"The hours, and miles pass by, and so too my thoughts of what we are truly accomplishing. I look around every wednesday, and try to make some sense out of everything that I am doing. We move mountains for these people, cross an entire ocean, and for what? For their entertainment. And thats it, isn't it? Through all the shit that goes on in our everyday lives, all the heartache we face as people, all the things they will never know about any of us. We throw on a pretty face, a smile and a charactor, and walk down that ramp every week, putting everything else to the side. And you know what, I think thats the meaning, so we can step outside of ourselves for a while, so we can pretend that nothing else really matters. We can wave our hands in the air, and with it moves these people. They cheer, and chant our names, and everything else washes away. Yeah, this is why we do what we do. Not because we're crazy, but because our lives are, for me this isn't a struggle anymore....

This is An Escape...."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honolulu, Hawaii - Warfare Aftermath -

We fade in to a shot of an empty parking lot, the stadium looming in the background as the moon crests its rim, a thin cloud layer building overhead. Black RX-7 sitting in the center of the parking lot has been fogged out, a bit of smoke rolling out of the open window, as the camera moves in we can make out the two figures sitting inside, Jamais Vu operatives. In the drivers seat, sits a man with slicked back black hair, a cut off flannel shirt and a bandana around his neck, this man's name is Drake, his partner in the passengers seat, swoops his hair over his eye, wearing wrists bands and a black T-shirt, Zeke. The driver is looking at his phone screen as the other blows the last couple hits of his cigarette out the window.

Zeke - She's good, dont you think.

Drake - I guess.

Zeke chuckles before flicking the cigarette to the ground.

"Come on Drake, you have to give the girl some credit, she's good at what she does."

Drake nods his head slowly, his mind still wrapped around the thought of what she could be. Since Charleston Drake has been in a bit of a funk, always researching, always thinking about something that he hasn't told his partner. But Zeke knows how important it is, Zeke understands the Anomaly just as well as Drake, but he knows it would be impossible. While Drake on the other hand looks tirelessly through years of backed up information, even while watching that night, his mind was somewhere else.

"Hey man, just, keep it calm okay?"

"Its really strange, how could she have made that jump from the rafters? How? You never see any of these people doing anything like that?"

"Easy Man, she landed on ol' girl, she has someone to break her fall, gotta hand it to her, it was pretty gutsy."

"Yeah I guess...."

The two sit in silence for a couple of moments, until Drake finally puts his phone away.

"She fights like we do... You think Wolf is teaching her?"

"All he can do is give her technique, but displays like the one we just saw in there, can't just be picked up through repetition. That was something else all together, Zeke, I think we might be dealing with something very serious here."

"No believe me I'm with it, it just blows my mind that after all these years, after everything thats happened, this is happening just now."

"The world spins in a way we can't explain Zeke. We have to bring her in..."

Zeke flares his eyebrow, smirking and shaking his head.

"Okay... have you told Five about what's been going on?"

Drake pauses for a moment.

".... I told him what he needs to know."

"Haha, alright, but I really think that if we are dealing with what we think we are, we might need more than just the two of us to do it."

"I think we can, something about her just tells me that she doesn't really know what she has, otherwise she'd use it out there."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I know so."

He sits and ponders for a moment, lighting another cigarette and tapping his finger against the steering wheel.

"With the Wolf helping her, bringing her in is going to be... difficult."

"You think I dont know? I'm thinking... I just don't know how we could make that work."

"We would have to separate them, obviously, but how are we going to make that happen?"

"I dont know, we can't just go to them, because fighting both the Anomaly and the Wolf would be suicide... but if we could only get them to come to us, we could have somewhat of a homefield advantage. I've just got to figure out how to make that happen."

Not saying anything Drake doesn't already know, he nods his head slowly. Looking around the parking lot he spies one of the last cars to be leaving on the other side of the parking lot, his vision zooms, noticing a family getting into their car, a mother picking up a small girl, kissing her on the cheek before getting her into the back of a van.

"Holy shit... I've got it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix, Arizona

I've always hated planes, shitty food, terrible people, and the constant thought that you aren't in control of the situation. At least with Commercial airliners. This trip wasn't so bad, the three of us had a jet all to ourselves, Nick understood that I needed a couple drinks before I Could get comfortable on the airplane, so like a good friend he drank with me. Setting foot off the plane was refreshing, even if I did stumble a bit. Feet on the ground again. I had put in a call to someone I had met through the XWF, a man named Michael McBride. Said he had connections inside the Irish Rebel Army. Personally I wouldn't be going to these sorts of people for much, but Nick assures me that he's worked with them before, and although they are a rough and rowdy lot, they have a drive. A Kind of drunken determination that makes for good allies. But any time I've ever stood toe to toe with the IRA they've always given me more trouble than the situation was worth, but I guess that too, tells me something of their resolve.

