I stared down the long corridor, feeling the pain in my head returning. I knew what I was in for, but I denied it. I didn’t want to take the steps forward, but I did anyway. I reached the door at the end and opened it…. I wasn’t surprised.
Trevor! It’s about time you’ve shown up! Come right in! Sit down!
I choked on the softball forming in my throat.
The office was scalding hot. An instant stream of sweat flowed down the side of my head and tickled my cheek. The place had a red aura about it… A pale, stagnant haze that blurred my vision. Across the long room, sitting at his desk He sat… Like he always did. I swallowed and stepped forward.
What are you waiting for?!
His voice echoed and made me shutter. I could feel my knees getting weak and almost lost my step several times along the long walk. It felt like I was walking on a treadmill going the opposite direction… I was taking steps but making very little progress forward. My chest became heavy and my eyes were losing interest. Finally, I reach the desk and take a seat on the couch in front of it. He looks at me through the blurriness and haze and smiles.
Hello, Trevor. I’ve been waiting for you.
“Lou…?” I struggled to speak and had to fight off the sudden urge to weep… I held together.
That’s right.
I saw him take a long drag from a cigar and let out a plume of smoke which added to the pollution in the air.
Trevor? Why did you come back?
My body had thoughts of its own and took to the rest of the couch. I lied on my back and stared at the ceiling.
Hello? Doc to Trevor…
While He sat several feet away from me behind the desk I swear I felt His breath on the side of my face. I began to drive to sleep when he snapped his fingers and I felt a shot through me like I got zapped by a defibrillator. My eyes widened and my heart was ready to bail from my chest as I sprung up off the couch and back down… I caught my breath for a moment before recalling the question.
Why did I come back?
“Because I can’t let you do it, Lou.”
My vision was still blurry and I couldn’t tell what crooked facial expression I was getting back from Him now. I reached inside my inner jacket pocket and pulled a derringer from it. I pointed it ahead at the wavy image in front of me.
Do what, Trevor?
He didn’t move. Of course, He didn’t. He wouldn’t. I closed my eyes and I pulled the trigger once.
BANG!
I fired a shot.
I pulled it again!
BANG!
And again and again.
BANG! BANG!
I opened my eyes and He’s gone from his chair.
No.
Now, He stood over me. He grabbed me by the throat and the blurry image of Him picked me up one handed and held me high in the air. I could feel their air leaving my body and I kicked my feet as I struggled for every breath. He held me so high that the ceiling fan above cracked me in the head… Over and over again… Thud… Thud… Thud… Thud….
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
“Wake the fuck up, Mister!!” Dolly screamed as she slapped the side of my head trying to wake me up.
The blast from the intrusion must’ve knocked me out and we’re still in the midst of the raid. Smoke and debris fill the air as everyone in the room has scattered as they try to escape, but with no luck. I remember the scene in my dream as I escaped, but the door I used wasn’t there. I looked to the doorway to see the same man step through the threshold. It was the last man from the photographs, the head of the XWFPD, Chris Page. He approached Dolly and I who were huddled behind some furniture watching the mayhem unfold.
“You’re all under arrest.” Page said, lowering the sunglasses from his eyes.
Two other officers came up from behind and apprehended us.
“Under what charges?” I can’t help but laugh a little bit through my scoff. But seriously, what charges?
Page pulls his sunglasses back up and takes a couple gnaws at a piece of gum.
“For the murder of Atara Themis. Read ‘em their rights boys.”
We were read the Miranda rights and Dolly and I were cuffed and stuffed. Dolly, Charlie, myself, and the rest of their crew were all taken to the inner XWF district to the jailhouse which was in the basement of the police station. They only had a couple of cells so they had to group us all up, which wasn’t a big deal for most, but I was the odd man out. There was someone in the cell I was thrown into before I got there…
“I WANNA WATCH SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!!!!!!” My cellmate screamed.
He ran up and down the cell, climbing and pulling at the bars like an animal. One of the guards finally came back into the room, turned on the television in the corner of the room, and played Silence of the Lambs.
“Now, shut the fuck up,” says the guard before leaving the room again.
My cellmate sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and stared at the television while the move played. I walked to the side where Dolly was standing.
“This isn’t good,” I said leaning against the side of the cell.
“I don’t know what happened. I hate to believe it, but I think we were sold out,” she said.
Dolly seemed like she didn’t want to admit what she was thinking. I didn’t really care.. It wasn’t my crew, after all. The only problem I was concerned with was getting the hell out of this cell.
We were held for what felt like most of the day. There was no clock in sight, but I knew it was hours and hours. I was watching my cellmate rock back and forth, mumbling to himself, when I heard the lock to the main door unlock. In walked Chris Page and Theo Pryce.
Theo had a smile, but I knew it wasn’t good in nature. It was the kind of smile where you were watched and caught in the act… and punishment was at-hand. Theo walked up and looked at me through the bars.
