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Thaddeus Duke · (02-04-2022)

Fire & Ice || Reykjavik, Iceland || Time Unknown

The bell rings and My Name Is Human plays throughout the dome. My father rolls off of me to his side. I tapped him out. No one has ever tapped him out. Not once in his career. Not once did anyone have what it took to physically make him quit. Just me. In all his years, through all of his matches. I’m the one. I’m the only one. 88 matches… Yet, only me.

Staring up at the lights, I’m thoroughly exhausted. I hurt in places I didn’t know I had places. I can feel the cuts, the scrapes, the bruises on my face puffing out. The adrenaline subsides as I sit up on the mat. My father has already vacated the ring. Mark Flynn and Corey Smith have began making their way up the ramp.

My sweet Corey.

I only wish he knew how much I truly love him. Not in some weird gay fanfiction kind of way either. A real love. True, and pure. He’s the brother I never had, and I hurt him so much.

Why?

Why do I feel this ridiculous need to push those I love away from me?

Dolly Waters is the exception to the rule. My sister from another mister. She finds a way to push herself away… and I miss her so much.

Pyro explodes inside the dome. A gold number 50 pops up on the X-Tron. The fans… the Universe… my Universe… my Nation… They’re so loud. Louder than everywhere else except maybe New York. All of them on their feet, cheering for me, celebrating for me, elated in my victory… our victory. And I’ve done practically nothing to earn it back except be myself.

For months I told them I’d expose Sebastian Duke for the cold, dark and evil piece of human shit that he is. In reality, all I did was give him the canvas in which to expose himself. And he didn’t disappoint. He showed his true colors. He showed the Universe exactly who he is and the Universe saw it. They learned from it. They saw him. Throughout the match, slowly but surely, brick by fucking brick, they rebuilt Duke Nation. With them behind me, willing me on… we overcame the dark, and the light shined through.

Every little cheap trick in the book, he tried. Barring my people, sticking Corey in the middle of it all the while attacking Corey knowing full well my inclination to protect him. Hiring Heyman, Paulie interfering, the tricks with the weather, all of it designed to get in my head. All of it designed to put my back against the wall and limit what I could do offensively.

They saw it all.

Together, we overcame.

Standing on the stage, I listen as they sing my old entrance music. Truth be told, if I wasn’t already physically and emotionally exhausted, I’d be flooding the stage. Instead, I look around aimlessly. Men, women, teenagers and children of all ages… pouring their love out to me. What do you do when a contentious relationship is on the mend? What do you do when people you loved but hadn’t been returning the same favor in several months starts showing that love again?

You throw up the hand.

You let them know... you love them too.

Later, on the plane on the way from Iceland to Orlando, and more specifically to Lauren, I sit quietly in reflection and deep thought. Aside from Genesis and getting it off the ground, I don’t really know what’s next for me. For the first time in the last year and a half, I don’t have a plan for what’s next. Raion Kido on Warfare, obviously. Asking Corey to join myself and Mark Flynn, clearly. Teaming with those two at the Porter Invitational, teaming with my wife and her friend at that same event, those are etched in stone.

Aside from that, I don’t have a plan. And maybe I shouldn’t? I’ve been in the thick of all things since my return to the company so maybe… maybe it’s just time for someone else. Maybe it’s time I took a step back, hung out with my friends, be a cheerleader for those I love and care about.

The question of whether or not to jump into title pictures is always a prevailing thought. At this point in my career, I really don’t think there’s a title that I can’t win. It’s been a little over a year now since I lost the Universal title. Despite everything I’ve done, everything I’ve won, everyone I’ve beat… not one GM, not a single member of the brass has approached me and sad ‘Thad, I think you should challenge for the Universal title.’ Yet we’ve seen nobody after nobody line up, just to get knocked down.

I’ve been a busy man though, in all fairness, I’m always working some angle and shooting toward a specific goal in mind so as much as I maybe resent the fact that they’ve not rewarded my efforts with a shot at the big one, I also understand it. It’s not that wouldn’t like to see my name challenging for the Universal, it’s that my availability has been next to nil.

Chris Page.

The Bastards.

Ned Kaye.

Mark Flynn.

Corey Smith.

My father.

