Defending My Turf

“Some people take offense, like it’s a limited time offer” - Tim Fargo {Undisclosed Hotel - Baltimore, MD} The morning wind had quite the bite to it this morning, it had grown cold again overnight and having thin Texas blood didn’t help one bit. So, I did what any man from Texas would do, I zipped the jacket up and grabbed some hot coffee to sip on the balcony. They frowned on smoking in these expensive rooms so I took those with me as well. I had only been up just long enough to make a cup of coffee, so I hadn’t checked my phone or email or anything like that. I did that now, checking the notifications. A missed message from Amber sat there waiting on me. I light a cigarette and lean back in the chair on the balcony. I take a sip of coffee and swallow. “Gods that's awful coffee.”, I say as I set the cup down. I take another drag off the cigarette, then I pull up the message from Amber. There’s a video there waiting to be watched. I press play. “I’m glad I got to see you at the show, I know things have been weird but I wanted to… I dunno… make it up to you? Feels kinda weird doing this, but your music… I…uh… it inspired me a bit I guess," I watch as she picks up her guitar and begins to play. The song couldn’t be more fitting, “Survival Expert”, such a great song. Her clarity when she sang was overshadowed by a certain Stevie Nicks quality to her voice. It wasn’t quite raspy, but silky smooth, this woman….she had it all. She really had me thinking now, could this be real? I set the phone down for a moment, I take a sip of the coffee which now doesn’t taste quite as bad as it did before. Another drag from my cigarette, and I play it again. I’m not really sure how long I sat there listening to it over and over again but one thing was certain. “I’m in trouble.”, I finally say in a voice that was barely a whisper. I had literally no idea how she felt about me. The only thing I knew is that when I was with her or around her, I felt more complete than I had in my entire life. That was saying quite a lot though, my wife, rest her soul had been everything to me, when she was alive. Now though? Is it possible for a man or woman to have two great loves in one lifetime? “Holy Balls”, I say with a bit more conviction. “C’mon man, you’ve had exactly one date with her and your thinking like this?”. I stand up, needing more coffee I go back into the hotel room and pour another cup. “What was it Melissa always said….the heart wants what the heart wants.”, I raised the cup back up, my hand shaking a little and slopping some coffee over the rim. “Damnit…”, then I sigh and then I laugh at myself. “Acting like a love struck schoolboy. For fucks sake Bane.”, I say as I grab some napkins off the counter and clean up my mess. I begin thinking out loud as I clean up my mess, “If I’m honest with myself, how long have I had a thing for this woman?”, I pause and let that simmer for a minute. I stand back up, marching across the room, I toss the napkins in the trash can. “A day? A month? Since day one?”, now I find myself pacing but only for a moment. This line of thought has caught me by surprise and now I need more coffee and a cigarette. I grab my cup of coffee, this time sipping from the cup to make sure it doesn’t go overboard again. Then I go back out on the balcony. I light another cigarette, “Only one thing left to do, Mac.”. I take a long drag off the smoke, as I’m exhaling I say, “Just have to tell her.”. I pick up my phone once again, I open the app for video and begin recording, “Hey Red, I wish we had more time to talk the other night. I loved the song, you sing beautifully. I think after isolation we should talk, I don’t want to distract from what you’re trying to accomplish. Trust me, I get what you’re doing. I’ve done it more than once myself. Maybe we can go celebrate that world title victory afterwards?”. I stop there and save the message, then I send it in reply to her message. Fade ***

“Well Legion, here we are once again. Another championship match, another two on one scenario. Does it bother me? Hell nah. This match has a different flavor to it,doesn’ it? An elimination style match for the BALTIMORE CITY CHAMPIONSHIP. Not the wonderland title, not Alice’s LSD trip award. Not the here’s your participation trophy match. The Baltimore City Championship. What does it mean to be the BC Champion? What does it all mean? What it means to me as far as the title itself goes is this. The east coast, Baltimore Maryland specifically has always been a great wrestling town. When you are the BCC, you represent them and this great city. A city steeped in tradition, wrestling tradition. When you carry this belt, there’s a lot of pride and honor that goes with repping this city. I call Carnage Wrestling home, so I call Baltimore, Maryland home via Port Arthur, Texas. Just like the great fans we have here, the people of Texas believe that honor matters. When you uphold the honor and tradition of this