“Trevor… Didn’t I tell you to go home?” He asked.
I say nothing in return. Page got a chuckle when he made a jump at me which caused me to jump. Theo holds a hand up to get Page to step back behind him.
“I also told you that this situation was handled. And now, within a couple of days of you being here, we have an actual murder on our hands.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“Atara was found strangled in her room the night of her last performance. Several witnesses say you were there. I guess you had quite the introduction… Not smart for someone trying to stay under the radar…”
Dammit Fury.
“I had nothing to do with it Theo. Why would I? Are you kidding me?”
“It’s just awfully damn convenient, Trevor. I didn’t like Roxy hunting you down to begin with and now this? We find you hanging around a group of delinquents like this?”
“Hey! Fuck you, Theo!” Dolly yelled from another cell.
“I think it would probably be best if you stayed locked up until some of this is figured out. At the moment, you’re a prime suspect in a murder and a missing persons case,” said Theo as he started walking away.
“I was brought here for the missing person’s case, you idiot. How could I be a suspect?”
“That’s for the XWFPD and Commissioner Page to figure out… As for right now? You’re a PRIMARY suspect. And you’re staying put!”
The Doctor stands in the observation area just as he did before as several nurses walk in and stand around him. They all watch him as he stares at the screen as the Patient continues doing what he’s been… Work tirelessly at scribbling across the papers.
Is it time, Doctor?
He turns to them with a smile.
Any changes to the Patient since the last observation?
None, Doctor. The Patient continues showing signs of aggression. Deliriousness and hallucinations. Agitation and extreme social anxiety. Patient still not deemed ready for person session.
Hmm….
The Doctor turns and faces the screen again scratching his chin.
You see, I beg to differ. I believe a session could be exactly what the Patient needs…
It is highly ill advised that you make contact, Doctor. His irritation seems to grow at the mention of you.
Well, that IS understandable. After all, I am responsible for his captivity, am I not?
He chuckles a bit to himself then proceeds slowly towards the door.
Doctor…
The nurse calls out. He looks back to her and his smile grows wider.
You’re just going to have to trust me, my dear.
I sat with my back against the wall. Nothing to do, but wait, I guess? I was at the mercy of Theo Pryce now, even after I was warned BY HIM to mind my own business. It was after meeting up with that kid and that scumbag Charlie that things went south. All of us ended up in the can and it looked like I hit a dead end. What the hell is that broad paying me for anyway? I’ve barely questioned anyone about her boyfriends disappearance and NOW I’m sitting between bars as a suspect for a murder. A PRIME suspect according to Pryce. I don’t know how the fuck that’s possible… I didn’t even know the dame.
She did try helping me out though. In a quick and subtle way. The note she planted in my jacket during her song read, “WATCH YOUR BACK, DOVE”... So, she was obviously trying to warn me… About who though?
I looked around the cell and saw Dolly sleeping on the bench and Charlie… Actually, forget about Charlie. I walked over to my cellmate who was still fixated on the television screen and took a seat next to him.
“What’re in for?” I asked.
He didn’t flinch or take his eyes from ever forward. The guy didn’t seem to be on the same planet right now. Dolly woke up and wandered over to the bars between our cells.
“No use talking to him,” she goes. “He’s kind of a dummy…”
I waved my hand across his face a couple of times and didn’t even see him blink.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“I dunno. He don’t talk much though.”
“Why’s he in here?”
“I dunno that, either, Mister. Page and his boys are always picking people like us and him up for something stupid.”
“Well, yeah, here we are. Locked up for a murder, with no proof, no anything. We need a way out of here, kid.”
“Don’t look at me.”
“You said that people like you get locked up in here all the time?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t mean I do! What’d you expect that I had some elaborate plan that busts me out of jail any given time? Like I do it all the time?”
“I didn’t know what to expect, kid,” I said, as I walked away from her and looked back to my cellmate on the floor.
Suddenly, there was an explosion in my cell and the wall caved in creating a hole! A siren started going off alerting the guards and the rest of town that there’s a jailbreak in process! A couple of the guards rush in and open the cell door, I head for the opening and Bebop and Rocksteady appear in front of me!
Bobby grabbed ahold of me and threw me uphill over the rubble out of the jailhouse. The guards approached the two bastards and met a barrage of fists from the two big men! One after another the guards were knocked aside from little or no effort! I crawl on the rubble, but I’m apparently not fast enough because Thunder Knuckles grabs me and tucks me under his arm as he walks. The load me into the back of a parked car, throw a bag over my head, and drive me away.
The Doctor took a step into the Patient’s room and let the door shut behind him. No guards accompanied him in, as he refused, and it was much against the staff’s wishes. The Patient was unstable. He was mad. Unpredictable. Violent. They worried very much for the Doctor’s safety, but he had no worries of his own. He stepped ever forward.
