Post by Bryan Williams on May 25, 2020 16:50:39 GMT -5
RHYDER: "Open your eyes.”
The glitches. The static. The tracking of the tape.
We’ve all been there before.
Granted, Bryan was more surprised to see Indi standing there before him. How long had she been there, how long had she been waiting?
Any other time would have come with confusion, and desperation to get her out. Things were different now, times had changed.
Events were unfolding in a very different manner.
What was to be his future opponent was currently his partner, tasked with dealing with another nuisance to Union Battleground. A common ground they could both fight for, with each other.
For now, there would be an alliance of sorts.
Bryan blinked, still unsure if she was standing there before him. The screen shook and tore as he reached out, so he pulled back. For a moment everything glitched, the mask was with them now.
WILLIAMS: "What are you doing here, Indi? You’re not supposed to be here.”
RHYDER: "Drastic measures. I need you to be at your utmost ready, you won’t be failing again.”
Bryan shook his head, the room was dark for a moment. Her presence had changed that, colors that he hadn’t seen before were starting to creep in now. This place wasn’t his own anymore.
He tries to make it his own.
Darkness begins to creep in, but before it can settle Bryan is distracted for a moment. Her words settling into his mind, he can’t help but wonder what she means.
His distraction provides the chance at things returning to normal.
WILLIAMS: "Are you sure? This pairing doesn’t last very long, don’t do anything that you’ll end up regretting.”
It was an odd, static presence around her. The quietness seemed to feed the voice in her brain. We’ve been so hungry, this will be delicious. It makes promises like that sometimes and today, it was almost comforting to her as she peered up her temporary partner.
She often wondered about the mask, there were the obvious purposes for it. But things always run deeper, they said, no one knew about the way they communicated; some things are best kept private.
RHYDER: "Who can be sure? I go where she guides me and I act as I believe she wishes… You see this as a temporary solution to a bigger problem, but it’s more. They’re broken up inside, fragments of fragments relying on each other to hold them together, you see?
We are two pieces as a whole, we stand together and make a combined force. They are a hundred jagged pieces floating about. Whatever they claim binds them, is more fickle and temporary than our partnership.”
They liked that, squirming in her brain and fighting to look out her eyes. But they would have to stay there for now, it wasn’t time yet.
RHYDER: "Are you sure? Ego can get away from anyone, Bryan. I believe you know that, will your desire to do the good thing, the right thing, trump an opportunity to hinder me prior to our next meeting?”
He thought to himself for a moment, she had made it here after all. All that work, sometimes sacrifices had to be made.
Bryan sighed, the mask was in his hands now.
WILLIAMS: "Alright, fine. I didn’t bring you here, and I’m sure you didn’t want to really come here either. I guess we’re all dealing with things in our own way now.”
This space was always quiet, until it didn’t need to be. Right now it seemed even more so.
WILLIAMS: "So, what now? We charge in there head first, hope for the best and see if everything comes out alright?”
Don’t be so foolish.
WILLIAMS: "No, that won’t work. I think we’ve got some things to say, don’t we?”
Her attention wanted to pull to the mask in his hands, but the little voice knew better. It was ruling here, where she didn’t belong and couldn't see the stars. So she leaned in to listen.
RHYDER: "We have that on our side, I think. Maybe. Despite all the chaos we both attract, there’s a calm and a knowing to the way you approach things and a stoic belief in my heart. We don’t need to rush headlong into the fray, throwing out jabs like knives in hopes of a cut.
We are far more precise, you are too detailed for that kind of mess. It’s all so clean isn’t it, it really needs to be I suppose. The good and the bad, no one can question our righteousness against such foe.”
Her words felt like rhymes twisted about her tongue. As a small child she had practiced the skill, the act of fitting it. It was a role she played well in everyday life and one that seemed to shift yet stay as she finally gazed at the mask again.
RHYDER: "You made a compromise, whether you meant to or not. So I can be here and we can meld into a singular mind. They probably think they have an advantage…”
Her attention was pulled instead to address them directly. Though many would argue they were the boogeyman, Indi had no doubt that Bryan had stared down far fiercer and more dangerous. As had she, or they, it was melding together so fluidly here.
