It felt so good to be home. The wheels touched down on the cement runway at Tampa International Airport and suddenly he could exhale. The pressure crushing his sternum for months seemingly all released at one time like the air out of a balloon, and a cool rush ran through him like a dose of lidocaine on a sunburn.

"Welcome to Tampa International Airport", the stewardess has a soothing voice. "I hope you enjoyed your flight with us. If you are staying with us, on the connecting flight to Miami, please remain seated but those of you who are exiting please stand up and grab your bags. Thank you for flying American Airlines."

He packed light, most of his stuff was in his checked luggage. He had so much to do, so much to see, so much to think about.

He was in a place that had caused him more physical, mental and emotional pain than anywhere else he had ever been---but he kept coming back.

Masochist?

No.

He was home.

And home is where he heart is.

As he flipped his duffel over his shoulder, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. All of his messages and notifications were coming through in at a fever pitch. He knew who most of them were from, but he didn't want to take his phone out of his pocket. This was a break he needed.

.........The plane ride was almost 6 hours. It gave Chris a lot of time to reflect on his mistakes. His failures. It gave him time to reflect on what he did well and what he needed improvement on. It made him reflect on where he was headed and if this place was for him anymore. What he said in that letter to Vinnie was true, and what transpired on Savage and Warfare proved it further. This is a revolving world and Chaos was sitting still. His revolving door was stuck, and he was trapped between the glass.

The phone vibrated in his pocket again as he walked up through the terminal. He needed to check what time it was anyway. He wasn't wearing a watch. Who wears a watch that isn't for show in 2017?

Flipping the phone into his palm, he checked he time. The text messages, 26 of them to be exact, at in his inbox like bricks at the bottom of a burlap sack.

Something about today, however, didn't feel right. It felt off. Sure, he was home, but something in the terminal that day didn't feel like the thousands of other times he had been there.

He sighed, unlocking his phone screen. Immediately he saw what he knew was already there.

Lil Miss Myst: Chris, can we talk? Please.

Lil Miss Myst: Call me when you get this. Don't be like this.

Lil Miss Myst: Chris.......I'm sorry.

Ugh.

He couldn't stomach reading any more of them. He needed to decide where he was going, what he was doing, who he was. He would get back to her, but on his time.


DING

The tram doors open. "Please hold the railing to secure yourself. This tram is about to depart", said the metallic and lifeless voice over the intercom.

The windows here a bit clouded with condensation. The steel bar felt cold under his fingers.

He looked at the other people on the terminal tram. They were so happy, so ignorant. Maybe happiness is the product of ignorance. Maybe ignorance is the product of happiness. Its a vicious cycle.

He sighed as he felt his phone buzz again.

But the peaceful, serene landscape that he stood in, with the willfully ignorance and blissfully happy, soon turned to the closest thing to hell that he could imagine.

There was fire everywhere. People were screaming, and running. Sirens blared and a barrage of smoke as thick as a supercell thunder cloud hung almost painted to the ceiling.

Loud sounds, almost as if someone was clapping on a microphone that was raping the sound system. People fell around him at his feet like a scene from Iwo Jima. He could see the illumination of the technology in the terminal through the thick haze.

He stood there, in shock. He watched the airport he knew and loved crumble around him as men with machine guns played out Call of Duty campaign missions. Did it make him a bad person that all he cared about was if his Jeep was okay?

Was it scratched?

He took a step into the thick, hot mist when his foot, and leg, felt like they were on fire. Then his shoulder. He fell. His shirt was wet, as were his socks. There were red also.

He had been shot.

But so had everyone else. He needed to get to his Jeep.

He tried to crawl, but his leg was completely shattered.

He saw men in what looked like giant black football pads. Helmets with windshields. They all had guns. The bullets from the attackers bounced off them, like they did to Robbie in his promo. What was the point of being bulletproof?

Chris felt pain as his vision began to blur. He could taste blood in his mouth. Everybody dies someday. That is what sets us apart from the movies, from the superheroes. That is one of the flaws of being a human.

