Post by tigermaskred on Jul 31, 2017 3:54:48 GMT
"Love you, Papa!"
Tiger Mask Red smiled. He felt tears running down his cheeks. It had been weeks since he had been able to speak with his son. His estranged wife, Charlotte had taken him into hiding, only to return home last week and declare how angry she still was with him. None of that mattered right now. For the last hour, he and his son had talked, drawn pictures and played silly little games that only a three-year-old and his father would understand. This had reinvigorated him. Gone were the frustrations of how his career had gone over the last few weeks. He had proudly shown of the championship titles he carried in his luggage, even though the company we won them in was dead. It didn't matter to his son at all, in his eyes they were treasures.
Tiger looked up at the clock on the hotel wall and sighed. It was almost time for him to leave for the airport. Reaching out, he touched his son's face on the computer monitor.
"Love you too, Haruto," he replied, blowing his son a kiss, "Papa will talk to you again soon. Can I speak to Mama now?"
The little boy blew a kiss to his father and jumped ran off. Seconds later, Charlotte appeared.
"Hello Eli."
Hi Charlie, you look great."
She simply nodded her head, saying nothing.
"How are the twins," he asked, trying to cut the tension growing between them.
"They're fine. Doctor put me on bedrest. He's hoping to delay the birth fir another seven weeks but they've got me so closely monitored with all his visits that they might induce labour any day now. I'll make sure my parents tell you when it happens so we can set up a visit for you."
He winced. So it was like that, was it. Biting his tongue, not wanting to say anything that might hurt his chances of reconciliation he simply nodded his head back.
"Ok, I've got to go," he said, "My flight leaves JFK for L.A. in three hours and you know what their security is like. Is it ok if I talk to Haruto again tomorrow?"
She shrugged.
"We'll see. I should go too; my parents will be back soon and I'm sure Mom won't be happy if she sees me out of bed. I'll message you tomorrow."
Before he could say another word, she punched a button on her computer and the screen went black. I love you, he thought, regretting that she hadn't given him the chance to say it. When she had messaged him late last night saying he could Skype with Haruto, he had hoped that it was a sign she had forgiven him and some way, somehow, he would be allowed to come home.
He sighed as he folded up his lap laptop computer and put it in his carry-on. Had he only dreamt about all those things that had happened recently to him. Finding out who his father really was, having his brother's "soul" ripped out of him and placed inside a puppet, being named King of the Zombies. He could accept all that as being the delusions of a broken mind, but that kiss. She had come to him when he was at his most vulnerable, had told him that she still loved him and then kissed him before she left. That couldn't have been fake. He could still taste her lipstick and smell her perfume. That was real dammit!
"I'm in hell," he said for the thousandth time in the last month, "Someone's getting a lot of pleasure out of torturing me."
He picked up his bags and headed towards the door. Hopefully Dave will have whistled down a cab by the time he made it down to the lobby.
Exiting the hotel room, he walked down to hall and got the nearest elevator, thanking God there was no one else on it. It wasn't so much that he hated people but even without his mask he couldn't go without being recognized by someone. He found it easier to avoid people rather than having one of those awkward conversations so many people wanted to have with him.
The elevator suddenly came to a screeching halt and he was thrown against the sidewall. Cursing, he looked around. Just what he needed right now. The lights began to flicker and he had a felt a familiar sensation.
"No way."
He spun around and saw three figures standing there. The tallest one he recognized as his old friend and mentor, the masked giant Brute. He had somehow developed the power to teleport, which would be assounding for someone half his size put downright incredible for some one over seven feet tall and over four hundred pounds. The cloaked figure standing beside him felt vaguely familiar, but her face was hidden beneath a hood and was quickly forgotten, as he turned his attention to the third person.
His heart nearly stopped.
"Charlie!"
He wrapped his around her and the two embraced. His right hand dropped to her belly and one of the twins kicked instinctively, which brought a smile to his face.
"So it wasn't a dream," he said after a moment, backing away to look at her.
A bang outside distracted him for a second and he turned his head. Charlotte grabbed his hand and brought his attention back to her.
