Post by Veronica Strader on Apr 21, 2022 15:55:03 GMT -5
The Monsters were never
under my bed.
Because the monsters
were inside my head.
I fear no monsters,
for no monsters I see.
Because all this time,
the monster has been me.
-Nikkita Gill
West Wind Hotel
Pacifica District, Night City
April 21st, 2022
A drone under the control of Veronica Strader spins in the air, circling the TransAtlantic Champion decked out in black leather pants, an Outcast tank top, and Victoria’s synth leather Samurai jacket. Her hair is down but doesn’t cover the blood that’s on her face. She sneers at the drone recording her.
“Oh, my OCW Faithful, even from this weird place, you all put a smile on my face. One of the main reasons Victoria and I wanted to be Proud and Strong was because of how passionate you are.”
“Making you proud of me wasn’t easy, and you have waned in your support, but I know that’s just part of this game we call wrestling. And I absolutely adore this sport. Victoria always wanted to carve out her own legacy long before we discovered the Knox and Strader bloodlines, which has fuelled this run as the TransAtlantic Champion. Victoria also wanted to be the greatest TransAtlantic Champion that had ever graced that OCW ring, and as luck would have it, that’s exactly what I wanted when I won this in my home country, THE GREAT NATION TO THE NORTH, Canada.”
“Yes, I was purged, but I am the only one to be brought back in and within the first week. Now, one other person returned from the Great Purgening, my oversized cousin, who is an absolute monster.”
“But.”
She stops, looking at the synth leather jacket, thinking of Vee. She looks back after a few seconds.
“He’s only here because of me and the fact Marcus Welsh wanted the real Savage title back. You were undefeated, Supreme Machine, you had a chance to show you were Strong and Proud, and you squandered it. Pissed it away. Look at BRIM now, going into the next PPV as OCW title number one contender. That could have been you, but again you let it slip away. Like you have been doing everywhere else.”
“Cousin Dearest, before Victoria got me to come back with her to this alternate form of hell to finish what we started, I caught your cute little promotional video where you made a lot of assumptions but also confused the fact on who you were talking about. First, it was Victoria you wanted to help, who showed promise but the end of it was about me.”
“You can’t even tell the difference between us and the Affliction, but can I blame you when me and her were supposed to be twin sisters before biology took over? My sister is gone, sacrificing herself to incapacitate Valerie, the affliction given to us by the Rivers bloodline. Something you say I should be proud of. Being a Knox, a Strader is nothing I should be proud of… To a degree, I agree with you on the Knox bloodline, but I also know that scares you because, at the end of the day? The Birdman has had your number each and every time you two have stepped in the ring, and as much as I hate to admit, out of 72 kids, I am the one most like him. You have never once overcome the Knox family, whether it’s looking to set you on fire, literally, or burying you alive in Rome.”
“Shitting on the Strader name, I am not surprised. Mine and Victoria’s grandfather held five different world titles, over twenty singles and tag team titles, starting his career at age 33, and you call him nothing?”
Veronica shakes her head as she looks out over the polluted Pacific Ocean and the trash lining the once sandy shoreline. She lowers her head, eyes closed, and takes a deep, calming breath.
“Then you open your mouth about the Cowgirls From Hell, my mom and auntie. My mom, who has overcome real pain, heartache, hardship, to be on a Hall of Fame tag team with her sister. The same sister who was never a singles wrestler who stands Strong and Proud as the OCW Craze Championship, so if you are going to shit on a bloodline I am proud to be a part of, you should make sure they aren’t kicking ass, taking names and showing the wrestling world they are even more badass than they were ten years ago.”
“Maybe that’s what is bothering you most: these two women can fix their necks and backs, come into a company, and show everyone they are better than the formerly undefeated FORMER Savage Champion.”
Our anti-hero reaches into the jacket Victoria loved to wear and lights a cigarette; the ember Illuminates her face along with the flickering street lights. The smell of the burning tobacco masks the stench of the dirty ocean water and shoreline. She squats down, looking at the ground, but we can’t see what she is fixated on. She returns her gaze to us.
“You are right when you say there is much to learn from defeat, perhaps more so than winning in most cases. Before we found our groove in OCW, defeat was a beast I knew all too well. It was disheartening, affected our confidence, beat us down, and almost gave up on ourselves. Then we signed with OCW, won a couple matches, and we all got purged. The difference between me and everyone else? I was back into the fold within less than a week. I was given an opportunity, and we were on our way to being the best TransAtlantic Champion that this company has ever seen. Why? Because we were barely batting .500 when we signed here, and it taught the lesson needed to be where we are.”
“Is it nice to be 13-0? I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but it also isn’t the be-all and end-all of our careers, or rather, my career.”
She takes a drag, exhaling through her nostrils as she stands up, looking at the ground with her head tilted to the right.
