Beyond my cool exterior, hidden by the smoke screen of my cigarette. Beneath the designer suit, custom fit to perfection and the black wingtips, that are polished to the pristine sheen of glass. Past the sunglasses and the flesh and bone. My mind is in treacherous turmoil. Swirling and seething like the sea during a terrible storm. The kind of sea that could swallow boats whole and carry them down to oblivion. With zero hope or saving grace for whoever dare to voyage across and breach these waters. Doomed be the vessel that dares try. Yet there I am, stuck in the middle of it all. Trapped in the confines of a rubber raft, with a hole in it and no paddles. Destined to drown after being forcefully pulled under. Somehow I stay afloat though. Failing to lose myself or be torn asunder, by the razor sharp waves of my mind that crave precisely that. It is funny to think of my own mind as the enemy like that but that is exactly how it feels. How I feel. Still I manage to thwart its hungry intent and almost desperate need to sacrifice me to itself. To the abyss and the bottom of the black sea. Remaining the image of super chill as I stand outside Shady Lane Sanitarium, awaiting my brothers.


Upon their arrival I manage to keep this frosty facade, merely peering at them over my shades as they approach. Raphael and Ezra, my brothers walk towards me and in this moment, we are more like soldiers, reuniting on a battlefield. Brothers in arms, as well as brothers by blood. Scarred by the ravages of war but alive. Standing tall and strong, yet damaged in ways that could never be seen or truly understood. We are haunted by the past and seared by the fires of our youth, yet united as one. No longer frightened children but men that wear their battle scars well.


"Fancy meeting you here."


My words draw a chuckle from Ezra, it is bittersweet and deeply sardonic.


"Yes, well I heard this was the hot spot, happening place to be."


While Raphael merely shook his head. Acknowledging me, much like he always has when he knows that I'm putting up a brave front, rather than allowing; even them, a peek behind the mask. He patted me on the shoulder and walked past, speaking swiftly.


"I'm just here to hook up with someone."


Dark and morbid, with precisely the right hint of humor. Ezra and I, follow suit and continue forth, onward through the front doors of Shady Lane Sanitarium. We stepped across the threshold in true Brothers Blackwater form. With me merging forward and taking the lead, in the middle and my brothers on either side, Raphael on the right and Ezra to my left. We walked down the corridor, passing a perpetual stream of doors as the florescent lights shone down with malicious intent. Till we reached the door leading to Daphne Harding's office. Before we are presented with the option of knocking, we are met by her after she opened the door, almost instinctively. Like she sensed our presence and knew we were there.


"Gentlemen. I appreciate your timely arrival. I understand this must not be easy for you, considering the circumstances."


For a rare moment, we are silent, remaining that way as Daphne gazed upon us, with only sympathy in her eyes. Sighing, she gestured outward with her hand, presenting the hallway that stretched on ahead.


"Shall we get to it then?"


Without words, we nodded in unison and proceeded onward. With her leading us toward the chambers of death, known as the morgue. The stink of antiseptic is even stronger in here, although it is accompanied by an overwhelming scent of chemicals, meant to preserve the dead and the frigid odor of the end, meets cold storage. There's a creepy morgue employee lurching about the room too. He kind of looked like Igor, hunched over and limping, eyes never leaving the floor. Like someone might beat him if he dared to do anything else. The man scampered to the wall of metal freezer units, that each could pull out, like a drawer might. It's at this time that I hesitated, nausea rising, I felt the overwhelming urge to vomit hit me as my mind threatened to finally unravel. Right then and there, I sensed my metaphorical life raft was on the brink of capsizing, overturned by a combination of current and a massive wave. I verged on a panic attack being the victor as I lost myself to its immense power. That's when I felt Ezra's hand on my arm.


"You got this brother."


He nodded with certain affirmation and I took a deep breath. Raph put his arm around me and we advanced forward. Just as surely as I am their forever protector, Ezra and Raphael are my support team, always there in my hour of need. This is how we survive and weather the worst of storms. Even when that storm raged within.


"Lets do this shit."


Igor grabbed the handle for a drawer and slid it open. Revealing a corpse, sheathed in a sheet. Standing side by side, my brothers and I, we awaited what came next but nothing could prepare us for what we saw, when he pulled back the covering.





At first it was a shock, that felt like someone punching you right in the gut. That sharp jolt of pain and the abrupt loss of air that came swiftly afterwards. Our eyes equally widened as we gasped simultaneously. I turned my attention to Daphne Harding as my brothers also directed their sights to her. Then surprisingly I spoke, despite everything that wished to pull me over the brink before, I found my words first. This; however, did not remove my need to retch, in fact it only increased.


"Is this some kind of sick joke?"


Daphne is bewildered, she doesn't know what I mean and I can tell that, so I continued.


"This isn't our mother."


This wasn't false or grief blinding what could be seen. The woman that laid before us, wasn't our mother. She was not Stella Blackwater. In fact, the cadaver didn't even resemble her, in the slightest.


