PROLOGUE

Let’s start with a story. One woven into the fabric of the XWF.

In a not so distant future, there was a valiant warrior named Lux. Lux did not want to be a warrior, but the role was thrust upon her. For this was a broken future. Lorded over by the corrupt and the damned.

Lux fought the enemies of man in this broken future with the aid of advanced technology that allowed her consciousness to live in any number of host bodies, effectively allowing her to carry out her missions in stealth. For the enemy could not know which face Lux wore at any given time. And in this manner, Lux and her cohorts struck at the enemy time and time again.

But the momentum would only last so long.

This enemy was a powerful enemy, in league with demons and devils. And over time the tide of the war shifted against Lux and her compatriots. Until one day Lux’s own body was destroyed, and in an act of desperate survival her consciousness leapt into the cryogenically frozen body of a troubled boy named Corey Smith.

But Corey was not like any of the other bodies Lux inhabited, as Corey was alive, and had a will and consciousness all his own, held in stasis for a number of years.

In the body of Corey Smith, Lux escaped her enemies into our present. Her goal? To destroy the enemies of man before they could amass the power that would make them nigh unstoppable in her future. And one of those enemies of man?

A woman named Madison Dyson.

Lux was determined to right mankind’s future. But in the present, she had to make peace with the boy whose body she shared. Corey resisted Lux at first, seeing her as nought but an interloper. But over time, an intense bond was formed. One that could only be realized by two souls inhabiting one form.

But Lux’s enemies were dogged. Especially Madison Dyson. And as Lux competed in the XWF, using her world travels as a cover to commit a number of covert assassinations, Madison operated in the shadows, formulating a plan to destroy Lux and replace her with a malicious artificial intelligence of her own, code named The Engineer.

Unfortunately for Lux, Madison succeeded. Tricking Corey into ingesting the nanites that composed The Engineer, Lux was soon assailed from within by this corrupt entity. And before long, it won out. And Lux was murdered by Madison.

This left Corey alone, consumed by the malicious Engineer, who would lock Corey’s consciousness away in his own body. Seemingly forever.

That is, until fate intervened.

The Engineer, then the XWF Universal Champion, was attacked, electrocuted and poisoned by XWF legend, Sean “Fuzz” Warstein. And Warstein’s attack destabilized The Engineer to the point that Corey was able to wrest back control of his own body.

Corey was finally free. But alone.

Forced for the first time to carve out an identity for himself, Corey would continue Lux’s legacy by competing in the XWF. And in time, he would form lasting friendships. One of those friendships was with young XWF superstar Dolly Waters.

Corey was also able to take revenge on Madison Dyson, formulating a plan to get Madison’s own servant, Mercy, to shoot her dead.

However, evil like Madison Dyson tends to not stay dead forever. Indeed, using her own foul technology Madison returned to life, and to the XWF. By this point, Corey himself had departed the XWF, leaving Madison free to enact her own vile plans. One of those plans was revealed to be that Madison had created a backup of Lux’s consciousness and uploaded it into her own brain. But this backup was bereft of its memory, a shattered reflection of the original Lux. And Madison’s plot, perverse as it was, was to manipulate her greatest enemy into teaching her her assassin’s art.

But Lux’s memory would not stay dormant forever. And before long, she would come to remember Corey and perhaps more importantly, she remembered her hatred for Madison. But Lux was already trapped in Madison’s mind, a prisoner tethered to Madison’s evil machinations. Still, Lux revolted and fought Madison’s will. Until Madison revealed her trump card: that she had found and captured Corey Smith to force Lux to bend the knee.

At the same time, Madison formed an alliance with the odious Misty Waters, who was using Dolly Waters’ body to further her own designs much the same way The Engineer once used Dolly’s friend Corey Smith. Misty was also in control of a project started by Dolly called the SEERS machine, a device of unimaginable power and near limitless capability. But like Corey, Dolly would eventually cast off Misty and come back into her own.

Which brings us to today. Fate has brought Madison and Dolly Waters together as a tag team. But with Madison embittered by the destruction of her ally Misty, and with Dolly’s good friend Corey in Madison’s clutches, it remains to be seen whether the two will be able to coexist…. 

TODAY

“You fuckin’ bitch!”

