Post by Smith Jones on Mar 25, 2020 21:45:05 GMT -5
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~ ON CAMERA ~
Fade up on a shot of a live grenade resting in the dirt with the pin still in. The lighting is very low out here as the sun has just set deep in the distance and the horizon is falling from clearly visible to indiscernible from the darkness that surrounds it. The grenade in the dirt is visible only by mercy of the light of the moon.
“War.”
Smith’s hand enters frame from above, lifting the grenade and lightly tossing it up and down in one hand.
“It’s how we as humans choose to defend ourselves when we feel like our world is about to come crashing down. It’s how we as humans choose to behave when we aren’t getting what we want. War exists due to our inherent need appease our egos. War is about wanting something. It’s about recognizing a threat to your contentment and neutralizing that threat as effectively as possible.”
Smitty pulls the pin and hurls the grenade off into the distance. As he tries to watch it fly, we see Smith’s back. He’s wearing black riot gear, complete with a shielded helmet, a baton, and a large shield. The back of his vest has the word TARGET written across the shoulder blades in bold block lettering. The grenade explodes into a massive ball of flames twenty feet high!!! The orange glow takes over the scene. Smith begins to laugh out loud, a huge guffaw that comes from the very depths of his soul.
“We live in dark times. I have always known that we as humans would come to a point when we could no longer coexist. Where the war over toilet paper evolves into a war over the final crust of bread or the final molecule of potable aitch two oh.”
As the fire burns down some, we begin to recognize the shape of the fire as a large, ten-foot-tall APW logo. Smith’s laughs gets even louder. Jones turns to face the camera as his smile melts into that signature stone scowl we all have come to know so well. He ponders those who’ve crossed his path in recent weeks. His voice to an unpaved gravel road that leads you into danger.
“Irina Ivanova. I’ve served you well; I’ve served this company well as your Alpha Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. Perhaps I’m not the man to lead Alpha Pro Wrestling into the future. Maybe it’s time I stopped pretending I have what it takes to carry the weight of that gorgeous gold belt.”
The title belt is nowhere to be seen. What we do begin to see are random people moving in slow motion behind Smith. They walk from left to right or from right to left, all wielding weapons. A woman with a lunk wrench. A man with a hockey stick. Someone with a chainsaw. A teenager with a handgun. Some of them walk right past one another while others of them fight! All of them moving in slow motion as Smith Jones begins to walk slowly, still at regular video speed.
“Reenie, you SCREWED US out of the APW World Tag Team Championships on Metal!!! Spartan as the Special Guest Referee?!?!!? After what I did to him a few weeks back?! After what Lex did to him in that ring?! He hates The Architects. He despises us for the same reason much of the locker room despises us. We are the BEST that APW has to offer! That is not just lip service. That’s red hot fact!
If you hadn’t thrown that slow-counting Neanderthal in our way, we would right now be heading into Battlecade to walk out with more gold than we walked in with! I’ve beaten FPV twice before and I’m pretty sure that I would’ve been able to figure out a way to disarm Corey Black as well! I wanted to be able to say I’d beaten that Action Wrestling invader Frank Patrick Venable three times inside an APW ring… but that is not going to happen now.”
Weaponized people continue to cross behind Smith and in front of him as he speaks on. The APW logo burns in the distance. Jones lifts the visor of his riot helmet so you can see more deeply into his eyes.
“Spartan. I had that match WON when I countered the Mark of Odin into that air tight hurricanrana pin. I don’t know what your deal is or why you think you need to keep inserting yourself into my career, but I have had just about enough of your shit. You know first hand that I’m the kind of man who doesn’t back down from a challenge. I’m the kind of champion who stands up and picks a fight and puts his title on the line instead of taking the night off when given the night off.
I didn’t want the night off at 2020 Ways to Die; I wanted to rescue the World Heavyweight Championship from vacancy against APW Rumble winner FPV. I did that.
I didn’t want the night off at Liberty Or Death; I wanted to defend my two-time championship reign against YOU. I did that.
I don’t want the night off at Battlecade; I want to defend the Alpha World Championship once again.”