The Patient stopped scribbling on the paper. He looked up to the Doctor who now stood just a few short feet away at the table. The Doctor pulled out a chair and took a seat. The Patient… like a feral animal… looked slowly his way and scowled at the sight of him.
Hello, Trevor.
The Doctor smiles and motions towards the chair on the other side of the table.
Won’t you come and sit with me?
The Patient rises up from the floor and hobbles to the table and takes a seat.
How are you, my friend?
The Patient does not answer. He kneels down from the table and grabs a sheet of paper and pencil and begins to scribble.
I see you’ve been very busy as of late. Can I ask what you’ve been writing?
Again, the Patient ignores the Doctor and continues scratching at the paper.
Do you remember the first time we met, Trevor? You were a young, strapping young man. Had the world by its balls. Had the answer to every question in your back pocket. You were unbeatable. You were untouchable. And then the unthinkable happened, didn’t it? In one foul swoop your life was left in shambles and there was nothing to save you from the downward spiral that you were falling into.
Substance became your only out and it only added to your punishment, didn’t it? We both enjoyed sharing a drink from time to time, didn’t we?
When I granted you your freedom and released you of your burdens it was to give you new life. It was to give you a second chance. But that wasn’t enough, was it, Trevor? My help and my generosity were thrown back into my face like they were nothing… And you chose to fight back.
The Patient paused in his writing for a moment and seemed to get lost in his thoughts then went back to the scribbling as if never missing a beat.
I had the Universe within my grasp, do you remember? I had it not just in my grasp, but in a stranglehold! And there wasn’t a single thing anyone could do about it.
Years later, we sit across this table once again. You and I, face to face, with the Universe just out of my reach.
The Patient’s pencil snaps in half. He panics and picks up the end with the point and continues his writing.
You can feel it can’t you? Heh… Well, as you can feel it, I can taste it on my breath. A familiar taste. A taste not long forgotten, my friend.
The Doctor narrows his eyes and studies the Patient.
There’s still a lot that we need to talk about, though, Trevor… Your fascination with this intrigues me, yet… Burdens me… The days of you being the key to this entire mess are far behind us, you know. Your value has since gone down.
The Patient stops writing and slowly looks up to the Doctor with a straight face.
”Then why am I still here?”
After we apparently arrived at our destination, I was basically carried the same way that I was before through a building, up some stairs, down a series of hallways, then sat in a chair. The bag was then removed and I was sitting looking at Big Money Oswald at a dining table eating a barely cooked steak. I looked to my right and caught a fist straight to my jaw! I spit blood as my lip is instantly split open… I look for my attacker and it’s a broad… dressed like she was going on to the finest club in the richest city in the world… Dressed to kill.
“You son of a bitch!” She screams at me before taking Big Money’s side.
“Uhhh…” I was at a slight loss for words.”
“Mister Dedntik… Meet Betsy Granger.” Oswald said as he chewed on a mouthful.
“What is all of this?” I asked a stupid question.
“I told you if I wanted you I knew where to find you, didn’t I?”
The question sounded rhetorical so I chose not to answer. Instead I thanked him for busting me out like he did.
“Well, thanks? I guess?” I still didn’t really know what to say though.
“Oh, don’t thank me. You were safer between bars. I want to know what the fuck happened to Atara, and which one of you dirty pricks took her out.” His tone somehow became deeper and it looked like he wanted to jump through the table and replace his steak with me.
“Look, I have NO idea what happened to the poor girl. Last I saw her was the same as you that night, I would presume that was your last. I watched the show and that’s when you guys picked me up. ”
Betsy looked over to Oswald and took a seat. She sat with an uncomfortable glare in my direction.
“You have to believe me. Look, Miss Granger, with all due respect, I’m here on a mission of my own regarding a missing person. If we have people starting to come up dead; I think we have a much bigger problem on our hands.”
I was thrown from a moving vehicle the last time I was with these guys… I started imagining what my fate could possibly be on my leave this time. Taking the trip here with the bag over my head leaves me looking forward to a surprise.
“I won’t rest until we get to the bottom of this. Atara was one of our own, Oswald… We’re not paying for your protection for this to happen!” Betsy’s back up to her feet and in the boss’s face a bit. It doesn’t falter his motions and he continues to eat away at the steak. He seemed to pay no mind to her aggressive behavior.
“I understand your grievance. Allow me to make it up to you, please. Allow me to find this person who harmed your girl and deliver their head in a box.” Oswald gives a feeble attempt to calm his guest. She stomped her foot and yelled some more.
“I want their head on pike!”
“Or on a pike, whatever you want. I can get pikes. Can we get pikes?” Big Money looked over to the two no good bastards standing in the doorway. Thunder Knuckles shrugged while Bobby Bourbon gave a confident thumbs up.