From one, to the next, to the next, to the next… the schedule I kept just hasn’t had an opening. It’s open now though. For now at least.

Not just my career is on my mind, either. Lauren too, and my kids. If anything, the kids are weighing on me more than everything else. For as much as I dislike my own father for what he’s done and his inability to be even a half decent parent for about 95% of my life, the conclusion of my match with him has me reflecting on my own fatherhood.

I love nothing and no one more than I love my children, yet half the time, they’ve been in North Carolina with their mom. The day I gave my mother a proper burial I dropped the bomb on Elizabeth that once her father passed away that her and the kids had to move back to New York. David Tate died a few weeks after Jim did. Even still, I reneged on that order, allowing her to stay with her mom as long as she wanted. In a period of weakness, I thought maybe my kids would be better off without me or having as little contact with me as possible.

I know I was wrong.

Unfortunately for her, I’m reneging all over again. I want them near me at every possible second and I’m sick to death of not having them.

”Thad,” Brandon whispers to me quietly as to not wake other staffers. His sudden appearance startles me just a bit as it knocks me out of my own head. You remember Brandon. The son of my Chief of Staff. Lover turned friend, now also my assistant. ”My fathers on the phone,” he informs me.

”Well give it to me,” I reply to him, holding my hand out for his phone.

”Gladly,” he says with a wink before shaking his head. ”Secure line in the Sit Room.”

Without hesitation, I jump to my feet and follow him toward the back of the plane. There’s only one reason he’d call this time of the morning: The Ares Project. Since the battle at sea where my Navy destroyed theirs, they’ve gone almost completely radio silent and underground.

The working theory at this point, is that we’ve broken their back. To our knowledge, General McGovern is still alive and until he’s not, then the Ares Project is considered an active threat. This war doesn’t end until one of us is in the ground.

Entering the secure room aboard the 747, Brandon closes the door behind us. Dick appears on the screen on the wall in front of me as I take a seat in the big chair on the long end of the conference table.

”What do you got for me Dick?” I ask him quickly. ”McGovern?”

”No, this has nothing to do with McGovern,” he answers. ”This has nothing to do with the Ares Project at all, actually.”

”Then why the hell did you wake me up?”

”I didn’t,” he replies. ”Brandon told me you were wide awake.”

I shoot a look to Brandon and he gives me a wry smile.

”Fuckin’ narc,” I joke. ”How am I supposed to make him feel like shit for making me adult in the middle of the night if you keep telling him my secrets?”

”Sorry,” he says with a smile as he takes a seat beside me.

”Dick, you got any updates on the Ares Project?”I say, forcing myself to remove my eyes from Brandon and his sweet smile.

”Not a lot,” he replies. ”We know they’re back in the United States but they’ve split up in all directions.”

”How’s the surveillance teams coping?”

”McGovern was smart this time Thad,” he begins. ”None of them came back together. None at the same time. It’s impossible to track every member.”

”Where do we estimate their numbers?” I ask, pausing for a beat. ”Thousands had to have gone down with their ships.”

”That’s true,” he confirms my suspicion. ”They didn’t have large numbers to begin with so I think it’s a safe bet that there’s under a thousand of them left.

“That being said Thad, we have our teams with eyes on key figures.”

”None of them are on McGovern?” I ask suggestively. Of course, I know that answer.

”He hasn’t been seen since that day in the park, Thad,” he reminds me.

I remember it well. McGovern had me dead to rights at the Compound when his Navy attacked my home. If not for U.S. intervention, I might not be here now. That, and maybe a little divine intervention that I jokingly refer to as plot armor from time to time. That night, I’d resolved to kill McGovern no matter what it took. Frankie was home that night and had anything happened to him, my life be damned, I’d have rained fire on the Ares Project and burned every last one of those fuckers alive.

After the attack, I’d put a plan together under the guise of peace. People judge me harshly for it, but even still, I’d do it all again. While their backs were turned, staring across the water at my Navy, I had my men put bullets into the backs of his men.

No, I feel no guilt for it. They chose to fight on the wrong side. They chose to stick with McGovern even after being labeled an international terror regime. They chose to hijack my plane with my son on board. They chose to attack my house with my son home. I will never not protect my children.

As they say, ‘all is fair in love and war,’ and this? This is war.