You can die.

But that flaw is also what makes us perfect.

Juxtaposition.

It's fucking stupid to make someone bullet proof, he thought to himself as he faded. Taking all the risk out, playing God........


<---------------------------------------------------------------------------->


Just then he woke up as the voice over the intercom turned on. "Welcome to Tampa International Airport". Wow, the stewardess had an oddly soothing voice. What a dream he had had. He could still feel the pain in his leg, as if it was real. "I hope you enjoyed your flight with us. If you are staying with us, on the connecting flight to Miami, please remain seated but those of you who are exiting please stand up and grab your bags. Thank you for flying American Airlines."

He stood up, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he knew what it was without checking. Grabbing his duffel he looked at the kid next to him, who was sporting a S logo Super Man tee shirt.

"No one really likes super man," Chris said to the boy, "he's too perfect. There's nothing to relate to." The boy looked at him like he had two heads.

"Whelp....here goes" he said with an exhale. "Here goes"

He stepped out into the terminal fully embracing what awaited him.

---

"All that build up, that tension---scene setting at an extraordinary level. Pulling the viewer in and keeping them on the edge of whatever discount computer chair Wal-Mart had on sale that weekend. All of that gunmen in a crowded place, B movie action sequence, and this is all we get? My name mentioned what once, maybe twice? I get it---there is more to a good promo than verbal blasting on an opponent---but there has to be some, no? Robbie obviously isn't taking his situation seriously---he sits there dancing around like Luke Cage when Chris Chaos is going to be standing in the ring with him. He obviously is treating this like any old match---well let me tell you, its not.

Robbie has painted a picture of himself like some superhero. Some impenetrable force that Marvel and DC producers have wet dreams over---but like those characters---it is nothing but fiction. Truth is Robbie can be hurt, and he will be hurt. I've done it before. When I haven't done it, I've seen it. Does the Elimination Chamber ring a bell? Robbie thinks he is a comic book character, well I KNOW I am an egomaniacal asshole. I know who I am--and it has worked for me. Robbie is still lost in the illusion of make believe while I am rising the ranks to get back to the glory that I once achieved here in XWF. You see, that is the trouble with superhero's, Robbie, they are too much like us yet so far, far away from us. There are too many flaws, and that is why we like them, but also why we hate them. They are us with fancy outfits. Batman has dead parents, Iron Man has a drinking problem, Spiderman was socially awkward and felt slighted by everyday interactions. All things that the common viewer may potentially latch onto as something they have experienced---and they all have the ability to over come them that most of us don't. THAT is why we are drawn in. We want to be them, but they have no interest in being us.

No one really likes Super Man, he's too perfect. There's nothing to relate to. You've built yourself up to be some kind of superman....nobody can be superman, but funny how everyone seems to want to try. Nobody can melt steel with their eyes of fly through the air. Superman can quell a situation without resorting to violence. People would rather film a jumping on a smart phone than help. Those are the heroes. How many likes they get on YouTube, that is who we idolize. What we can do it judge, belittle and ridicule. It's funny, Robbie. Our favorite hero's are the ones who just as easily be villains.

So we can't all be hero's with powers.

.... But the need to hear your own name? The unending need for approval to stoke your ego...that any man can relate to. THAT is what I bring. You claim you aren't a hero......I say that I am more of a hero than you'll ever be.

Think about that.

The Iron Motherfucker?

All of that build up, all of that anticipation of an epic Robbie Bourbon promo, and the massive letdown that followed. You see, I know I am not perfect. I actually sort of dreaded this promo journey that we are about to embark on, I truly did, because I know you are one of the best here at pointing out flaws. I used to be just like you, Robbie, I did. When I was Universal Champion, I thought I couldn't be touched. I was a superhero in my own regard---I felt immortal. Gabe Reno changed all that. Gabe Reno, as much of a turdburgler as he is, opened my eyes to the fact that Chris Chaos is something I have lied to myself about being for some time now----a human being. I can be beaten. I can be overcome. I have flaws just like everyone else, Robbie---and it was your one job to exploit them.

