"When she died, what was I supposed to do? The thought that haunts me every night as I lie awake in bed. How do we go on? I asked myself time and time again. I was so young, and so stupid, so unprepared, and it got so desperate. And now is no different. I wake up every single day and wonder if I'll be able to make it. If I can just hang on a little while longer, maybe something will work, maybe something will change. But it doesnt seem like it ever will. I've eaten so many empty promises, so many dreams Ive had, Ive seen wash away. And now what am I? A Hired hand, The Help. I Hate living my life by ear, having to play every single day with a blind hand. I often wonder if everyones life is like this. As I walk through town, I See families, people smiling, people living. But would I really want it like that? Could I handle a life so easy? These things I feel, and these things that I want, are completely contrary to one another. I dont want this life, but I dont want theirs either, I hate being the one that is always so confused. I never wanted it to be like this, but we always have to play the cards we are dealt, no matter how it might seem. But I cannot be defeated, not by this, not by anything. But when will I start actually working towards a victory, have I gotten too comfortable? Am I not ready for something different?

With Tearful Eyes I Wonder.... With Tearful Eyes.

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"The sun was just going down when I finally got into town, Raleigh. I had been here more times than I cared to remember, never to do anything good, I Could have seen the mall, seen the museum, but it was never that easy. I hate coming to places like this, where most people go to find a bit of an escape, under any other circumstances, I would be happy to be here, out of Charlotte, out of the same old routines. But routines are exactly what lead me here. Time to get to business I suppose. Nick had sent a text that was more than troubling, I hadn't gotten it until I was almost halfway here, it said that something had changed, that he thought I might need help. I had never needed it before, no matter what the odds were he never had to step in. It was sort of a shot in the gut, was he doubting my resolve after what I Had told him? I guess it didn't really matter, I had the location and the set up instructions. Nick was just going to have to sit back and watch, easy for him.

The building was on the outskirts of town, south end, right off the highway. It wasn't too hard to find, it was almost the only thing out here, an obvious choice I suppose. The nieghborhoods were far close enough for no one to question cars rolling in and out of the area, but far enough away so even if this shit did go south, no one would be any the wiser. A Pile of dead bodies and an extensive investigation, nothing too serious, Haha. As I roll up to the building the place feels cold, its obvious no ones been here in quite sometime, the peeling paint reveals the cracks from the stress the old place has taken over the many years. Everything is the color of rust, and the smell of dust hangs heavy in the air. I pull the car around the back of the building, to where the building itself meets the side of the hill leading into the woods, the lights will cast the shadow of the building, making it almost impossible to see it. He said that I would have weapons left for me, as I slide the huge bay door open it lets out a loud strain, is this thing gonna fall off the hinges? I shake my head as I get it open enough to slide through. The room is dark, the windows lining the roof have been taped up, boarded. There is a different smell in here, its sickening, no doubt vagrants have the place taken over most of the time. The far corner is where the box was meant to be, but it isn't here, where the fuck? Its then I hear it, the door creaking open just a bit further, as quickly as I can I turn, drawing the .45 out of the back of my pants.

"Back Up Mother Fucker!"

"Whoa, Don't shoot me Zoey! Haha."

Nick... Mother Fucker.

"You almost got your goddamn head blown off."

"Yeah, Almost. But we've had to make some changes, come on follow me."

"Yeah apparently, want to tell me how we're gonna do this without any guns?"

"Zoey, whats happened now calls for more than I can fit inside a breifcase alright? Don't think I dont have this under control."

His car is parked off to the side, hidden in the woods behind one of the MAERSK trailers. He throws his cigarette onto the ground as he pulls the trunk open, I can't help but shake my head.[/]

"So, what are we looking at here?"

[i]"Zoey, the reason I came out here, is to make sure that Ireland walks away with its guns, the way its looking up north, is that Italy is looking into a full scale take-over. And these guns coming in tonight, are going to be the bulk of what they will use, I wasn't told what they are buying, but from what I got out of Jacob, my contact, its something big. We have to make sure that whatever it is, they don't get their hands on it. Do you understand what I mean?

Looking down at the trunk, at the litteral armory worth of weapons lying in it. I couldn't imagine what Nick was preparing for, an all out war? Right here in Raleigh? It Couldn't go down that way could it?

"Nick... I..."

"You go this Zoey, Trust me, all we do now is wait.

"What about the Irish? What about your Pay Day?"

"I've got interests elsewhere, and they will pay just as well, I guess take your pic of what you want, the rest we are going to lay out, in case something goes wrong.