”The general consensus among the Chiefs is that he stayed out of the battle at sea and went into hiding.”

”Damn,” I mutter to myself. ”Why do those men still follow him? He doesn’t lead, he’s a coward and he knew damn well we were gonna fuck up his Navy and kill his people, yet he sent them anyway.

“He literally sent his men to die and they still follow him, Dick.”

”He’ll turn up sooner or later Thad and when he does, we’ll get our eyes on him.”

”We get eyes on him, try and take him out,” I instruct him.

”Really? I thought you’d want that pleasure yourself.”

”Oh I sure as hell do,” I reply, readjusting myself in my chair. ”But at the end of the day, I don’t really care how he dies… so long as he’s dead.”

”Noted sir,” he says with a smile. ”Anyway, the reason for this call Thad, is to advise you that it’s time to move.”

”Move?” I question, scrunching my face up in confusion. ”I’m not leaving New York.”

”No, that’s… what I mean, is move against your father.”

Oh.

That.

”I don’t know, Dickie,” I hesitate. ”I hate to make an irrational decision like that right now. I have too much emotion into it, you know?”

”Yes and that’s exactly why you hired me,” he reminds me. ”You remember the day I took the job?”

My head darts toward Brandon as he chuckles under his breath. That day, I wasn’t aware that the guy I had been screwing was also the son of my new Chief of Staff. Once I put it together, I’d spent hours making sexually suggestive remarks toward him in front of his father, trying everything I could to make Richard Small feel as uncomfortable as possible.

Dick sighs deeply. ”Not that part,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

”What part? You don’t even know what I was thinking.”

”You know I can see both of you right?” he asks, giving both Brandon and I a laugh. ”Anyway, I told you then that you had too much heart in it and you didn’t think things through from a head of state perspective.

“That’s why you hired me, Thad.”

”What would we even arrest him for Dick? He was already tried, convicted and immediately released on the condition that he could have no affiliation with the Illuminatus State.”

”I’m well aware of that Thad,” he says authoritatively. ”What have you learned since then?”

For the moment, I’m at a loss. Typically speaking, my brain is a lot faster than this. Being physically and emotionally drained combined with general fatigue, I’m just not following his line of inquiry. ”Dick, I’m tired as hell. You’re gonna have to be a little more direct.”

”Your mother,” he says quickly.

Immediately, I’m thrown back to Italy on the day she died. It replays in my mind at random moments throughout my life. I remember seeing her yanked from a van in Saint Peter’s Square. I remember her being tied to the obelisk as confused onlookers only watched. I remember yelling for her and her turning my way.

”Thad,” Dick calls out, but I pay him no attention.

I remember trying to get to her. I remember seeing my dads blade.

”Oh Jesus Christ, he zoned out again, didn’t he Brandon?” he asks, but none of it even registers in my head.

”Seems that way,” Brandon says before spinning his chair in my direction.

I remember getting run into by someone and being knocked to the ground. I remember it all so vividly as my dad cuts her open and escapes. Most of all, I remember holding her head in my arms while she bled out and I was helpless to save her.

”Help me out here, will you?” Dick says to his son.

SMACK!

Brandon backhands me in the side of my face.

”What the fuck dude!?”

”You zoned out,” he informs me. ”Besides, dad made me do it and I really like this paycheck.”

”Thad, do you even know Illuminatus law?”

”Not really,” I reply shamefully as I rub my cheek where Brandon smacked me. ”That’s what I pay people for.”

”The moment they wed, she became sovereign,” he begins to explain. ”She effectively became co-head of state, like Lauren is now...”

”Wait… what!?”

”As such, when your father...”

”Dick! Wait! Back up!” I plead, jumping from my chair. ”What the hell do you mean Lauren is co-head of state!!?”

”The Constitution was re-written after the war with your father and your crown was secured, correct?”

”Yeah but...”

”And you put your little lion seal on the new one, right?”

”Yeah but what’s that have to do...”

”That Constitution became Illuminatus law and it supersedes any and all others prior,” he continues on, amid my growing shock at the realization of what my marriage actually means.

”Oh my God!”

”In the new laws Thad, women were given admittance to the Illuminatus State and along with it, afforded equal rights as a result. When your father married your mother, according to the new laws, she was Queen of the Illuminatus State just as your father was King.”

