The door to Madison's home opens and shuts, the slam resounding throughout the expansive mansion. Holding the wall for balance, she lazily tugs off her expensive boots. Cursing when she slips away from the wall, she kicks the left one off sending it spiraling down the hall. Muttering, she doesn't even bother to pick it up when she passes it.

Wafting into the kitchen, the smell of an excessive amount of Cosmos clinging to her like a cheap perfume, she tosses her keys on the counter and cusses again as they overshoot, slide over the counter and tumble to the linoleum on the other side. She dimly looks at the counter before shuffling to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of expensive water, unscrewing the cap and chugging it.

That's about when she notices the glaring light coming from her backyard. She winces in response, shielding her eyes as she looks out the kitchen window.

What the fuck?

And then, almost as if on cue, the rumble of a piece of large machinery roaring to life. She sobers up with a quickness and springs to the backdoor. What the FUCK?!

Running to the porch, she throws open the sliding glass door and is immediately taken aback by the sight before her. Numerous huge construction lamps beating back the night, shining down on a massive square hole dug into her backyard. An excavator pulls at the dirt as Engy and some of his eerie hooded cultists consult on the side, indicating the hole and gesturing about the dig site. Madisons mouth goes slack and she stomps up to them.

Slapping her hand down on Engy's shoulder, she turns him around. WHAT THE FUCK?!

Engy smiles at her. Ah, you're home! Just in time for the groundbreaking.

Madison looks at him incredulously. What groundbreaking, what are you talking about?!

Engy looks at her flatly. For my art installation. Remember?

Madison shakes her head “no” and continues to look at him furiously. Engy sighs. Relax. All the permits are in place. I filed for them back when you had that chapel added on to the house. Remember your chapel? The thing you used for about 3 days before rebranding it a tantric sex church and trying to recruit local college boys to be your “parishioners”?

First off, fuck you. And second of all....I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO DO THIS! And why are your creepy ass cultists here?!

One of the hooded cultists looks up at Madison at the mention. He waves at her and offers up a cheery, Hey Madison!

Hey Bob. But seriously though Engy, what in the seven hells are you doing to my backyard?

Like I said, it's an art installation.

Madison looks past Engy's shoulder at the cultists and pulls him further away from them. You've been acting real fucking weird lately. Like, weird even for you. You're hanging out more and more with this dimestore KKK, all the weird Caedus shit, going on and on about being bored. If you're having a mid-life crisis or something why can't you just buy a Camaro like a normal person!

The champ can't resist another smirk. A mid-life crisis? Really? He hisses out a chuckle through his teeth. Maddy, this is the furthest thing from a crisis as it gets. If anything, it's a solution to one. I'm finding a purpose, Madison. I'm finding MYSELF.

Yeah, fine whatever. But could you do it without tearing up....wait a minute, where's my gazebo??!!

Gone. I had to remove it to make room for the Obeslisk.

WHAT??!! Her shrillness cuts even above the sound of the excavator.

Engy reduces the distance between himself and Madison, locking eyes with her. Don't worry about it. It was a command, not a reassurance. Madison blinks a few times in rapid succession, a bit stunned at his brusqueness. This is happening Madison. You can't stop it. No one can. Something icy and alien enters his tone at that. Madison finds herself unconsciously taking a half step back.

Yeah...yeah...sure.... She looks back towards the house. Anyway, I'll be inside. But just please give me a heads up the next time you feel the need to build an “obelisk” or whatever, huh?

You got it. That same unblinking stare.

Madison talks a few more steps back towards the house. Soooo, yeah, gonna be inside sleeping off all these Cosmos. Catch you later, I guess.... She turns her back towards him and starts walking with a quickness, mind racing to think of new job openings she could pursue.

Later....

The excavator has gone silent, but the lights are still on. The cultists are also nowhere to be seen. The Engineer however, is sitting in the middle of the massive hole, cross legged and eyes shut. Almost as though he's meditating. We can see the lids of his eyes flutter now and then, until finally they snap open.

Neeeeeext!

He leaps to his feet, suddenly growing more animated. He sweeps his arm in the air grandiosely and takes on the affectation of a carnival barker. Step right up, step right up! Take your chance at the XWF Universal Champion! Pick your stipulation! Give it your all! Will you be the lucky winnah, winnah chicken dinnah?!! He laughs. Nope.

He shrugs and emits another mocking chuckle. Not you. I mean, maybe you were hoping if you buttered my bread a bit that I'd treat you the same way I treated Michael Graves, by showing you a begrudging respect while being nonetheless confident in my abilities to get things done. It ain't going down like that. You wanna get real up in this bitch? Let's get real.