The shot across Madison’s face was like a thunderclap, a coalescence of shock and rage at the sight seen before Dolly Waters. Madison went down on her ass like a sack of bricks, and her heavies had firearms pointed at Dolly with a practiced quickness.

“No! Stop!” Corey, despite his bedraggled state, was the first to react. But perhaps it was unnecessary, because Dolly was paying the half dozen guns trained on her no mind.

No, instead her attention, her fury, was lavished on the woman laying before her. Dolly stabbed a finger at her prostrate tag partner, hovering over her menacingly like a bird of prey.

“What the fuck have you been letting your goons do to him? Huh?!” Dolly redirected her pointer finger at Corey. Poor soul that he was. Corey’s left eye was sealed shut and ensconced in angry bruised tissue. His right cheek was similarly battered. And the way he was leaning on Madison’s heavy for support, he clearly couldn’t bear his own weight.

“OW! GOD DAMN IT!” Madison whined, bringing her thumb up to her mouth to catch the rivulets of blood pouring out the side. “I think you cracked a tooth!”

Dolly took a threatening step towards Madison, which triggered the sound of a number of safeties being pushed into the “off” position. One of the grunts spoke up.

“Let’s be smart about this, Dolly.”

“Fuck you!”

“Dolly…” Corey began, the strain on his features betraying the fact that even speech was its own agony. “Please just calm down. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Corey…” Dolly sighed out his name and looked at him now.

Corey Smith

A man who meant so much to so many, but especially Dolly. His accolades in the XWF were well known, sure. But he was much more than those combined efforts. He was a humanitarian who opened up his home to the penniless and destitute and formed a fully functioning commune. He was a young man who understood “the struggle”, having a past riddled with drug abuse and hardship. But more than any of that he was just a damn good friend. And he didn’t deserve any of this shit. No matter how much Lux meant to Madison.

“Maddy, I'm going to tell you this once and once only. Release Corey NOW.”

Madison crawled up to a standing position with as much dignity as could be allowed, still touching her mouth gingerly. “Goddamn it I already told you! Corey is my trump card! Corey keeps Lux in check! And if you care a whit about those tag team championships then know that if I can’t keep Lux in check I will be USELESS in that match!”

Dolly shook her head. “Corey is more important to me than any championship.” She stopped then, musing.

“What’s on your mind, Dolly?” Corey spoke up, seeing her suddenly go silent.

Dolly glanced between Madison and Corey, her mind racing. Her focus shifted. ”You know, Maddy, you and and I have something that the tag team champions could never dream of having.”

Madison arched a brow, still wiping at her bloody lip. ”What, a fistfight in a hostage situation?”

”No.” she snapped, ”Real. Goddamn. Honesty. Those two strut around like they’ve got it all figured out, like they’re the ultimate tag team, some well-oiled machine. But you know what they really are? A couple of narcissists playing dress-up besties. Scratch the surface and what you’ll find is Lucy pulling the strings while Aurora smiles and nods like a good little sidekick.”

"You’ve got a point.” Madison snorts ”Lucy Wylde spends more time reminding everyone she’s important than actually proving it. And Aurora is a soap opera audition incarnate.”

”Exactly. We can win those championships at Snow Holds Barred. Yeah, maybe we’re messy. We fight. But at least we’re not pretending. That’s the difference, Maddy. We’re chaos, and chaos doesn’t need a script.”

”Mmm…” Madison murmured, considering Dolly’s words, but quickly she pivots ”What’s your plan then, Little Miss Anarchist?”

“Maddy, let me talk to Lux.”

“What? Why?”

“I think we can make a deal.”[dolly]

“What-what kind of deal? I want to know what kind of deal!”

[dolly]“Just shut up and get Lux!” Dolly ordered.

It was Madison’s turn to grow silent. And then, her eyes fluttered into the back of her head. She stumbled back a bit, but caught herself before she could hit the ground. And when she came to, her entire cadence was different. This was a whole new person.

“Lux.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I’m here.” The voice was Madison’s, but again so different in tone and timbre.

Dolly considered Lux/Madison’s mien for a moment, marveling how so many subtleties could in effect give birth to a completely different identity. “We need to hash out a deal.”

“I’m not hashing out a deal with this monster.” Lux replied, tapping Madison’s chest.

