Post by Bryan Williams on Feb 17, 2020 18:18:39 GMT -5
”I’m surprised you came back for another session.”
He was back in the chair, surprising almost everyone except for himself.
”I didn’t think you’d want to continue seeing me, I thought we made some good progress last time but you never responded to our calls after that.”
“I didn’t want to schedule anything for the beginning of the month. I was very busy then.”
”I see, do you feel like things are chaotic in your life at the moment?”
Bryan was quiet again, knowing the answer this time he chose not to say it right away. He smirked, and she immediately knew the answer.
”So, you feel like you’re back on track. Maybe this profession you’re in is good for keeping everything in balance. Did you fill the prescription that I gave you?”
Bryan shook his head.
“I needed to be focused, clear-headed. I have something important coming up.”
”Ah, I see.”
The room grew quiet this time, Bryan looked around as he waited for her to break the silence. She didn’t, and he grew worried.
“Are you upset about that?”
She shook her head.
”No, not upset. For this to work, I need you to complete every part of the process. A missing piece could ruin the whole thing.”
“It’s not needed. I know what I’m doing, how I’ve been behaving lately. It’s necessary for me to think clearly. I can’t have anything messing with my head.”
”Necessary? Do you feel like this is beneficial to you now? Your behavior is erratic, you were caught brawling in public just recently. How exactly does this benefit you?”
Bryan smiled.
“This is the way I need to be, just for right now. I promise. Once I take care of a few things I’ll get better, things will get better.”
”Bryan, you know that doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t just go away, you need treatment. You need to be in here weekly for you to get any better.”
“This is just how it has to be for now, I promise I’ll do more in the future. It’s for everyone’s own good.”
”I see.”
She didn’t understand, she never could. Bryan would just have to show her, he’d make her understand soon enough. There was just one thing left to take care of, then everything could go back to normal.
Back to the way it was.
No lights.
No sound.
Just a static screen, desperately trying to show us where we’re going next. A destination that we should probably skip, but it’s too late now. We’re all here, there’s nowhere else to go.
The static fades away, forcing a grainy image into our eyes. It’s hard to make out what we see at first, the lighting is gone for now. The camera recording it can barely make out what’s in front of it with the night vision it does have.
The odd glow shows us a building, nothing that can be identified just yet.
In the distance, the microphone finally picks something up, a low thumping sound that comes sporadically.
The camera cuts, static fills the scene again as we’ve moved locations now. We’re inside the building, a single light hangs low in the distance. The thumping sound is louder, more defined now.
A wet thump.
A man can be seen in the distance, under the lighting. As we get closer the screen shakes and fills with static. Another loud thump can be heard.
When the picture recovers we see Bryan standing in front of the camera, right next to a chopping block. The block is covered in blood, and it looks like Bryan has been hard at work with the way he’s been sweating. For a moment he’s wearing the mask, but the screen cuts and he’s back to normal.
Just another guy, covered in blood and sweat.
WILLIAMS: "Coup de Grace."
His voice is so low that it’s hard to hear at first. Eventually, we see what’s causing the pool of crimson around him, as Bryan brings up a plucked chicken onto the block.
WILLIAMS: "A final blow, something to end the suffering of someone that has been dying for any amount of time. An act of mercy to finally put this person to rest."
Bryan looks down at the chicken. Swiftly, he brings up his hand and the cleaver in it as he brings it down onto the chicken’s neck. The camera glitches before we see it happen, but we can hear it all too well.
WILLIAMS: "I know somewhere Dakota is thinking about this with Union. He probably sees his time as champion greatly justified. He’s doing his mercy killing to the entire company, one day at a time. Well, unfortunately, I have a bit of a problem with that."
Bryan puts down the cleaver, stepping away from the chopping block in front of him. A butcher’s apron adorns his body, covered in blood.
WILLIAMS: "You see, for the longest time, I thought I was doing things in this business for me. I wanted the glory, I wanted the championships. I wanted to be the best version of myself that I possibly could be. A very selfish act, but in this business you kind of have to be. I had put myself over anyone and anybody else, but I wasn’t getting anywhere."
Bryan shakes his head.
WILLIAMS: "Hell, the last time Dakota and I faced I was still figuring things out. I was still making my way through 4CW, hoping to change my ways."
Bryan takes off the apron, stepping to the side as the camera follows him. The rest of the building looks a bit empty, giving him plenty of space to move around as he animates through his speech.
WILLIAMS: "Things have been different since Adrenaline Ninety-Four."
WILLIAMS: "When we stepped into that ring I wanted to experience what The Butcher was like. I wanted to see firsthand who he was. He put me down and I was satisfied."
Bryan chuckles.
WILLIAMS: "I knew exactly what I was getting then. Now, I'm not so sure."
Bryan sighs.
