Sins of the Father: Act 6

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Sins of the Father

Act 6

Off Camera

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Turn here.

Marie Annabelle Jones is in the driver’s seat of her 2016 Ford Taurus, driving down the small back roads on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts.  She has no idea where she is going.  At least, she does not believe she knows where she is going.  As far as the beautiful Boston native is concerned, she is receiving the instructions on where to go from a trustworthy yet rather unusual source…

…herself.

Stay straight on this road for awhile.  In a few minutes you will make a left.

“I hear you.”

Yes, that’s Marie Annabelle Jones talking to herself; or at least, in her mind, she’s talking to the reflection of herself in the rearview mirror.  It should bother her that she is still talking to her reflection, it should give her cause to be concerned about her own mental stability, but she has bigger things on her mind tonight that seem to be weighing far too heavily upon her consciousness right now.

One issue in particular is her upcoming UWA World Championship defense against Vanilla Skyy on the next Uprising.  This will be Marie’s first defense of the UWA World Championship, a title she has been fighting to win for years now.  Again and again she fought her way near the mountaintop only to be denied of the top prize.  But here, in the UWA, she finally took that all important step to reach up, both literally and figuratively, and grab that brass ring in the newest and arguably most brutal of structures in professional wrestling…

…the Pyramid.  Jones battled through a tournament with Willow Wilkes as her tag team partner just to qualify for the Pyramid and then, in the Pyramid itself, she battled Wilkes, Victoria Salinas, and Vanilla Skyy.  All four competitors left everything, their heart and soul, their blood, in the center of the ring in a desire to be the best.

At the end of the night, it was Jones who stood tall and proud with the UWA World Championship in her possession, not only as the new champion but as the winner of this Pyramid match, a first ever of its type.  The many years of struggle, and the brutality that was the Pyramid itself, it was all worth it for Marie.  She finally was champion.  She achieved her dream.

But now her dream could easily be ended just as quickly as it began by the former champion herself, Vanilla Skyy, who is exercising her rematch clause.  She wants her championship back.

Marie cannot blame her.  Any champion who has been to the top knows what it is like to lose the belt.  It makes you desire it all that much more.  And as far as Marie goes, this match against Vanilla Skyy is something she has wanted anyway.

If there is one other thing, other than the championship, that Marie wanted out of all of this, it was a one on one match against Vanilla Skyy.  Jones and Skyy have had quite the professional rivalry over the past year or so.  They have had many classics including a two on one handicap street fight involving Jackson Adams, an I Quit Match that was partially ruined by Marie’s then manager Samantha Hodgson, a triple threat match also involving Alana Starr, and now this Pyramid Match at Olympus.

Marie knows all too well the one common factor that all of those prior instances have in common; outside interference and involvement from third parties.  Even the I Quit Match, their only one on one encounter to date, had the involvement and interference from Samantha Hodgson.  Jones has wanted another one on one match against Skyy.  Marie has to know if she can beat her straight up, one on one.

Now Marie has that opportunity, and yet she also realizes just how dangerous this opportunity truly is; this is dangerous in the sense that she could very well lose the UWA World Championship after just barely a month’s long reign.

Plus Marie can think back to all of those other instances she did battle with Vanilla Skyy. She beat her twice; once in a two on one handicap match where IWC forced Jackson Adams upon Jones as her tag team partner and then this latest time in the Pyramid in a match also involving Willow Wilkes and Victoria Salinas.  Point being, doubt has entered Marie’s mind.  Perhaps she needs to dig down deep into her soul and find something else to help her, a new kind of energy to drive her forward…

…and that’s what this thing, her reflection, is promising her.  It promises Marie victory over Vanilla Skyy.  She purports to be the darkest side of Marie’s soul.  She claims she helped guide Marie to victory at Olympus in the Pyramid and she claims she will deliver a victory over Vanilla Skyy if Marie lets her out.

The turn is just up ahead.