I had always been fond of the M27 that Nick carried around sometimes, Holo-sight, a heavy barrel switched out to 7.62 rounds, canted Iron sights, yeah, that was the one. I pulled it out and set it on the hood, grabbing some extra clips and a combat vest. It was tight, but a good fit. Nick had the idea of laying the weapons out in the woods, so that way even if we were pushed back, we wouldn't run out of a way to fight. The more weapons he pulled from the trunk the more I began to wonder how many people were about to step out here. But the big one, was when it really hit me, an AS50, a .50 caliber sniper rifle, a repeat action, not bolt.

"Jesus Nick, why would we need to have this? How many rounds do we need??"

"Hopefully none, but worse comes to worse, you can miss with this gun and still fuck someones shit up, its the alamo."

"And in true alamo fashion we set it up at the farthest point we could, at the top of the hill leading towards the highway, if we were pushed back this far, all it would take was a few of these shells to take out whatever was left of whoever was coming after us. We set out enough ammo to give us a fighting chance, but not much else, if something did go wrong we were pretty much be falling back from weapon to weapon, not the best way to fight, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. As we walked back up to the building the final light of the day was just beginning to fade, we were now working under what was left of the lights hanging precariously off the side of the building. Nick told me to pull my car back, to a location that could be easily accessed from the Alamo. There was a short road off the side of the highway, I found a spot behind a towing company, looked like it too had been deserted for some time. What had Nick gotten me into I wondered as I stepped out of the car, the gun hanging at my back. As we arrived back at the building Nick stopped, almost abruptly, I almost expected something to be wrong, I put my hand on the gun and looked around, but Nick held out his hand, in a re-assuring gesture, shaking his head. The air was still, like even it knew something was wrong, but Nick only looked around, breathing lightly..

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing Zoey, Just getting comfortable."

I didnt understand, but I guess I didn't really have to. He pointed to a set of trees off to the side of the building, the light above was casting an almost perfect dark over the bushes underneath. I nodded my head and stepped off. There wasn't much room for anything, I had to clear a spot to sit within the brush. I checked my watch, it was still early. I lit up a cigarette and sat back against the tree. The moon was shining down through the leaves, wafting gently with the wind. For some reason I Found myself thinking of deployment, the long nights sitting alone, the silence is what got to me. I Never really did fit in with the rest of my stick, it was hard, when they were all the sort of people who were, you know, rockstars in their youth, who were here because they wanted to be, who had the whole gung-ho american values system driven into their heads. I hated that shit. Where does the line blur? Between fighting for your beliefs or someone elses? I just never thought of myself as the type of person to die for anyone else, I knew why I was there, and I knew what I was fighting for. But did half of these kids? Whatever, shake it off Zoey. Its over, your done. And after this last job, you'll be done with this too, you have to make it out of here, you have to, Jesus Christ, Stop. Its been worse, you've gone through worse, this isn't going to beat you.

A couple of hours pass, just sitting there, my ass had fallen asleep. I checked my watch again, its been almost fifteen minutes since they should have been here. I considered finding Nick, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, maybe he had a better idea than I did. I picked the gun up off the ground, but as I stepped out of the shade I saw it, headlights, I crept backwards until I was once again under cover. I ducked down as three red cars pulled into the parking lot, followed closely by a duece and a half, The Irish. They parked their cars at the front of the lot, letting the truck pull in behind them, forming a perimeter. I Couldn't make out what they were saying from here, but I didn't have to, it didn't matter what they had to say. It was then I saw it, the flashlight from the woods to the east, the signal. I dove out of my cover, sprinting across the lot towards the backside of the truck, Nick and I both hit the truck at the same time, just as someone was climbing down from the passengers seat. Nick hit him harder than I'd ever seen someone get hit, smashing his headbackwards against the metal sidepanel, making an indent and crushing the mans skull. He grabbed him before he could hit the ground, lowering him down slowly. He signalled, I would go around right, and him left.

As I rounded my corner I saw it, Nick, he was fast, almost too fast. In a flash he moved up on the two men standing at the front of the truck, with one arm he hit one of them so hard they slid backwards across the ground, quickly spinning, slamming the others head against the back of the car. They noticed him before me, I ran forward, the man standing behind the last car on the left, he turned as I grabbed the muzzle of his gun pulling it towards me, forcing my fist against the center of his face. In his confusion I twisted his arm backwards, drawing my knife, stabbing him in the artery in his upper arm and throwing him over the back of the car. The next man ran towards me, his knife met mine, the sparks from the impact flew through the air almost, the force knocked me back, my feet sliding across the gravel. He swung, I ducked, stabbing the knife into the back of his arm, he let out a cry before connecting, I'd been hit in the head before but damn he had a good arm. He was fast, almost as fast as Nick, his arm blurred in front of my eyes as he connected another shot with the center of my vest, taking me completely off my feet and flat on my back. He jumped into the air, lifting the knife above his head, my vision narrowed, and time slowed again. I pushed my foot against the back of the car and slid out, rolling backwards to my feet. I came at him again, he ducked backwards, coming back quick with another shot, this time with the knife, I moved as quickly as I could but it still caught my cheek. I spun, planting my knife into the center of his back, yanking it out, I spun back around, putting it this time in the center of his collar. He sputtered for a moment before falling to the ground.