We stepped off the plane to a set of cars on the runway, the men standing beside them were obviously Michaels IRA contracts, wearing leather jackets and blue jeans, putting off the blue-collar type of vibe. The cars weren't anything fancy, a set of Ford Taurus's, faded from the sun. McKayla looked up at me with a dubious look.

McKayla Ryback - "Are you fucking serious? I thought these guys were legit."

Nick Cagero - "They are, this is just... their swag."

Nick stepped down the stairs towards the cars, McKayla looked up at me, shaking her head.

"Yeah... Swag."

I laughed to myself, so judgemental Kayla. We stepped up to the car as the men nodded their heads to us as we got into the first car, Nick in the front seat with the driver, and McKayla and I in the back. The man standing to the side of the car packed our stuff into the trunk. The driver didn't say anything as we pulled off, it kind of came across as sketchy.

Zoey Ryback - "How well you think we can trust Michael?"

"I dont know, you know him better than I do, hell you work with the guy."

"I've never said more than three words to this guy, all I really know about him is he works with.... these guys."

The driver shakes his head as he checks his rearview mirror, catching my eye in his, awkward.

"Its okay, these guys are in the same boat as us as far as money goes, so as long as we can put a bit of coin in their pockets I'm sure they'll be willing to work something out."

"You know he never did tell us where we were going, he just said he would send these guys to get us, what if he's working with someone else?"

Nick puts his finger over his mouth and shakes his head. Both of us watch the man's reaction to the statement, he doesn't flinch, we're okay.

"I dont think so... But save that shit for when we meet up with him."

I nodded my head and sat back, the car ride was a little longer than I would have liked, locked in a sort of uncomfortable silence, listening to some pop station. McKayla sat playing her PSVita, which to me was a feat in itself, I felt a measure of stress, too much to just play a game like nothing was going on, but I guess thats McKayla. It took a long time for us to get to the meeting spot, driving out into the desert where the city became nothing more than sand, dust and Trailor parks, refinerys and warehouses. We drove out to 133rd Avenue, hitting a right onto Euclid, then to the end where it became 134th. In the clearing at the end of the road was a set of trucks, lines of KC lights atop of them, the men standing around were armed with assault rifles, shotguns.[/color]

"You guys lookin' cartel as fuck."

[i]The driver laughed as the car coasted to a stop, one of the truck doors opened and our driver stepped out, Nick turned in his seat, tapping the game in McKayla's hand.

"You guys ready?"

I pulled a 1911 off my lap where it had been sitting since we got into the car.

"McKayla you remember how to use a weapon?"

She nodded her head as she took it from my hand, tucking it into the inner pocket of her hoody.

"Now don't do anything until you absolutely have to."

"Z, I'm not an idiot, just dont get me shot okay?"

I nodded, we opened the doors and stepped out onto the dust, Michael McBride stepped down from the pick-up on the other side of the lot, a full mod M4 hanging at his side, as he stepped towards us I Could see him sizing us up, looking all three of us up and down.

Michael McBride - "You brought your sister, ill advised, but alright."

"Didn't give me much of a choice Mike. Your goons brought us right here after we got off the plane."

"Ahh, indeed, had to make sure you were coming alone, no sense walking into a confrontation with you three without a bit of security."

His vision shifted from McKayla and I to Nick, he stepped around for a moment, looking Nick up and down."

"Nick Cagero."

Nick stood up a little straighter.

"There a problem Friend?"

Michael Laughed.

"Not at all Laddy, Just thought you'd be a little taller, considering your a big name back on Eire. What you did in Detroit echoed through our entire organization, you put the IRA Back on the map in Detroit. Took the Russians out of control of the city, can say we've made quite a bit of money because of you."

"I wish I could say the same, but what happened in Detroit was certainly not as beneficial for me as it was for you and your organization, which oddly enough is why we find ourselves standing here now."

"Indeed, funny old world innit?"

"MIchael, before we go into anything, we need to know your ready, we need to know your people can be trusted."

"Indeed you do Lass, what you say Boys!? Can they trust us?"

There came a nod from the crowd standing around us. The smiles upon the scarred faces.

"We've held our ground for a long time Lass, so dont question us, its funny, the two of us have been within the XWF for so long, and yet this meeting has never happened."

"I dont know who I can trust in the company Michael, you know how fickle those people are."

He laughed.

"No more than you or I. As much as anyone would like to think so there really isn't a noble cause in the XWF, I do it for the simple reason that it takes me around the country, I can handle so many factions, make drop offs and deliveries, all while putting some extra coin in my pocket, not a bad job if I do say so myself.

"lets talk man, we're going into something crazy, with a bunch of people who--"

"Believe me Nicky, I know the men your after, been causing a bit of hell for us, these Jamais Vu agents have their fingers deep into everything that goes on out here. They sit back, take the profit. Make it hard on people like us, switching the power into the hands of men who would make it just that much easier for them. Believe me Nick, Zoey, we are on board."