"Eli, we don't have much time before the workmen get the doors open. You're right, everything that happened to you was real, almost dying in Guelph, Castor being pulled out of you, the zombies, all of it. There are those who will do anything to suppress the truth for their own gains."
"Like my father, Elijah Buchanan Sr?"
She nodded her head.
"Everything you've suspected about him is true, and more. We suspect he's up to something far more evil than having your mother killed. That's why we have to stay apart for now. He suspects the people I was staying with are on to his plan."
He looks at the cloaked woman standing beside her. There was something about her, like he should know her.
"Who exactly have you were you staying with," he asks.
She shakes his hand and gives his hand a squeeze.
"The less you know, the better. We have no idea who we can trust and who might be inadvertently be getting used against us."
A loud bang caused everyone in the elevator to jump and begun to move downward. The cloaked woman grabbed Brute's hand and indicated to Charlotte to do the same. She smiled at her confused husband and stroked his cheek.
"I've got to go."
Tiger tried to say something but she stopped him with a kiss that left him feeling light head. He staid frozen in place, eyes closed, when she backed away from him.
"Beware of your father," she said, "he's watching you... and he has Castor."
"WHAT?"
His eyes flew open, but the lights in the elevator had already begun to flicker. Before he had a chance to say another word, Charlotte, Brute and the mysterious woman were all gone. He barely noticed that the elevator doors had opened up behind him.
"Thank God your safe," Dave yelled, rushing in and grabbing him.
He didn't say a word as his cousin led him off the elevator. A paramedic quickly checked him over before okaying him to leave. Dave hadn't stopped talking the whole time. The minute Tiger was cleared Dave rushed him out to a waiting taxi and the pair were driving to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Everything went by like a blur, even the slow crawl through security seemed to fly by.
Castor is out there, Tiger thought to himself, oblivious to everything going on around him, and it sounds like dear old Dad's got him. Guess this means I'm going to have to deal with them both sooner or later. And here I was worried about my partners showing up for that trios match at Eternal Lucha. Fuck!
An elbow shot to the side finally stirred him from his train of thought and looked around to find himself sitting on the plane and his cousin glaring at him.
"What," he asked.
"You're so lucky you're famous otherwise we'd have been stuck in New York. As it is I had to promise several people autographed pictures and merchandise and have you attend a 12 year old boy's bar mitzvah."
"What? I'm not even Jewish."
"Actually we are," Dave countered, "one sixteenth on Grand-Pere Flynn's side of the family. It really doesn't matter though, because the kid is a huge fan of yours and I got the impression from his father that he would love if you'd throw a fireball at his mother-in-law. But that's not what I was talking about. I was saying that I can't believe that GoL still hasn't released the footage of your match last month with Bronx."
Tiger shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Doesn't matter anyway," he told his cousin.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter," Dave said through clenched teeth, "that was the most important match of you career."
Tiger shrugged his shoulders again and closed his eyes.
"In the grand scheme of things, there are some things more important that wins and loses."
***
GoL, I'm really feeling disrespected these days. I am your company's first ever hall of famer inductee and this is how you treat me, by not airing my match last month with Bronx? You can blame it all you want on the production crew if you want and how some half-wit producer got worked up and quit leaving you high and dry. The fact of the matter is, this isn't how you treat someone that you allegedly hold in high regard, hell this isn't how you treat anyone on your roster or the fans who pay their hard-earned money to watch your shows live or online. Things better change around here because I demand respect and starting at Eternal Lucha 2 where I'll beat it out of my opponents and become The God of War.
To all my fellow competitors in the God of War Ladder match. My frustration is not with you, it's against this system that we all must deal with in the Labyrith. I don't care who's responsible, whether it's that slime-ball, Carlos Diaz or that drunk moron, Chaos Dragon. I'm tired of the way this place is run and I'll do anything I need to right this ship. How? Everyone knows that championships bring power and the quickest way to the Rey de Reyes Championship is by cashing in Pandora's Box, and as much as I dislike Sawtooth Grin, I've come to admire his bravado by cashing it in and beating AM3 for the title. That's what we're fighting for folks, we are fighting for the opportunity to name the place, date and time we want to challenge for this company's top honour I'll be damned if I let someone else winning it who's satisfied with the status quo of this company!