industry, of these great people, it’s something special. It’s not something you can just piss on and get away with it. Not with me you can’t but, ZQ found that out the hard way didn’t you? You thought that little stipulation where you put your own flesh and blood in harm's way would secure your victory. All it did was secure her fate and yours. When you’re a singles competitor, you target the weakest link on the opposing team and exploit that weakness. Thank you to both you and Su, you gave me a lot of material to work with. You each have your flaws and weaknesses. I figure you’ve been railing on her about how she cost you the title, because she’s the one I pinned. That’s typical of the kind of competitor you are ZQ. Nothing is ever YOUR fault is it? So convenient to blame it on the less athletic sister who stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. You’re absolutely right, she doesn’t belong in a wrestling ring against people like me. The real problem for you though, was you weren’t nearly as smart as you thought yourself to be. You overestimated your own abilities and underestimated mine. That’s only partially on you though missy, I say that with tongue firmly in cheek because I allowed you to believe in your fucking self. I didn’t bother to correct you on any of your assumptions or presumptions about me. You thought you were just dealing with some dumb fucking redneck from Texas who only knows how to fight. How’d that turn out for you? You forgot about my fifteen years of experience in a wrestling ring. You forgot about my body of work. If someone like Mia, who’s got some experience couldn’t beat me. What in the world made you think that you could? I thought, surely, no one is that dumb. I guess I was wrong in my assumptions and presumptions about you as well. As I was saying, this match has a different flavor to it, doesn’t it? It’s a handicap match, sure, but not in your favor. I do look forward to hearing how you feel about that. Unlike your sister though, my tag team partner for the gauntlet match will be one of the competitors in this match. Unlike you and your sisters, he and I won’t take it personally after we’ve kicked the shit out of each other. Win, lose or draw, you lose. How does that feel ZQ? To know going into a match, that you’ve already lost? See you soon bitchacho. ***

{Somewhere in Baltimore, Maryland} One of the many odd things about me, is that while it’s true, I can be a bit brutal between the ropes, I am the polar opposite outside of them. Strangely enough, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I had powerbombed Su over the top rope. At first I was a bit shocked by my own actions until I sat down and looked at an old DVD, “The Bloodiest Feuds of nMw”, the picture on the front of the DVD was of me superplexing Chris Andrews off the top of a cage through a table. It took me a month to recover from that match, the title in question was the Mid-Atlantic Title. Equivalent to the Ultra-Violent title here in Carnage. Seeing that reminded me of who I was inside the ring. Back then I had been one of the most violent men in this business. I ended the career of Davy Boone, because I could, using a piece of rebar and a steel chair, combined with a sharpshooter. So, what exactly triggered this line of thinking? There’s something about ZQ and her sisters that triggered this in me. Of course being friends with Trent and running the roads with him, didn’t help matters either. He and I are much alike in that regard. Maybe it’s better to say our lack of regard for the safety of others and ourselves. Then again, with the competition getting so much younger, why the hell not. We’re not as fast as we used to be, so being sudden and out of left field makes sense to me. So, the real question today though, is why the hell am I dressed in old beat up smelly clothes, dragging a burlap sack down the street? The real reason behind this is that if I’m going to be a champion of the people, I should get to know who I’m representing shouldn’t I? I made sure that I had just enough cash in my pocket so if I was stopped by police, they couldn’t charge me with vagrancy. To be blunt, I looked like hell, which was intentional. I was doing my best to look like a homeless bum just walking the streets of Baltimore. So far it had worked like a champ, people avoiding looking at me and giving me a wide berth as I walked down the sidewalk. I wear an old bandanna in place of a mask, because the city says you have to. I don’t talk to people. I just keep walking, it’s not time for that yet, I have to make sure that I’m seen here before I start talking to people. I had done my research, the statistics were not good for the city. Funny thing about statistics, you could spin it anyway you wanted, inflating or deflating the numbers based on whether it was an election year or not. Currently what they were saying was there were approximately 2,500 men, women, and children homeless in Baltimore on any