”...”

”So then… Lauren...” Brandon puts the words in my mouth.

”I’m not talking about Lauren, I’m talking about Caitlyn Duke,” Dick starts to lose his cool. ”I’m talking about the King murdering the Queen which is not only regicide, but treason as well.”

”But he...” my voice trails off.

”...didn’t know he was acting on a lie?” Brandon interjects, once again finishing my thoughts.

”He acted without affording her due process Thad,” he replies quickly. ”Which, by itself constitutes negligence. It makes him part of the conspiracy to eliminate your mother, willingly or not.

“Ignorance does not equal innocence.”

”So he can be retried?” I ask, for the moment, my mind leaves the fact that when I married Lauren, it gave her everything.

”And you should definitely pursue it,” Dick advises. ”You’ve effectively taken everything from him aside from his business in Virginia. How long do you think it’d be before he came beating down your door and wanting his crown back?”

”That’s a separate issue,” I argue.

”Is it?” he pauses for a beat. ”Whether you want to see the truth or not, you’re the usurper. Yes, you will heir but by jumping the line and ousting your father, he still has the more legitimate claim.

“As such, Frankie, Talon, and Caty are all threats to his claim. You talk all the time about dealing with threats to your children. And there is no bigger threat to them than your own father.”

”Where are you?” I ask in an accusatory tone.

Dick turns to his left, while tilting the camera in the same direction. In the shot are six or eight highly trained, highly skilled soldiers.

”On our way to Virginia,” he says while repositioning the camera. ”Sebastian’s plane is about to land. We’re right behind him.”

”I’m not sure how I feel about you making these moves without my consent,” I say to him coldly.

”You’re the King, Thaddeus,” he says with a grin. ”Say the word and he’ll be in custody in an hour or less.”

For the moment, I say nothing at all.

”Or maybe… I could call the Queen,” he says with a bit of a smile.

”Jesus Christ Dick! Don’t let her know she holds actual power!” I cry out. I wished I was being facetious, but I’m not. Lauren isn’t exactly equipped to hold power. If she finds out she can issue military orders, she’d probably have the Riggs’ house bombed or some shit.

”Dick can she act unilaterally? Like, without my consent?”

”She holds equal power, Thad. Yes.”

”Oh God,” I say, clutching my stomach. ”I might be sick.”

”I might’ve warned you, but how the hell was I supposed to know you two would fuck for two weeks then get married?”

Fuck.

Me.

”She is not to know she has power, Dick, do you understand me!?”

”You’re the boss,” he says with a smile. ”But so is she.”

”You’re gonna tell her, aren’t you?” Brandon asks.

”Of course I am. I don’t keep anything from her.”

”We’re landing Thad,” Dick interrupts. ”Now is the time. Do you want justice for your mothers untimely death? Or do you want to continue to ignore it, let it fester, eat you alive…”

”Do you really think this is what I should do?”

”I think that he should absolutely be put on trial, yes,” he answers before pausing for a beat. ”I think you should listen to the evidence, hear everything you need to hear, then come to the best decision you can when it’s all over.”

”You mean...”

”That,” he confirms my thoughts without hearing them. ”Or you can let him go again. It’ll be your call.”

Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on the table and lay my forehead against my palms in thought.

”I understand your hesitation,” he says without me looking up. ”But can you honestly sit there and say that you are happy that your mothers killer has never faced justice for that crime all the while planning to possibly eliminate your own sons birth father for the same exact crime because he might get out of prison?”

Fucking.

Ouch.

Lifting my head from my hands, I just look up at Dick.

”For your own peace of mind Thaddeus, pull the proverbial trigger. Bring Sebastian Duke to justice,” he pleads. ”It’s not like you can’t let him go again at the end.”

”I’m not sure I could,” I finally admit out loud. ”That’s why I haven’t done it.”

”You’re afraid that you can’t be impartial?”

”I know I can’t, Dick,” I say to him quickly. ”If I sit through a trial, all I’ll ever think about her blood leaking all over me as she died. There’s no fucking way I’d let him walk.”

”There’s someone else,” he chimes in. ”If you don’t think you can be impartial… Have the Queen sit the bench.”

What a horrifying thought.

”She can pass the sentence. Should that be the case, of course.”