RHYDER: "That's what you think, of course. That because you’re brutes in a group of so many, that somehow you are more equipped for this contest. Though you’d be freely ignoring the fact that Danny just joined hands in your circle. Forgetting of course that you’re used to numbers games and playing the odds. You have bested us as individuals, that’s true.
But ego plays a part in the downfall of man and you both are so full and fat on your own self-served adulation that you will, as everyone always does in the end… fall into the trap, believe your own hype.”
The space is changing now, everything coming together almost in harmony. Everything glitches again, Bryan is donning the mask now. A deep blue neon light pulses underneath him, shadowing the mask as he moves closer.
We're in his space.
WILLIAMS: "Gentlemen, how comical it is that we're here today. While you were all wrapped in what you wanted to accomplish, you forgot to wonder if it was something you should be doing in the first place."
WILLIAMS: "By in large your actions have brought us to this point in time. Where we stand and prepare ourselves for this upcoming battle. You are to be thanked for that!"
A golf clap, Indi doesn't take part in the sarcastic action.
WILLIAMS: "Because of you we are here now, together. Don't you worry your little heads, because our paths will cross again very soon. But that is for another time, because we are consolidating our efforts into seeing your demise. Dakota and Daniel, such a fitting pair for a punishment if I ever saw one. I'm sure you thought this would be a cakewalk for you two, seeing as how Indi and I are at odds over a certain… prize."
Bryan smirks.
WILLIAMS: "That is an issue that will be resolved at a later date. Our complication comes from you both. Daniel, you took such offense to my dismissal of you that you went and made it a bigger deal. Congratulations, your victory was achieved over Union's name. Whether or not you earned that victory is meaningless now, because you've come back for more. It wasn't good enough to allow your brothers to bash my head in, you had to come back and really rub salt in the wound."
WILLIAMS: "This match is more important than you both think. While you're concerned with the name of GHB, you've forgotten to not leave yourself exposed. You've traded in quick success for a destructive outcome, and Daniel I plan to be the one to see that through."
His harsh words and nature are an odd but synchronised partner to her much calmer one. His world should make her seem out of space, but instead she melts into the soft edges, her fingers pushed into her pockets as a knowing smile crosses her lips.
RHYDER: "Hey buds, I know this isn’t really what either of you were hoping for. Sure you’re a team and that’s grand but.. Dakota doesn’t want to be sharing that ring with you Danny. He’s been pretty vocal actually, about wanting a second dance with me. Now, SOME people might think that’s because he sees me as weak. But that’s not it.
People see Dakota or the butcher or whatevs and they focus hard on trying to disprove who he is, they do the same with you, Daniel. But me? I don’t do that, you’re both SUPER talented and if you weren’t then we wouldn’t even be here! No, what I do is I make you dig down into your skin and bring the fight. I expect MORE not less from you, cause every single person is capable of more.
I mean, sure you guys have the gold star cause you beat us. You’re gonna be on top of the world, problem is… Bryan and I are out of it. Sure we go about it different ways and he has the power of the mask and I rock the interstellar lovechild thing, but we’re both living beyond the realms of what people believe is their existence.”
She nods, shuffles her feet a little bit and glances up at the mask, her eyes seem to be dissecting it piece by piece as though she’s still seeking to have a deeper understanding of it.
RHYDER: "That’s why he doesn’t want to share me, Danny. I bring the best out of him because I believe it’s in there… you’ve all been very clear in saying how you’re only united in wanting desolation but, that’s a lie. It’s a fallacy. And when I make you see your worth, when I knock you down on your butt so you can look up to where you want to be. You’re going to see the truth too.
I, in theory, have every reason to want to leave Bryan to the wolves, right? If you think like the hunter that’s what you’d be thinking I’m sure. But she doesn’t want that, the universe has a plan for us all… you two deviated, you destroyed and you’re going to pay the price for that. Losing this match, showing that Danny is a fluke and Dakota is selfish enough to take an L to get closer to having me for himself - that’s just the first step.”
Bryan takes a step forward.
The lights go out.
When they return their area has transformed into a grand stage for them both, they are surrounded on all sides by a sizeable crowd. Bryan and Indi are dressed up, presented as our hosts for what appears to be some version of the circus.
Their circus.
The scene glitches, Bryan stands there in his mask.
The mask stands behind Indi.
It returns to normal, as Bryan steps up to address the audience in attendance.
