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(07-02-2013)

Apoptosis
And its application with regards Flynn and Nero

We focus in on Nero in an ordinary room. A sole light bulb hangs looking forlorn in the center of the ceiling, with no shade to cover it and focus its fairly weak glare. As for the room itself, it’s simply grey, empty, and box-like. In fact, all it would take is a bit of padding on the walls for us to be convinced we were in an insane asylum. Perhaps, in fact, we are. Who’s to know.

Almost directly beneath the light bulb stands Neonero, who stands with a sheet of paper in hand, his gaze scanning it. Over his mask sit a pair of glasses, though we notice they have no lenses, so they must be purely for show. Nero taps his chin a few times, nodding as he scans the paper, then snaps his head up suddenly, beginning a diatribe in a tone we would probably associate with a newscaster, which seems an apt likeness given his recent antics.

Nero: Apoptosis. A simple word; though not part of everyday lexicon, it’s easy to remember, and wont confuse many. After all the suffix ‘tosis’ is common, and ‘a pop’ is easy to remember. No, it’s not a hard word to remember.

But, as mentioned, it’s not in the common lexicon. So, why is that, and what does the word mean?

First the why; it’s a scientific word, and its philosophical usage does not apply to general conversation.

And now the what;

At this point, Nero turns the paper over. We realise in the same moment that both sides of the paper are completely blank. What preternatural noise is this? He gazes at it again, studiously, his chin occasionally twitching a little, and he’s still for long enough that the pulse of his jugular artery is visible if you pay enough attention. Granted most XWF fans are probably too busy spinning out over the lack of text on the page to notice these finer details, but we divulge them nonetheless.

Nero: Apoptosis is, to put it simply, the name given to the process of cells – the same kind you have in your body – being programmed to kill themselves, for the good of the organism. To give you a more interesting and understandable example, the good ole CIA performed experiments in the past to find human subjects capable of apoptosis – giving up their own lives willingly for the good of the organism – in this case the organism being the paradigm under which said people lived. The paradigm over their heads was, naturally, the USA. Whether or not the USA as they see it really exists – and it doesn’t – is a debate for another day.

Nero sniffs, wiping his nose. A small trail of opaque liquid now adorns his decorative gauntlets. We assume he has a cold and isn’t bothered that we know it. How ironic, the inane one standing before us, discussing cellular issues when his body is in fact ravaged by the deadly common cold.

Nero: In the CIA experiments, for example, you might have 4-5 oblivious civilians placed in a white room. One of them is randomly shot, and over the next day their reaction to this is tested, until ultimately they either kill each other, ending with one, or two. You end with two, the experiment is a success. Because that means that ultimately one of the two committed apoptosis – attempted suicide to save the other in the room. If you end with one, then what you have is a selfish human incapable of apoptosis. Get the gist here; a person truly willing to expend his/herself for the ‘greater good’ is the philosophical illustration of apoptosis. Depending on how you look at it, they are the weaker, or the stronger cell.

Nero begins to chuckle. With each laugh his mask jiggles around his face a couple of millimetres, almost imperceptible but clearly there all the same.

Nero: You may think that every man is capable of this. You’d be wrong. Anyone can say ‘I would die for xyz’. But when it comes to the crunch, many of these people are found wanting. At any rate – you may think one in four achieving apoptosis is the end of the experiment. You’d be wrong. You see this is science at work, no matter how vulgar and unbelievable the science is, and no matter how cruel and brutal. To those performing the experiments, it is for the greater good. And For their greater good, it’s for their greater good. And if you can’t follow that, you belong in those rooms, frankly.

Nero no longer laughs, in fact his demeanour has turned altogether cold. The mask comes off. Nero lets it hang limply at his left side, and the eyes of the mask turn away from us, shunning our gaze. Whether this is deliberate on Nero’s part or just random, we will never know. Nero’s face is indeed cold, in fact it’s stone-like. He gazes at us in such a way that we feel compelled to glance away every few seconds, so uncomfortable does it make us feel.

So...like I say, science. Science requires many tests to ensure that the first result was not a fluke. I shant expand on other experiments, I have already taken up too much time with this; what I will tell you is that the successful person we just discussed, is then placed in a room with other successful victims. And the winner there, if one is afforded, goes on to another group containing winners. It goes on until we have a solid, definite case of apoptosis, and not just a moment’s madness.