For a moment, I stare into space.

”We just touched down at Dulles, Thad. What are your orders?”

Thinking as quickly as I can, I sit silently. Nothing is clear and the waters are muddy as hell. I just can’t wrap my brain around any of it.

”Thad?”

”Take him down,” I finally answer before clicking off the cameras and the microphones. With a deep sigh, I lean back in my chair and close my eyes.

”It was the right call Thad,” Brandon says as his chair squeaks. With my eyes still shut, he kisses me right above the right side of the jaw.

”What was that for?”

”For smacking you in the face earlier,” he says ever so quietly. ”It left a red mark.”

Opening my eyes, I look over at him with a smile. ”Seems like an excuse,” I say to him.

”Why’s that?”

”Because I just fought my dad, my face has a bunch of red marks,” I say to him as he leans in and kisses an owwie. ”Cuts,” he kisses a cut. ”Bruises,” he kisses a bruise.

”I’mma married man, Brandon,” I say, resisting the urge to say ‘fuckitol.’

”It’s never stopped you before,” he argues.

”I’ve never been married before,” I argue back as he kisses my chin. With his hand, he reaches for my crotch, but I grab his wrist.

”Oooof, strong man,” he says quietly. He looks me in the eye with his sweet smile then kisses me on the forehead before walking toward the door. ”I’ll be in my room if you change your mind,” he says before disappearing around the corner.

With the door to the situation room left open, I wait until I hear his bedroom door shut. Once it does, I stand up, stretch out a little and head toward the door myself. Momentarily, I stop in the door way and pull the door toward me. The thought in my head right now, is left or right? Left goes toward his room, right leads to mine.

The sit room door closes behind me.

I guess I owe some sort of explanation.

In a sense, I guess my dad was right. I know I have flaws. I am not a perfect person and I have never once claimed that I was. In fact, it has always been the opposite. I don’t excuse my flaws, neither. They are what they are, but someone once gave me a piece of advice that I hold dear to me.

Whatever you are, just own it.

So I have.

Up and down the highways, across the oceans, and all over the world, I have always just been me. Like me, love me or hate me… I am what I am. For the most part, I’ve always been unapologetic about it too. That’s not to say that I haven’t made some mistakes and miscalculations because I have.

Corey Smith being probably my most obvious and glaring mistake.

Last summer, I kicked my dad in the face after I advised him and strongly suggested to him, to not come back to wrestling. To not come to the XWF and try to keep pace with his for more talented, far more charismatic, far better only son. He chose not to listen. He chose to come back yet again and I was forced to put him down.

The Universe didn’t like it and they let me know it.

In my mind, I felt betrayed. Like most of us, I have literally given them everything I have and then some. And they hated me for ruining their nostalgia act. Around that same time, things between Corey and I… they took a turn for the worse. He made suggestions that I thought I needed him in order to be a success and, to be honest, I found that very offensive. I mean, I love Corey and I always have. Likely always will. But for him to, no matter how unintentional it was, for him to put the suggestion out into the Universe that I needed him by my side rather than wanting him by my side was just kind of the straw that broke the camels back.

It hurt.

I was reeling from a number of things going on in my personal life and none of that is his fault. But there’s my best friend making such insinuations about me, about us. Looking back, Corey has a propensity to say things in such a way that doesn’t always means what he thinks, or at the very least, the point he’s trying to make gets lost between his mouth and some others’ ears.

So we get through War Games and I said some things. Things that hurt him deeply.

I’d like to sit here and tell you that I didn’t mean it.

But at the time, I did.

At the time, I wanted to hurt him.

Not physically.

Emotionally, like he hurt me.

See, things get lost in the constant content that comes their way from the XWF and its stars. I didn’t then and don’t now, expect people to understand my way of thinking, to understand what hurts and why it does. Or why it did. On the surface of what happened between Corey and I, it looked like I was jealous of Corey and Alias’s friendship.

I wasn’t.

And I’m still not.

But when you live your life the way I do, when your life is on borrowed time like mine is, when your childrens lives are on borrowed time like mine are… decisions have to be made and I don’t expect people to agree with them. What I do expect, is that people will pause before they speak, and wonder what they would do if they were standing in my shoes.

I don’t ask that anyone agrees.

