Post by The Stokes Dynasty on Mar 2, 2023 20:38:13 GMT -5
Maddie Stokes sat in front of the desktop computer checking the OCW website, a smile forming on her lips as she saw the match card booking appear on screen.
“There it is!” Maddie said. “Brad Stokes faces Zeus. Top of the card. You’re back in officially, dad.” The pride dripped thick on her words as she turned in her chair and glanced up at her father, expecting her father to be happy. Instead he wore a thousand yard stare. A hardened gaze at the screen, through it into some distant, traumatized place she hadn’t anticipated.
“Are you okay?” Maddie asked, watching her father slowly begin to frown.
“I can’t do it,” he said finally, a crack in his hoarse-sounding voice. “I can’t fight him. Anyone but him.”
Maddie looked confused.
“What do you mean, this is what you wanted? A match. Your career. What do you mean you can’t fight Zeus?”
“I just can’t, dammit,” Brad erupted and ran away like his body was attempting to move through molasses.
“Dad?” Maddie watched after him, the sound of the magnificently appointed luxury compound’s main foyer door opening and slamming. Maddie got up and chased after him, making it to the foyer window only to catch a glimpse of Brad speeding off on his jet black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.
Maddie frowned, and looked back to the assembly of Brad’s kids, Tad, Thad, Paddy, Badd, Chad, all of them blending in with the numberless throng of recently reunited Stokes children all looking as confused as she did.
“What the hell just happened?” She said.
“Ever since Antarctica, dad’s been pumped for his first match back.” Chad said.
“Yeah. He was over the moon about that battle royale. I can’t imagine he’d run out right now.” Thaddeus said.
“Chah,” Tad said, turning his yankees hat forward uncomfortably and slumping and un-slumping his shoulders, “that’s a sabotage. Listen! All y’all. It’s a sabotage.”
Maddie looked at him crossly as he licked his lips and swung his arms.
“Now’s not the time for spoken word, Tad.”
Maddie drove around Coral Gables, their neighborhood in Florida in her SUV on the lookout feeling angry that this was how her day was being spent. She made it down as far as the keys, near the beachfront property with no sign of her errant father.
Then her cell phone rang.
“What,” she hissed into the phone. On the other end, a familiar man’s voice made her smile.
“Hi baby,” she softened, then sighed after a moment of hearing the man speak, “It’s gonna have to wait a bit longer,” she sounded annoyed. “He’s gone AWOL.”
The mere thought made her scowl. The man on the other end said something more that only made her angrier.
“I know!” She groaned. “Antarctica SHOULD have killed him. I don’t get it. It’s just going to take a while longer, but it’ll happen. His heart can’t possibly last with all the PEDs I’m slipping him. Can you wait just a little while longer?” She lured, sounding innocent and tempting all at once. She listened a few more moments, a smirk creeping onto her lips – like an agreement and reassurance had been reached. She noticed Brad's black motorcycle parked in a tiny lot overlooking a beach.
“I gotta talk to you later.” She hung up. She had to squint, but she could see the lone figure of a man sitting out in the sand looking out onto the rolling waves. She bit her lip and pulled in.
“Dad,” she called, walking up to where Brad sat, looking onto the water bracing his eyes against the setting sun. He absentmindedly threw a flat stone onto the water hoping it’d skip. It sunk. Brad sighed and looked down at his coarse, weathered hands as Maddie dropped down beside him looking earnest and hopeful.
“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment’s pause breathing in the ocean air. She scratched her head as he remained silent, settling back on her backside and scrunching her knees up to her chest.
“Dad?” she asked again. Brad threw another rock, and looked down with a weary expression.
“Did I ever tell you how I got with Chad’s mom?” He didn’t glance at her. Instead, he guiltily picked up another rock and side-armed it into the ocean angrily.
“We were on tour. Japan. Hokkaido, I think.” He spoke in thoughtful pauses, not looking back at her for fear he’d wilt under her scrutiny. “Couple a house shows. Had a main event, I think. Against… Barrett… something. I think it was for a title… maybe not. I don’t remember. Went out drinking the night before and saw her in a bar.” Brad looked wistfully into the ocean, sighing softly out his nose. “I knew I had to have her, but… she was married. Saw the ring. Didn't phase me.” He scooped another rock and threw it into the ocean with a splash.