“See?” Oswald held up his arms as if he was bargaining with her.
“If you don’t, we will.”
She stormed out, knocking me in the head one last time for good measure on her way by. Which now left me with just three maniacs in the room with me. I sat in an uncomfortable silence for what felt like forever and watched Oswald watch me as he continued chomping away at the bloody piece of meat.
“So, what now guys? Wanna go for a drive? Wanna… Maybe drop me off at my room this time?”
Oswald said nothing and just nodded to his two cronies in the doorway. They walked over and I shot a smile over to Oswald who continued glaring at me with his cold stare. It wasn’t another moment when I felt a hard slap to the back of my head and everything went black.
The Ex-Detective wakes up.
I was scared away again, like deja vu, in my room to the loud sound of pounding at my door. I looked around frantically for a moment and realized I was, indeed, in my motel room. How I got here, I haven’t pieced that part together quite yet. I was fully clothed, had all of my belongings, and the back of my head hurt like fuck. I thought to myself that this was a lot better than the side of the road bullshit.
The pounding at my door showed no sign of stopping so I rushed over, unlocked it…. It wasn’t latched…. And opened it to Miss Cotton rushing past me again.
“What the fuck?!” She said as I shut the door and locked it twice behind her.
“Problem?” I asked another stupid question.
“Yes, problem! You know the police are looking for you?”
“Yeah, I figured as much. I did get popped from ail the other day….”
“And you think the motel room that you’ve been staying in since you got here is the best place to hide out?”
“Well, honestly, I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”
“Gah! Whatever! We need to get out of here!”
“What? Fuck the police. They were in the wrong to begin with. If I can prove, which I can, that I had nothing to do with that murder----”
“Don’t you get it? This was all a set up to get you out of the picture, Trevor! There’s something deep going on with this whole thing and it’s getting more dangerous by the day. Now, Atara….”
“I’m not afraid of these guys, Miss Cotton. Trust me, there’s things bigger than the XWF… Once I can get some more information and figure out a little bit of what’s going on… I can get some bigger guys in here to help clean up the mess.”
I tried to reassure her, but she still seemed extremely paranoid. She really took the threat of these guys seriously, so I decided to go with her to lay low for a bit. I did my business in checking out of the room, gathered my things, and went to meet her outside. It started to rain during our preparation and she mentioned driving the car up to the door for me. What a sweetheart. I still only had my duffle bag and my briefcase so with one in each hand I left the room and watched as Miss Cotton entered her vehicle.
The next few seconds are still a blur. The second the car turned over, the car jumped into the air in a fiery blaze and landed on its roof! I was standing across the parking lot and was still blown back from the blast… He looked around and could already hear the sirens in the distance… It took everything for me to roll around to my hands and knees and the rest to get to my feet. I staggered a couple of steps then lost my footing causing the ground to catch me on the face. I pushed myself back up and staggered some more… My vision is nothing but a blur… I look back to the inferno in the parking lot I’ve left behind… Along with the only real friend I had in this crazy fucking place… Without a direction or a plan, I escape into the woods away from the wreckage.
END OF ACT 1
Que sera, sera.
Here we go again, my friends. The big showdown that everyone is now so disappointed to see. The main event of main events that apparently hardly has a place in a preshow. The ultimate fight that was bringing audiences from all over the globe has fallen on its face. Even though it hasn't happened yet.
I have to give you credit. I can't say you've maintained any type forward progression throughout this whole thing. We went over going backwards nonstop and trying to stay focused forward, but that became the topic of a completely other problem we had about what we're allowed to talk about. Rather than ever forward it looked like you paced around in a circle, forward, backward, left, right, until i chose a direction and you followed it. I take it back, this wasn't a race after all. It was a chase and you were the one doing the chasing.
Que sera, sera.
Everyone has already seemed to count me out of this one already. You're buddy old pal Corey Smith seems to have woken up from his Thad kick and taken an interest in the results of our contest. I wonder if he'll go back on his word about wanting to fight you at Lethal Lottery? Would you do what you did when Lycana beat you and phoenix yourself into Wednesday Warfare and start the cycle all over again? It doesn't matter, I know. Nothing matters. You're Alias. I'm Doc. And until the fireworks are blasting above everyone's heads when the show is over anyone that counts me out is a fool. And, to set the record straight, will fall shortly after all of this is done with our without the Universal Championship.
Que sera, sera.
If I've discovered anything about this lead up is that there are a lot more kinks to that armor of yours than anyone thinks. And, with out a doubt, there's more time mine now than there ever was. But as I said before we are closer to the same than you'd probably like to admit. You've been surviving for months, Alias. I have been surviving for years. And more years to come. My aura will never be diminished and my myth will carry on long after all of this. If you think you've seen my hand already... If you believe you've seen all my tricks then none of you have been really paying attention, have you?
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