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Thaddeus Duke · (03-06-2017)

Friday, March 3, 2017 | 7:21 PM Local Time | Perth Concert Hall | Perth, Scotland

Thaddeus Duke, dressed in a kilt and feeling completely ridiculous about it, is on his first official state visit to a foreign land. This land is Scotland. A beautiful and ancient land full of history and unique wonder. Tonight, he’s the guest of the First Minister of Scotland at a brilliant orchestra concert.

Thaddeus, with his best friend James to his right and the Minister to his left, keeps digging at his crotch as he stands in the balcony just as the concert is beginning. The Minister doesn’t seem to notice, if he does, he doesn’t really make it known. James however can barely contain his laughter.

Everyone takes their seats as the conductor takes the stage. James looks over at Thaddeus and immediately looks away.

”Stop laughing ass. This god damn skirt itches like crazy,” the Illuminatus Prince whispers to his friend.

”It’s a kilt, first of all.

“Second of all, if you thought of maybe wearing shorts under it, you probably wouldn’t itch so much,” James concludes, no longer able to contain his laughter. To which, Thaddeus only looks at him in confusion.

”Your nuts are hanging out, idiot,” James says, completely losing his shit in laughter.

Thaddeus quickly covers up. ”Oh for fucks sake! Did anyone see?”

”I don’t think so.”

The drums pick up and the concert goers applaud eagerly as ‘Scotland the Brave’ is played to begin.

”Ohhh… what the hell is that noise?”

”Those are bagpipes. The song is ‘Scotland the Brave,’ it’s their national anthem I believe,” he answers.

”I really shouldn’t have called it noise, it’s truly a remarkable sound. What a beautiful song.”

”It is, really.”

”What’s our anthem?”

”We don’t have one, boss.”

Thaddeus looks at James. ”That’s stupid. We should have one.

“You think they’d mind if we borrowed the bagpi...” Thaddeus cuts himself off as he watches the concert. Immediately after the Scotland the Brave, a large photo of Thaddeus himself and his grandfather Asmodeus appears on a large jumbotron.

”What the hell is this?” he asks, just as the flute player begins ‘Amazing Grace.’

”It was a surprise. there’s a lot of people here that have followed you closely. Your maturation, your leadership. A lot of people admire you. Many of them don’t condone the actions of Father Asmodeus, but they know of your affection for him.

“This is Scotland’s tribute to him… for you...”

”Amazing Grace.

“It’s such a beautiful song,” he states as he stares at his picture with his grandfather on the tron and can’t hold back a few tears. It’s true Thaddeus does hold his grandfather on a pedestal. Whether Asmodeus was right or wrong in life is beside the point. The man had a profound impact on Thaddeus’ life. It was Asmodeus, and not his own father that trusted him with the military given to them by Thaddeus’ uncle Theo. It was Asmodeus that allowed him to lead them to victory in both wars. Sebastian Duke sat back and brooded in his own hatred, leaving his aging and ailing father to do the leading and his far too young son to do all the dirty work with very little influence. It is true that when Thaddeus fighter plane was shot down over Poland and the young man was taken captive by Polish forces that Sebastian mobilized the recovery team to retrieve him, but largely other than that, the Illuminatus King did very little to aid in the war efforts.

Thaddeus was proud to hand the seat of the Catholic Church to his grandfather. Knowing Asmodeus’ health had been ailing for some time, Thaddeus was hellbent on completing the mission before the grips of inevitable death wrapped its hands around his grandfathers throat. Those who have prepared for a loved one about to pass can tell you, no matter how prepared they are, they’re never really prepared. Asmodeus’ death hit Thaddeus like a ton of bricks. He took his death hard. He might not ever say it, but when James gave Thaddeus his grandfathers ring for his birthday, it meant the world to him. It’s his most prized possession.

He wore it today. Without realizing it, he’s been rubbing the surface of that ring with his thumb during the entirety of the tribute. As the song comes to an end, the concert goers applaud and cheer while looking up at Thaddeus in the balcony. The kid wipes a tear from his eye and gives them the ‘I love you’ sign while passing his arm from one side of the crowd toward the other before shaking the hand of the First Minister and taking a seat.

Thaddeus leans to his right toward Jim. ”Do I have Scottish blood?” he asks, not really knowing his own bloodlines besides his grandfathers German heritage.

”Well, your mother was Irish and Swedish. Your father is German and Welsh. Your grandfather was full blooded German as far as we know. No Scottish that I’m aware of.

“Why does it matter?”

”I don’t know. The bagpipes get me goin’.”

”Understandable.

“Bagpipes are the shit.”

