"And Now... Our Feature Presentation."
Oct 14, 2021 1:31:37 GMT -5
CJ Phoenix, Trey Bouchet, and 2 more like this
Post by Bryan Williams on Oct 14, 2021 1:31:37 GMT -5
We should catch you all up.
“Welcome back, so soon. Sooner than I thought.”
In the past Bryan had issues with his head, he saw things and felt things that weren’t ever there. Didn’t know if it came from an injury, or if it was something that was always wrong with him. It kept him uneasy, it made him react in ways that just wasn’t his normal behavior. He didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do to control the fact that he was out of control.
The last time he was in this chair had been months, ages ago. A professional therapist, somebody who would work with him on his problems and get him the kind of help that he really needed. She kept her distance, and he would too. Only coming in every once in a blue moon. The last time he was here, he wasn’t really here.
It was a dream.
This was all different. The room. His suit. None of this was like how it was. It wasn’t like how he remembered it, he didn’t like the way it made him feel.
Sitting nervously, Bryan kept to the edge of the chair. His leg bouncing up and down uncontrollably. “I don’t know what you mean, it’s been several months since I’ve seen you. I’ve been in Japan for quite a while, been busy on the road. I thought that you weren’t real. I thought I dreamed of you. The last time at least, way back in Union.”
She smiled, he didn’t like the way she would smile at him. Always knowing, always understanding. She never understood.
The therapist coughed, clearing her throat and the tension in the room. She had a way of letting things stew for too long, he thought. “I have always been here. How is Miles doing anyway? Did you two ever get that match you would talk about?”
Bryan shakes his head no, his protégé was long gone at this point. Out somewhere, since the end of Eddie. “Union was a long time ago, you know. You should be seeing how I’ve been in the last year. The pandemic has been tough for a lot of people. Been tough on me.”
She didn’t seem to care. In fact, she would smile. A big, toothy smile. Ever growing, almost endless. She would always smile, always silent.
His leg kept bouncing.
“No, we didn’t get the match. Our companies closed down, opportunity never came. Got a new place to work for now, a new opportunity. I guess that’s why I’m doing this, I don't want to screw it up.” Bryan said, finally answering her question.
She turned her head like a dog would, not understanding what he meant.
“Bryan, what do you mean?” She said, while Bryan just stared at her. He blinked a few times, unsure of what she meant by that. He felt like he was pretty clear with what he was saying.
“You know, this career of mine. I have a new opportunity and I’m trying my hardest not to screw it up.”
She was cold, everything about her was just off-putting. Nothing screamed help, she didn’t seem professional in any way now that he got a good look at her. Why was he even here? How did he even get here? Last he remembered he was in the warehouse, fixing some things up.
His legs continued to bounce. He stared down at his hands, the wounds had healed a while ago. Scars were the only thing he carried from murderhaus, his opportunity there going with Miles in the wind. “You don’t like to talk much.” Bryan stated in a matter of fact manner.
That same smile, same response. Her demeanor was cold, and it seemed that the room was growing colder. “You still haven’t figured it out yet? You still don’t know what this is all about?”
Why did she look at him that way?
Bryan looked down for a moment, the carpet underneath him was gone now. Replaced with concrete, emotionless with no character. Just a bland grey, covered in dirt and dust.
“What happened to your floor?” He said, finally looking up at the therapist in front of him.
She was gone now. Or she was never really there.
It didn’t matter, either way.
Instead, sitting mere inches away from him, was a mannequin that had seen better days. A smiling face hastily drawn on it, some kind of attempt at making it human. He looked around, he had been in the warehouse the entire time. Always there, always waiting.
Bryan sighed, tears welling up in his eyes. He used the sleeve of his worn letter jacket to wipe them away. “That’s a dirty trick, you know, a damn dirty trick. But I understand, I get it.”
The mannequin doesn’t move as he gets up, we don’t either as Bryan looks right through us. In his back pocket is the mask, ever watching and always there. It stays with him, for a moment. The scene glitches, leaving a chaotic mess of what we’re watching. The digital artifacts dancing on the screen, intercut with quick images of Bryan wearing the mask.
