Post by Sahara on Aug 12, 2022 9:19:43 GMT -5
PREVIOUSLY
~~~~~
PRESENT DAY
I looked around the nondescript property and wondered why the OCW TransAtlantic champion would choose to live here instead of some sorta penthouse. I mean, it was nice enough, but he could easily afford something much nicer. And bigger. And with a view of the City. Maybe even in the City. Or even better, in a tower above the City! Anyway, he probably spends all his money on weird ass computer stuff… like this geo-tagged super-recorder bracelet he got me that ended up saving my ass!
That’s actually why I dropped by in the first place, not only was he my Mix partner, which meant we had much to discuss about our opponents, but I wanted to thank him for helping my husband find me when all that wacky Mafia shit went down… without Cyph, I don’t know how the hell I would've gotten outta that warehouse.
I approached what looked like the front entrance and wondered if that steel gated exterior door was going to electrocute me.
“If this shocks me, I swear to fucking God I’m gonna kick your ass Tyler…”
Pretty badass for a front door, though! This is nerd money at work. Fuck off, Bill Gates, Tyler’s in town! The black paint at the entryway shimmered like some sorta hologram. I found myself mesmerized by it instead of knocking. I wonder if I stare at this door long enough if I’d see a schooner?
Jesusfuck, get it together, Lauren!
I shook myself outta the daze and as I lifted my hand to knock on the steel gated door, it just happened to buzz itself open. I quickly glanced around for the cameras he was obviously looking at me through and held up a middle finger as I pushed the door open.
“Close it.”
“Close it?”
“Yeah.”
I paused for a second, slightly confused.
“Close what?!”
I heard his voice rise from some unseen nerd dungeon, “The fucking door you twit! I don’t know how Thad does it, I swear…”
“Oh… yeah, I knew that!” I absently responded as I went back and closed the shimmering dork-door. I looked around the room for a second. Flat screen on the wall. PS5. PS4. PS3. XBOX360. XBOX. Something I’ve never seen. Is that a fucking Coleco Vision?! Lawn chairs? Empty Mountain Dews covering a box that I think was supposed to serve as a coffee table?
“Uhh, where the fuck are you?! And why don’t you have any furniture?”
“Down here. You see the stairs?”
They were sorta hard to miss. “Yeah, I see the stairs.” I sarcastically replied with a roll of the eyes.
“Then one foot in front of the other… take them down?”
“Fuck you, Tyler.” I looked around one last time, “You really need to hire a decorator. And a maid.”
“Wait. That’s not why you’re here?”
“Fuck off!”
“I’m just kiddin’, c’mon down.”
And here I was half expecting his mom to pop out of the kitchen and ask me if I wanted any Totino's Pizza Rolls. I gotta admit, I was pretty disappointed that didn’t happen. Wow. Now I want fucking pizza rolls!
I paused for a second on the stairs as a shiver ran down my spine. This felt oddly reminiscent of high school. Going down into a boy's weirdly decorated basement while his parents weren’t home?! I swear to God, if there’s not a penis baby Nirvana poster on the wall I’m gonna be supremely disappointed… oh, and a blacklight!
As I descended the stairs, the room opened to what I could only call a cornucopia of technology. This shit looked like Bruce Wayne’s batcave on crack, only real… there were computer monitors everywhere, propped up by adjustable robot arms of some sort. Doing who knows what, and for who knows who? Maybe hacking the pentagon? I mean, I’m a gamer girl, but dorks set up my computer for me… all I do is play on it.
I wonder if he could hack OCW and inflate my record?
“Damn, no Nirvana poster…” I frowned in disappointment.
“No what?”
“Nevermind…”
(See what I did there?)
“This is fucking insane, dude…” I could almost hear the wonder in my voice. Nerds are not supposed to be this cool! Ahh. There he was, typing away on that clicky keyboard that shimmered with a multitude of colors. I could see the soft glow of electronic light on his face, reflecting the words scrolling across a screen. Whatever was scrolling across these screens looked like some sorta Matrix code that only he could understand. He finally looked up from whatever it was he was doing… and he was still wearing that Godforsaken hoodie…
“Sup?”
“Sup? What’s that?”
“Yeah, sup as in what’s up? To what do I owe the pleasure of your amazing company, Lauren? Is that better?”
I rolled my eyes.
Idiot.
“Yeah, uh… whatever. Nice place. Basement’s a lot nicer than the upstairs, that’s for sure. You got anything to drink down here?”
Tyler laughed as he motioned to the refrigerator on the far wall. “Yeah, of course. But probably nothin’ you’re interested in. Got some Jolt, Dew, Red-bull, Monster, Crystal Pepsi–”
“Crystal Pepsi? Crystal Pepsi sucked. That’s why they discontinued it. And wow, that’s not a stereotypical nerd selection at all! Got anything with alcohol for us adults?”
He shook his head, “My alcohol is called caffeine. But feel free to help yerself…”
“Eh, I got it…” I rummaged through my handbag and pulled out a bottle of vodka. “I always conceal carry for situations like this… I find it eases the tension and lowers my inhibitions. Actually, I don’t have any so it doesn’t do that.” I giggled as I walked to the refrigerator and opted for a Monster Zero. The one in the white can. Gotta watch my figure due to all that stupid fucking catering nonsense…
“So what’s goin’ on?”