“The first left?”

Yes.  Take that left.  It’s a dead end road.  The place Emma has been staying is at the end.

“How do you know this?”

All in good time.  Just drive.

Marie nods her head and follows the instructions, taking the left turn down a dirt road, a roar that apparently leads to Emma Storm’s home.

And therein lies another thing that weighs heavily on Marie’s mind tonight, and another reason she feels she may need this darker part of her soul right now.  For it is Emma Storm, the former girlfriend of Marie’s father Sean Williams and longtime enemy of Marie’s mother Angelica Jones, who has returned and has made the most outrageous claim of them all…

…she claims that Sean Williams is still alive.

Sean Williams was Marie’s father.  He and Angelica had a pretty bad falling out when he found out that Angelica gave up their children after birth.  The falling out was so bad that it eventually resulted in Angelica  putting a bullet in his head, an act that Angelica to this day claims was self-defense, but an act that landed her in a mental institution nevertheless after pleading insanity.

Marie was too young to really get to know her father before he was murdered.  The fact that Emma Storm is now back on the scene and is claiming that Sean Williams is still alive and is staying with her is a shocking revelation to say the least.  And while Marie does not believe it one bit, she still has to at least consider the possibility that she is indeed telling the truth.  She has to consider the possibility that Sean Williams is, in fact, alive and well.

Do you see that dilapidated house at the end of the road?

Marie squints her eyes and then quickly nods her head as she sees the shoddy, run down shack, camouflaged quite well in the trees and brush, come into view.

“Yeah, I see it.  Is that where Emma is staying?”

Yes, that’s her place.

“I find it hard to believe.  Emma always struck me as the type that enjoyed the finer things in life.”

Well believe it.  That’s her place.

“There’s still one thing we haven’t addressed; how the hell do you know where this is?”

That’s simple.  YOU have been here before.

“Huh?”

Have you forgotten already what I am?  I am you.  I am your dark subconscious, specifically, the dark subconscious that remembers being brought here by Emma as a child and then just a couple years ago being brought here after being kidnapped.

“Oh, that shit again…”

Don’t mock it.  You know it’s true.  The only other alternative to what I say being true is that you are insane.  Are you truly willing to admit that you are just as insane as your mother?

“Uh…n…no…”

Exactly.  I am your dark subconscious, your shadow self, and you need me in order to survive what Emma is about to show you and to survive Vanilla Skyy on Uprising.

Jones shakes her head vehemently.

“No!  I do not need you!  I refuse to believe that there is any part of me  that includes the likes of you!  You are…you are…”

A monster?  Perhaps.  But that doesn’t change the fact that you do need me.

Jones pulls up near the shack and then turns the car off after putting it into park.  She glares into the rearview mirror at her reflection angrily.

“Just leave me the hell alone and let me handle this by myself.”

Fine.  I will allow you to handle this by yourself.  But you know where to find me WHEN you need me.

“I won’t need you.”

Marie violently swings the driver’s side door open and steps out of the vehicle.  After shutting the driver’s side door in an equally angry fashion, Marie turns to look at the shack just ahead of her.  Once again a look of disbelief washes over her as she shakes her head.

“Emma cannot live in a place like this.”

And yet, even as she says this, some sense of recognition and familiarity returns to her consciousness.  The strange voice in her head did say that she had been there before; is it true?  Has Marie been here before and just blocked it out of her consciousness?

“My child…”

The sound of Emma’s voice alerts Marie to attention.  She looks over to find Emma Storm standing in the doorway of the shack.  A sly, knowing grin is upon her face.

“…I knew you would come.”

“Oh are you a prophet now?”

Emma chuckles and shakes her head.

“No, I just knew that when I told you of your father’s true fate that you would be unable to resist seeking me out.”

“Yeah, that’s right, I’m seeking my father…”

She points an angry, accusatory finger towards Emma.

“…I am NOT seeking you, Emma!”