Jack Tillman, I have a ton of respect for you. You and I have face off once before and it was a hell of a battle. Under any other circumstances, Jack, I would be relishing the opportunity to face you and tear down the house. I really hope we get that opportunity soon. Eternal Luch 2 will not be that night. I will not be looking to have a clean wrestling match. I will be fighting with every scrap of my being to win this match and if it means that I have to smash you with a ladder thanso be it.
El Temario, you and I have have begun to get to know each other over the last month and I've come to see you as brother-in-arms. As much as it pains me to do this, if you get in my way of reaching my destiny and saving this company, than so help me God, I will destroy you and what I will do will make those scares you hide beneath your mask pale by comparison.
Alan Envy, I wish I could say that this is a real honour to be able to compete with you. I have dreamed of this opportunity to face you for quite some time now. Unfortunately, at Eternal Lucha, you're just another person standing between me and becoming a god. I hope someday I have the opportunity to sit down with you and learn from your experience. At EL2 though, your just another obstacle that needs to be overcome.
Congressman Dragon, I hope for your sake you don't leave Hammerstein and me high and dry in that Trios Ttile match because if you do, it won't go well for you in the God of War Ladder Match. You burn me and those I care for, I will burn you.
Julian Tjernia... we know each other from somewhere, I just can't place my finger on where. It doesn't matter though, does it. At EL2 it's all about that opportunity and I won't let you or anyone else stand in my way.
Otaki, El Termaio, El Destello, I don't know any of you but I'm sure you're all fine, upstanding examples of human beings. At EL2 though, it's not about being a good human being, it's about becoming a god! You and the other three competitors are all that stand in my way of my ascension to Mount Olympus and none of you are fit for the task.
GoL, I will save you from yourself and I don't care who I have to crush to do it. Behold your God of War and tremble in my presence!
Tiger Mask Red smiled. He felt tears running down his cheeks. It had been weeks since he had been able to speak with his son. His estranged wife, Charlotte had taken him into hiding, only to return home last week and declare how angry she still was with him. None of that mattered right now. For the last hour, he and his son had talked, drawn pictures and played silly little games that only a three-year-old and his father would understand. This had reinvigorated him. Gone were the frustrations of how his career had gone over the last few weeks. He had proudly shown of the championship titles he carried in his luggage, even though the company we won them in was dead. It didn't matter to his son at all, in his eyes they were treasures.
Tiger looked up at the clock on the hotel wall and sighed. It was almost time for him to leave for the airport. Reaching out, he touched his son's face on the computer monitor.
"Love you too, Haruto," he replied, blowing his son a kiss, "Papa will talk to you again soon. Can I speak to Mama now?"
The little boy blew a kiss to his father and jumped ran off. Seconds later, Charlotte appeared.
"Hello Eli."
Hi Charlie, you look great."
She simply nodded her head, saying nothing.
"How are the twins," he asked, trying to cut the tension growing between them.
"They're fine. Doctor put me on bedrest. He's hoping to delay the birth fir another seven weeks but they've got me so closely monitored with all his visits that they might induce labour any day now. I'll make sure my parents tell you when it happens so we can set up a visit for you."
He winced. So it was like that, was it. Biting his tongue, not wanting to say anything that might hurt his chances of reconciliation he simply nodded his head back.
"Ok, I've got to go," he said, "My flight leaves JFK for L.A. in three hours and you know what their security is like. Is it ok if I talk to Haruto again tomorrow?"
She shrugged.
"We'll see. I should go too; my parents will be back soon and I'm sure Mom won't be happy if she sees me out of bed. I'll message you tomorrow."
Before he could say another word, she punched a button on her computer and the screen went black. I love you, he thought, regretting that she hadn't given him the chance to say it. When she had messaged him late last night saying he could Skype with Haruto, he had hoped that it was a sign she had forgiven him and some way, somehow, he would be allowed to come home.
