It better have been worth it

by **krzy** Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:05 pm

As Brett Angel and Sugar Bae do battle in a bout worthy of the International Championship, Tailcoat Val has busied herself with what looks to be an interrogation smack dab in the middle of a busy hallway backstage.

She has a poor man (poor in a pitying sense, he's likely rich in character and nutrition-- no doubt a requirement for being a CMV employee) surrounded by her masked goons. The fellow is untouched, and looks to be physically unharmed, but the implication of violence...and worse...is thick in the area. He knows if he doesn't give Val what she's looking for, things won't end well for him.

And what she wants is information.

What she demands is answers.

Her lips are twisted into a scowl, her one eye shines with disdain, her arms are crossed over her chest. Val glares down at the man who seems to continually shrink under the harsh heat of her stare against all laws of physics and biology.

Tell me again...Martin, was it?...and this time without the trembling voice: what. did. you. see?

Much like Schmidty when he was told Supremacy has a zero tolerance hit and run policy, Martin breaks down into tears, completely cracking under the pressure like Pierre Thompson whenever he gets near the World Title picture.

Val sighs, realizing this approach isn't getting her anywhere, and even she is starting to get a touch of second-hand embarrassment. She snaps her fingers, her means of summoning Subject: ZERO, the brick wall, the behemoth, the original test subject. The beast masquerading as a human being pushes his way through Val's nameless masked husks and stops in front of Martin. Subject: ZERO towers over the man, his presence doing nothing to slow the man's racing heart.

And the ZERO does something unexpected.

He kneels down next to Martin and before Martin can register what's happening, ZERO wraps him up into a tight hug. For a second, Martin's eyes widen in horror. This is how it all ends for him. Not a victim of a murder in the increasingly-worsening streets of Nevada, as he always feared, but crushed to death by a man who's impossibly all muscle.

Except, he feels no pain.

In fact, he feels at ease...comforted even.

He allows himself to sink into ZERO's embrace, and suddenly things don't seem to bad. His divorce? His credit card debt? Having to move back to Nevada? They're all things he's prepared to tackle head on.

Val cuts through Martin's thoughts, but her voice is a touch softer now.

Let's try this again.

What did you see?

Martin responds in a lackadaisical voice finally devoid of all tension and fear.

It's like I told the first responders on the scene, I was on my way to....look, when I turned a corner, I saw Hunter Quinn laying there on the ground, blood pooling around him. I didn't see what happened to him, or who was responsible for it...

His voice trails off.

Val gets ready to press him further; if he didn't see something he must have heard a telltale sound or even smelled something out of the ordinary now that Jason Spade had been away for a couple of weeks.

She doesn't get a chance to because Brett Angel walks up to the group. His eyes flick back and forth as he observes the scene in front of him, but his expression gives away nothing about what he thinks of all this. Angel flexes his fingers, trying to get some feeling back into his hand after knocking Sugar Bae into an alternate reality where Joseph Santos is capable of winning singles matches.

Val smirks and takes the International Championship from Angel like a wife might retrieve her purse from a husband she forced to carry it. She drapes the championship over her shoulder, all at once forgetting about Martin and his horrendous observational skills. She looks right at the camera her expression amused and annoyed all at once.

For a moment I believed that Hunter Quinn would be the next Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.

And in that moment my best course of action was to offer him the opportunity to challenge for Brett Angel's International Championship. Win or lose, Hunter Quinn would be indebted to me, for it was I who granted him the opportunity of a lifetime.

Quid pro quo.

My offer came with strings attached.

Were he to go on to defeat Shay Hoxton, Hunter Quinn would feel obligated to return the favor and give Brett Angel the first opportunity to challenge for the Undisputed Championship. That's when he would meet his untimely demise.

Val shrugs.

It would seem that someone jumped the gun, and I no longer believe Hunter Quinn is capable of toppling the scheming of the likes of Shay Hoxton…if he cannot even keep his wits about him long enough to not end up unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

However, knowingly or not, whoever did that to Hunter Quinn has now made an enemy out of me. I do not suffer imbeciles who get in my way. I do not care if this leads to only ONE extra step in making Brett Angel the next Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion...it's now an inconvenience that won't be taken lightly or forgotten.

That said, I won't waste the resources hunting you down.

Which means that it's in your own best interest to remain in the shadows, nameless and out of arm's reach.

The moment you make yourself known is the second you make yourself a victim.