The thoughts rested on his furled brow and looked to be forcing it lower as he recalled it. “I ended up, uh.. Breaking into their house. Drunk. I hope. Stole his clothes. I got a haircut. Looked just like him… except I wasn't Japanese. She didn’t notice until…” He stopped short and looked back at her before picking up another stone and whizzing it into the water.
“Anyway,” he said, feeling his face settle into a grimace, “they raised Chad right. Better than I would’ve done. And now he’s here. Following in my footsteps. Just like his dad.” He said this with a tinge of worry as he watched the waves roll in. Maddie looked at him, uncertain how to respond. She watched him wipe a tear from his eye.
“Did you know that I once dressed up like a centaur so I could do it with that one freaky chick who ended up being Brad Jr’s mom?” Maddie knew even less how to respond to that.
“That was my way. Impregnate. Leave. Impregnate. Leave. Clearly my boys can swim. Nothing but net, right? Swish. Swish. Swish.” The wind rustled his hair as he rested his arms on his knees. “This run right now in OCW is my chance to atone, Madz. It’s been 2 months almost and I haven’t impregnated anyone but my own children.”
He glanced back at Maddie’s shocked, disgusted expression.
“With love, Maddie! Impregnated with my love. Jesus, sometimes you really are bizarre, you know that?” He glared at her with a shake of his head before looking back at the water.
“I’ve been fighting myself for years, Madz,” he continued after a pause, “now the OCW wants to pay me to do it in front of a live audience as part of my comeback.”
Maddie’s frown deepened. Brad sensed it.
“I can’t fight Zeus.”
“Why?” She asked, “this is what you’ve been working towards for a year now. Don’t throw it all away because of the past! This match should be easy for the great Brad Stokes. Why can’t you fight Zeus?”
“Because I AM Zeus, Maddie. Don’t you see that?!” He got up angrily and spit into the dirt. “Do the math. Zeus had a million kids. I have a million kids. Zeus inseminated a woman through a golden shower. I did a golden shower on Tad’s mom. Zeus’ dad tried to eat him, my dad tried to eat me. We’re the same person! How can I fight myself, Maddie?!” He nearly started weeping, holding his head in his hands.
“Uhhh…” Maddie gulped and stood up, resting a hand on her father’s shoulder, blinking incredulously. “I–I don’t think you’re–”
“How can anyone be sure, huh? DNA Test? Those things lie, Maddie! Everyone knows I’m a god.”
Maddie didn’t want to wrestle with the logistics of Brad’s inner workings. Best roll with the waves, she thought.
“uh… well… well maybe--maybe it’s like a mirror match, you know?”
Brad lifted his head and blinked, a lightbulb going off in his mind.
“Like in Star Trek?”
“...if that helps you,” Maddie winced.
“Yeah. Like in Mortal Kombat. Does this Zeus have a goatee, or does he wear yellow Lin Kuei robes… or... do I have to shave my beard to prove I'm not evil?”
“Uh,” Maddie couldn’t think of a coherent way to respond. “How about... let's just… don’t get caught up in the minutiae of it, dad. Think of it as a chance to defeat your old, weird, womanizing… potential rapist self.”
“Yeah,” Brad exclaimed, getting excited. “I'm going to do it, Madz! You're right. I'm going to take more of those PEDs I found on my night table and kick the ever-loving fuck out of myself!”
“Yeah,” Maddie agreed halfheartedly, inwardly wincing and hoping her father maintained this sudden burst of momentum. Brad turned to face her, a growing smile on his face.
“This son of a bitch is going to PAY for all the stupid, worthless, asshole shit I’ve done over the years, Maddie! You may have just unlocked the way I think might actually really help me atone.”
“Absolutely,” Maddie nodded as Brad embraced her with a huge fatherly hug. The sunset looked beautiful off in the distance. She wondered if they’d keep clearing him to wrestle in spite of the harsh illegal chemical elixir of HGH, HCG and EPO rejuvenating his 68 year old body. Another pang coursed through her to hope that no one ever traced those pills back to her…
As the waves rolled in, and the sun set, she silently crossed her fingers behind his back and held her father close, listening to his heart beating in his chest at irregular rhythm and wondered with secret hope how much longer he’d be on this earth.