Emma shrugs her shoulders.

“Details…the point is that I have the answers you desire.  I knew you would come back to this place.  Tell me, Marie, do you recall me and your sister Kimberly holding you captive here over a year ago?”

So she was right.  Marie had been held captive here for a time.  That really is how she knows about this place.  That revelation is enough to send shivers up Marie’s spine and Emma detects it right away, cackling nastily.

“What’s wrong, dear Marie?  Cat got your tongue?”

“Just…”

Jones shakes her head, clearing up the cobwebs.

“…let’s just get this over with.  You claim my father is here…”

“He is.”

“…and I don’t believe you.”

Emma chuckles.

“I didn’t expect you would.”

Emma turns back towards the inside of the shack and motions for Marie to follow.

“Come, follow me inside.  I have something to show you.”

Jones is reluctant to follow.  This is the same woman who held her captive in this same shack last year.  Logic tells her to get back into the car and drive away.  Logic tells her that her father is dead and that she should accept it and not to pursue this any further.  That is what logic would tell her to do…

…and yet another part of her wants answers.  Answers to the question of why she seems to be seeing the image of her father stalking her at every turn and why she is suddenly beginning to hear voices inside of her head?  As much as she may distrust Emma, this may be one of her few opportunities to get real answers.  So what does she do?

Marie steps away from the car and walks towards the shack.  Marie enters the shack behind Emma and then shuts the door behind her.  Almost as soon as the door shuts do the lights turn on inside the shack.  Marie is once again astounded.

“I’m surprised that they run electricity this far out.”

“Please, my dear, I may not live the same luxurious lifestyle I am used to living, but one comfort I will not do without is electricity.”

“You definitely dropped a great deal in terms of luxury, that’s for sure.”

Emma suddenly spins on her heel and grabs Marie by her shirt collar, pulling her up towards her so that she is face to face with her.

“And I blame your mother for that!”

“My mom?!”

Emma nods her head as she releases Marie from her grip.

“Your mother ruined me.  She took everything from me from the very beginning of our relationship.  She was a nun when got pregnant with you and Kimberly.  A rather promiscuous nun, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

“She asked me to take you and Kimberly off of her hands so that she would not get in trouble with the church.”

Marie growls angrily.

“No!  You are a liar!  You took us but you separated us!  You kept Kim but sent me to an orphanage!  And it was nearly twenty years before we rediscovered one another and learned we were sisters!”

“Perhaps, but the truth is that I gave you both an opportunity at life whereas your mother was willing to simply forget about you.  And that opportunity I gave you nearly drained me of every cent I had.  I became a professional wrestler myself so that I could bring in extra income and support my child, my Kimberly…”

“She is NOT your child.  She is Angelica’s.”

“You are WRONG!”

Emma points a finger at Marie.

“She is my child, and quite frankly, you are mine as well.  I became a wrestler for the both of you, but your mother saw fit to end my wrestling career…with her own bare hands…your mother took my career away from me, thus leaving me with very little left to support myself.”

She motions to the shack, the shoddy workmanship and surroundings.

“This is why you find me in such disrepair.  Your mother took it from me.  And she wasn’t done, because I had only asked one thing of her.  I asked that she never reveal to Kimberly, my Kimberly, the truth.  I asked that she never reveal to Kimberly that she was her real mother.”

“Why?!  Why would you want that kind of truth to remain hidden from Kim?  Don’t you think she has a right to know?!”

“Kimberly was all that I had left!  Kimberly’s devotion to me, the woman she believed to be her mother, was all that I had left.  I lost my career, my money, but at least I had the love of Kimberly Williams.  But your mother took that from me when she told Kimberly the truth.”

Marie shakes her head.

“No, you’re wrong.  You did that yourself when you refused to tell Kimberly the truth yourself.  There’s more to being a mother than just giving birth.  Don’t you think she would have loved you and appreciated you for how you raised and took care of her?”

