Post by facethedoll on May 16, 2022 10:54:01 GMT -5
For all intents and purposes, Sarah Wolf had no desire to talk to anyone. She had come home, she had attempted to make things right, but the moment she began her attempt, in earnest despite the opinions of others, she was shown that no matter what, they would always make the wrong decision. Whether it was about who to trust, or in this case, who to forgive.
The man in both cases was that of Declan ‘Wolf’ Fagin. Her father. Quote, unquote. What he was now was a priest who carried a bible everywhere he went. His free hand clutching the silver cross that hung from his neck.
Who he was back then was the drunken drug addict who had ruined their family by being too weak to adjust to changes. When their mother left, and left them, he went over the edge. The kind of edge where you throw a three year old against a wall. Some people never even see that edge. He swan dived over it.
All these years later and a death certificate later, and here he was. Standing in front of her, surrounded by her brothers. The one that never met him, the one that tried to protect her, and the one who actually did. She had told herself she’d make things right no matter what. But this was the exception she never saw coming.
Hightailing it out of the gym these meatheads used as a meeting space when they all had homes they could have used, she was here for 15 minutes and was already ready to never come back. And then he called out to her as only a younger brother could.
“You are such a jerkoff.”
_______________
As a little girl I was always enamored with Monsters. Dracula. The Mummy. Wolfman, who does in fact, have nards. Medusa. I thought I’d always be obsessed with horror movies and the monsters they were based off of. But I never considered, even for a moment, that I would become one.
I had dreams, Ziggy. Big ones. The kind of dreams little girls think up in their pink frilly beds at night while staring at glow in the dark stars. Those dreams were torn from me, Zig. Not by those who helped me become…this. But by the monster that wasn’t in my closet. The monster that was always inside me.
Anyone can tell you that they’ve been pushed too far. Taken a step too many toward their own inevitable destruction. Not many will admit that they did so well before anyone actually noticed. See, Zig. I was made into the monster you see before you. I was handcrafted.
But I was born pretty fucked up to begin with.
Not that you care. Do any of us really care about our opponents' past? If I sat here and told you ‘yes Ezekiel I give two shits about your past as a god damn Mormon or whatever you were, before you became the biggest fucking luchadore ever,’ you might believe me. You might. Because, and this is important, you’re a dickhead. But another person, one who wasn’t a dickhead, would know I wasn’t serious. They would know I care more about the dog shit under my left heel than I do about your past. Or even your present if I’m being honest.
I only care about your future, Zig. And by that, I mean I think it’s my job, or honor, to stop you from having one. Or at least the one you might consider worthwhile. We are at the same level at this moment. When the scales tip, I intend to be on the upper side of it. I evolve into a higher being, and you devolve to the person you were always meant to be.
This world of ours, Zig. It evolves, too. So much and so often, that the things we do today will barely matter tomorrow. It’s not what you’ve done lately, but what have you done the latest. Every title we win, in this country or Mexico, doesn’t matter even a little bit compared to the title you might win tomorrow. Win a title, increase the chances of losing it. Beat a big opponent, and win the chance to lose to a bigger one. It’s terrifying isn’t it, Zig? Not to worry, though. I am going to do the needful and help you achieve what you were meant to, by keeping you exactly where you belong.
Way beneath me.
Letting you past me to climb the metaphorical ladder is a disservice to you, Ziggy. It’s giving you false hope and furthering the chance that you could be injured or worse. I mean, I absolutely want to injure you, but I don’t want to make it worse. Well. Not worse than I have to. Ok maybe I do want to make it worse. But that’s only because of who I am. Not because of who you are. And who you are is the Tallest fucking luchadore ever. Call you Lurch-a-dore.
And I’ve been to mexico btw, and I have to tell you, you should have made a killing there. Guy the size of you should have ran through the mask crowd worse than chaffing behind the ears. Me, I’d have been the king of that place in a matter of minutes. But you were ran off, weren’t you? You ran because you were afraid of the cartel. Well bad news, Zig. you ran right the fuck into something way god damn worse. You ran into me.
The person I used to be, I would have found you cute. Adorable. Hell, add some tattoos and an irish accent and you’d be right up my alley. And by my alley I mean my vagina. But that was then and this is now, and NOW you are not up against some mexicans with shiney shoes that want to kill you. You’re up against me who is very fucking good at making people wish I’d killed them.
Because like those who came before me, when I set my sights on something I do not stop until it is mine. This isn’t about want to, or have to, but get to. Remember that I am the one who gets to make you regret your choices. I am the one who gets to prove to you just how bad of a mistake your entire journey has been, because it got you here, and I may even be the one who gets to end it for you once and for all. I am not a game, Ziggy. I am not some bully you can beat up once and for all. I come, and I don’t stop coming until one of us is done. The worst thing in the world you could do for yourself is win. Because I don’t stop until I do.
I am a god damn tornado, Ziggy. I will cut through everything you love and hold dear and I will elave you with nothing but the hopes of rebuilding. And god forbid you should, and I feel like you haven’t learned, I’ll just come through and do it again.
Because like Death & like taxes & like fucking Thanos, I am inevitable. Might as well call me Ampersand.