He sighed as he folded up his lap laptop computer and put it in his carry-on. Had he only dreamt about all those things that had happened recently to him. Finding out who his father really was, having his brother's "soul" ripped out of him and placed inside a puppet, being named King of the Zombies. He could accept all that as being the delusions of a broken mind, but that kiss. She had come to him when he was at his most vulnerable, had told him that she still loved him and then kissed him before she left. That couldn't have been fake. He could still taste her lipstick and smell her perfume. That was real dammit!
"I'm in hell," he said for the thousandth time in the last month, "Someone's getting a lot of pleasure out of torturing me."
He picked up his bags and headed towards the door. Hopefully Dave will have whistled down a cab by the time he made it down to the lobby.
Exiting the hotel room, he walked down to hall and got the nearest elevator, thanking God there was no one else on it. It wasn't so much that he hated people but even without his mask he couldn't go without being recognized by someone. He found it easier to avoid people rather than having one of those awkward conversations so many people wanted to have with him.
The elevator suddenly came to a screeching halt and he was thrown against the sidewall. Cursing, he looked around. Just what he needed right now. The lights began to flicker and he had a felt a familiar sensation.
"No way."
He spun around and saw three figures standing there. The tallest one he recognized as his old friend and mentor, the masked giant Brute. He had somehow developed the power to teleport, which would be assounding for someone half his size put downright incredible for some one over seven feet tall and over four hundred pounds. The cloaked figure standing beside him felt vaguely familiar, but her face was hidden beneath a hood and was quickly forgotten, as he turned his attention to the third person.
His heart nearly stopped.
"Charlie!"
He wrapped his around her and the two embraced. His right hand dropped to her belly and one of the twins kicked instinctively, which brought a smile to his face.
"So it wasn't a dream," he said after a moment, backing away to look at her.
A bang outside distracted him for a second and he turned his head. Charlotte grabbed his hand and brought his attention back to her.
"Eli, we don't have much time before the workmen get the doors open. You're right, everything that happened to you was real, almost dying in Guelph, Castor being pulled out of you, the zombies, all of it. There are those who will do anything to suppress the truth for their own gains."
"Like my father, Elijah Buchanan Sr?"
She nodded her head.
"Everything you've suspected about him is true, and more. We suspect he's up to something far more evil than having your mother killed. That's why we have to stay apart for now. He suspects the people I was staying with are on to his plan."
He looks at the cloaked woman standing beside her. There was something about her, like he should know her.
"Who exactly have you were you staying with," he asks.
She shakes his hand and gives his hand a squeeze.
"The less you know, the better. We have no idea who we can trust and who might be inadvertently be getting used against us."
A loud bang caused everyone in the elevator to jump and begun to move downward. The cloaked woman grabbed Brute's hand and indicated to Charlotte to do the same. She smiled at her confused husband and stroked his cheek.
"I've got to go."
Tiger tried to say something but she stopped him with a kiss that left him feeling light head. He staid frozen in place, eyes closed, when she backed away from him.
"Beware of your father," she said, "he's watching you... and he has Castor."
"WHAT?"
His eyes flew open, but the lights in the elevator had already begun to flicker. Before he had a chance to say another word, Charlotte, Brute and the mysterious woman were all gone. He barely noticed that the elevator doors had opened up behind him.
"Thank God your safe," Dave yelled, rushing in and grabbing him.
He didn't say a word as his cousin led him off the elevator. A paramedic quickly checked him over before okaying him to leave. Dave hadn't stopped talking the whole time. The minute Tiger was cleared Dave rushed him out to a waiting taxi and the pair were driving to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Everything went by like a blur, even the slow crawl through security seemed to fly by.
Castor is out there, Tiger thought to himself, oblivious to everything going on around him, and it sounds like dear old Dad's got him. Guess this means I'm going to have to deal with them both sooner or later. And here I was worried about my partners showing up for that trios match at Eternal Lucha. Fuck!