I only ask that they understand and not judge me solely based on the things I do to protect my children. Nothing is off limits to me, when it comes to them.

NOTHING.

The part I think, that hurt so much wasn’t the threats and desires of Alias wanting me dead, wishing I was dead, having dreams of my son holding my severed head. That’s not a reflection of me, but him. What hurt me is that I was held to a different standard. Alias could want, wish and dream and that was okay. But I do something despicable in the name of protecting those I love, and that’s not okay.

After War Games, Corey wanted a fight.

And I gave it to him.

And I regret it.

Not because he came back two months later and stole my championship. I’ve had them, I’ll have ‘em again. I regret it because in the frame of mind I was in, it stopped me from trying to reach out to him or he reach out to me and instead, violence became the answer between brothers.

I never wanted that.

The Universe was right to hate me.

But my father was right.

They were just looking for an excuse to rebuild Duke Nation. Without realizing it, I gave them reasons to do it. I have always had this… inclination, I guess… to protect Corey. Blood related or not, he’s my little brother and I know he’s tougher than a two dollar steak, but that doesn’t help if I see him get blindsided.

It’s almost poetry.

They hated me for blindsiding Corey. They loved me again for my relentless pursuit of the man that for the hell of it, during the course of the match, blindsided Corey. So I realized as Fire & Ice wore on, it wasn’t hate they felt for me, it was hurt… it was betrayal… it was pain.

Are we whole again? No, we’re not. But we will be.

We will because love trumps hate.

We will because we’re stronger together, than we are apart.

That match wore on and what started as boos and hate for me, slowly morphed into the Universe coming to my side again. Together, they awakened the Lionheart… the real... Lionheart.

And together with Duke Nation, on Warfare, we give a resoundingly warm welcome to the Thaddeus Duke Show to another lion in Raion Kido. He’s been an impressive addition to the XWF roster and I sought him out for this match. I’ve watched him since his debut and I’m certain that win or lose, he’ll put on an instant classic with yours truly.

It’s matches like this that define a legacy. While mine has pretty well been etched in stone even before Fire & Ice, it only gets furthered, it only drives the chisel deeper into that stone by being tested and pushed to the absolute limit. That’s what I expect from Mr. Kido. That’s what I want from Mr. Kido. I want him to enter this match with the desire to defeat me and there’s no doubt in my mind that he accepted this match wiintent on winning. It’s a tall task no doubt, but the will to win against someone so good, so talented, so special, is I think, one thing that bonds all of us together.

Not everyone will say it out loud.

Not everyone is me.

He’s been shot out of a cannon and the proverbial rocket is attached to his back. As well it should be. If I have one ax to grind about this match is that it’s not the main event while it certainly, in my opinion, could be. Even if its not the main event… then put us on first to set the tone for the rest of the night. Has there been anyone in terms of setting the bar quite like me? It’s up for debate, but so few bring what I bring in terms of in-ring performance. If I’m not on last, just put me on first. Let each and every competitor in each and every match that follows be forced to try and top what I do and you’ll have the best in-ring action every (other) Wednesday night.

You can laugh, scoff, or roll your eyes… But everyone knows it’s the honest truth.

What I love about this match is that its so early after Raion’s debut. Reason being, is because when people have been around awhile, by and large they’ve pretty much shown all their cards and you know exactly what to expect, exactly what they’re gonna do, and exactly when they’re gonna do it.

To me, that takes a lot of the chess match out of the sport.

To face someone so soon after they debut, so soon after they’re racking up win after win against some very good competition like Xavier Lux, it only adds to the chess game. It only adds to the mystery. It only adds to the mystique.

On Warfare, I will beat Raion Kido, but he’ll be better for having done it. I have always maintained that losses teach you more than winning does and I firmly believe that. Mr. Kido will come out of his pending loss to me, learning something about himself. Whether it’s a weakness, a flaw in a maneuver, or putting the cart before the horse and getting lured into something… he’ll learn some things.

And I have no doubt that Kido is strong enough and good enough that when he does take that L, that it won’t derail his rise.

I look forward to being just one small part, one minor blemish on what will no doubt be a stellar record here in the XWF.

Raion Kido, from one roaring lion to another... cheers mate.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Fire & Ice - The Aftermath: RP #1
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