"Great, well what do you suppose we should do?"

"Its not going to be that easy, no matter how many men you have, you aren't going to be able to stand up to these kids in a straight up fight. They outman, outpower, and outgun any of the people who might stand against them."

"Than what do we do?"

"We take them with what they fear most Lass, information, since your friend here took it upon himself and his company to make the program public a few years back, they have gone to greath lengths to protect the security of their organization, another leak like that would be devastating to the structure they inhabit."

"Okay, but how are we going to do that?"

"Thats the hard part, we need to hit them at their core, finding out exactly where that is might be the hardest part, considering that much of the program data is just floating on cloud servers."

"I can get it for you."

Full stop, all eyes turned to McKayla, she looked around at everyone, a bit confused.

"What? You thought I was just going to stand here? No, I know alot of about those types of things, all it takes is a bit of server rerouting and I can get almost anything they send, its like a wire tap.

"Where the fuck did you learn to do shit like that?"

"What the fuck you think I do when your gone just sit there?"

I nodded my head, kind of impressed.

"Before we do anything, the men sitting in charge of my end need to know the two-- err-- three of you can be trusted. He's arranged for a bit of a test, you guys don't mind?"

"Do we have a choice?"

He shook his head, I guess nothing comes for nothing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- The Shoot --

The shot fades in as Zoey flicks a cigarette to the ground The dust blows across the sand, the background an open desert, the soft wind blows the wicker bushes from side to side. Her sister lingers in the background, and Nick off to the side. Zoey lifts her head, sweeping her hair out of her face.

"Standing out here, makes me feel... post apocalyptic. And how fitting it would be that I stand toe to toe with men who have held themselves a little higher than they should. With the sole intention of ending their entire world. The men who are the standing Triple Tag Champions, all of whom have held their share of gold here in the XWF, men who have paved the way for people like me, the new comers of the company. But like Bob Dylan said, the times are changin'. I stand here now, with the understanding of what I am doing with myself here in the XWF, and if I Could somehow, someway become an instrument of change for this company, than I would like nothing better than to do just that. The three of you have been hard at work these passed few weeks, but never have you been in the ring with each other under these circumstances. And I know that you might question me now, after what happened the last time I stepped into that ring, but let me assure you that this time, will not be the same, The men I stood with last time, were less than the type of people I would like to call friends, and they proved it to me that night.

I can say that the last time the four of us met, Azrael, Enigma, Sebastian, I was still new to this company, and yes I had a hard time making the friends I do now. There isn't too much as far as comradery here in the XWF. I've said it before, Dog Eat Dog. And I was just another victim of that overwhelming cruel reality. I dont blame them I guess, its what I deserved. It was still new, still learning, they saw an opportunity to cut someone down and they took it. But it cost us all those belts, so I can't be too angry. But I hate a re-run just as much as anyone else. Which is half of the reason I'm sort of surprised that they put me back in this circus, this triple tag team title nonsense. After I took that girl apart last week, I would have thought I would be due for something a little bigger, but I guess I need to calm down, been around this place long enough to catch an ego trip. And no one appreciates that, now do they? Considering the three of them have made it so abundantly clear that there really isn't a reason for Vinny, Clean or I to even step into that ring. But you know what, I enjoy surprises. So I Hope they do too.

The first man on my list today, is the man who spoke out first, the man who like so many others chooses to hide behind a mask, no matter, a fist to the face hurts just as much. Enigma, I guess his name is fitting. The last time the two of us stood across from each other, your right, it didn't end well for me, but you weren't the one who really beat me though, now did you? You think that just pinning someone is really winning? You think you can actually stand and fight when I'm at my best? I think you got it twisted. Last time I was unprepared, I was, less than what I have become since then. And now I stand here, ready to change the way your entire world works. You go from place to place, busying yourself with your concerns as most of us do, and to me, you really don't seem to worried about the three of us taking those belts from you. But for this match Enigma, I really need you to focus up. Because the last time you really got off easy, an easy win, from an already beaten opponent. This time I can promise Will Not Be the Same. And I remember, your an opportunist, I would be lying if I said I Couldn't relate.

But this time Enigma, be sure that you will have a fight on your hands, because as far as you and I go, there is a score to settle, I'm not too big of a fan of people who take the easy road, if it was me standing there, I would have asked for Mastermind, at least then you could have saved some face. But now your going into this match as the man who had it easy. I hope your partners can see what I see. Sabastian and Azrael, I hope you understand that for everything this man claims to stand for, behind his mask, is a man that will ultimately shut down in the face of the endless abyss. You hold yourself higher than me? How many times have you faced the things I have? Had to worry about someone, or something other than yourself, or your own gain? I dont even want to hear it, you and I might see eye to eye on some things, but when it comes to ultimate resolve, I believe that I can say I stand above most people in the XWF. I am not some punk, not some bad guy, and after this match, you will understand exactly where your mistake was... Believing you were better.