“No…Kimberly is insane…mentally unstable…”

Jones sighs.

“Gee, I can see you really love her…”

“But she was MY child and your mother has now taken her away from me as well.  But I shall have the last laugh.  I guarantee it.”

“Doesn’t everyone say that when they go up against my mother?  And how many of them are successful?”

“This is different.”

Emma begins to walk towards another room of the shack.  She motions for Marie to follow her.

“Follow me, my dear.”

Again Marie is feeling hesitant about following Emma, especially with how angry she seemed towards Angelica Jones, Marie’s mother.  And yet, once again, Marie seems to cast logic aside and she decides to follow Emma into the other room.  Once inside she finds Emma standing there with a bronze urn in her hand.  Marie furrows her brow in confusion.

“What’s that?”

“This?  Why, haven’t you guessed?”

Emma uncaps the urn and tosses the contents into the face of Marie Jones.  Marie is temporarily blinded and that’s all the time Emma needs to grab Marie and throw her head first against the wall.  The impact of head against wall causes her to slump down onto her hands and knees.  Emma cackles nastily.

“That was your father!”

“You…you lied…”

Emma kicks Marie in the ribcage.

“I did not lie.  I told you Sean Williams was here and there he is…all over the floor…like the pile of garbage he was in life.”

Marie starts coughing and Emma responds with another swift kick to the ribs.  Marie continues coughing but this time the coughing starts to turn into what sounds like laughter.  Emma seems confused and bewildered by this.

“What are you laughing about?”

Emma kicks her in the ribcage again.

“Answer me, girl!”

Emma goes for another kick but Marie snatches hold of it and then pulls on it, causing Emma to fall flat on her back.  Marie uses a nearby bed frame to pull herself up.  Emma, who took no physical abuse until just now, gets up much quicker.  Emma goes for a punch, a right hand, but Marie ducks it and then punches Emma in the gut, doubling her over in pain.

“I’m laughing at you!”

Marie knees Emma in the forehead, dropping her onto the ground.  Marie then mounts Emma and begins to pound away with right hands to the face.

“You did succeed, Emma…you succeeded in opening my eyes…”

“My child…”

“I AM NOT YOUR CHILD!”

Marie transitions from just punching to outright choking Emma, with both hands wrapped around her throat.

“People like you trying to ruin me personally…people like Willow Wilkes and even Vanilla Skyy, trying to ruin me professionally by taking what I busted my ass to earn…there is only one way to deal with people like you and that is to hold nothing back, to dig down deep into the darkest recesses of my soul and unleash hell upon everyone, including you.”

Emma begins laughing ever so slightly, despite being choked.

“What’s so damn funny?!”

“I…I was…”

“You were what?!”

“…I was successful.”

Marie frowns.  She releases her grip on Emma and stands up.  She kicks her in the gut one last time for good measure.

“Whatever…you crazy old bat…”

Jones exits the room and begins to walk towards the front of the shack.  She intends to leave but she happens upon a small mirror along the way.  Jones approaches it and gazes deep into the mirror.  Marie herself is frowning angrily, but the reflection itself has a twisted grin on its face.

You’re welcome.

“Thanks.  You were right, I do need you.  People like Emma and so many others have tried and are still trying to destroy this family, the Jones family.  And then there’s Vanilla Skyy…”

Right, Vanilla.  Do you think she’ll let up and be merciful upon you?

“Not a chance.  When the chips are down, the world championship is more important than anything else.  She’ll do anything to win.  I need to embrace you to survive.”

I’m glad you learned that part of the lesson, but also understand that this was inevitable anyway.  You and Kimberly, the two of you are really not different.  The outward appearance of being good and wholesome, that appearance that you have put forward for these people, it’s all a sham.  You’re just as much a sociopath as Kimberly.  And you need to accept it.

Jones shrugs her shoulders.

“I don’t know about that.  I’d like to think nurture has some say in the whole nature versus nurture debate.”