“There it is!” Maddie said. “Brad Stokes faces Zeus. Top of the card. You’re back in officially, dad.” The pride dripped thick on her words as she turned in her chair and glanced up at her father, expecting her father to be happy. Instead he wore a thousand yard stare. A hardened gaze at the screen, through it into some distant, traumatized place she hadn’t anticipated.
“Are you okay?” Maddie asked, watching her father slowly begin to frown.
“I can’t do it,” he said finally, a crack in his hoarse-sounding voice. “I can’t fight him. Anyone but him.”
Maddie looked confused.
“What do you mean, this is what you wanted? A match. Your career. What do you mean you can’t fight Zeus?”
“I just can’t, dammit,” Brad erupted and ran away like his body was attempting to move through molasses.
“Dad?” Maddie watched after him, the sound of the magnificently appointed luxury compound’s main foyer door opening and slamming. Maddie got up and chased after him, making it to the foyer window only to catch a glimpse of Brad speeding off on his jet black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.
Maddie frowned, and looked back to the assembly of Brad’s kids, Tad, Thad, Paddy, Badd, Chad, all of them blending in with the numberless throng of recently reunited Stokes children all looking as confused as she did.
“What the hell just happened?” She said.
“Ever since Antarctica, dad’s been pumped for his first match back.” Chad said.
“Yeah. He was over the moon about that battle royale. I can’t imagine he’d run out right now.” Thaddeus said.
“Chah,” Tad said, turning his yankees hat forward uncomfortably and slumping and un-slumping his shoulders, “that’s a sabotage. Listen! All y’all. It’s a sabotage.”
Maddie looked at him crossly as he licked his lips and swung his arms.
“Now’s not the time for spoken word, Tad.”
Maddie drove around Coral Gables, their neighborhood in Florida in her SUV on the lookout feeling angry that this was how her day was being spent. She made it down as far as the keys, near the beachfront property with no sign of her errant father.
Then her cell phone rang.
“What,” she hissed into the phone. On the other end, a familiar man’s voice made her smile.
“Hi baby,” she softened, then sighed after a moment of hearing the man speak, “It’s gonna have to wait a bit longer,” she sounded annoyed. “He’s gone AWOL.”
The mere thought made her scowl. The man on the other end said something more that only made her angrier.
“I know!” She groaned. “Antarctica SHOULD have killed him. I don’t get it. It’s just going to take a while longer, but it’ll happen. His heart can’t possibly last with all the PEDs I’m slipping him. Can you wait just a little while longer?” She lured, sounding innocent and tempting all at once. She listened a few more moments, a smirk creeping onto her lips – like an agreement and reassurance had been reached. She noticed Brad's black motorcycle parked in a tiny lot overlooking a beach.
“I gotta talk to you later.” She hung up. She had to squint, but she could see the lone figure of a man sitting out in the sand looking out onto the rolling waves. She bit her lip and pulled in.
“Dad,” she called, walking up to where Brad sat, looking onto the water bracing his eyes against the setting sun. He absentmindedly threw a flat stone onto the water hoping it’d skip. It sunk. Brad sighed and looked down at his coarse, weathered hands as Maddie dropped down beside him looking earnest and hopeful.
“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment’s pause breathing in the ocean air. She scratched her head as he remained silent, settling back on her backside and scrunching her knees up to her chest.
“Dad?” she asked again. Brad threw another rock, and looked down with a weary expression.
“Did I ever tell you how I got with Chad’s mom?” He didn’t glance at her. Instead, he guiltily picked up another rock and side-armed it into the ocean angrily.
“We were on tour. Japan. Hokkaido, I think.” He spoke in thoughtful pauses, not looking back at her for fear he’d wilt under her scrutiny. “Couple a house shows. Had a main event, I think. Against… Barrett… something. I think it was for a title… maybe not. I don’t remember. Went out drinking the night before and saw her in a bar.” Brad looked wistfully into the ocean, sighing softly out his nose. “I knew I had to have her, but… she was married. Saw the ring. Didn't phase me.” He scooped another rock and threw it into the ocean with a splash.