(that’s the name of the & )
_______________
Sarah interuptted Vincent’s insult, and fired back. She knew she was a jerkoff. She’d learned that much and more in the last year. So there was no point in arguing that. But he needed to know a few things, and he needed to know them immediately.
“I didn’t want to come back this way, Vin. I wanted to make things right. I wanted to walk in there and say how sorry I was, but looking at you three, barely figuring anything out, reminded me of why I’m in the place I’m in. Because you all lack foresight. You don’t see what’s coming around the bend. You don’t even see what’s going on around you! But I do. And I’m going to intercept it. Call it my penance.”
“And how are you going to do that? You’ve not been around. Things are different. The people you’re out to get, some don’t even exist anymore.”
“I’ll figure it out. How hard can it be? You two did it.”
“We did. You turned on us over it. Almost killed me.”
“Ok, that was my bad. I didn’t know the glass was going to break like that. If it’s anyone's fault I’d say it’s X. He should have paid for the more expensive glass.”
“Sarah. You sent a fake fetus to my daughter. If Alexis had-“
“…Vin. It doesn’t matter what I did. I wasn’t in any mental shape to understand the consequences of my actions. And since when is kindness a family trait? You knocked Xavier off a third story balcony over a car. X put Kal through a park bench over a disagreement. You assholes fight each other worse than we fight anyone else over nothing. But when I do it over your complete and utter disregard of who I am, it’s ‘attempted murder.’ I’m sorry, Vin. I truly am. But not enough to suffer foolishness one more god damn time. The next time someone locks me away and tortures me, it isn’t going to be to get back at you, or him, or anyone else. It’s going to be because I fucking deserve it. Because I fucking earned it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go fucking earn it.”
“You want to earn something, earn your place in this family. Make things right. Tell me you’ll stay at the end of this, and I’ll help you.”
“ I can do this on my own. I’m like…what am I like? I am like the A Team. Except instead of 4 dudes it's just me. I’m the genius, the looker, the crazy one and the fighter, all wrapped up in one.”
“There were 5 members.”
“No one counts that god damn Spanish guy, Vin.”
“You can’t do this on your own. Either can I. And those two are useless.”
“Finally something we agree on.”
“Here’s another. You can get into places I can’t. I can disguise myself all day but I’m still six foot four with a distinctive nose and face.”
“Ok, I’m hearing a lot of what I bring to the table. What is it that you bring?”
“You ever heard of diplomatic immunity?”
“Yeah?”
“I have it.”
__________
Ziggy, I want to know something. What is the most relaxng place you’ve ever been? I imagine, looking at you, it’s some shithole bar where the beer is cold and the women are hot and both are cheap enough for your liking.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you’re more of a hook and reel kind of guy. Sitting in a small one man boat on a lake. Worm guts under your nails and a cold coors light between your legs, just making your worm dance in order to reel in a fish for dinner, or even just for show.
Or, maybe you’re the open road type. Engine purring between your legs, wind in your lovely hair. Dipping between cars and just getting to nowhere in particular as fast as you can.
For me? It’s when there’s blood in my mouth and a throat under my heel. I don’t breath easy when someone lights a god damn candle or picks up a bottle of oil to fill a room with it’s bullshit scent, although I do love some lavendar. My preferred scent is fear. My vibes soundtrack is fucking screams. My relaxation is the fight, Ziggy. That moment where I can feel the physical pain enough to distract from the mental anguish. The moment I can make someone scream how I wish I could.
I think about it almost exclusively. How I’m going to hurt you. The means in which I’ll do so. The path I’ll take. The time I’ll take. The screams you make. It isn’t sexual for me. Sure as a dominatrix my clients find it very erotic. But for me, as I said earlier, hurting others is nothing more than relaxing. And come our match, I might as well be on vacation.
__________
Sarah stood there, looking at her younger brother's face. It had been a year. More than a year actually. Had so much gone on while she was gone that he had somehow become a diplomat? Was that even possible? Think what you want about Vin, he doesn’t lie. Ok, so he did lie to his wife about being honorable, but other than that he was usually pretty truthful.
She wanted to tell him to fuck off. She wanted to back hand him across the chin. But she wanted something else more. And while there were other ways to obtain it, this was the best one. With all dealings such as this though, she was going to need what you would call a ‘good faith payment.’
“You tell me where to start, where you were going to start, and if, and only if, it bears fruit…I’ll agree. But if it doesn’t go anywhere, if it’s dry, No deal.”
Vin already had his hand out, a small piece of paper with a good amount of into on it. Handing it to Sarah, he stepped back.
“His name is Tobias Amascia. He works for the security company that monitors the Brooklyn arena. He has access to the footage. I was going to…persuade him..to get me the security footage the cops have. Do that and we got ourselves a jumping off point.”
“Persuading just happens to be my specialty. How’s your wife gonna feel about this?”
“That’s my concern. Tobias is yours.”
Sarah nodded, and took the piece of paper. She was back to her car and just about to leave, when her eyes caught the glimpse of someone looking at her from a window. It was a small shadow in both width and height. And if memory served her correctly, that was Vin’s old house. Currently Candice’s. She took a deep breath and got in her car. She was sure it was Vincent’s son Call that was looking at her from so far away. In fact, the only thing further away than the house was when she felt like she could ever face him again.