“I think you’ll want to take this deal.” Dolly paused a beat before continuing, ascertaining if she had Lux’s attention. “The SEERS device is capable of many things. But one of the things it’s able to do is three dimensionally print biological material. In fact, it’s how Madison got her old body back. Lux.” Dolly paused again. “We can get you your original body back.”

“Yes!” Corey couldn’t contain his excitement, and cheered out from the sidelines.

But Lux looked pensive. “And what about Corey?”

“Released.”

Lux worked her jaw in consternation, almost as though she was afraid to ask her follow up question. “And all of this in exchange for what?”

“You train Madison. And me.”

Lux scoffed and looked away from Dolly. “You’re out of your mind. Train you? Sure. Train Madison…?” She shook her head. “You cannot possibly understand what you’re asking me to do. You have no idea what Madison is responsible for in my future.”

“But you were going to do it when Madison had Corey captive, weren’t you?” Dolly probed.

Lux bristled. “I…yes. I was going to. For Corey. But if Corey is free…? You can’t ask me to do that.”

“But Madison will never agree to free Corey if you don’t agree to train her. You’ve gotta give her something.” Dolly tries on a half smile. “I mean, I can keep punching this bitch in the face, but I don’t think even that will get her to do the right thing.”

Lux looked to Corey. Corey returned her gaze and spoke. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll figure something else out. I always do.”

But Lux pursed her lips, suddenly appearing resolute. “I can’t leave you behind Corey.”

“But you can’t continue training Madison either. You said it yourself…what she’s responsible for. Now and in the future.”

Lux sighed. “Perhaps. Or perhaps not.” She looked to Dolly and Corey together now. “The future is not immutable. Maybe if I can influence Madison I can change things.”

Corey looked skeptical. “Like turn her….good?”

Dolly cut in. “Maybe not that far. But this could be like some butterfly effect shit, you know? Your influence on Madison can help shape a better future. Plus, look at it this way. You’ll get to keep an eye on Madison too. Keep your enemies close and all that jazz, eh?”

Lux nodded. “I’m willing to consider this. For Corey.”

“Lux, are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be, I suppose.”

Dolly clapped her hands together. “Hot damn, I am GOOD at this. Okay, now Lux can you hand the reins back to Madison?”

“Begrudgingly.” Lux said, but nonetheless a brief moment later it was clear Madison was back in control.

“Dolly, I never told you you could speak for me damn it!”

But it’s a good deal, isn’t it Maddy?”

“I’m giving up a lot!”

“But you’re getting what you wanted since the beginning. Lux’s mentorship. Her fighting arts. And with that we can play the tag team division in the XWF like a fiddle.”

Madison huffed but said nothing more. Dolly smirked, the wheels in her mind already spinning.

Aurora and Lucy wouldn’t know what hit em

---

---

The sterile hum of the SEERS machine fills the air, Tamil the lone engineer of this unfathomable creation is seen tinkering with its mechanics. Dolly, Madison and Corey stand before the towering machine. The room is cold, but the weight of the moment burns through the chill.

Corey Smith is sitting on a stool nearby, wincing as he adjusts his position. Despite his injuries, his focus is sharp. ”This is really happening, huh?”

”It’s happening.”Dolly’s voice is filled with quiet determination. She turns to Madison, who looked as uncertain as ever. ”You good with this, Maddy?”

Madison glances at the SEERS device, then at Dolly. ”Do I have a choice?”

Dolly smiles gently ”There’s always a choice. But if you ask me, this is the right one.”

Madison sighs, her gaze dropping. ”You’re a pain in my ass, Waters.”

”I know.” her tone is teasing, but kind. ”Now let Lux take over. She’s got a date with destiny.”

Madison hesitates, but then nods. Her body tenses, and for a moment, it’s like watching a storm roll in. But then her features soften, and Lux takes control once more.

Madison’s body trembles as another shudder coursed through her. She clutches at her head, her breathing shallow. Dolly steps back, watching the shift as Lux’s presence reemerges. The transition is smoother this time… less of a jarring takeover, more like a practiced hand in taking control.

When Madison opens her eyes again, the fire in her gaze isn’t her own. It was Lux’s.

”I’m here.” Lux says, stepping forward. Her tone is sharp, but measured.

