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Part 1 - Banished 

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Our story began on a dark and stormy night.


Theo Pryce woke up and blinked the blurriness out of his sight.  At least he thought he did, the room was pitch dark.  The storm boomed outside and
lightning flashed, once it was gone it made the nothingness sink in a little more.  No alarm clocks.  No little night light from the bathroom.  The storm must've knocked out the power..

He reached around and picked up his cellphone bedside and after a couple of quick taps it showed him it was 3:34am.  Another flash of lightning illuminated his room again and he got up.  Bri, his wife, rolled over to face him.

"Where'r you going?"  She slurred, still half asleep.

"Go back to sleep," he said, "No power.  I'm going to check on the kid."

"Be-care—ful," she mumbled back to sleep.

Theo never bothered to answer and thought nothing of it.  Even in complete darkness, he knew his place enough to navigate it blindfolded.  There was no need to use those instincts in this situation, however!  He gave his phone another couple of taps to the flashlight application and selected it to provide about fifty lumens of light at about a twelve foot radius in front of him. 

As soon as he left the bedroom, he felt what could be best described as a heaviness to the air.  It was warm, thick, and stagnant.  A nasty, burnt smell invaded his nostrils and caused him to gag and cough it out.

He didn't even have to think about it.  The storm.  The warmth in the air.  The burning smell.

There was a fire!

His heart jumped up into his throat and just before he went on full alert, he heard glasses clinking around in the kitchen.  Theo's mind raced.  At this point, there was no smoke and no visual of actual flames.  Of course he realized that didn't rule anything out, but he didn't want to lead his family into any possible danger elsewhere either.  It being three in the morning, there should obviously be no clinking of glasses coming from his kitchen.  He decided to investigate further before he would call for a full evacuation.  After taking a quick look inside his sleeping child's bedroom, he quietly closed the door and proceeded down the stairs.

"Hello?!"

He yelled as quietly as he could.  His .45 was beside the bed and he thought about going back to grab it with every step forward, but he never turned back.


He wasn't afraid, his movement was slow and calculated.  The man was full on ready to defend his property and family if he had to.  When he reached the base of the staircase, he made his way through the foyer and into the dining area.  There was no sign of any disturbances so far, including the front door to the place.  Whoever or whatever got in, found another way. 

In the dining room, he could hear humming coming from inside the kitchen now.  Not like the hum of an appliance or a motor, but like singing.  His heart sunk back down into his chest and maybe overshot a bit towards his stomach…  The scent that gagged him earlier, became all too familiar the closer he got.  He stopped a few feet before the doorway before poking his head in and seeing Doc D'Ville rummaging through his cupboards with the near ends of a big, fat cigar burning in his mouth.

Theo jumped out from around the corner, "Put that cigar out!  Are you crazy?"

Doc turned around and looked wide-eyed and laughed as he peeled the stogy from his dried, cracked lips which he gave a quick swipe with his tongue before saying,

Mister Pryce!

He tossed the burning cigar into the sink and Theo did the honors of turning on the faucet to put it out.

Hello, my friend! Said the doctor looking surprised to see Theo in his own kitchen.

"Doctor…"

Theo acknowledged his visitor and calmly walked the rest of the way into the room.  He waved a cloud of cigar smoke away before folding his arms and leaning back against the counter.  He was just about to remind Doc he doesn't handle business at home (ever) when the doctor smiled and went back to rummaging through the cupboards. 

"What are you looking for?!"  Theo demanded.

Ha!  Funny you should ask.

"What?"

Doc switched cupboards and continued his search.

"Doc?"

At this very moment I'm searching for something to drink down my ice with, Mister Pryce!

The doctor said, pointing to the prepared cocktail glass on the countertop.

"With all due respect, I only hold meetings in my office.  Not, and I can't stress this enough, NOT in my kitchen.  You know this."

Doc never stopped his search through the cupboards and went from one to the other, back to the refrigerator, and even repeating through some.

"D'VILLE!"

Yessir! He yelled and threw up his hand as if being called for attendance.

"I want you out of here!"

The doctor turned around with a sad, disappointed look.

But we have much to discuss, Mister Pryce!

Theo tossed his arms up, "That's fine, we can discuss it in my office.  Didn't you hear anything I said?

Oh!  Of course!

With a clap of Doc's hands, in a blink Theo found himself standing in the middle of his office in his PJ's.  Just like he wanted.

