Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2023 1:14:02 GMT
The smell of cigarette smoke permeated the Black Sands, the bar owned -and ran- by both Stephen Terrella and his fianceè Portia. So thick with smoke was the air, you could see the hazy clouds dancing in the glow of the purple neon. Music blared from the bar's speakers, trying in vain to drown out the talking, swearing, yelling and whistling of the rowdy patrons on a packed Friday night. Drunken people brushed against -and bumped into- each other on the floor as some of the hired girls worked the stage, collecting singles as if they were going out of style.
Empty beer bottles, wine glasses and shot glasses lined the bar where Stephen Terrella and Portia are seated. Ever since they opened the club in May of this year they've spent many nights in it sitting at that bar drinking, much the same as they are on this night. It was the type of hands-off management style they favored; and being that the entire bar was essentially a front for the illegal money being made in the back room, what happened in the front wasn't a particularly serious concern as they drank away some of their potential profits.
Suddenly a noise draws Terrella's attention. He glances over his shoulder as one man lays on the floor, having been shoved over by another man. Stephen almost leaves his seat, old habits dying hard. However the bouncers that are now working for him instead of with him have the situation well in hand. He kills the rest of his beer before turning his head back to the bar. Stephen taps the counter with the empty in search of a refill.
"If you don't slow down you're going to be drunk before they get here, baby." Portia places her hand over top of Stephen's hand and gives it a squeeze.
"Off this?" Stephen holds up the empty bottle of Miller High Life, almost as if that was all the evidence he needed to make his point.
Stephen catches a glimpse of Alexandra Calaway and John Nash Strader entering the establishment. The man working the door looks to Stephen for a yay or nay on entry and Terrella gives him an affirmative nod. The doorman directs their attention to the bar where Stephen and Portia are sitting. Alexandra and John navigate their way through the rather unruly crowd holding hands until they reach the bar.
"Hi." Portia says to them before lifting the straw in her drink to her lips to briefly partake. "Sorry it's so loud in here! It's Friday night!"
Stephen pounds the counter three times to signal the bartender. "Ash, whatever they want is free all night." He points to Alexandra and John so Ashley -the bartender- understands his instructions clearly.
Alexandra nodded, leaning back against John who stood behind her; the two of them focused on Portia and Terrella. “Sorry it took us so long to get here, we had a few issues we had to deal with before getting here.”
John nodded and the two sat down next to Portia and Stephen, his hand on Alexandra’s thigh. He orders their drinks and then turns back to listen to the conversation. Despite Alexandra’s trust in Terrella, he wasn’t going to allow her to go into an unknown place without him, especially not with someone they barely knew and in unfamiliar territory.
Alexandra smiled at him, placing a hand on top of Johns before turning to look at Terrella. “I want you to know that you gained a lot of my respect in that match, between the two of us, there’s no way that we can lose. Your brute strength and my technical prowess, the desire we both have to make people bleed, makes us a formidable team.”
Terrella rubs at his chin, then nods as he takes in a heavy breath of the smoke-filled air. "Yeah, we could be. Let me shoot straight with you for a minute though. You ask around, I'm a lot of fucking things. Some people will say I'm an asshole, a bully, a ruthless son-of-a-bitch… and it's true, I am. I don't hide who the fuck I am. I've never pretended to be someone's friend to fucking cut'em. I say that shit cuz' yeah, you earned my respect in that fight too. I don't hand that shit out lightly. I want this shit to work."
"Because this right here," Terrella says while gesturing to John, Alexandra, Portia and himself, "is a group of killers. Any of us could get whatever the hell we wanted on our own, but I see the same shit you do- I see how strong we could be running together."
"We don't have to follow anyone's bullshit rules. We ain't got to ask anyone's permission. We can take what we want, how we want. Tell'em the best fucking part, babe."
Portia puts her drink down on the bar before turning her head to look at Alexandra and John. "I have Haynes wrapped around my little finger." She holds up just the pinky finger on her hand for emphasis. "There will be almost no consequences. If the two of you need a favor, it'll be done. The only thing we've ever had to answer for was when Stephen got a little too rough with Matt; and that's only because he damn near killed him, as you know."
"And I'm going to get Brandy's ass straight too," Terrella tells them. "I don't know what the fuck her deal is but we're going to sort that fucking shit out. She's going to be in, I guarantee it. We can run that fucking fed. Anyone gets in our way, we bleed their fucking ass out on that canvas."