A hazy filter seems to come over everything, washing the warehouse around him in a dull glow. It looks like a neon sign is directly behind him, carrying it’s glow around him no matter where he goes.
The mannequin looks at him for a moment, as the scene glitches again.
He has nothing to say, there’s a mirror to his left that he won’t look at. The man in the mirror wears his mask as it watches him.
There was no help, there was never anyone to talk to.
He was still out there, but not on his own.
Disgusted, maybe with himself, Bryan goes to leave. His breathing calms, as he goes to rub his neck. He feels the difference, he knows the touch already. It’s been there many times before, and it will be there many times over.
There is no mirror. Nobody to speak to.
There is just Bryan.
There is only the familiar feeling of repetition, this has happened before. It will happen again.
And again.
As long as he keeps pushing, as long as he doesn’t stop. It will follow him, and it will aid him in his journey. It will walk with him, side by side as he tries to get back to the top. It will be there as he wins matches.
Feeding his success, growing his talent.
Leeching on his soul.
Bryan pulls the mask over his head, the silly little rooster mask that everyone has recognized at this point. It has become one with him.
The mask is him. He is the mask.
The scene burns and stretches, like old film on a reel. It’s distorted and confusing, for a brief moment we see Bryan. He’s looking at us. The vertical hold slips, the scene spinning out of control as we hear something laughing in the distance. Everything continues to burn, until there is nothing left. Everything cuts to black, there is nothing on the screen now. Nothing but faint VCR tearing, and a small tracking indicator that pops up at the bottom of the screen.
We wait long, longer than usual for a sign of anything that’s to come. It seems that the tape cuts here, because we’re hit with a wave of sound. Something that closely resembles music, maybe in another time. The attempt at light jazz follows with a bright, and colorful background with only several words on it.
”AND NOW … OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION”
“Can you feel it?”
His words echo on the tape, as it comes to life. The warm glow of the set makes it seem like the warehouse has gotten a nice cleaning. Everything looks bright, you can’t see the finer details that lie beneath the surface. It’s all still there, everything that was there before.
Bryan sits in the chair, the mannequin behind him wearing his mask. Bryan’s head is resting on the knob of the bat, as the bat is standing straight up against the ground.
He waits for a moment, before speaking up again. There’s a melancholy tone to his voice, still upset from earlier. Bryan does his best to not let it bug him too much, as he begins to speak to the camera in front of him. “The change in the air, more are starting to sense it now. There has been a tangible effect to my prescience here in Action Wrestling. I thought I was ruffling feathers before, but everything that has happened lately has been a nice surprise. Friends I’ve made before joining, I can see their confidence rising. Every week, they grow bolder and stronger. I’ve reinforced the notion that they are not alone here, and it shows.”
A bright neon purple glow emits from behind Bryan, but we’re not sure exactly where it’s coming from. It covers everything in the room, making it look like Bryan has two faces as he speaks. “Steps, tiny steps along the path here in this company. Despite my previous accolades, I have chosen to take the route just like everyone else. I’ve waited for my time, and I have worked to pick my spot.”
Bryan taps the bat against the floor, standing up to his feet.
“That time has come now.” He says, his tone is a bit more joyful now. It has a purpose, a meaning behind it. Bryan seems to definitely believe what he’s saying right now.
“Fighting with random roster members has allowed me to showcase my abilities to an audience that might not fully understand what I’m about. I’ve been discovered by people who may not have heard of me before. These things were all important, all calculated on my road here. I dealt with the opponents put up against me, and now I have something I can really sink my teeth into.” He says, chomping his teeth.
“A match where the winner is placed into a lottery created by Torture. Not only that, but it’s in the United States championship division.”
Bryan softly chuckles to himself, as he moves behind the mannequin. It doesn’t move, thankfully. “Sometimes life just plays out the way you want it to. Life has given me this opportunity, and I plan on taking full advantage of it! An opportunity to possibly face Graham Baker or Lissie Hope in the future, somebody up there is rooting for me. They want to see the chaos happen, I can tell. It isn’t like the deck isn’t stacked though, this won’t be a cakewalk for me. Claire Hawkins, CJ Phoenix, John Black and Lethe.”