Jones stops walking as the slow motion people fight all around him. A woman swings a sabre and cuts into the abdomen of an old man. Droplets of blood float through the air and spatter a diagonal pattern across Smith’s face. He blinks at the point of impact, opening his eyes to again glare fiercely into your soul.
“Warrens. Damon. We’ve known each other for many, many years. Premium Championship Wrestling is where I really began to cut my teeth. Even though I’d already crashed on the scene and made massive waves in XHW in the year prior, it wasn’t until those days in PCW that Smith Jones truly came alive! You saw this. You watched this happen. You were part of it. You saw those epic battles I had with the now defunct pink devil that shaped and defined my career and showed everyone my character. Those were dark days too. I did a lot of bad things to Brytain Rollins and she did a lot of bad things to me. It was like Hell on earth and I loved every minute of it! You were around to see my one and only match against Syn. You watched me have Feud of the Year in 2013. You listened to me utter Promo of the Year. You watched me win the #BroadcastChampionship TWICE! You watched them induct me into the Hall of Fame...
We were The New Era, Damon. We were going to change the wrestling world together alongside Redeemer Riley. We three were all about saving the game, even then. We agreed on so many things and we fought for a common cause! But, somewhere along the way, very early on in our first iteration as a faction, I realized that you and Riley were anchoring me, weighing me down and keeping me from having the freedom BE SMITH JONES.
Here’s the part of the New Era story we never speak of here in APW. I turned my back on you, man. I turned my back on The New Era and in all these years since then, I never truly explained why.
Curious, Damon?”
The camera zooms out to show that Smith is now standing in the sand of a playground right next to the swing set. Smitty seats himself with a boyish grin and starts to slowly swing.
“Remember, Damon, that this is war. All’s fair. And so, if we are to be the architects of our own downfall, let these words that I am about to speak be a strong salvo that rattles the depths of our foundation.
All these years since I left you in my past, you’ve patterned yourself after me. You are a very good fighter, Damon Warrens. Solid worker indeed. But back then, you just weren’t good enough to hang with the incredible Smith Jones. I stabbed you in the back because I needed to break out. I needed to break free from being seen as just one of this not-quite-killer group and show myself to be the real killer. And like I said before, you watched me have Feud of the Year against Brytain. You watched me while I stood before a massive audience to utter Promo of the Year 2013. You watched me win the #BroadcastChampionship TWICE! You watched me get inducted into the PCW Hall of Fame. And when Premium Championship Wrestling closed their doors… you just kept on watching.
Look at you! Similar all-white ring gear. I’ve worn my whites with pride since DAY ONE. And you’ve got that killer instinct that I once had. That disregard for the rules. That desire to do whatever you have to do to win at all costs. I used to hit people with crowbars and brass knuckles. I once kidnapped Brytain and dumped her damned near lifeless body in the middle of the road in the middle of the night. I’ve had creepy clowns stalking the ring during my matches. I’ve shoved glass into the flesh of my opponents. I’ve spilled a helluvalotta blood in a helluvalotta ways over a helluvalotta kilometres all around the globe!”
Smith swings higher and higher with his ever growing energy.
“You think just because we are now reconciled comrades working together towards a common goal that I won’t do everything it takes to remain right here on top of the roster as your champion??
Dead wrong, Damon.”
Just then, Jones jumps at the height of his swing, flying through the air! He comes crashing down with a flying knee strike to the head of a random passerby! On impact, Smith begins to move in slow motion along with all the other people. As the man drops to the ground, another comes charging at Jones with a baseball bat. Smith dodges the man’s first swing and counters with a picture perfect dropkick that sends him stumbling backwards into a garbage can. As yet another attacker comes up behind Jones, he quickly spins to deliver The Unexpected spinning back elbow to his jaw, breaking it on impact and sending him to the ground. Jones then picks up the fallen baseball bat and raises it over his head. The rage in Smith’s face is next level as he swings downward and connects with a sickening thump. Blood splatters upward as Jones begins to get a bit of a twisted grin on. He stares down at the fallen man as he goes back to normal video speed.