Dolly glances at Corey who watches silently from the corner. His face is a mask of quiet pain watching someone he cares for so deeply jostling for consciousness in the body of a monster like Madison Dyson. But yet his eyes carry hope as they shift between a reliable comrade in Dolly and the Lux possessed Madison Dyson.

Dolly turns back to Lux, her own expression softening

”I meant what I said before. We can help you. But we’ve got to do this together”.

Lux folds Madison’s arms across her chest, skeptical still ”Together. That’s an interesting choice of words considering you just busted your “partner” in the mouth.”

Dolly smirks faintly, but holds her ground ”Sometimes the only way to get through to people like Madison is to knock some sense into them. But you? You’re different. You’re smart enough to know this is your chance.”

”My chance for what?” she asks, tilting her head.,

”To start ove,”r Dolly replies, ”To stop being just a voice in the back of someone else’s mind. To take control of your own story.”

Lux’s gaze softens, just barely. ”And you’re just offering this out of the goodness of your heart?”

Dolly’s head nods earnestly, ”Yes. I know what it’s like to feel powerless. To watch someone else dictate your life. You’ve been stuck in Madison’s shadow, just like I’ve been fighting to get out Misty’s. But this ain’t about revenge or power plays. This is about making things right.”

Dolly steps forward, her town softening further, ”Lux, we’ve got this SEERS machine.” she gestures toward the unbelievable device looming over them We can give you back your body. But we need you to trust us. And we need you to help us.”

Lux looks to Corey, whose battered face shows nothing but quiet resolve. Then back to Dolly whose sincerity is shone through every word. ”You want me to trust you?”

”I do.” she says, ”Not for me. Not for Madison either. But for Corey…. For yourself.”

Lux exhales deeply, the tension in her shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. ”Alright. I’ll do it. But don’t think for a second I’m doing this for Madison. This for Corey. And maybe, just maybe, for me”.

Dolly nods. ”That’s all I needed.”

”Fine.” She folds Madison’s arms again. ”Let’s do this before I change my mind.”

Dolly moves closer to the machine and nudges Tamil, which prompts him to begin inputting commands on the SEERS console. The machine whirrs to life, its mechanisms shifting and grinding with purpose. ”Alright, Lux. This might feel… weird.”

Lux smirks as she steps forward holding her hands out ”Weird doesn’t begin to cover my life.”

A low hum emits from the machine, as beams of light begin to scan Madison’s body. Data flowing across the console’s screen, Tamil’s fingers moving swiftly over the machine as Dolly studies his every input. Corey watches on with a mix of awe and trepidation.

As the process begins, Lux’s voice falters, ”Dolly… if this works…”

”It will.” Dolly says firmly. ”I promise.”

The light around the machine grows brighter, casting long shadows across the room. Lux’s presence within Madison seems to waver, her voice becoming fainter as the SEERS machine works to separate her essence.

”Thank you.” Lux’s voice echoes, just barely audible.

Dolly breaks her gaze from Tamil’s inputs for a moment, the machine raging and pulsing with light. Her expression softens as she, and Corey, both look at Lux through someone else’s eyes one last time

”Yer’ welcome.”

---

---

The camera opens on a starkly different scene. Dolly and Madison sit atop towering steel ladders in the middle of an empty arena. They’re illuminated by a single spotlight. Surrounding the ring, the remnants of an honest chaos is scattered across the floor… broken tables, buckled chairs, and twisted ladder frames.

Let’s talk about weakness. I mean, each team has one. A proverbial weak link. Except our team of course. Between Dolly’s redneck temerity and my brilliance, ingenuity, tenacity…

Dolly clears her throat pointedly.

What?! Madison rolls her eyes and gets on with it. Okay. Point is YOUR team has a VERY, VERY BIG weak link. And oddly enough it’s not the recipient of Thad Duke’s nepotistic largesse!

Yes, it’s Aurora. Oh the volumes that could be written about this bitch’s failings. Let’s start with the obvious. Let’s start with War Games. And honestly, I don’t really want to go to that well AGAIN but Aurora is the one who keeps invoking it over and over like it’s ever going to belay any of her SHAME from that event. So here we are.