Bryan grows silent for a moment. He brings the baseball bat up to his shoulder, as the neon light washes away.
Instead, it’s replaced with a projector that fills the wall behind him. Each of his opponents on display, in full view of the camera.
Bryan turns to the display behind him, we see him grinning just before he does. “I see you all, and I’m so glad to just finally have opponents that are actually on social media. It’s hard trying to carry a match with nobody to talk to, it gets very lonely sometimes.”
Turning back to the camera, he frowns.
Quickly though, he moves along. “Now I get tested, now we see what Bryan Williams is really all about. Truthfully my opponents here are all talented. Aside from Lethe, my opponents have crossed paths multiple times in the last few months.”
“It’s all coming together.” He says, with a big smile on his face. It looks like the mannequin is smiling too, with that mask on.
Bryan gets closer to the camera, grabbing it and pulling it in close to his face. His voice lowers, almost growing to a whisper as he speaks to the camera.
“We were chosen for a reason, put together to see who is the best out of this group. To keep things from getting too stale Lethe and myself were added into the mix. It’s important to venture out, but also to keep those familiar around you. We will all be familiar soon, as we beat and batter each other inside of the ring. I’ve found that there’s no better way to understand somebody more than with violence. What we do is pure, we’re at the rawest point of discovery here. I cannot wait to discover what makes you all work. I cannot wait to figure out what your breaking points really are.” He says, smiling widely as he lets go of the camera and returns back to his original position.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better match. Because now when I win there won’t be any more doubt. There will be silence, just glorious silence from those who have spoken too much already. It was always something else, I had to prove myself by coming here. What I’ve done in the past didn’t matter, as it shouldn’t. This is a new place for me, so I suppose costing by what I was just won’t cut it.” He shrugs.
“I’ll make a new legacy. Forged here in Action Wrestling, curated by the bodies laid out beneath my feet. It’s hard to get people to believe sometimes, even when it’s right in front of their face. Of course, I think actions always speak louder than words.”
With that, Bryan takes the bat and brings it down on the head of the mannequin. It’s destroyed almost immediately, the head flying off and bouncing in another direction.
“My actions, at Execution, will speak volumes for me.” Bryan says, in a low gruff.
“The way that will run through this group, the way that I will take their punishment and dole it out tenfold will open eyes. I will show you everything that you need to see. I will bring the violence necessary to change your minds, so you can finally see what I’ve been saying this whole time. I’ve been preparing for war, and god does it feel good to be almost there. At the precipice, I can see out over the horizon to the rising sun.”
“You know, before, I would take each match to heart. I would hate it when I would lose, because I felt that my opponents were better than me. I had to change my thinking, because in the end I was always the one on top. No matter what, I always came out better for it. I improved, despite the result of the match. If there’s something other than the brutality that I will bring with me at Execution, it would be my knowledge. Allow me to pass on this lesson to the four of you, because your end isn’t truly the end. There is always another beginning, there is always a way to rise from the grave after a few days. I know, I have been there before.”
Bryan pauses for a moment, looking down around his feet. He searches for something, taking a few moments away from his speech. Finally, after what was several moments, he reappears holding his mask in his hands.
“So don’t fret, don’t worry about the cruelty that you will face at my hands. I will baptize you in your blood, so you can start anew. I feel it, I feel the opportunities coming. I am so eager to show you all the things I have learned over these years. So let’s not waste too much time?”
Bryan’s cadence slows to a crawl, as he focuses on putting the rooster mask over his head. “Join me, earn the barbarity that’s coming your way.”
The scene warps and bends, a tracking indicator appears on the screen as it tries to correct what we’re seeing at the moment. Each frame is different from the last, there’s nothing good about what we’re watching currently. Bryan seemingly splits into multiple versions of himself, all covered in different colors.
He leans into the camera, his audio becoming the only thing that isn’t messed up at the moment.
In a whispered tone, he leaves one last message for his opponents at Execution. “Or risk staying a coward in eternity, marked for everyone else to see. The choice will be yours, I will be waiting.”
Almost abruptly the scene ends, cutting immediately to black.