Thaddeus feels his phone vibrating within the pouch hanging in front of the kilt and retrieves it. He realizes its a text from one of his Commanders in Germany that reads: “Call ASAP. Very urgent!!!”

”I have to make a call,” he says to James before excusing himself with the First Minister. James follows Thaddeus out to the lobby of the concert hall where he quickly makes the call.

”Commander what is it?

...

“What!?

…

“They’re there now?

…

“I’ll cut this trip short. The First Minister will have to understand.

…

“Berlin is perfect. I’ll be there by midnight.

…

“Thank you, Commander, I’ll talk to you tonight.”

Thaddeus hangs up the phone and places it back in his pouch. James notices the look of concern on Thaddeus’ face and asks the obvious question. ”What’s up?”

”Not here. Let’s find some place secure where we can talk.”

Jim turns and begins to walk a hall way, Thaddeus close behind him. Jim tries different door handles to closed offices until he finds one that is unlocked. They step inside the office and flick on the lights before locking the door behind them.

”What is it?” James reiterates.

”There was an operation that went south.

“I say it went south but it started out south and went further south.”

”South? Like how far south? Australia south? Africa south?” James asks, not really picking up on the euphemism.

”I mean it went south as in it went terribly wrong.”

James ears perk up.

”Illuminatus Intelligence had a bead on a possible hideout location for IS in northern Iraq. My father in his infinite wisdom, acted before confirming what was believed. It turns out we just sent missiles into a fucking school. 400 Iraqi children were just murdered, Jim.

“To top it off, he sent attack choppers, not planes.

“Iraqi troops had no choice but to open fire on the choppers. They downed 4 of 6.

“That was Commander Brunson I just spoke to. He’s gathered the military leaders and they’re en route to Berlin. They want me there to discuss it.”

James swallows hard. ”They want a coup.”

”It seems that way.”

”Jesus Christ.”

”Is he leaving much of a choice? Christ, what if Iraq tries to go to war with us over this? What of Iraq’s allies? The Americans for christ’s sake.”

”This is a dangerous road, Thaddeus.”

Thaddeus, becoming angered but hushing himself speaks the gritting his teeth. ”I told you I would not let him destroy what my grandfather built. I meant that.”

”It’s treason!”

”It’s only treason if you fail. Otherwise its a revolution

“No more talk, Jim. Gas up the plane, get us out of the rest of this trip.

“We’re going to Berlin to meet with MY military leaders.”

I don’t know whether to be surprised or not that Broken Whatever has come so far. I mean, the man, if you want to call him that, lacks any real ability. At least as far as I can tell. Yet he’s somehow the Unified Xtreme Champion. The list of Xtreme Champions is a long one. Many of those on it, are some of the greatest of all time. Somehow, mixed in with all of those great names are names like Michael McBride. Like Scully. Like Ghost Tank. Like Broken Whatever.

It seems strange to me, to equate such a coveted and prestigious championship, one that has transcended multiple generations within the XWF, with such low level talent. That title has lost its value ever since Unknown Soldier got lost in the wilderness. When Soldier, who may well be the longest reigning Xtreme champion in history and arguably the greatest Xtreme champion of all time, dropped that title, its been kicked around and kicked around to the bottom feeders of the Xtreme Wrestling Federation.

It is with that in mind that I vow to restore its prestige. Or at least begin to. I have no idea how long I will keep it when I win it here in 11 days, but what I can tell you, is that I won’t be dropping it to some low life bottom feeding cunt. That title will be earned the hard way. Someone will have to pin me for it and to this point, no one has done that. It’s no easy task to defeat me. Doctor D’Ville would agree. Hell even Chris Chaos would agree. They managed to do it, but it sure as hell was no easy feat.

I am your next Xtreme champion. Your champion after that will have earned it. So when I say I’m going to begin the process of restoring this titles prestige, I mean exactly that. That title is worth more than those that have carried it recently. The work to rebuild its image begins now. In 11 days, I will walk into Warfare. In 11 days, I will annihilate Broken Oswald so on and so forth. In 11 days, I will be your new Unified Xtreme Champion. In 11 days, the Xtreme title begins to mean something again.

Also in those 11 days, I hope to hear something, ANYTHING, from that titles current place holder. He’s not exactly known for putting out promos when his opponents are so obviously superior to him. He likes to mail it in and get his ass kicked rather than being a man. Rather than standing up and giving it his all. He lacks the mental toughness to come out here and fight hard. So what if you lose, Oswald. Fight hard. Make it a tougher fight. No one ever got any better in the ring by lacking confidence in themselves and refusing to fight. Be the man you wish you were. Be the fighter you wish you were. Stop being a god damn punching bag for the rest of the XWF and fucking try!

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