The thoughts rested on his furled brow and looked to be forcing it lower as he recalled it. “I ended up, uh.. Breaking into their house. Drunk. I hope. Stole his clothes. I got a haircut. Looked just like him… except I wasn't Japanese. She didn’t notice until…” He stopped short and looked back at her before picking up another stone and whizzing it into the water.
“Anyway,” he said, feeling his face settle into a grimace, “they raised Chad right. Better than I would’ve done. And now he’s here. Following in my footsteps. Just like his dad.” He said this with a tinge of worry as he watched the waves roll in. Maddie looked at him, uncertain how to respond. She watched him wipe a tear from his eye.
“Did you know that I once dressed up like a centaur so I could do it with that one freaky chick who ended up being Brad Jr’s mom?” Maddie knew even less how to respond to that.
“That was my way. Impregnate. Leave. Impregnate. Leave. Clearly my boys can swim. Nothing but net, right? Swish. Swish. Swish.” The wind rustled his hair as he rested his arms on his knees. “This run right now in OCW is my chance to atone, Madz. It’s been 2 months almost and I haven’t impregnated anyone but my own children.”
He glanced back at Maddie’s shocked, disgusted expression.
“With love, Maddie! Impregnated with my love. Jesus, sometimes you really are bizarre, you know that?” He glared at her with a shake of his head before looking back at the water.
“I’ve been fighting myself for years, Madz,” he continued after a pause, “now the OCW wants to pay me to do it in front of a live audience as part of my comeback.”
Maddie’s frown deepened. Brad sensed it.
“I can’t fight Zeus.”
“Why?” She asked, “this is what you’ve been working towards for a year now. Don’t throw it all away because of the past! This match should be easy for the great Brad Stokes. Why can’t you fight Zeus?”
“Because I AM Zeus, Maddie. Don’t you see that?!” He got up angrily and spit into the dirt. “Do the math. Zeus had a million kids. I have a million kids. Zeus inseminated a woman through a golden shower. I did a golden shower on Tad’s mom. Zeus’ dad tried to eat him, my dad tried to eat me. We’re the same person! How can I fight myself, Maddie?!” He nearly started weeping, holding his head in his hands.
“Uhhh…” Maddie gulped and stood up, resting a hand on her father’s shoulder, blinking incredulously. “I–I don’t think you’re–”
“How can anyone be sure, huh? DNA Test? Those things lie, Maddie! Everyone knows I’m a god.”
Maddie didn’t want to wrestle with the logistics of Brad’s inner workings. Best roll with the waves, she thought.
“uh… well… well maybe--maybe it’s like a mirror match, you know?”
Brad lifted his head and blinked, a lightbulb going off in his mind.
“Like in Star Trek?”
“...if that helps you,” Maddie winced.
“Yeah. Like in Mortal Kombat. Does this Zeus have a goatee, or does he wear yellow Lin Kuei robes… or... do I have to shave my beard to prove I'm not evil?”
“Uh,” Maddie couldn’t think of a coherent way to respond. “How about... let's just… don’t get caught up in the minutiae of it, dad. Think of it as a chance to defeat your old, weird, womanizing… potential rapist self.”
“Yeah,” Brad exclaimed, getting excited. “I'm going to do it, Madz! You're right. I'm going to take more of those PEDs I found on my night table and kick the ever-loving fuck out of myself!”
“Yeah,” Maddie agreed halfheartedly, inwardly wincing and hoping her father maintained this sudden burst of momentum. Brad turned to face her, a growing smile on his face.
“This son of a bitch is going to PAY for all the stupid, worthless, asshole shit I’ve done over the years, Maddie! You may have just unlocked the way I think might actually really help me atone.”
“Absolutely,” Maddie nodded as Brad embraced her with a huge fatherly hug. The sunset looked beautiful off in the distance. She wondered if they’d keep clearing him to wrestle in spite of the harsh illegal chemical elixir of HGH, HCG and EPO rejuvenating his 68 year old body. Another pang coursed through her to hope that no one ever traced those pills back to her…
As the waves rolled in, and the sun set, she silently crossed her fingers behind his back and held her father close, listening to his heart beating in his chest at irregular rhythm and wondered with secret hope how much longer he’d be on this earth.