I looked around for an empty space on the couch as I caught a stack of boxes on the far wall, “How many fucking PS5’s do you need?”
He laughed, “Oh, I hacked some waiting list and got like twenty of ‘em. Gave most of ‘em away… want one?”
“Thanks, but we already got one. Thad doesn’t make Frankie wait for much. What’r you doin’?”
He glanced at one of his many monitors, “Oh, I was playin’ Donkey Kong.”
“Donkey Kong? Like the classic?”
Cypher nodded, “Yeah. Somethin’ like that. Only you were Princess Peach, and Thad was Donke… yanno what… it’s not important.”
“Sounds important. Did you win? Did you rescue me?”
“Of course I won…”
“Did we fuck?”
“Alright…”
I laughed as I popped open the Monster and took a swig followed by a pull from the vodka bottle. Only amateurs need a glass…
“Dot’s not here, is she?!”
The reigning Trans-Atlantic champion shook his head, “No… why?”
“Cuz I could dress up like Princess Peach if that’s yer thing…”
Cypher sighed, “Lauren…”
“I’m just kiddin’! Fuckin’ hell, calm down, Neo. You need to unplug… follow the white rabbit and all that shit…”
“Hilarious.”
I rolled my eyes, “Whatever, Ty… just–” I could feel myself hesitating. I hated thanking people. It always seemed so after-school special to me.
Just swallow your pride and thank the fucking guy, Lauren…
Finally, I heaved a sigh, “So anyway, when this whole thing for the Mix came up, I’ll be honest with ya, I wasn’t all that interested. Actually, I wasn’t interested at all. I just… I’ve never been much of a team player. I know… shocking! I got a lotta trust issues… and putting my career in the hands of another was never my idea of fun, so I kinda don’t like tag-team wrestling. But as you can see, I’m capable of doing it when necessary. Just ask Brim.”
“Yeah, I saw Massacre, Lauren...”
“Well anyway, I just wanna thank you.” I held up my wrist, showing off the bracelet, “For this. For… everything. I ain’t got many friends, and if it weren’t for you, I don’t know what woulda happened to me…”
“What the hell was that all about, anyway?”
I sorta figured that question was coming sooner or later…
“Well, before meeting Thad, I was kinda desperate. For money I mean. I had pretty much washed out of wrestling, so I spent my days waitin’ tables. Then FIGHT came callin’ – and to this day, I still don’t know why they did – but I figured that was my second chance… a way to make enough money that when it ended again, I wouldn’t have to struggle anymore. So I started placin’ bets on FIGHT matches. I mean, I had an inside track… I knew who was good and who wasn’t, but I couldn’t bet on FIGHT stuff legit, cuz that’d be illegal, so I figured I could go the underground route and they’d take my money…”
“So what happened?”
“Like I said, they took my money!” I let out a bit of a laugh, “I was on a run of like thirteen straight winning bets. I was rollin’ in cash. I mean… literally. I actually fucked on it once–don’t you roll your eyes at me, Ty!
“And anyway… I got stupid, cuz that’s what I do best. I thought I couldn’t lose, so I started layin’ huuuuuge bets, and I thought I’d devised a way that even if I fucked up, I’d be able to cover. Well, I was wrong. I ended up well over a million in the hole… so rather than them breaking my pretty face… I went to work for ‘em…”
“Then you met Thad…”
I nodded, “Yeah. Then I met Thad. Was supposed to be a one night stand, yet here we are. Anyway, he paid off what I owed, plus some… and months went by without hearing a word. I figured it was over. And then that thing happened where they nabbed me in the park.” I paused, taking a breath, “I thought they were gonna kill me. That’s when I realized they didn’t see me as an employee. They–”
Cypher chimed in, finishing my sentence, “They saw you as property.”
I nodded again, “Yeah. And they still do. Only now they see me as stolen property. So… that’s what that was all about.”
Cypher leaned back in his swivel gamer chair and let out a laugh, “Wow.”
“Wow what?”
“I see what Thad sees in you.” He made an absent motion toward me. “I mean… beyond the obvious with the looks and stuff. You’re exciting. And I’d know, I’ve been in the ring with ya.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Wait! Were you excited? What would Dot say?! OMG is that why you smacked my ladies like 50 times, ya fuckin’ perv?!”
“That was about winnin’, nothing more. Which I did. And you’re welcome.”
My brow furrowed with a mouth full of Monster vodka. I even spoke without losing a drop. My husband would be proud.
“I’m welcome for wha?”
Cypher’s head bounced off the back of his gaming chair, “Holy fuck, Lauren… you literally just thanked me.”
“Oh yeah, that. Anyway, I figure after all that… we’re gonna do good in this Mixer thing. You watch. Of all the random tag-teams in all the world, we’re one of the few with actual chemistry.
“You saved my ass, Tyler… and when the time comes, I’m gonna do something I’ve never done for anyone else ever before…
“I’m gonna save yours.”
“Bet.”
I smiled, “Betting is what got me into all this shit in the first place… but in this case, I’ll make an exception. So fuckin’ a… Bet!
“Now… how about we hack OCW and give me like a 100-1 record?”
“We?”, Cyph3r with a 3 for an E smiled.
“Yeah. We. The few. The proud. The loud…
“7H3 5M1N10N5”