“I’m not worried about all that. What I want you to know is that shit Knox said, about one of us betraying the other.. Won't happen, at least not from this end.” She took a drink of her own before speaking again. “I don’t know why I ever thought it was a good thing to try and work with him, but it seems that, in the grander scheme of things, I’m the one who came out on top. And if he feels that is a betrayal, perhaps he shouldn’t have swept me under the rug when it came to who helped him when the chips were down.”
John squeezes her leg and she nods, knowing what he was saying. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to get involved in his and Terrella’s issues, but I understand what you were doing.”
“Well that’s in the past now. I got the better deal. Now, what we need to think about here is the bullshit we are facing with our wonderful opponents.” She said that with a cocky smirk. “I’m sure they are going to have a field day knowing they are facing a team, where one member is a woman.”
John chuckled. “Well I’m pretty sure they saw what you did with Terrella. I’m sure they are probably quaking right about now.”
“If they have half a brain between them they are.” She gave a quick laugh and looked back over at them. "They are between me and what I want.”
Feeling a little tipsy now from the alcohol, Portia leans into Alexandra while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Those losers couldn't beat either one of you if you were by yourselves, let alone the two of you together. The last time anyone saw Adel he couldn't even think for himself. It was pathetic." She laughs as she pulls herself off of Alexandra and goes back to her drink.
"Ain't a fucking doubt in my head that we can beat'em… " Terrella tells Alexandra. "What we need to do is fucking hurt'em."
"I want to send a message to Knox and anyone else in that locker room watchin' that you don't fuck with us. You do, there is a price you're going to pay… and you're going to pay it in broken bones and you're own fuckin' blood. We need to make people fucking uncomfortable. We need to be fucking savage… and I know, looking at the two of you, you can do that. And like I told you when we were talking business the other day, this ain't me trying to play fucking leader. Portia talked to Haynes though and we got an ace in the hole… something that's going to put us on top of that fucking company when I get it."
"Who's the ace in the hole?" Alexandra tilted her head looking at Terrella. "Now you've got my curiosity up.."
Stephen, seated on the far left of the four, takes a quick look to his left, then back to the right to face them. "Ain't a fucking who, it's a what. Grab another drink, both of you… we'll go back to the office and I'll explain it."
Stephen gets up from his seat and Portia soon follows, hanging on Stephen's side as John and Alexandra gather themselves up to head back for a very private conversation.
The scene opens on a shot of Stephen Terrella seated behind a large desk in his office, with Portia comfortably seated on his lap. Alexandra Calaway sits on the front corner of the desk; holding hands with John Nash Strader, who stands to the side of the desk beside her.
"Everyone loves an underdog, don't they?" Portia says, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "It makes people feel good to root for the underdog because, on the inside, it makes them feel as if for once in their miserable, pathetic little lives they could overcome the odds, too. The loser could get the girl. The hapless idiot could get the big promotion. Anyone and everyone could have their happily ever after."
Alexandra kept a wicked smile on her face, trying to not laugh at Portia’s taunting. She found it hard not to, then John squeezed her hand and she looked up at him.
"Sure, sometimes it actually happens. Take Nick Danger, for instance- the walking definition of a born loser. He tried, and tried… and tried to win any type of championship gold he could here. Every time he lost, and the look on his face afterwards was always priceless. Then one day he actually won a title! Stunning as it was, it was a fluke… and it showed when he lost it by putting his belt on the line in the dumbest way imaginable… when all he had was everything to lose and nothing to gain."
Alexandra nodded in agreement with the things that Portia had just spoken. It was the truth, one hundred percent.
"Which just goes to show you… even when the underdog has their moment, they can't escape the hopelessness of their own lives." Portia flashes a cruel smile.
"Billie, Adel… I want you to understand that. I want you to let that sink in because, make no mistake, no matter how hard you've trained since your last failure… no matter how much therapy one of you may -or may not- have gone through, you're still failures. You are still the underdog going into this match against my man," Portia says as she runs her hand across Terrella's chest. She then points to Alexandra, adding, "and his partner, Alexandra Calaway."
"No matter how much hope you have, no matter how many pep talks Pooler has given you… you're not only going to lose, you're going to be made to serve as an example of the type of beatings and pain that are going to be handed out way more frequently around the IWF." Portia looks at Stephen, saying to him, "Tell'em, baby."