"I don't understand."


"Likewise."


My voice came out cold but I didn't care, I wanted answers. Thus began the investigation, which led to the realization that we were not lying and the body, in fact did not belong to our mother. Big shock there. Along with this came quite a different brand of surprise. Rather unexpected and unnerving. It would seem that Stella Blackwater, was nowhere to be found on the entire premises. She was simply gone, without a trace. To where, no one knew. In that moment of understanding, a frigid chill ripped through my body but the shudder somehow tore through all three of us; my brothers and I, were instantly effected in exactly the same manner. With good cause too because without a shadow of a doubt this meant that our mother was loose. Stella Blackwater had managed to escape Shady Lane Sanitarium.





"Oh Thaddeus Duke, you don't have to thank me. I thank you. Bless you child, for you have shone me the light and in that pure illumination, I have found the truth and a realization. About myself and the road that lies ahead. I don't want to be the television champion anymore. Yeah, it was fun but I think daddy's had enough now. See, while Azrael carried it like a badge of honor, for over nine months. Taking on the role of longest reigning television champion, to date. I feel like it's more of a shackle. A tether to one brand, limited and short sighted. True greatness doesn't limit itself to one small pond, where it can remain the biggest fish indefinitely. No. It doesn't. Those that are truly amazing and a sheer marvel to behold, venture forth and fight in battlefields abound. Climb in the trenches, much like you did in the past. I can totally picture that by the way and it's adorable. I didn't know they made army fatigues in size extra small."


"Anyway, as I was saying, the astounding - astound, wherever they go and with the television title chaining me to Savage, I couldn't really do that, now could I? Not if I selfishly wanted to also spend time with my family too. Which I do. It seems strange I know but you'll understand what I mean when you finally find that lucky lady and settle down. Hopefully not settling for the first one that comes along and finally pops your cherry cause that would be very unwise. Trust me. Your old man almost did that once and she was a sloppy seconds prostitute that fucked Griffin MacAlister first. Good thing John Madison killed her or else you might have never been born. Or maybe you would be, only you'd be half asian, with less resting bitch face. Sorry, I had to mention that, to be fair... you did give me permission to make jokes. Which utterly offends me by the way. I mean... like what the actual fuck, I don't make jokes. I am a hardened, serious man. I tell everything like it is, with a steely eyed stare and pursed lips. Didn't you know that about me? Well, now you do... y'know, for the future, so you don't make that same mistake."


"Which reminds me, I wanted to tell you something Thaddeus, you are right. You're one hundred percent better than me. At everything. Forget all that shit I said about being great. You're the greatest and that's the real reason behind why I want to give you my title. I can't compete with all that is you. Your sheer willpower, strength, determination and utter skill is simply unparalleled and I bask in your radiance, like a child viewing the sun rise for the very first time. Ever. Immaculate and truly enlightening. I stand in awe of your presence, hoping... nay, praying that you will show some kind of mercy. As I await this on bated breath, I can't help but wonder, just what the fuck are you smelling all the time that stinks so bad?"





"Hahahahaha! Awww... man, I bet I had you really going there for a minute. Seriously though, what stinks? Cause every time I see you, you look like you just took a big ol' whiff of The Brotherhood's old community outhouse. Yeah, some in depth insider information made me privy to the fact that your father didn't have indoor plumbing, so all those guys had to poop in an outhouse. A single, solitary outhouse, shared by all 2000 men. Ew. Can you imagine? I guess you can, you're the one that's revisiting the spot on a frequent enough basis that it totally contorts your face and twists it up, like you've been cracked in the head with a cast iron skillet. Everyone has their quirks, I suppose. No matter how disgusting or deranged they might be."


"Enough on that, lets get back to the nitty gritty, meat and potatoes of all this. Our match and what I promise you, my looming adversary. Despite everything I previously said, I do plan on giving this fight my all. After all, I wouldn't want to disappoint the crowd. I do aim to please and on top of that, I just really enjoy a good fucking fight. I already beat up a fifteen year old girl, what would hold me back from smacking you around. Quite literally too. I plan on actually smacking you. Backhanded. Really rear back and give a good force behind that swing. So the folks in the back row can hear it. Yeah, that's going to happen. Among other things but I won't list those all off right now. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."


"When all that's said and done, even if you're not in the proper state to accomplish this feat, I'm going to allow you to have the title. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. If you catch my drift. Then you can be the special snowflake of Savage and I can do whatever the fuck I want. Sky's the limit really. Have fun being a big fish in a small pond though. Oh and your welcome in advance, little buddy. Remember my words when you claim victory and sure, I'll definitely shake your hand out of acknowledgement that you're better than me. It'll be true too cause you'll have the title to prove it. Doesn't matter that I gave it to you, it still means that you're the best. Without even a shadow of a doubt."

Donovan Blackwater
Former 1x...