I'm sure Azrael, sometimes doubts you, a former world champion looking down from a pedestal, he too would like to think himself better than any one of the men standing across from him this week. Claiming to be a god amongst men, I can sit here and tell you whole heartedly that I dont believe it. I am a testament to the fact that man stands in control of his own destiny. And that men who would lead others to believe otherwise are in fact stuck inside their own delusion. I have been given a gift, a gift that I am just now beginning to understand, a gift that would make me just like you Azrael. More than just human, if thats what you really are. What is it about you? That makes what you say believable to these people? I think what it comes down to, is the fact that you actually believe with everything you have that it is true. Trying to hide the fact that at some point, you lost everything, you broke, just like every single one of us, and when you finally found a way to put yourself back together, it was this. This delusion.

Maybe its true Azrael, but I will put it to the test, you can't fuck with my head the way you fuck with theirs, because my mind is conditioned, because just like you I had to put myself back together, without the crutch of confusion that you seem to be stuck in. You use simple magic to deceive all of these people into believing it with you. But I guess this will be more than just a match now wont it? More than just a couple of men fighting in the center of that ring, what these people in Phoenix are in for, is... something that will shake the foundations of what they believe. You and I Azrael, stand above the other men in that ring. What a better time to put everything I've come to learn of myself, to the test.

Nick Cagero steps over to Zoey, tapping her on the shoulder and whispering something in her ear, she nods somberly, looking back to the camera.

"Is it just a gimmick Azrael? Am I Just a Gimmick? Or are we about to show these people something that they might not understand? The two of us, haha, the two of us... have just made this match interesting. And how fitting that it should be on a grand stage. Azrael, your interest in Vinny, is misplaced, Because he really isn't the threat in this match. I believe that I Truly do have something to prove, to you, to Sabastian, to Enigma, To Mastermind and Frodo, to my partners standing in that ring. So where should your focus really be Azrael? Who's the real threat in this match? Is it really Vinny? Is it really Lucena? Or is it the woman who came up as an underdog? The woman who made it so easy for you last time, to just walk away. This time Azrael, I am coming for those belts, and if I have to take them off of your trembling body myself, I will. Don't think so? Ask Mastermind, ask Kimberleigh, ask Kyle Starr, Gator, Or Socrates, Ask Kennedy Nikomedes. I have come so far since the last time we met, and the momentum doesn't seem to be stopping.

But theres another man who stands with the two of you, yes yes, another man who holds himself just a bit too high. And like the two of you, he seems to have his head in the clouds as far as this match goes. Sebastian Duke, I need you as well, to focus up, eyes on the prize kid. The three of us, seem to have a bit of a pull towards the surreal, the unbelievable circumstances that make people into something different. And what do the two of you use it for? Personal Gain? I can say that I was given a gift, and what I do with it will ultimately make me someone to be remembered, what can you say about that? Is the XWF really the only place you would like to be immortalized? Duke you talk about it, but where does the road lead? And when will you finally get sick and tired of walking it? You've been around for a while, have a track record, an impressive one at that, held numorous titles including the Universal, I think its flattering, putting someone like me in a match with the two of you. Former world champions, and here I am, only two months in, and ready to usher in a new age.

For as impressive as your run has been Sebastian, you, like so many of the old heads in the XWF have had the crown for far to long, and used the power that comes with it for nothing but the destruction of others. There is another path, too many men who stand in that ring like to think themselves this Dark, Scary, Forboding, Intimidating. But I dont see it, I see a bunch of guys in matrix uniforms trying to make up for something that happened to them, something that they are missing. Your life outside the ring, as dark as it might be, reflects all of ours. And really and truly, I think that it effects the person you are, inside that ring. You see Sebastian, where the three of you would use the XWF as a platform for Immortality, I use it to simply escape from the world outside that ring. For all the bullshit, all the worry, all the stress of what lies outside, in that ring its simple. You know what you have to do, and you get it done, or you don't, this is a war, in its simplest form. If we win, or lose, there will be another.

This match in particular is a testament to that fact, And I think what I said earlier comes into play more and more that I think about it, its funny, how you can hear something so many times, and then suddenly remember it because it holds weight, perhaps even the weight of the world, Sebastian, Azrael, Enigma, I will leave you with this that I can now remember.

Come Writers and Critics who Prophesize with their Hand, Keep your eyes Wide the Chance wont Come Again, And dont speak to soon for the wheels still in spin, and theres no tellin' who that its namin', For the Loser Now, Will Be Later To Win.....

For The Times They Are A Changin'

-Instant Black-