“You know why you lost to BRIM? Why you are no longer the OCW Savage Champion? Because you constantly underestimate everyone that stands across the ring from you. You don’t show even the slightest bit of respect. I hold wins over Dylan Thomas, a multiple-time champion and future hall of fame member. The Stranger, a legend in his own right who damn near went all the way in The Great Illuminatus and another future Hall of Fame member. Kelson Hewitt, who every time has shared the ring with me, has lost 1-2-3, and he’s considered a future main event player. Bob Grenier is a racist extraordinaire who is in the Hall of Fame. I hold these wins with my successful title defences and perfect record because I know I am not unbeatable; I know one wrong step, one wrong move, and it’s over.”
“I know you are a monster, a whole foot taller, three times my weight, but I have in heart matches what you have in physicality. One might argue without Victoria and The Affliction, I am not who I was, but I would argue that I am even stronger now. The affliction didn’t make us stronger; it was manipulative and cunning, making me, Victoria, believe that we couldn’t be what we had become without it when that was anything but the case.”
The drone pans back as she stands up, and the lifeless body of Ozob lies on the ground, the grenade nose gone as it looks like it exploded, explaining the blood on Veronica’s face and clothes.
“I am free of that mental anguish because my sister, my best friend, sacrificed herself to make sure no one had to suffer at the hands of us being controlled by her. Being free of that makes me feel bad for poor Tom. When I was being manipulated by Valerie, and I had Victoria trapped in our psyche, I never stopped to think about the damage it was causing her, but I do now. I’m not going to stand here calling you Tom to enrage you like Knox would, but I hope he’s listening when I say this: never quit fighting. I know I got lucky with the Portal that brought Victoria to this place that was able to separate us all from one another, but I know there is hope for you and Jenny. You’ll get your opportunity one day.”
She knows speaking to the “weakling” will only aggravate the Supreme Machine, but that is only by design. She knows what she is doing. She is looking down at Ozob, the most recent monster of a man, underestimating what she is capable of. She continues looking down at him as she speaks to her cousin through the drone.
“You know this guy right here is, or was, rather, a legend in Night City, this crazy place Victoria and I were brought to. When I came down to join the festivities on this disgusting polluted beach, they laughed, called me little girl, and laughed as the fight started. Which isn’t surprising, clowns like to laugh at shit, but I ask you….”
She looks up to us, her glasz-coloured eyes filled with fire.
“Is he laughing now?”
She takes another drag before flicking it on Ozob’s body.
“We stepped back into the Portal Potty not just to finish something we started, it’s because no other place in the world could prepare for the violence about to be faced at Technical Difficulties. You and I will dance in the jungle of that messed-up island. It’s going to get violent, it’s going to get bloody, and I know damn well it’s gonna get personal.”
“I am dedicating this match to Tom. To Jennifer. Even my asshole father. But most importantly, I am dedicating it to Victoria. None of us need the poison in our veins or was in my case. Victoria freed me, freed us both. Now I don’t think Tom will be freed of you when this is done, that’s something he has to take into his own hands, but I hope it gives him the courage to fight.”
Veronica looks down at Ozob one last time before she walks away from his body towards the West Wind Hotel, walking up four flights of stairs to the old hotel room she has been squatting in since Victoria had done what she had done. The place suits Veronica’s current mindset. She hops through the window, sitting down on a mattress partially propped up along the wall, the drone buzzing around in front of her.
“The days of TPW are long gone where I allowed you to be the full-on monster you are. Now we are in OCW, where I am Queen of this land along with my King. I have earned my crown. I made the TransAtlantic Championship the second most important title in the company, and when I overcome the odds defeating you at Technical Difficulties. I will make my mark as the greatest TransAtlantic champion in this company’s history, greater than Vohdka Black, Alice Knight, Betsy Granger, and Mack O’Connor. When people talk about great title reigns, I’ll be right up there with my man, Outcast.”
“Victoria has given me the opportunity to make history, and that’s exactly what I am gonna do. See, besides completing a task we were given in this hell….”
She trails off for a second as she looks around at her environment before returning her gaze to us with the signature Strader Sneer.
“It helped prepare me and put me in the proper mindset to face you, to give me the constitution to pin you 1-2-3. Bring as many of your followers as you want; it will not change a damn thing.”
“If you are the Predator, Supreme Machine… that makes me Dutch, but there will be no getting to the ‘Choppa’ there will be me handing you a second straight Pay-Per-View loss and showing this whole goddamned promotion no one is as Strong and Proud as I am.”
“I’ll Never Fade Away.”
She closes her glasz-coloured eyes one last time before staring into our souls.
“God forgives, Supreme Machine.”
“I don’t.”
The dirty, trashed room lights up with two portal entrances. Veronica stands and looks into one, looking at the Technical Difficulties Event, the other looking to the OCW arena (present-day), where she sends the drone, closing it off. She looks around one last time at this hell that took Victoria from her before stepping into the Portal Potty and directly into her match against SUPREME MACHINE.
Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
Pray the Lord my soul to take
Hush, Supreme Machine, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just Veronica under your bed
In your closet, in your head
Off to Never-Never Land…