"No!  Not now!"

You just said we could discuss this in your office.

"During business hours, Doc!  NOT in the middle of the night.  I think that's pretty reasonable, don't you?  Clap or click your heels and take me back home immediately!"

WOAH!  You do not want to click your heels, Mister Pryce.

Theo was puzzled for a fraction of a second before he dismissed it.  He was in no mood for Doc's magic mumbo-jumbo and just wound his hand in a circle encouraging things to move along.

So, business hours?  Nine to five?

"Those would be business hours."

"Actually, come after eleven.  I'm going to text Lane right now and tell him that I'm going to be late and that I had an unexpected guest in the middle of the night."

Oh, he already knows.  I stopped there first and he told me to come to you.  I believe he said, "Theo handles that shit now, dude, go wake his ass up."

"He what?!"

As Theo blew a blood vessel, Doc clapped his hands and vanished.  - OR -  Maybe it was Theo who vanished.  He stood back in his kitchen with no sign of the doctor.  After a few seconds his power was restored and everything was back to normal.  He turned on the overhead light and scanned the room only to find the cocktail glass on the countertop sitting next to a bottle of whiskey.  After cleaning up, he returned the bottle to its rightful place in the dining room.  As he closed the glass door to the liquor cabinet, a figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Needed a night cap?"  Grilled his wife.

Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"No," Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "but now that you mention it, I think I do now.   

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The Next Day.

Actually, no.

Later That Day.

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"So, what was so important that it was necessary to invade my home in the middle of the night?"

Theo was in much better shape now all gussied up in his suit with his hair gelled back.  He sat behind his large bossman desk as Doc leaned over it from his seat…

Oh, come now.  Invade makes it sound like I was there with malicious intent…

Theo stared blankly back at the doctor.

I wasn't.

There was an awkward silence before Doc continued.

WELL!  First of all, I'd just like to make you aware of my appreciation for the great opportunity that I've been given on Warfare!

Theo made it obvious he was thinking about it.

"I give up.  What's the opportunity?"

Why, a match against Mark Flynn for the Xtreme Championship!

"Oh, well, congrats, I guess?"  Theo paused, "Is that what you wanted?"

No, no, no.  Of course not.  Not yet, anyway.

"I had nothing to do with it."

Doc shrugged.

Unless Mark Flynn has recently secretly decided his own fate, this chance came out of nowhere!  I did not push my legend status!  I did not berate the champion!  I did not call him out and, if my challenge went ignored, name him King of all Cowards!  I merely said I was showing up for Warfare!  This is after I lost at War Games!  This is after, for weeks and weeks, so many others have been scratching and clawing their ways to the top!

Theo rubbed his temples together.

"What are you getting at, Doc?  That you don't deserve a title shot?"

Doc rose up out of the chair and held up his arms.

No!  No, no!  That I DO deserve it!  Regardless of my downfalls and defeats; I do deserve the title shot!  I deserve it more than anyone else!  This divine booking shows that my mere reputation outweighs and out shows anyone, anything, and everything else coming into this event!  Mark Flynn rants and raves about world shattering record sales?  Well, my friend, look no further than what you have right here!

Theo was scanning with his eyes something on his computer screen, when he noticed Doc had stopped talking.

"Oh, I'm glad we were able to fill you with some warm-fuzzies, Doctor.  Is that all we could do for you today?"

Two fists came crashing down and slammed on the desk, knocking a couple picture frames to their side and jostling around a coffee mug with a few pens sticking out from it.

Do not patronize me, Mister Pryce.  What I bring to the table is something special.  I drop from the ceiling and there's a main event on your lap.  I step out from the shadows and one looms over your shoulder.  I stand as a veteran who has seen some of the highest and lowest places here.  If I am to fall, when I rise from the ashes, you know as well as everyone else that I come back stronger and better than I ever was.  If I am to prevail, if I seek acknowledgement, you don't bow your heads…  You turn them.  When I am cut and bruised, I do bleed.  I bleed the XWF, my friend.  I bleed it.  I breathe it.  I eat it, shit it, strive for it, and thrive within it!

Doc sat back down and relaxed in the chair, then pulled a cigar from inside his jacket.

May I smoke?

"No!  Of course, not."

Doc sighed and placed the big stogy back in his jacket.

I have been your very best, Mister Pryce.  I have fought for years and am considered one of the greatest to ever grace the hallways of this most fine federation.  And as of late, we've seen that I am just that…  Just one of the best.  My failures and others successes.  My downfalls and their rise to the glorious mountain top.