WILLIAMS: "Ladies and Gentlemen! We have arrived at the part of the evening you’ve been looking forward to! Tonight our presentation will thrill you, it will provide you with chills as you see the wicked players unfold in front of you! Mistakes were made, no doubt, and you will be the witnesses to these affairs firsthand!”
The audience erupts as Bryan heads towards a cage with a tarp on it. He tears it off with extreme indignation, hurrying up to get the show moving. Inside of the cage is what appears to be left of some kind of creature.
Short breaths.
Matted fur.
Exposed ribs.
Bryan points to the creature, as the audience laughs. Indi stands there, watching.
WILLIAMS: "This, my good people, is what you will see left of Daniel MacNamara once we’re finished with him! Through and through, this weak animal is all that will remain, stand and watch! Do not avert your eyes!”
Indi shakes her head. She calls out to Bryan, turning his attention away from the crowd. The scene glitches for a moment.
RHYDER: "No, not this way. There’s no need to poke fun, Dakota and Danny are already in a sore spot.”
WILLIAMS: "No?”
RHYDER: "A man who’s so hyped up about his own group, he can’t even get recognition from his home fed as their champion. How sad is that? Do we really need the silly imagery here?”
The lights begin to go out, as the audience grows quiet. Bryan shakes his head, understanding what she means.
The scene glitches again, and we’re back to square one.
WILLIAMS: "You’re right, nothing I can say will make light of the situation more than it already is.”
Bryan pauses for a moment, Indi watching him with a keen eye.
WILLIAMS: "Besides, I already took him for granted once. I can’t underestimate him again.”
There is an uncertainty in the air, Bryan’s head hangs low as Indi laughs to herself.
RHYDER: "Don’t be foolish, Bryan. You were caught from behind, any chance of you underestimating Danny again is long gone.”
Bryan nods, he has regained his confidence yet again. The scene changes again, this time it seems more suited for Indi. Her kind of environment, the two are placed in a clearing of a forest.
Bryan’s laying on the ground.
WILLIAMS: "Something like this takes sacrifice, and knowing what happened last time just makes it that much more important. We’re putting our future competition in jeopardy, things change forever for both Indi and myself when we step into that ring together. Daniel, you can tout about the kind of “family” that you have now, but there is no common goal that you all share. It’s only chaos, you’re bound together by those ties and sooner you will find that those chains will not carry your weight.”
Static seems to build around them as Bryan speaks, Indi splitting her attention between him and the foreign world over which she has no control. She shouldn’t be safe here, yet she looks calm. Her mind at peace as they both understand the truth behind sacrifice for the greater good.
RHYDER: "We could have stood opposing still. Staring one another down from a shared corner and seeing this as an opportunity to strike. But that isn’t what I’m here for… Training alongside your competitor; forcing the guard down to expose your world to the very person who will, sooner or later, want to destroy it? That takes strength. Not the strength of gang warfare and chaos for the sake of chaos.
It takes the kind of strength only a Hero can provide. You may not like it, but Bryan has been every piece the hero he promised to be for this company. And while the two of you stand on the brink of ‘just another match’. He and I should be preparing for war, headlong charging for the greatest prize imaginable here in Union.”
The static flickers for a moment, bunching together almost like stars. It’s less than a blink of an eye before it returns to normal.
RHYDER: "But a hero's path is never clear, so we are ready. We’ve prepared and now we stand side by side in a manner almost no one would think we were capable of, splitting off into each other's existence to share ourselves for one night. A sacrifice.
For the greater good.”
Bryan nods, grinning to himself.
WILLIAMS: "The greater good.”
The clearing turns dark, as the sky above them turns grey. Clouds begin to move in, as Bryan gets up to his feet.
He’s still smiling.
Looking at Indi, the scene glitches as the mask becomes him.
Before things can go pitch black, she appears behind him. She places her hand on his shoulder, as the clearing around them returns to normal.
The sky is back.
The clouds are gone.
Everything makes sense now.
This is what needs to be done to win.
For the greater good.
A man is an angel that has become deranged, Joe Fernwright thought. Once they – all of them – had been genuine angels, and at that time they had had a choice between good and evil, so it was easy, easy being an angel. And then something happened. Something went wrong or broke down or failed. And they had become faced with the necessity of choosing not good or evil but the lesser of two evils, and so that had unhinged them and now each was a man.