given night. The factors were always the same; affordable housing, low incomes, chronic substance abuse and mental illness. So, here I was, a guy who’s net worth was nine figures pretending to be homeless. Just to get to know a group of people who had no idea who I was, many of them had likely seen a carnage show before. So, I continued down Baker Street, very aware that I was out of my element. I was also very aware that there were many eyes on me right now as I approached the steps of the shelter. “Honey, are you lost?”, I stopped at the top of the steps and looked around for the source of the question. Not far away from me sitting up against the brick wall was a woman who looked like she hadn’t eaten in a long time. She was very thin and frail. The more important aspect was that I knew this woman. “Small world Maggie.”, I responded to her and smiled. The look of shock on her face was priceless. “Macky?”, she looked even more shocked now. I had served with Maggie, she was one hell of a fighter back in the day. I nodded at her, “been a long time Maggs.”, I close the distance and sit down next to her. “What happened Maggie? The last time I saw you, hell you were fast tracked to be the next commander of our battalion.”. She smirks, “It’s long story Mac, but looks like we have time.”. I chuckle at her matter of fact tone and her nonchalant attitude. “Maggie I have missed you girl.”, she smiles at me slapping my leg. “My favorite drinking buddy and bodyguard.”. She smiles as do I remembering the many bar fights we started in places we probably shouldn’t have been. “I heard about your Melissa, Mac I’m so sorry.”, she says as a tear races down her face. “Most honest white girl I ever met.”, she says in her often snarky way. “Yeah, and she loved your silly ass too.”, I say with a smile. “Thank you Maggie, but she’s without pain now.”. She pats my leg fondly, “That’s all we can ask for.”. I nod my agreement, “Yes ma’am it is, so what the hell are you doing here?”. She gives me a knowing look, “Mac, I’m homeless and have been for a while, the real question is what are you doing here?”. Funny thing about me, I’ve been tested in battle, been shot at, detonated mines, I never flinch. “I’m not sure what you mean Maggs…”, I start to say but she cuts me off. In a barely audible whisper she says, “I know you’re not homeless Mac, what game are you playing?”. I lean back against the wall, “You got me Maggie, I never could lie to you, not that I ever tried. I recently won a title that represents the people of Baltimore.”. She laughs, “I saw that shit, you still a badass Macky.”. I smile, “It seems I underestimated the people of Baltimore.”. “All these people that come in here are huge fans of the see dub Mac.”. I shake my head in dismay, “I’m a fool, I just wanted a closer look at the people I’m representing.”. She smiles at me and pats my leg fondly again. “You always had a heart that was bigger than your brain.”. “Yeah, it’s a character flaw sometimes. I also wanted to help.”. “Ever consider just volunteering in the kitchen? I think that would be a better place to start than pretending you’re homeless, ya big dummy.”. So, I did. I started volunteering a couple of hours each day. I got to know people who were in bad shape and some that were starting their road to recovery. They all wanted the same thing. To get back to some sense of normalcy. I worked through the lunch and supper rush, making sure that Maggie ate was important to me. Her health concerned me a great deal. Her mental health, more so. She and I walked and talked more on the way back to the hotel. I had sent a message to Jules to make sure she met me in the lobby. “Aunt Maggie!”, she squeed when she saw her. This child truly makes my heart smile, the way she treats others. Maggie was overcome with emotion that Jules remembered her, the last time they had been in the same room, Jules was only 9 years old. They sat in the lobby and talked while I made arrangements for Maggie to have a room. I explained to the clerk that she was my guest and that she should be treated like a member of my family. They understood my meaning without question. I handed the access card to Maggie, “Yours and Jules rooms are connected, please don’t argue with me about this Maggs.”. She smiled at me, “Your heart really is bigger than your brain. Wasting money on me.”. I returned her smile, “I never waste money Maggie, you know better than that. This is not charity, you have always been and always will be family. Melissa loved you, my children love you. You always knew how I felt about you. This is just me helping the family, so please don’t think it’s anything else.”. “Tomorrow we’ll figure out what the future holds for Miss Maggie Fletcher. Tonight we have a good meal and a good night’s sleep.”