Nick was across the lot, now filled with fallen men, how had he done all that? I was working on my first two, and he was now fighting with two at a time. He kicked one of them, sending him back against the wall of the building, the lights hanging off the side swayed with the force of the impact. He took a hit from the other man, but quickly shook it off, with the time bought to concentrate a barrage of punches, his hands blurred together for a moment, maybe it was just the light. The man against the wall regained, ripping a peice of angle iron off the side of the building. I sprinted across the lot, meeting him halfway. He smiled at me before raising the weapon. He came at me, fast, a flash of color and he was right in front of me, I blocked the first swing with my knife, the force once again sent me stumbling backwards. I knew I couldn't do that again, so I charged in close, grabbing the arm and hip tossing him onto the ground, but his grip was firm, I couldn't get the weapon out of his hand. He twisted around and kicked me in the center of the vest, I can't rightly remember how far it lifted me off the ground, but all I remember was looking up at the moon again.

"ZOEY!!! MOVE!!

Nick was sprinting towards me, as the man raised the bar above his head, I closed my eyes, sorry McKayla. But I heard an impact, bone on bone, I opened my eyes again and Nick was pushing him back against the wall, I felt the air itself move across me as it happened, the two of them slammed into the side of the building, through the bay door, bringing it down off the hinges and crashing onto the ground. I heard two hard packing sounds, and then nothing. The night fell silent again, the gun trembled in my hands, it was the first time in a long time I had actualy felt, scared. I pointed into the darkness, reaching for the light on the end of the gun. As it kicked on, I saw his face.

Nick.

"Jesus Fucking Christ Nick, what the fuck?"

"Come on, we've got to get the fuck out of here."

There was a sense of urgency in his voice that I hadn't ever heard before. He took my hand and lead me to the truck, we jumped in and he ripped the steering wheel open and twisted the ignition. I was still trying to figure out what had happened, my heart was pounding and it was getting hard to breath.

"Nick... Cou-Could we just slow down a m-minute and tell me what the fuck just happened?"

He ignored me, dialing a number on his phone and putting it to his ear. I shook my head, resting it in the palm of my hand and burying it between my legs, what the fuck was that, who the fuck were those guys, why were they so fast, why were they so strong? What the fuck?

"NC303 Reporting, JV is operational. I need a pick up for two cars and my cache. Reference my last for position, I say again, JV Is Operational."

He hung up the phone and turned to me, pulling on the back of my vest.

"Are you okay?

"I Dont know!"

"Zoey Damnit, Are you Okay?"

"Yes Im Fine! What was that!?"

"When I heard the initial report from Jacob, I had wondered how the IRA Could run something like that, the weapon. We have to get this decomissioned as soon as we get back."

"What is it?"

"Scalar Tech."[/i[

"Why would the Italians Need something like that?"

[i]"Our info was bad, it wasnt the irish or the italians, we just walked into a hand off, something bigger than just a gang war. Zoey, I'm sorry I brought you out here. I have to get you and your sister somewhere safe. Get you the fuck out of this."

Suddenly I couldn't help but be overcome with a feeling of fear, but I knew there was something else, I couldn't just leave, not after this, I had to know what the fuck was going on.

"Nick, your scaring me, please... what the fuck is going on? Who were those people? How--"

"Zoey.... A long time ago, my friends and I started something, in Detroit. Something that none of us were prepared for. See, the United States Government, for the longest time had been doing these... experiments... on U.S. soldiers, trying to make them better, stronger, more adaptable to their situation. After a long time, and alot of failures, they failed. Because the subject didn't have the proper mentallity to buy into the system, buy into the training, instead they came for people like me and my friends. They did something to us, and put us in a program. After we had discovered what it was for, renditions, abductions of United States Citizens, Assassinations, working for an agenda that wasn't ours, we asked the questions, but got no answers. And it took a couple of us, to finally show people what they were doing, after lots of fights, lots of people died, including my friends. These people, have been hunting me since then, and now Ive gotten you involved. I can't pass this on Zoey, I have to get you out of here, Zoey, I'm so sorry."

"What do you mean Hunting? And what did they do to you?"

"Zoey the less you know the better off you'll be."

"Nick, damnit, I told you, you could trust me. I trust you, believe me I do, but I have to know."

"They made us Super-Soldiers, in the easiest terms, Jamais Vu was the name of the project. JV."