Doc sighed once more, this time deeper and longer.  Closing his eyes, he raised a closed fist in the air and followed it, then opened his eyes again.

It's seemed so far away for sometime now…  The mountaintop.  It wasn't long ago, or has it been?  Since I've sat on its peak and looked down upon the rest of the XWF like little ants?  Since I've had a stranglehold on this place that not a single person could break?  No one even tried anymore, it was useless to do so, because I would just squeeze harder and harder until they POPPED.  I would choke whatever life was left after I beat it out of anyone that ever crossed me!  I had the Universe in my grasp, until I let it go.

Nowadays?  I'm a rite of passage.  A milestone.  A goal in some little dreamer's eye.  Number two on a warrior's bucket list.  Number one on the Nickelman's.  The caution is still there.  It's still known that I'm a deadly nearly unstoppable force to be reckoned with.  For now.

All I have to do is make a few people remember, Mister Pryce, and the others will follow.  Fear still exists in this place even though some misidentify it as respect now.  Someone avoided ALIAS for an entire year out of respect and later picked his spot, became a celebrity, and is going to beat Mister Kido-san for the Universal Title next week.

I'm not a huge fan of this circus, which makes me even happier about this coming Warfare.  Winning the Xtreme Championship is simply Phase One in getting my Universe back!  I will tear through every single challenger that comes my way and rip it from the cold clutches of whoever's lying there in the end.  From there I will keep it safe from malevolent forces like Corey Smith, liars like Dolly Waters, want-to-be top guys like Raion Kido, and paranoid schizophrenic imbeciles like Mark Flynn.  You know that the Doc D'Ville that everyone has grown to know and love these last couple of years isn't the same Doc D'Ville that became a legend.  Is it?  Granted, I've accomplished a lot since I've been given that status, BUT…  There was a time I was called that before even having the tag.

Theo had his phone out under his desk and was playing a slot machine on it as Doc went off.  He noticed late, again, when the doctor stopped talking and expected a response.  Sliding his phone into his pocket, he looked up and glanced around.

"Are we finished?"

Finished?

"Yes!  Done?  Meeting adjourned?  Goodbye?"

Doc held up a finger and reached into his jacket pocket. and pulled out a white cloth folded up real small and placed it on the desk.

I haven't even gotten to the main serving, yet.

"What's this?"

Open it.

Theo stared down at it then moved his eyes up to the doctor.

"If that's a finger I'm going to be very upset."

Who's finger?

"It doesn't matter!  Gah–!  Is it a finger?"

No!  Open it!.

Theo reluctantly reached down and picked up the folded cloth and held it by its edge so it opened.  There was nothing that dropped from it.  He then laid it flat and spread it out on the desk.





"And what the hell is this?"

That…  Is the Eye of the XWF!

"The what?"

An ancient relic dating back to the earliest days of this most glorious organization, Mister Pryce!  It's said to hold great power!

"What kind of great power?"  Theo paused and studied the drawing.  "Doc, you know as well as I do that messing around with stuff from…uh….  the "Ancient Times" of the XWF can get…  kinda……… weird…….  Right?"

I wouldn't expect anything less, but I'm prepared to be "weirded-out", if that's the cost.

"What is it supposed to do?" Asked Theo, rubbing his forehead.

I'm not sure.  It's called the "EYE of the XWF", so…  Maybe it will show the past and future?  Give visions!  Maybe it'll give the holder great strength from ancient XWF alumni?  Maybe it will–

"Maybe – it will be totally fake!  Why haven't I ever heard of it, and why does this cloth look like someone wiped their ass with it?"

Theo rubbed his fingers on his pant leg.

It's paint.  Made into the fabric.

"Sure it is," Theo kept his distance from it, but took a closer look.  "Do I even wanna know why you want your hands on this thing?  No, better yet, what do I have to do with you wanting it?"

I must get to Banishment Island.

"Banishment Island?  Why?"

It's an ancient XWF relic, Theo…  The very first and most obvious place to look is there.  That's where most of XWF history is buried.  There and the Moon, and I was looking there next.

"I can't send you to Banishment Island, Doc."

Why not?

"Because you have to be banished to go to there."

Then banish me!

"No!"

Why not?!

"Because I'm not!"

That's absurd reasoning, Mister Pryce.