WILLIAMS: "There's a tumor growing inside of Union Battleground, and Dakota is the cause of it. Bringing in Perry Wallace, Dakota has changed the perception that I once had about him. About everything, really."
He continues to walk, as the camera continues to follow him. In the distance, we can see something leaning up on one of the building’s support structures.
WILLIAMS: "As much as I wish I could have stopped it two years ago, I know that I couldn't. I wasn't ready to be that guy. I couldn't have been the one to save Union Battleground from the sickness it has caught. Nobody could have seen it coming anyway, but now I've been given the chance to do that. I look this sickness in the eyes and I eradicate it from us for good."
As Bryan continues to walk, we see the object getting bigger and more in focus.
It’s his baseball bat.
WILLIAMS: "A disgusting butcher. What kind of man do you send to take care of someone like that?"
Bryan looks down at the bat, picking it up. He lets it drag on the ground as he continues to speak.
WILLIAMS: "I know I'm probably not the ideal choice that anyone has. I know that I haven't reached the true potential that I should have reached long ago. I'm shrewd, and I fly off the handle at ease."
Bryan shrugs, continuing his pace.
WILLIAMS: "I know I'm not the most stable guy. Who expects salvation from someone in a rooster mask anyway?"
Bryan plays up the line for laughs, but the building is empty. There’s nobody here to laugh with him.
WILLIAMS: "Maybe I am a bit naive, but that's going to be the thing that saves me. The thing that saves us all."
Bryan stops suddenly, appearing to have walked over something. He bends down, picking up his jacket from the ground. It’s dusty and dirty, Bryan gives it a good wave in the air as the dirt and dust fly off of it.
WILLIAMS: "I needed to be this person, the kind of man who could step up to Dakota and stop him dead in his tracks. I needed to be that man because I'm the only one who will do this dirty work."
Bryan puts the jacket on quickly, as he begins to walk again.
WILLIAMS: "In the end, it's not about the Union Battleground Championship. That's a kidnapped item that will be wrestled from his cold grasp. Coming down to Dakota's level is what Union Battleground needed. They needed someone like me, and I've stepped up to do this job."
Bryan taps his bat against the ground, in the distance something catches his eye.
WILLIAMS: "I will put an end to The Butcher. I will stop his reign of chaos before it can consume us all. Before it sweeps Union Battleground over, leaving nothing of value in its wake."
Bryan walks towards the object as it lays on the ground, from the camera view it only looks like a trash pile.
WILLIAMS: "Dakota, you know this. I saw it in your eyes, the night you attacked me. You see the threat I pose to you, and the twisted empire you wish to create. You know that I can stop that right in its tracks, and there's nothing you or Perry Wallace can do about it."
Something in the pile sticks out to Bryan, as he stops to look at it. He pauses, bending down to reach for something in the pile.
WILLIAMS: "Maybe back in 4CW you could have twisted things to your favor. We see it now, with Wallace standing by like a good lap dog. You had him wrapped around your finger, ready to take advantage of every little favor thrown your way."
Bryan smiles.
WILLIAMS: "But not anymore."
Reaching out of the pile he pulls out a mask, his rooster mask to be specific. Bryan dusts it off, looking happy to see it here.
WILLIAMS: "Union is different, Union isn't fully under your control just yet."
Bryan shakes his head.
WILLIAMS: "I am the threat now, Dakota." He says, pointing to himself.
WILLIAMS: "I am the one that controls your fate. For so long as the Butcher you've been the one holding that blade. I know it felt good in your hands because it feels damn good in mine now."
The camera glitches again, and we’re back to the beginning. Back to the chopping block. Bryan isn’t wearing his apron though, he’s got his jacket and mask on instead.
WILLIAMS: "So now the moments count down, time ticks away as your time with the Union Battleground Championship runs out. Your time threatening this company is about to end. It feels good, I can smell the fear in the air. I could see it in you that night. You had your chance to stop me, Dakota."
Bryan picks up the cleaver.
WILLIAMS: "You should have ended me right there." He says, placing another chicken down on the block.
WILLIAMS: "Because now it’s not going to be you that puts Union out of your perceived misery. You won’t be the one delivering the final blow. It's not going to be my head on that chopping block, or anyone else’s."
He pauses.
WILLIAMS: "It's going to be yours."
In one swift motion, Bryan brings the cleaver down onto the neck of the chicken. This time though we see it’s fake. A rubber chicken to play with us all. Bryan tosses it aside as he slams the cleaver into the block.
WILLIAMS: "This is the end, Dakota. I’m going to put you down, and end you like you couldn’t end me in Japan. I’m going to be the one that controls your fate. The Butcher butchered.."
Bryan lifts the mask up, revealing his face and one last smirk.
WILLIAMS: "My coup de grace."
With that, we cut to black.