It doesn’t matter right now, anyway.  Nature versus nurture can wait, because you have bigger fish to fry.

“That’s right.  It’s time I cemented myself as the queen bitch of UWA.  There are those who still look at Vanilla Skyy as the best.  But she’s not the best.  I am the best and the world championship belt I have proves it.  On Outbreak, I will prove it to the world by defeating Skyy.”

Marie is about to walk away when she notices out of the corner of her eye the image of Emma.  She thought Emma would have learned her lesson but apparently not.  Emma has made it to her feet and has made it into the room, but it is evident by her limp that she is definitely the worse for wear.

“Marie, wait…”

“What now?”

“You are hearing them, aren’t you?”

“Hearing what?”

“The voices!  You hear the voices!  You are hearing the same voices Sean heard, the same voices that my Kimberly heard…”

Marie narrows her brow in anger.  She walks over to Emma and grabs her by her neck.

“What do you care about me?!”

“I can help you!”

“Just like you helped my sister?  Just like you helped my father?!”

Marie shakes her head.

“No thanks…”

Marie roughly throws Emma back onto the floor.  Emma reaches up with a hand towards Marie as if wanting her to help her up but Marie refuses.  Emma still pleads nonetheless.

“Please, Marie!  You need my help otherwise you will go insane!”

“Too late, Emma.  I’m already there.”

Marie turns and walks towards the front door, exiting and slamming the door shut behind her.

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On Camera

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We open on a lovely day complete with a bright blue sky overhead combined with the yellow rays of a shining sun overhead beating down upon the passers-by out in front of the Westchester County Center in New York.  The faint sound of vehicles can be heard in the background and the evidence of a cool breeze blowing can be seen as flags on tall flagpoles are wafting in the air.  A figure walks into the scene from stage left.  It’s a female figure and that’s all we can tell at this time, for we are too far away.  The camera zooms in to see that this is Marie Annabelle Jones, the reigning UWA World Heavyweight and  World Tag Team Champion.

The redheaded champion is wearing a red-nude mix sleeveless cocktail dress with a scoop sheer neckline, beautifully embroidered bodice, and a hemline that stops just above the knee.  Her feet are encased in matching red high heeled shoes.  Her long gorgeous ginger locks of hair hang unrestrained to below the shoulders.  The UWA World Heavyweight Championship belt is draped over her right shoulder and the UWA World Tag Team Championship belt is draped over her left shoulder.  A pair of sunglasses sets on her face to cover her eyes.

“We’re here at the Westchester, the new home of UWA…”

A grin forms across her face and that is followed up by slight laughter.

“…and forgive me for potentially stealing someone else’s line, but if this is UWA’s new home, then this is also my home.  I made it my home because of what I have been doing since day one when Uprising branched off and became an entity all unto itself, separate from IWC.”

She pats the UWA World Tag Team Championship belt that sits on her left shoulder.

“Sophie James and I, together known as the Ginger Nation, have dominated the tag team scene.  We’ve held these belts since October of last year, defeating every team and every challenger that has been placed before us.  And while we were tag team champions, I still had lofty goals for myself.  The goal of becoming the best in this company; the goal of becoming world champion.  I also had the goal of getting a one on one match against Vanilla Skyy, who at the time was UWA World Champion.”

Jones smirks.

“Past tense.”

Her face returns to a more serious look as she continues.

“So despite the fact that Sophie and I were UWA World Tag Team Champions, I also set out to achieve my goal of becoming world champion.  I fought through a lethal lottery style tournament with a vicious, mentally unstable partner to earn my way into the Pyramid at Olympus.  And I knew Olympus was my opportunity to become UWA World Champion, it was my opportunity to achieve my goal.  But who believed that I actually stood a chance in the Pyramid?”

She shakes her head.