"You have a match on Saturday, remember?"

Banish me, then UNbanish me.

Theo laughed, "It's not that easy, pal.  Why am I suddenly the key to getting there?  How did you get there two years ago?"

By ship…  And Unknown Soldier's head on a pike.

"What's wrong with doing that again?"

Soldier's worthlessness was the only thing that fueled that ship, which is now a wrecked ship…  Not an option.

Theo thought long and hard about this.

"You can't clap your hands and just zap yourself there?  Or is that too convenient?"

Nope.  C'mon, that'd be too easy.

"Look…  Doc.  You and I go back a long time.  I think you're wasting your time with this whole thing and need to just focus on what you were focused on earlier…  Warfare."

Doc smiled and started getting up out of the chair.

"I know you're passionate about the XWF and, trust me, we see it every time you go out there, win or lose."

The smile slowly began to transition into a scowl.  Meanwhile, Theo started moving his way around the desk.

"Sometimes you get a little too down on yourself and just need to relax.  Just because you're not on top and just because you don't go out there and walk away winner every time, doesn't mean you're any less of a legend that we inducted."

Theo threw a hand up on the old man's shoulder and grabbed a hand with his other, stuffing in the fabric drawing of the Eye of the XWF.  Shaking hands, he began leading Doc towards the door.

"...  It's always a treat, your visits, Doc.  Once you learn a little etiquette as far as scheduling them goes…  Or even going as far as scheduling them at all, they'll be a pleasure."

He led Doc the entire way to the door and out of the office.

"But please forget about that stupid relic.  Anything that's been buried, especially on Banishment Island, should probably stay buried.  Hit me up again though, anytime…  Between the hours of nine and five…  During the week.  Not during lunch time."

Theo smiled as he slowly closed the door in front of Doc.

"Okay?  Good.  Bye!"

The door clicked shut.  Theo leaned against it and let out a long, relieving breath.

"Finally."

He pressed away from it and shuffled into his private bathroom and let that door close behind him.  The automatic faucet turned on when he placed his hands under it and he washed his hands and face.

The man in the mirror stared back at him, thinking exactly what Theo was thinking…

"Dodged that one didn't we, old friend?"

Helping Doc wasn't the issue.  The issue came with the craziness that followed.  Doc hadn't changed since the two of them joined forces all of those years ago.  He saw the same thing when the doctor was teamed with Thaddeus Duke and he's seeing the same thing happen now.  Banishment Island…  Was it out of his mind?

Theo finished and dried his hands.  He reached for the door handle and pulled it back immediately!

"Ow!  What the–?!"

The doorknob was too hot to touch.  Burning hot!

What now?!  A fire?!  An actual fire?!  Doc and those damn cigars!

Theo grabbed the towel hanging and shielded his hand with it and opened the door.  When he exited the bathroom, to his surprise, stood Doctor D'Ville behind his desk.

"Doc!  What the hell?!"

Doc opened the top drawer to Theo's desk, reached in and pulled something.

*CLICK*

"Doc…."

Theo held out his hand and started to step forward.  A hidden compartment opened up on the top of the desk and revealed a ginormous red button.

Hm!  I wonder what that button does!

"DOC!"

As Theo went to leap into action, Doc slammed a fist down on the button!

Suddenly, a trap door opened up below Theo's feet and he dropped through the hole!

"NNNOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!!"

HA!  Jackpot!

Doc laughed and climbed up onto the desk.  He dusted himself off, rubbed his hands together, and took a diver's pose.  Leaping high into the air, Doc's body torqued around into a dive and he shot down through the hole in the floor which soon sealed itself back up.

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BANISHMENT ISLAND

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The waves crashed against the beach and just barely reached past the heels of Theo's shoes.  Opening his eyes, he sees nothing but water and sky.  He sat on what must be a beach, but it was mostly dirt and rock.  To his back was a palm tree, that he just now came to realize he was tied to with rope.  Just by the neck, he's able to move around the tree in a about a seven-foot radius, but the rope is thick and wrapped several times around the palm tree.  It went around his neck like a noose and everytime he stretched away from the tree it grew tighter and choked him.

He sat on the cold, wet sand before losing his shit and screaming out.  He got up and pulled at the rope and tree as hard as he could for about thirty seconds before running out of breath and sitting back down.  Burying his head in his lap he screamed out again.

"Ahhhh!!  DOC!!"

Hello, my friend!