. She smiles broadly at me and pats me on the shoulder, “Okay Macky Mac, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”. The plight of the homeless, it’s always bothered me, it simply isn’t something that should happen to anyone. It especially hurt because Maggie had sacrificed everything to be in the service and defend her country. She’d never been married or tried to have kids. Nineteen years dedicated to the country she loved. They took it all away, her promotion, and her retirement. All because she was a black woman with ambition. There were some people that had bad times coming. The people who wronged Maggie Fletcher had to pay. I found out from talking to her that she had been put out on an administrative discharge, “For the needs of the Navy”, is what it said. What it boiled down to is that they tried to frame her for a crime and couldn’t make it stick. I knew the men behind it, all racist bastards, every last one of them. They ruined her life and I was going to make sure I ruined theirs. They did this because Maggie is black and a woman, they had problems with both of those things. Even more so when they realized they would be reporting to her. Let the fun and games begin. ***

From ZQ to Trent Steel. One of the people in this industry that I admire and respect. Some might not think that means much, until you consider I can count them on one hand. Trent likes to call himself the measuring stick of Carnage, and he’s not wrong. He’s the only person in this match that has won the Carnage World Title. For those of you keeping score at home, who was it he defeated? That’s right kids, Jack Michaels, our current world champion. He’s also the tag team partner of yours truly. Remember what I was saying earlier about this match has a different flavor to it? That’s right, ZQ’s sisters won’t be able to easily change the outcome of this match. Whether it be Mia or Su, doesn’t matter to me. I’ve already powerbombed one of them over the top rope and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again to the other one if she decides to stick her nose in this. I know that ZQ covets this title. She doesn’t covet it as much as the people of Baltimore do. She only coveted this title because of how the legion reacted when she had it in her possession. Enough about that though, it’s disrespectful to double back and double down on someone who doesn’t have a hope in hell in this match. Another name that Trent goes by, “The Son of a Bitch”. I know all too well about that son of a bitch, I’ve been on the receiving end of that guy. One of the few in this business who can say that with a smile. Trent and I have fought each other and fought together against others. Even before the war games match that we fought Paragon in. Thing is this, and Trent knows me well enough to know that while I respect him, this title is mine and I’m not giving it up without a fight. The Baltimore City Championship belongs to the people and myself. I’ll never willingly allow another person who doesn’t value the tradition of this business to take it away again. The only reason I would vacate this title is if another opportunity arose from my defending this title like no one had before me. Unlike the previous champion, my goal is to make this title the most sought after title in Carnage Wrestling. I know that making a title such as this, as sought after as the world title seems far fetched. Thing is, and Trent knows this about me, I do enjoy it when someone tells me I can’t do something. I’ve been proving people and the business wrong for over a decade. When I first arrived in Carnage, someone called me main event fodder. That’s when people around Carnage started learning the hard lesson that words spoken to me have consequences. Like your first amendment rights, you have the freedom to say what you like. You also have the freedom to pay for what you say. Every word, every action in this life has a reaction, a receipt if you will. I’m really good about making sure that receipts are paid in full. That’s just one of the ways that Trent and I are similar. He’s not just someone you run your mouth at and get away with it. I do it, because I can fucking back it up. Just as he knows that he can do the same. Respect and friendship is a weird thing ain’t it? All of that being said, I have no doubts about this match. The three of us will beat the ever living hell out of one another. We will do it whether there are fans in attendance or not, because we know that they will be watching from somewhere. Whether it’s the soup kitchens in South Baltimore or people working in restaurants filling to go only orders. Everyone will be watching and we’ll make damn sure that they are entertained. A three person elimination style match never turns out the way people think it will. As a champion and a challenger both, you have to keep your head on a swivel at all times. It doesn’t matter if you’re in there with your BFF or a sworn enemy. It’s almost like a mountain road, so many twists and turns, then bam! Match over! The last thing either of you will hear is, “And still YOU’RE Baltimore City Champion, The One Man Wrecking Crew Mac Bane!”.