“No one.  Even after Willow Wilkes and Victoria Salinas were attacked, people were still picking one of them to win, or they were picking the most dominant world champion of the modern era to win yet again. No one gave me a chance in hell.”

Jones chuckles and then shrugs her shoulders.

“I can’t say I blame them!  I have tried and failed time and time again in my quest to become world champion.  But boxing trainer and ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas made a solid observation about fighting that I truly believe and that I live by; he said that fighting is really and truly just twenty five percent physical.  The other seventy five percent of the fight game is mental.  If you go into a fight thinking you’re going to lose, then you are by God going to lose.”

She pats herself on the chest.

“I believed in myself and that’s all I really needed!  No one else believed in me except for Sophie but that was it.  I was truly on my own.”

She points a finger at the camera.

“You didn’t even think I could win, Vanilla.  You were dismissing me as a non-threat.  I remember Olympus well.  I told you that if I were to become World Champion that I would make sure to give you a rematch.  And your response to my graciousness and sportsmanship?  You told me I should just focus on being the best possible tag team champion, because there was no way I would win the title at Olympus in the Pyramid.”

Jones pats the UWA World Championship that sits upon her right shoulder.

“You want to take that back, Vanilla?  You were wrong, sweetie.  I could have taken your advice, I could have focused just on the tag team division, but I’ve been there and done that.  Sophie and I already established that the Ginger Nation is the single most dominant force in tag team wrestling today…and we’ll continue to prove that again and again and again, by the way…but I wanted to take it one step further and prove that the Ginger Nation is the single most dominant force in professional wrestling PERIOD!”

She casts a quick look at the title belt again and then back up at the camera, smirking knowingly.

“Now here I stand as the new UWA World Heavyweight Champion.  I stand at the top of the tag team division and the singles division.  There is absolutely no denying the fact that I am the best wrestler in UWA right now.  And yet even though all of that is true, I still have one last hurdle to overcome…”

She points a finger at the camera, as if pointing at Vanilla herself.

“…you are that last hurdle, Vanilla.  I am currently the absolute best wrestler in the world today and y two championship belts prove it.  But your presence in UWA still casts doubt over my title reign.  I will always give credit where credit is due and you have indeed been the most dominating champion in modern history.  While the championship in Supreme Championship Wrestling was being passed around like a cheap whore, you maintained consistency.  You were champion for ten months.  There is no doubting your dominance.”

Jones takes off her sunglasses and casts them aside so that the camera can get a good shot of the intensity in her eyes.

“But it’s my time now.  It’s my time to become an even more dominant champion than you ever were, Vanilla.”

She chuckles lightly.

“Things have changed ever-so-slightly, Vanilla.  I do want that one on one match with you very badly, so I am glad that my first title defense is against you on Outbreak right here in the Westchester.  You and I can tear the house down one more time in yet another Jones-Skyy classic.  But I no longer want to prove to myself that I can beat you in a straight up one on one match.”

She shakes her head.

“I KNOW how good I am and I KNOW that I can beat you.  For me this is about proving to all of my doubters that I can beat you, proving to all of my critics that I can beat you, and most importantly proving to all of the Vanilla Skyy fans that your time has come and gone and that a new era has dawned upon UWA; the era of the Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling.”

“But I have to prove it.  At the end of the day, I have to prove my dominance in this company by finally climbing that one mountain, the one ever so elusive peak that I have yet to reach; I have to overcome Mt. Vanilla Skyy…we will have our match, Vanilla, and it will be a classic, one for the ages, and at the end of the day when I have proven my  superiority, when I am victorious and my hand is raised, then there will be no doubt as to who the best in the UWA…dare I say the world…really is…”

“…me, Marie Annabelle Jones.”

She points a finger at the camera.