Theo's head shot up and looked around.  To his right stood you know who!

"Doc!  What the fuck?!"

No worries!  Since I just followed you in, I didn't get all bound up and such.  I'll release you!

Theo waited like when Doc got close enough he was going to pounce on him.  He walked out to the furthest reaches the rope would allow and just as Doc got a couple of feet away…  He stopped.

You look like you're about to say something, Mister Pryce.

"Just…  Untie me, Doc.  We'll talk afterward."

Doc bit his lip and rubbed his chin.

I can understand why you're upset about the situation we're in.  I honestly, HONESTLY, did not plan it out this way.

"Doc, if you don't want to have permanent residency here…  I suggest you get this rope off my neck right now."

Oh?  Now you're so easy to banish me…  Anyway, I know you may think this was the wrong decision.  I know you may believe that I'm wasting my time chasing this stupid relic.

"This is the kind of crap I was talking about!  You take things way too far when things don't always work out!  You change things around and put way too much thought into everything, which results in it blowing up in your face!  OR, my face!"

You think I'm a spaz when things don't go exactly right?  I only attempt to improve myself and move forward, my friend.  I never back track, I never side track.


Mark Flynn soared back into the scene on the coattails of someone that was making a legacy for themselves!  War Criminal went on a tear through this place like no other and carried Mark Flynn every step of the way during their journey!

Nothing against Mark Flynn, of course.  He proved long ago and is proving to this day that he's more than capable of getting the job done on his own.  He's shown us all that he never needed anyone to carry him, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.  Regardless!  I've been in those same shoes.  Little Thaddeus Duke needed not be carried, but I couldn't help but try to carry him around in my papoose everywhere we went.  NK just seemed like an over-nurturer and I think, at the time, it completed Flynn in a way that he found missing later.

That's probably why he has at least one YES-MAN following him around all the time, right?

"Are you seriously asking me a question right now?  Un-fff–"

I think that's exactly why.  Well, that and he's the biggest narcissist I've ever witnessed in my entire life, and the XWF is crawling with them.

Once his mind drifted from all the conspiracies going on within the XWF and NK went on permanent vacay, his true self-absorbed journey began!  Am I allowed to say it?

Theo just stared at Doc with a scowl.

Optimal Path…  The optimal path is what lied ahead, right?  What really was it though?  Was it the shortest path?  Was it the easiest path?  Was it the most obvious path?  Is this anomaly so above everyone's heads that he trademarked it?  To me, up is up.  Victory is Victory Forever (Someone taught me that.).  The optimal path is straight for the throat.  Flynn was doing great, he stuck to it, until he lost the Universal Title to Bourbon.  So, he vows revenge on the Universe and everyone and everything in it.  Or, at least those that cross that optimal path, right?

Does that include me, I wonder?

Because I think he's veered off the path…  Far, far from it and into the woods.  This is no way the shortest, easiest, best, or most favorable path ahead.  If this was his optimal path,  it fooled him and led him straight into an impenetrable wall at its end, but this is going to hurt a lot more than that.  Also upon losing his title, most of his equity went out the door with it.  The guy is so caught up with his image, he's, once again, trying to sell something that isn't real…  Being…  A good fellow.  Not, a Goodfella…  A good fellow…  As in…  A good guy, a baby-face, a hero to the people!

And I love the idea.  He's advertised as THE most hated man in XWF history, so…  I think him swerving and turning around and kissing babies is the perfect heel move.  He's a bumbling imbecile but not an nonintellectual one.  He can read and write, he see's things for what they are, and probably reads into things a little too far sometimes, too…  But for an asshole like him to just decide yesterday to go full blown good-guy?  Ha!  See, I actually had a change of heart once and Corey Smith didn't buy that crap for a second.

"Doc…  I.  Swear to GOD.  If you don't untie me from this fucking palm tree…  I'm going to kill you myself!  Untie me!  Untie me now!"

Mark Flynn has seen the mountaintop, just as I have, and yearns for it just as I do.  The question now will be is who hungers for it more?  The Xtreme Title lies between us with the winner walking away with the burden of its gift.  I've run the trials of being Xtreme Champion before and it is no stranger to me.  I'm more than ready for the challenge once more.  I stand ready to fight for something I haven't put in my sights in a long, long time.

Doc sighed and walked to Theo and upon touching it, the rope hissed and sizzled apart and fell to the ground.

Theo rubbed his neck and balled his fist at the doctor.