My mind was desperately trying to take all of this in, Scalar tech, Super Soldiers, the fact that I could now be caught up in something I wasn't ready for. I shook my head.

"What are we going to do?"

"Zoey, the first thing we do is get you and your sister to a new place, I've got the money so dont worry about it, remember when I said I had an opportunity for you? This is going to sound rediculous, but Ive got a couple good friends in an industry, and you are like me Zoey, we cant handle a normal life, not after this. I'll take you tomorrow, and show you what you can do, I'll give you the money, and you can build a new life."

"What About You?"

"Zoey Don't worry about me I'll--"

I grabbed his hand on the knob of the steering wheel. He stopped, the two of us looked at each other, a moment I hadn't shared with him in a long time.

"Nick, I can't leave you out here like this. I won't, if you go, I go."

"Zoey no, I've already seen enough people I care for die for this, I can't let you be--"

"Nick, Then come with me..."

He hesitated For a moment, looking out his window. The choice was hard, I know. But I wasn't going to leave him, not after everything he'd done for the two of us, my sister and I. I held his hand a little tighter and he turned back to me.

"Okay... I'll come with you."

"Where?"

"The XWF."

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-The Shoot-

"You know, there is probably a thousand ways I Could introduce myself. I could sit here and tell you about the long list of accomplishments I've had, like any other cookie cutter superstar. But Nick says thats always a bad idea, and the sign of someone who might not be as confident as they should be. My Name is Zoey Ryback, and Im not here to go on about the things I've done or the people I've conquered. Because right now, that number is at Zero. I couldn't tell you I've done anything that any of you would recognize in this business. Nor could I assume any threat I could make to be intimidating. Which is exactly why I did what I did last week, to make a little bit more of a statement than any number of words could ever make. Your X-treme Champion, lying in that hallway, is a testament to the fact that I am here for something. But what should it be? Could it be fame? Fortune? Personal Gain? Glory? Could it be for a peice of gold and leather? What does someone want when they step into that ring every week? I guess thats all just left to a guess, at least when it comes to me.

You see, most people in this situation, want to make it bit, want to hear the people chant their name, see it written high in lights, explosions and glamour. Don't get me wrong, haha, it would be nice, but to me its just a perk. Something that come with. For me, this is about a lifestyle, for all the kids who never really fit in, who always felt it was nice... to be in just a bit of pain every single day. I need this, I am addicted to this life. And for those of you who may stand in the way. I truly feel sorry for you. I could spend my time here, making friends, being the type of person that everyone loves, but Im not really here for that either. What I want, what I really want, is to feel like I'm doing the best I can, with the cards that I've been dealt. Because its been a long time since I've been able to write my own story. Been able to stand confident in my future, because I am the person who paved the road. I need to know that no matter what happens out there every week, that I am the one responsible, for myself. And what an amazing story it shall be.

This week, I am met with a man who could really care less, a man who has no Idea who I am, who judges Me, by his own accomplishments. A man known to the world as Mastermind, but is he all that he claims to be? Really? Sure, he's had a nice little run here in the XWF, but on the backs of men who's hearts weren't in it. There are litterally a thousand ways to say it, but the simplest way, is this. Mastermind... My Friend, I think you've had it a little too easy. And if I could be one of the first bumps in your road, than it would be my pleasure. I know, the things you'll say, Nick pretty much laid it out for me. I am nothing, I have dont nothing, so why should you fear me? Why should you take me seriously? What is it about me that you should find intimidating? The answer is in the questions themselves, you know nothing about me. So the stereotypical, "Your Next" Statement, doesnt apply, because when you step into that ring this week. You'll be fighting a ghost, someone who doesnt care who you are, or what you've done. Your accomplishments mean nothing compared to the mystery. What I can do, has yet to be seen, and what a sight it shall be.

Mastermind, last week you did a good job I'll give you that, you made Ashe look like a punk. But do you really think that what happened last week has any effect on this one? Maybe. But your heart isn't it in, is it? You've got your Big Time Title Shot, right? However Big the X-treme title is, seems like nothing more than a burden to me, with the bullshit that comes with a belt that is defended 24-7. But if thats where your concentration is, than who am I to tell you otherwise, but what's it going to look like? A loss to a newbie? Would they reconsider? Probably not, your status in this company will stand, but you will go home, lie in your bed, and think, wonder, just as I have, if maybe you're losing it. Believe me I know the feeling, but once again, thats another conversation. I will leave you with this Mastermind, this week, whether or not you believe it, your in for a fight, and given the rules of the match. It will make one of two things certain, your ready for a X-Treme title shot, or your not. Or whether or not Im ready for a life here in the XWF. But no matter what, happens, I promise you will Remember....

I am Zoey Ryback... The Original Daughter of Destruction.