An elbow shot to the side finally stirred him from his train of thought and looked around to find himself sitting on the plane and his cousin glaring at him.
"What," he asked.
"You're so lucky you're famous otherwise we'd have been stuck in New York. As it is I had to promise several people autographed pictures and merchandise and have you attend a 12 year old boy's bar mitzvah."
"What? I'm not even Jewish."
"Actually we are," Dave countered, "one sixteenth on Grand-Pere Flynn's side of the family. It really doesn't matter though, because the kid is a huge fan of yours and I got the impression from his father that he would love if you'd throw a fireball at his mother-in-law. But that's not what I was talking about. I was saying that I can't believe that GoL still hasn't released the footage of your match last month with Bronx."
Tiger shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Doesn't matter anyway," he told his cousin.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter," Dave said through clenched teeth, "that was the most important match of you career."
Tiger shrugged his shoulders again and closed his eyes.
"In the grand scheme of things, there are some things more important that wins and loses."
***
GoL, I'm really feeling disrespected these days. I am your company's first ever hall of famer inductee and this is how you treat me, by not airing my match last month with Bronx? You can blame it all you want on the production crew if you want and how some half-wit producer got worked up and quit leaving you high and dry. The fact of the matter is, this isn't how you treat someone that you allegedly hold in high regard, hell this isn't how you treat anyone on your roster or the fans who pay their hard-earned money to watch your shows live or online. Things better change around here because I demand respect and starting at Eternal Lucha 2 where I'll beat it out of my opponents and become The God of War.
To all my fellow competitors in the God of War Ladder match. My frustration is not with you, it's against this system that we all must deal with in the Labyrith. I don't care who's responsible, whether it's that slime-ball, Carlos Diaz or that drunk moron, Chaos Dragon. I'm tired of the way this place is run and I'll do anything I need to right this ship. How? Everyone knows that championships bring power and the quickest way to the Rey de Reyes Championship is by cashing in Pandora's Box, and as much as I dislike Sawtooth Grin, I've come to admire his bravado by cashing it in and beating AM3 for the title. That's what we're fighting for folks, we are fighting for the opportunity to name the place, date and time we want to challenge for this company's top honour I'll be damned if I let someone else winning it who's satisfied with the status quo of this company!
Jack Tillman, I have a ton of respect for you. You and I have face off once before and it was a hell of a battle. Under any other circumstances, Jack, I would be relishing the opportunity to face you and tear down the house. I really hope we get that opportunity soon. Eternal Luch 2 will not be that night. I will not be looking to have a clean wrestling match. I will be fighting with every scrap of my being to win this match and if it means that I have to smash you with a ladder thanso be it.
El Temario, you and I have have begun to get to know each other over the last month and I've come to see you as brother-in-arms. As much as it pains me to do this, if you get in my way of reaching my destiny and saving this company, than so help me God, I will destroy you and what I will do will make those scares you hide beneath your mask pale by comparison.
Alan Envy, I wish I could say that this is a real honour to be able to compete with you. I have dreamed of this opportunity to face you for quite some time now. Unfortunately, at Eternal Lucha, you're just another person standing between me and becoming a god. I hope someday I have the opportunity to sit down with you and learn from your experience. At EL2 though, your just another obstacle that needs to be overcome.
Congressman Dragon, I hope for your sake you don't leave Hammerstein and me high and dry in that Trios Ttile match because if you do, it won't go well for you in the God of War Ladder Match. You burn me and those I care for, I will burn you.
Julian Tjernia... we know each other from somewhere, I just can't place my finger on where. It doesn't matter though, does it. At EL2 it's all about that opportunity and I won't let you or anyone else stand in my way.
Otaki, El Termaio, El Destello, I don't know any of you but I'm sure you're all fine, upstanding examples of human beings. At EL2 though, it's not about being a good human being, it's about becoming a god! You and the other three competitors are all that stand in my way of my ascension to Mount Olympus and none of you are fit for the task.
GoL, I will save you from yourself and I don't care who I have to crush to do it. Behold your God of War and tremble in my presence!