But more specifically, let’s talk about how that event continues to live on at the forefront of Aurora’s consciousness. She’s OBSESSED with it. Case in point, she continues to regurgitate my rebuttal to her post War Games TANTRUM against me over a month later! Check her and Vita’s promo against me and Dommy on Anarchy. She quotes me word for word in that promo. And why? Because that event…and Madison Dyson….are living rent free in that bitch’s addled brain like squatters in a trap house.

Face facts Aurora, I’ve burrowed deep inside your skull like a parasite, and I’m laying allllll my eggs in your brain, birthing beautiful new variations of deep, abiding insecurity in you. You can’t let War Games go because it EXPOSED you. It exposed you as a weakling in need of saving. A sad sack in need of a rescue. And it just chaffs your lady balls so, so HARD knowing that I deemed you EXPENDABLE at one of the grandest stages of them all.. That I let you get eliminated because I saw up close and personal that Aurora just isn’t all that great. Honey, I wasn’t pissed that you didn’t make it to the finals, so don’t try to turn this into some bullshit doubletalk accusation. Why would I be pissed you didn’t make it to the finals when you surely would have been USELESS there anyway?

No, I thought I could bank on Matthias instead. And if anything, THAT was my mistake. Because it turned out he was just as useless as you.

Oh well!

Yeah…heh…let’s talk about weakness. I mean, now that we’ve established that you ARE weak, let’s talk about WHY. Let’s talk about how you are one seriously broke down bitch. Brain damage. Neck damage. Nerve damage. You can’t even hold a tattoo gun steady anymore, can you? And yet here you are, plunging yourself further and further into the abyss, night after night. And this…this right here…is the crux of all your insecurity. Because deep within you, you know you’re on borrowed time. Your entire CAREER is on borrowed time. And ultimately, all it’s going to take to break you once and for all is one mean spirited cunt whose already got your number. IE. ME!

It’s why losing at War Games sticks so deep in your craw. You know you’ve got limited chances to make your mark. And War Games was just one more missed opportunity in a RAPIDLY dwindling pile of opportunities as your body breaks down further and further.

Well, get ready for another missed opportunity. Because at Snow Holds Barred, Dolly and I put the end cap on your tag team reign. And it’s going to be so, so easy. Because we don’t even need to break Lucy! We just need to break YOU. And honey, you’re already as busted as they come.


Yer’ right and yer’ wrong, partner

What do you mean?

Is Aurora a blithering failure?

A weak link who, under any other set of circumstances, would be the certain lynchpin to her team’s failure?

It’s harsh

But yes!

Yer’ 100 percent correct.

But I’ve gotta’ hard disagree on who’s the weakest out of the duo we’re challenging.

Because I see a break in the chain somewhere else. It’s festering on the 40 year old woman who both runs down any and all competitors in the XWF, and also complains about having not yet proved herself to these people. Struggling to excel in the ranks she claims are beneath her.

Ain’t that you, Lucy?

A woman who’s accomplished… really nothing on her own in the XWF. Sounds like hyperbole doesn't it? But it’s true. When’s the only time she's walked into an XWF ring alone? In the WarGames finals? Where she lost to Prince Adyemie.

The same man she could beat, in part thanks to Ned Kaye losing his smile, but mostly because she clung tight to Aurora’s hand. I mean, Lucy only lost at WarGames because she couldn’t drag one of her BFFs to the finals with her, right? One might say it’s the marking of a great partner. Someone who only wins in team matches, and thus surely serves for a great team.
   
Yet all we see out of a Lucy team is one that falters when they’re really challenged.

The tag match against Bacchus and Jules. Lost.

WarGames. Lost.

The trios match against The Revolution. Lost.

And again… what’s winning the tag straps from a team who hasn’t defended them in like 6 months in Ned and Adeyemie? Hell, it’s almost been 3 months since ya’llve defended too, huh?

This is actually yer’ first defense!



Isn’t this what you wanted, Aurora? You said it during the lead up to winning the belts on Savage. You wanted to live, and to stay a team with Lucy, and win the tag titles, and boy, have y’all been living high on the hog since!

Aurora getting out teamed by Dyson on Anarchy.

Aurora wrestling in solo matches.