Nero looks down at the mask, gazing at it for a few moments, then snaps his eyes back to us; in doing so he fails to move his face with it, and this creates the illusion that he’s just glancing at us, when in fact he is coldly staring at us all the while. Were it a photograph of the moment, you’d never know any better.

Nero: So how does this apply to me, the XWF, my match, opponents, Mark Flynn, the Easter bunny, the nice man who sells maltesers, and so on? Simply, we are looking at the history of the Nero and Flynn tag team. Take a look at a team that is, to all intents and purposes, completely flawless when it comes to win/loss. Three for three. But that fails to tell the whole story. Take it back to the first; we wont do the whole history lesson, but it was John Madison and Raymond Hatcher we faced. Madison who had days earlier eliminated me from a rather important match. By all normal rights I should have been gunning for him to prove myself. Yet, I happily let my own partner eliminate me from the ring on his way to getting the win. Why?

Nero turns his head towards us at this point. It’d be a lie to say that this puts us at ease, but it’s a more normal pose at least. Not that he’s posing in this mask-less moment. Never that.

Nero: Then you have our next match, against a couple of wannabe Addams family additions, Intemporaliter Scelestus and Blair Sully. What happened here on the surface is that Mark Flynn had a bad day at the office; he had his nuts crunched and Sully was disqualified, and by some of that good ole Shane

logic, that meant that myself and Intemporaliter Scelestus progressed, rather than myself and my partner. However, what's not clear, when you look at the video evidence, is just why I let Flynn be put in that position so easily. Did I know it’d be DQ? Did I expect us to win by virtue of such a thing? Or was I privy to the whole affair in the moment; did the cogs in my head work out the upshot of the match? I wonder, is the right person hearing these questions and asking themselves? Does Nero forget?

Nero allows himself a smirk; the right corner of his mouth creases, but immediately he inhales, as if chastising those individual muscles, which creep back to their normal state apologetically. Nero’s eyes and expression outside the mouth never change, in fact the inhalation is purely nasal, and his nostrils barely flare.

Nero: Then still we get to a couple of weeks ago. Myself and Flynn against a couple of nobodies. My Warfare debut, and the first time I saw Flynn since dethroning him on Madness. Did I go to him with my chest puffed out? Did I dominate my verbiage with talk of him? No I didn’t. Why? Did I betray him in the match, did I deny him any movement, did I hold him back, did I attempt to play a game of one-upsmanship, did I attack him? No to all the above. In fact, if you look at the tape, I basically flaked off. I let the big guy in the match bounce me around a bit and left it all to Flynn. Why? Is that what I thought he wanted? Was I hoping to see him double teamed and dominated? Was I making fun of him? Was I testing him? So many questions, but one obvious outcome; we won the match, and afterwards Flynn clocked me and asked me to partner him in a tag team title shot.

Another of those deep inhalations. Nothing more.

Nero: Was I angry? No. Did I seek retribution? No. Was I shocked? Perhaps. Flynn’s actions were unexpected. Not part of my plans. Tag team gold had never concerned me. But once the cards were on the table, the words didn’t even have to be spoken, of course the answer was yes.

This is a results driven industry. Neonero has never had any outward endgame. Certainly I’ve never mentioned one. Perhaps I’ve never had one? But ask yourself, how likely is it that there’s this guy running around with no agenda whatsoever, just for the hell of it? Maybe there is a result I seek. Maybe I want to be King. Maybe I want to make Flynn King. Maybe I want to make sure Madison is no longer King. Maybe I want to make sure Flynn is never King. Maybe it’s none of these things at all. But I’d suggest you read through the lines here. I’ve accepted Flynn’s tag title offer. I am to be partners with him on Wednesday, by coincidental booking – or is it? Ask yourself the obvious question, if you haven’t reached there yet via your mind’s own slow locomotion; how does apoptosis apply here?

The answer might surprise you.

And I bid you good day.

Nero replaces his mask, fiddling with it for a few moments, then looking up again.

I said good day.

We fade

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Neonero in: Apoptosis (Epilepsy warning)
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