, I'm avoiding Dolly Waters?"[/duke]

Silence.

[duke]"I've been nursing a chest injury. Nothing more."[/duke]

"I didn't know you were injured."

[duke]"There's a lot you don't know about me, Sam. I let you follow me. I let you ride in my car. I let you ask your stupid questions. But don't pretend we're personal friends or close in anyway.

"We're not.

"I was injured a month ago on Warfare."[/duke]

Silence.

"You've competed since."

[duke]"I tried to work through it."[/duke]

"So you were hurt, and still wrestled Chaos?"

[duke]"Yes."[/duke]

"Let's talk about your association with Chaos and AX3."

[duke]"Loose association. We're not friendly in any way. He's an idiot and a shit leader."[/duke]

"Then why, as your uncle, Theo Pryce would say, hitch your wagon to them?"

Silence.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

[duke]"I'd like to talk about why you feel the need to psychoanalyze everything I do. Let's talk about that."[/duke]

"I'm just trying to show my followers the real Thadd..."

[duke]"And you think following me around with a camera is going to reveal the "real me"? You and your six followers can all get fucked in the ass.

"Dry.

"With a cactus.

"Jeeves pull this car over."[/duke]

The car is pulled to a stop along the interstate as ordered. Thaddeus is quick to open his door and exit the vehicle. Sam Roberts hurries to catch up, running awkwardly with his camera. Just as Sam catches up to him, Thaddeus stops and Sam runs into Thaddeus' back with the camera, causing him to stumble and fall backward. The star of Sam Roberts' show turns around and lifts the camera from Sam.

"Wait that's expensive!" he shouts, but Thaddeus does not respond. Instead, Thaddeus just heads toward the car. "Wait! You can't just leave me here!"

Again, Thaddeus doesn't respond as he climbs back into the car and closes the door. Inside the car, Thaddeus barks his orders to Jeeves and the car pulls back onto the interstate.

[duke]"I'm tired of all the questions,"[/duke] Thaddeus begins as he lies the camera on the floor and points it up toward him.

[duke]"I came to the Xtreme Wrestling Federation in October to make a name for me, myself and I. Why is that so difficult to understand? Yes, my name is Duke. Yes, my father is considered a legend. I'm not him. I'm better than him in every conceivable way. I'm better than my uncle. I'm better than Chris Chaos. I'm certainly better than his cum dumpster Jenny Myst.

'Yes I'll take the #1, super size the breasts.... with a side of beat up roast beef. Oh and a small Cocka Cola.'

Friendly fire match? Are you kidding me? Trust me when I say this, there is no friendship within AX3. It's all about Chris Chaos and his whore, all the time. In order for AX3 to survive, that's going to have to change, but more on that later.

A friendly fire match, where I can't dive. I can't go to the outside. I can't closed-fist this bitch and believe me, I'm sure she enjoys a good fisting. And I can't kick. It's like management is saying, "yo Duke, we're tired of you stealing the show so this week, don't do all the stuff you're fucking better at than everyone else." Jesus Christ this management team on Warfare just keeps getting worse.
It's like they crave terrible matchups.

Ahhh but see, a true star steals the show regardless. And I'll still steal the show. It's just what I do. Tie my hands and eliminate half my repertoire, and I'll just come up with something else. Sure I won't have the time to perfect that something else, but its only her neck and her life at stake. Fucking genius, I swear.

I realize this is supposed to be about Jenny Myst and not Chris Chaos, but bear with me this one time.

AX3 won't survive if its all about Chaos. I said I'd get back to it and here we are. AX3 has the potential to be one of the most fantastic collections of wrestling superstars the industry has ever seen. Look through history.

The Four Horsemen. When they had a collective goal, they were unstoppable. When it was all about the Nature Boy, it failed.

D-Generation X. Through their different leaders and incarnations, when they had a goal like just raising hell and torturing their bosses with their antics, they thrived. When it was about Shawn Michaels or Triple H's goals respectively, they failed. They crashed and they burned.

The New World Order. When it was bucking the system, they thrived. But then they grew and grew like a fucking cancer and everything became all about the man at the top, and it failed. Over and over it failed.

You have some very unique personas within AX3 and some supremely talented individuals. Chaos. Main. Graves. Caedus. Myself. Myst. Trax? Is he or isn't he? I don't know. Not one of us have a personality or goals similar to the other. 'Hey Chaos wants to do this this this and this.' Whatever. They go along with it because, I don't know, maybe that's what they think they're supposed to do.

As you can see communication between us, isn't exactly where it should be. And that's item number one. I know a thing or two about leading, so yeah, clear communication is key.

Number two. Have a collective goal. Not personal ones. When I lead my grandfather's military to victory over Poland, it had nothing to do with me. It was in retaliation for something they'd done to us. When I lead that same military to victory in Italy, we had Vatican City surrounded by air, land and sea. There was no escape. Their only option was fight and die, or surrender. We didn't accomplish that for me. We accomplished that because we fought alongside one another. Watched our brothers fall in battle. We retreated if it was best for the ultimate goal, we advanced and pushed forward if it was best for that same goal.

It goes against all of our ego's, but sometimes a tactical retreat, is the smartest move you can make. Live to fight another day and maybe win that war after all.

Chris Chaos I'm sure you'll be watching, and I don't mean this to be a smartass.
I'm willing to teach you how to lead, if you're willing to listen and learn. Consider it an olive branch of sorts. You hate to lose, and who doesn't prefer winning over losing? You lost to me, and I'm not rubbing salt into that wound. I'm just saying so what? You'll find in the coming months and years, that many will lose to me. Just like many have lost to you, including myself once.

But you can't be the be all, end all of AX3. Stand up. Put on your fatigues and your war paint. You are at war with the Kings, and I know my uncle. I promise those four guys are all on the same page. You are losing this war. You know how I know? The Kings are already bored.

I joined AX3 because in the beginning, they were all about fucking over management's big plans and you all are very much aware of just how much I dislike the management of this company. I didn't join to stand on the sidelines and watch a snooze fest.

Lead your men and your fuck doll, Chris. Define the collective goals and plan a way to accomplish them.

Statistics say we're equals in the ring. We're not equals in the area of leadership. In that regard, I am better than you. I'm better than my half-blood uncle Theo Pryce. I'm better than Vin Lane. I'm better than everyone.

If you're a leader, put an end to managements ability to make your men and your bitch, face each other on any given show. Sooner or later, their ability to do that, will drive a wedge between all of us. They will split and splinter AX3 and they're already succeeding because you've allowed it.

I don't know about you Chris, but I think it's time for AX3 to start pushing forward... together.[/duke]

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