“I am starting to feel like my World is going to descend into complete and utter chaos. I’ve given up on the idea that we as humans are going to figure out how to coexist. The heart wants what it wants and people will always follow their hearts in the end. What I want is to always remain your APW World--”
WHAM!!! Smith Jones gets speared out of nowhere by a wild woman dressed all in black like a ninja!! She growls at Jones before she charges again! Smith just barely gets to his feet before he is speared a second time and crushed against the rough bark of a nearby tree. OOF!!! Thud. Smitty hits the ground again. The woman turns and looks for a weapon. She is met by a fatal swing of a golf club to the head. She drops. The new assailant turns to face Smith Jones. A homeless man with hatred for all those people who’d passed him by without a second glance or a kind word. He swings the 9 iron at Jones. Smith ducks it and steps behind him into a full nelson. Jones throws the homeless man with an overhead release dragon suplex against the edge of the water fountain!!! The man’s neck cracks against the steel and he falls to the ground, lifelessly. Smitty turns again to camera.
“What I want is to always remain your Alpha Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion! I want to survive long enough to call myself both your first AND your second-longest reigning Alpha World Champ and then some. I want another Hall of Fame career in yet another fed. I am, bar none, the strongest performer in this company. Reenie knows it! Sparto knows it…”
Jones leans right into the lens.
“...and you know it, Damon. You know in your heart of hearts that you are a top level competitor, but you’re not Smith Jones. You never will be. I’ve seen how hard you’ve tried. Losing me was the best thing that could ever have happened to you because I made you bitter. I made you hungry. I just plain made you!
So, here we go. The Architects are just at the beginning of a long, long road ahead that will bring a wealth of spoils and educate scores of wayward individuals. Will The Architects be able to survive after I shatter your whole world with a particularly poignant Point of Controversy?
You and I should be World Tag Team Titleholders together today. That didn’t happen. We will bring down those responsible for it in due time. And we will go on to dominate this roster the way we’re growing accustomed to doing. Nobody can pin us clean aside from us ourselves. I know how tough you are and I’m going to beat the living shit out of you. I hereby request the following week off to recover from what promises to be the greatest Main Event of the year!!
If you wanna see The Architects implode...”
Fade to black.
“...don’t look away.”
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~ OFF CAMERA ~
“CUT!!! That looked incredible, Smitty! Come have a look at the playback!”
Smith removes the riot helmet and walks over to the director.
“I trust you! You do fantastic work. I gotta jet.”
Smith drops the helmet in the director’s hands and walks off set directly out onto a runway at a small airport just outside Vegas. Jones removes the vest and drops it on the ground as he begins to mount the steps into his private jet.
“He’s gotta jet. Always with the puns.”
Inside his lavishly decorated private jet sits his lovely fiancée Siobhan McLeod. She’s wearing a simple black dress and looking stunning in it. Her red hair tumbles effortlessly like a tropical waterfall in the orange rays of the morning sun. Smith begins to remove his clothing. We stare at Siobhan’s sweet face as her eyes roam all over his increasingly naked body.
“Smith. You’ve got blood on your face again.”
“Eh?”
“Let me.”
She wipes his face with a white towel. He stares warmly into Siobhan’s eyes and is caught off guard again by her unending beauty.
“I cannot wait to marry you.”
“I can’t believe after all this planning that we have to postpone the wedding.”
“It’s like the gods are conspiring against us. It will be worth it to wait. I want us to do this right. I want our wedding day to be perfect.”
“It will be perfect!”
Suddenly, the door at the back of the cabin opens and Copeland Sanderson staggers in.
“Copeland, I--”
“Save it!”
Copeland grabs Siobhan and puts her in a chokehold from behind. Smith takes a step towards--
“I’ll snap her neck right here, right now!! You know I can do it, daddy dearest! You taught me how!! Back off!!!”
Jones stops in his tracks and stares wide-eyed at Copeland and his fiancée.
“Son, I--”
“STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!!”
“COPELAND! Don’t lose your head. Let’s get to Dayton...”
“We’re not going to Battlecade, Smith! I have other plans!”
The plane jerks and begins to taxi.
“Have a seat, Jonesy. This might be a bumpy one.”
“Right.”
Copeland sits Siobhan down in a seat and hangs over the back of it with his arm around her neck. Smith sits directly across the aisle from her. They look into each other’s eyes.
“Now... Let’s really get to know each other. Shall we?”
TO BE CONTINUED...