“Ah but the pressure is upon you too.  The championship advantage now lies with me.   You have to defeat me, Vanilla.  I do not have to defeat you on Outbreak in order to remain UWA World Champion. Sophie James is staying in the back, Kimberly is staying in the back, my mother will damn sure stay in the back.  My people will stay in the back, I can assure you no disqualification will come from my end, but this could still end via double count out if we beat the holy hell out of each other and are unable to answer the referee’s ten count.  Or this could end via time limit draw if neither of us can gain a victory within the time allotted to us by Helms and Bryant.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to win.  I want to pin you after driving your head into the mat with Ave Maria or The Hot Shot, or I want to make you submit with a move my mother made famous, the Angel’s Arch.  But the point is that I am NOT behind the eight ball here because I retain the title in the event of a disqualification or a count-out.  You can ONLY become champion, Vanilla, if you defeat me.  You have to either pin my shoulders to the mat for a three count or you have to make me tap out.”

She pats the world championship belt again.

“I busted my ass to get this, I’m not about to let you have it back so easily.  To pin my shoulders to the mat for a three count, you will have to damn near kill me, Vanilla.  And I can promise you this, I am prepared to die for the UWA World Championship.  Are you prepared to die for the UWA World Championship, because I am also prepared to do whatever it takes to keep this championship.”

“Now as far as tapping out is concerned…”

Jones grins knowingly.

“…I want you to think back to our I Quit Match, Vanilla.  You remember it, right?  It was back when the IWC was still alive.  And yes you did win that match.  On that night, I gave up to you.  I conceded.  I said those words any wrester worth their salt is ashamed to say…I quit…”

“…but allow me to interject some reality into that situation, Vanilla, because there is an inconvenient truth here.  I did give up, I did say I quit, but I did not quit because of anything you did to me.  Before that match I said that you would never do anything to me that would make me quit.  And I was right.  I never quit because of anything you did to me, and to be honest, I could have kept going and kept fighting no matter how much punishment and pain you inflicted.  That’s just who I am, Vanilla.  You should know this by now.  Whether I am a good girl or a spoiled brat or somewhere in between, whether I was with Ethan Von Aaron, Silas Mason, Samantha Hodgson, or just on my own, I always have one thing that is constant about me, one thing that always remains the same about me…”

“…The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling will never give up!  I will never give up and I never gave up then.  I quit because the well-being of my manager at the time, Samantha Hodgson, was being threatened if I didn’t say “I Quit”…so I said it, I gave up so I could save Hodgson.  Do you really think I’ll give up?  Against you?  Here?  In a match of this magnitude for MY world championship?”

Jones shakes her head.

“No, it isn’t going to happen.  I fought too damn long and I sacrificed too damn much to get where I am today.  So yeah, we will have our match on Outbreak, and it will be a hell of a match.  You will have your one rematch at the UWA World Championship and I will have the one on one match against you that I have wanted for oh so long.  And that main event spotlight will shine down upon us because it belongs on people like us, the two best athletes in UWA today.”

“Enjoy that main event spotlight, Vanilla, because after Outbreak is over, after I have defeated you…or after you fail to recapture the UWA World Championship, whichever phrase you want to use is fine, it doesn’t really matter to me…your time in that spotlight will be over.  You will be passed over by others who are next in line for their shot, their opportunity.  Willow Wilkes and Victoria Salinas were both in that Pyramid Match at Olympus, they’re both wondering where their opportunity is, both of them want what you have; hell, the entire UWA roster wants the opportunity you have, an opportunity to step into the ring with The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling.”

“But this opportunity will not be a successful one for you.  You will fail.  The tables have turned, the roles have been reversed; I am the champion and you are the challenger.  I don’t have to beat you but you have to beat me.  And one last set of roles that we have had that have been reversed…you will fail, just as I have failed in the past...and I will be the one standing proud and victorious in the ring, the leader of the Ginger Nation, the Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, The Phoenix that has risen from the ashes, and more importantly…”

She holds up the UWA World Championship belt.

“…the UWA World Heavyweight Champion!”

Jones lets the title belt rest upon her right shoulder once more.  The camera fades to black.