You were wrong about damn near everything in your promo. You said you think I'm just as excited about this as you are? Not hardly. Because you're still not the guy who's gonna take this from me. Much better men than you have tried and failed. Men with rap sheets five times as long as yours. He stops short. Incidentally, that wasn't meant to be a “black joke”. There's a reason I'm not allowing Madison in on this. I don't need to go THAT low. He looks away from the camera and then back at it. Don't get me wrong. You got an authenticity about you that is to be appreciated. Nothing about you seems fake or contrived. You're not a gimmick. And I think you were being honest with saying you respect me.

But it's not enough to respect a predator in the hopes it'll give you a pass. I'm not slowing my role because you whispered sweet nothings in my ear, Pesty. It's not goin' down like that. Because the problem with you is that, just like everyone else I've faced recently, you think you're the solution to my malaise...my discontent. You think you're the challenge I've been waiting for. And you're not. You're just another appetizer, something to whet my whistle on the way to the man who's truly going to push me. And I DO already know who that man is. More on that in a sec.

He winks playfully before proceeding.

Another thing you were quite wrong about is that I was returning to the “old” me. As if you actually know what that is. No, Pest, the “old” me was really quite shameful. The “old” me was an easily mislead child. Vicious, sure. But a dullard. That “me” was also the product of weakness, of victimhood that I was loathe to confront, so I let it twist me into something childlike and simple.

No....not that. Never that. Not again.

So it begs the question, what am I? Or rather, what am I becoming?

He looks about the hole he's seated in, a twisted wry expression on his features.

I don't wanna give away the goat just yet. But suffice it so say, I'm getting really close to picking a “side”. I've been a rather ambiguous entity for far too long. And I'm fixin' to make things a bit more “black and white” real soon.

He points a finger at the camera.

Still not a racist thing. But oh! I almost forgot! The man who's truly going to push me. I did promise to talk about that little nugget, didn't I? Yeah. You see, I DO know who's going to break this spell. I DO know who's going to make me choose a side to fight for my life. It's not Pestalance. No, no, nooooooo.....

It's Robert Main.

He lets this hang in the air a bit before throwing his arms out and making an expression of mock surprise.

**GASP!** What?! He shakes his head derisively. Ya'all mother fuckers really haven't been paying attention, have you? Now that Caedus is gone, who is the second scariest bastard on the roster? Answer: The guy who's held the Hart Championship for over 6 months. The guy who's streak has been almost as prolific as mine. Oh sure, he's been a bit more “off the radar” since Apex went tits up, but don't think I haven't noticed. I mean, shit, the guy doesn't even need to win a 24/7 briefcase to have earned a shot at my title. He's already earned it by holding HIS championship as long as he has. So why the fuck hasn't he cashed in his opportunity? Why hasn't he stepped in my lane?

Now, I could take a cheap shot and say it's because he's scared. But I don't think that's it, so I won't presume. But regardless, he's the guy. He's MY guy. He's gonna win that 24/7 briefcase, and I bet dollars to dead debutantes that he's gonna cash in too. And he'll have earned the right to do so.

But will it be fulfilling to win it that way?

Engy walks over to a ladder propped against the side of the hole. He walks up and out, and reaching the top he looks back at the absence in the earth. He draws in a deep breath and lets it out satisfactorily.

Oh yeah, things are about to get REAL interesting, Pesty. Unfortunately, it's got nothing to do with you and everything to do with what comes AFTER you. But hey, don't blame me. You're the one wantin' shit REAL. Holla at 'cha later.

Bitch.

Engy starts walking back towards the house, whistling a strange but familiar tune....

Later

Madison couldn't sleep. She slips out of her bedroom, tiptoeing down the hall for a moment before asking herself why she was tiptoeing in her own home.

Why, because her client might still be here, of course.

Unable to suppress a shudder at the thought of just what exactly his fiendish mind was about to erect in her literal back yard, Madison walks towards the basement of her home. Looking back and forth before opening the door, she enters and gently closes it behind her. Taking a left at the base of the stairs, she comes to a series of security monitors linked to cameras strategically placed around her estate. Her fingers settle on a button to rewind the footage from the camera overlooking Engy's “project”, but something gives her pause. A figure is climbing out of the hole. God damn it, Engy.... She mutters. But something compels her to look closer. The way the figure's body is moving is...unnatural. Like the normal operation of joint and sinew working in conjunction with thought simply doesn't apply. It wrenches itself out of the hole with jerky, alien motions, like a spider in a movie that's missing every few film cels. Madison's eyes go wide as she tries to parse what the hell she's seeing.

In a flash then, this....THING.....is just below the camera. She didn't even see it cover the ground in between. A muted cry escapes her throat, but it's what she sees after that that grips her with a terror she hasn't felt in years.

The figure looks up, directly into the camera. And it had Jim Caedus' face.

Madison stumbles backwards from the camera, races back up the stairs and slams the door behind her.



Et venit stella tenebris