And outside of losing to The Revolution, Lucy Wylde hasn’t been anywhere other than Thad’s bedroom on XWF TV. She’s been hella promoting some other wrestling promotion on Twitter, but not even a single mention, not a reply, not even a retweet about the XWF tag titles since she’s won them. SINCE HALLOWEEN! All this, or the lack thereof, from someone who tweets on the daily, like her life depends on it.   


Is this that better life y’all were babbling about? Or is that just another pop song cliche? Another made up reason to be sad? Another bestie-westie BFF deep cut that’s only relevant in yer’ shitty Dawson’s Creek world. 

Is Lucy the marking of a great partner? Thus making a great team? Or is she a detriment?  Hapless from clinging to SEB’s shadow, and castin that awful, benign cloud over everything she and Aurora touch? I think it’s the latter. And that’s what makes her the lesser of this team. Lucy, yer’ so tired of people calling you a fraud, yet you can’t be pissed with lifting a finger to prove any different. Yeah, you made the finals in yer’ first WarGames. So did I. When I was 18. Golf claps, girl.

It’s not that Lucy doesn’t have ability. She’s not anything special, but she’s no fraud in the ring. She’s a fraud where it matters more. She’s dishonest. And that poisonous mentality? It’s the slow death to she and Aurora’s tag team. It’s what makes you demand respect for a “championship reign” you barely act like exists.

Yer’ wearing belt… but you ain’t carrying it.

You barely mention it.

You don’t fight for it.

You don’t defend it.

But then you turn around and cry about not getting respect in the XWF. Respect from the people you call beneath you… respect yer’ so desperate to earn.

It is a helluva contradiction. I see your point about Lucy, she’s living in a fantasy.

If anything Aurora is even weaker as a result of Lucy’s influence.

So how about we compromise pardner and say that they BOTH SUCK ASS.

Dolly chuckles. I think I can deal with that.

But of course they’re going to say the same about us. They’re going to call us mismatched…dysfunctional! They’re going to lean into their history as though it’s some kind of trump card over us. But you and I both know that it isn’t.

Aurora…Lucy….Dolly and I aren’t on the same page on everything. I mean, no fucking shit. But just like I said in the run up to our last match on Anarchy *ahem* Aurora…I am a fucking PROFESSIONAL. I don’t need to go on a beachfront picnic with my partner to excel at tag team wrestling. Just look at me and Dom. Our first time teaming up, Dom doesn’t even like me (though he’ll come around I’m sure), and what did we do? Beat one half of the current tag team champions and a former tag team champion.

Hell, it’s so nice I’ll say it twice: Dolly’s a fucking professional too. You think she was a lovey-dovey co-champion with that crack head Charlie Nickles? Of course not. But she still did the damn thing.

Face it you cunts, you’ve got NOTHING over us. Because we are two of the most ambitious, toughest bitches this promotion has ever seen. And we’ve got a combined total of 13 years in this place telling the tale of what we’re capable of. 13 years in the most taxing, brutal, hellish promotion on the face of God’s green Earth. So take your bush league records and junior title wins and shove them up your pasty narrow asses. Because this is XWF tag team wrestling god damn it! With a championship legacy going back 13 years! There’s that number again! And in the end, you two melodramatic airheads are going to be a footnote….no!....an asterisk in that vaunted legacy.

Those tag team championships have a legacy, indeed….a legacy that means more, that deserves more than pretending like it doesn’t exist. A legacy that’ll be hanging above our heads at Snow Holds Barred. 

You think Madison and I can’t be, WONT be a part of that story? We are the story of those belts, ladies.

I’ve won em’ the most violent of psychopaths in Charlie, the most goodie two-shoes to step in a wrestling ring in Vita. I know a good partner…

She looks across the ladder to a smirking Dyson

....and a bad partner when I see one.

Metal doors fling open, punching a hole of light in this dark wrestling gym.

Dolly and Madison nod at each other. Whatever chaos defined their partnership before, it had just become more dangerous…focused.

What you see here is the messy truth of chaos. Me and Maddy aren’t some inauthentic, curated image of tag team champions…

A figure steps through the light, folding her arms.



It’s Lux! Back in her original form. Untethered. Free.

We’re a story woven through time in the XWF.

We’re the past…

We’re the here and fucking now, bitches!

And we’re the future.

And we’re coming together to crown new Tag Team Champions at Snow Holds Barred.