And for me to answer.

And for you to counter.

But now I sit here with my dick in my hand because you gave me flat out nothing. I expected shit and I got a pile of air. How bad is it when even expectations of total shit aren't achieved? You would have been better off not saying anything at all. But that's been done by you before, too, hasn't it?

Ohhh yes, Robbie Bourbon is an enigma. You never know what you are going to get from him, which Robbie is going to show up. Will it be the Robbie Bourbon who had Scully squealing the notorious scene from Deliverance, or is it going to be the Robbie Bourbon who lost to BWP--your fellow motherfucker--- in less than five minutes? You think I have forgotten about that? I have studied you, Robbie, watched your every move and every match.

You joined up with War Pig, Cain and Raven for the same reasons I joined AX3. You are eliminating any threats. You are joining up with men who pose the biggest contest to your hopes and dreams. I did it too, with AX3. I saw Caedus, Graves and Main ascending to the top of the mountain. I saw them threatening my legacy. So I made a business move. When it didn't work out, and Caedus did something I failed to do and sent Reno packing.....and took MY belt.........I blew up AX3.

Pretty soon, the individual aspirations of the men you call brothers will get in the way as well. War Pig will come back, and he will want a taste. IF you get by me at King of the Ring, what a cunundrum that will be.......If Raven loses, envy could split you guys up. He will want what you have.....and if Raven WINS over Brucette, which isn't impossible, then it will be you vs. him. Motherfucker vs. Motherfucker. Take it from me, I've seen first hand how stables can be torn apart by infighting. The Motherfuckers are on a path of self destruction......

...........and just like everything else in this place.....it begins with me.

It's just a matter of time before the Motherfuckers get their shot.

I don't think you will get that far, Robbie..

"Shit, is this what drove Chaos over the edge? Too much exposure? Couldn't handle the celebrity aspect of this?"

No, Robbie. What drove me over the edge was exactly what you said before......I am a "hard hitter" here---so much so that I am getting a Universal Title number one contendership match that my track record as of late would scream that I don't deserve.

What drove me over the edge, Robbie, is that I can't beat Jim Caedus.

What drove me over the edge is that guys like you come in here--guys who have fallen at my feet before--and think they are entitled just because they have been here long enough to have racked up a 401k. Like Barney Green---calling me out. I am going to retire him, Robbie, and I am going to beat you...again...at the Pay Per View.

Ahh shit, there I go again.

You want to know what pushed me over the egde? Honestly?

My flaws.

We all have them. You, me, hell even Theo and Vinnie. We all have them but it is who lets them get in the way that matter.

My flaws have caused me to lose respect. Nobody fears me anymore. Nobody looks at me like they did a few short months ago. I took out Graves, but now hes back. I beat Raven, but "he was injured", the list goes on. All anyone remembers from me, Rob, is when I lose.

What does that say about me? Sometimes you have to fall before you can truly stand up. I am gunning for you Robbie, like that man in the park. But unlike him---I will break skin.

I have survived before, and I will survive again. I am not perfect, but then again, who is? The hardest thing I had to do here is to realize that the rest of the roster has caught up to me, and some of it has surpassed. You are not on that list. You have been here since the get go. Never once have you gotten the better of me, unless you had to cheat.

Not very heroic is it?

But you say you aren't a hero.

Why did you try to save that woman? That was very......human of you. That is what set us apart from superhero's, Rob. They save because it is their obligation. You saved--or tried to--because you felt a sense of vindication. Don't lie, down there in the depths of that over-sized and over worked heart of yours, there is a human being.

Not a hero.

Not motherfucker.

A human being.........

A human being that I am going to hurt in London, and hurt badly. A human being that is nothing more to me than what those hero's we looked up to as kids were---a man in a mask. All our favorite characters are flawed.....you just need to find their weaknesses and exploit them to be the best kind of bad guy.

I know your weaknesses Robbie, and I have told you a few of mine. Perhaps my biggest is still yet to show.