As Portia nuzzles up to Terrella, he looks straight ahead into the camera. "Real fuckin' simple, shitheads. We're going to beat the living piss out of you. Only thing is, after you quit, we're going to beat the piss out of you some more. We'll stop when you're bloodied and we get fucking bored. Then after they stretcher your asses out, maybe we'll come find you and beat your asses some more. Or maybe I'll just piss on your asses and call it a night cuz' I got no respect for either one of you motherfuckers."
"What do you think Calaway?"
She looks into the camera, her gaze cold, the wicked smile spreading across her face again. The camera focuses on Alexandra Calaway, her eyes gleaming with malevolence as she addresses her upcoming opponents, Billie and Adel.
"Listen closely, you pathetic little twerps," Alexandra sneers. "You may have your delusions of grandeur, thinking that you've grown stronger since your last encounter with some other laughable talent here in IWF. But let me make one thing abundantly clear: your growth is insignificant, your hope is laughable, and your dreams of victory are nothing more than fleeting fantasies. You haven’t stood against me and if you weren’t paying attention.. My friend Terrella, the man who I stood toe to toe with just a few weeks again when we spilled each other’s blood all over that ring."
"Billie, Adel, I want you to listen closely," she begins, her voice dripping with disdain. "You two have no idea what awaits you in the ring with me. You may think you have what it takes to stand against me, against Terrella, but you are sorely mistaken." A wicked smirk dances across her lips as she continues, "You see, I thrive in the darkness. I revel in the pain and suffering of my opponents. It fuels me, drives me to heights of sadistic pleasure that you could never comprehend."
She slips off the desk and takes a step forward, her voice growing colder and more sinister. "You may have your supporters, your feeble attempts at camaraderie, but let me tell you something. When you step foot into that ring with me, your so-called allies will be nothing more than spectators to your demise. She pauses for a moment, savoring the anticipation before continuing, her voice dripping with disdain. "I've heard your empty promises, your feeble attempts at bravery. But let me tell you something, my precious little darlings. The darkness that engulfs my heart is far more powerful than any flicker of hope you can conjure." She snaps her fingers.
A wicked glint dances in her eyes as she stays in her place, her voice growing colder and more menacing. "You see, I thrive on pain, on the despair of my opponents. It fuels me, drives me to new depths of sadistic pleasure. So, when we step into that ring, Billie, Adel, prepare to experience a torment unlike anything you've ever known." Alexandra's gaze narrows, her voice oozing with malice. "I will expose your weaknesses, exploit your vulnerabilities, and revel in every ounce of agony I inflict upon you. There will be no mercy, no respite. Only a relentless assault that will leave you broken and defeated."
She pauses, letting her words sink in before delivering her final warning. "Billie, Adel, mark my words. When the dust settles, there will be no trace of the fighters you once were. Your dreams of victory will crumble, your spirit will be shattered, and you will become nothing more than a cautionary tale, a reminder of the futility of standing against Alexandra Calaway and Stephen Terrella."
With a chilling laugh, she turns away, leaving behind an aura of darkness and impending destruction, as the scene fades to black.
Empty beer bottles, wine glasses and shot glasses lined the bar where Stephen Terrella and Portia are seated. Ever since they opened the club in May of this year they've spent many nights in it sitting at that bar drinking, much the same as they are on this night. It was the type of hands-off management style they favored; and being that the entire bar was essentially a front for the illegal money being made in the back room, what happened in the front wasn't a particularly serious concern as they drank away some of their potential profits.
Suddenly a noise draws Terrella's attention. He glances over his shoulder as one man lays on the floor, having been shoved over by another man. Stephen almost leaves his seat, old habits dying hard. However the bouncers that are now working for him instead of with him have the situation well in hand. He kills the rest of his beer before turning his head back to the bar. Stephen taps the counter with the empty in search of a refill.
"If you don't slow down you're going to be drunk before they get here, baby." Portia places her hand over top of Stephen's hand and gives it a squeeze.
"Off this?" Stephen holds up the empty bottle of Miller High Life, almost as if that was all the evidence he needed to make his point.
Stephen catches a glimpse of Alexandra Calaway and John Nash Strader entering the establishment. The man working the door looks to Stephen for a yay or nay on entry and Terrella gives him an affirmative nod. The doorman directs their attention to the bar where Stephen and Portia are sitting. Alexandra and John navigate their way through the rather unruly crowd holding hands until they reach the bar.
"Hi." Portia says to them before lifting the straw in her drink to her lips to briefly partake. "Sorry it's so loud in here! It's Friday night!"
Stephen pounds the counter three times to signal the bartender. "Ash, whatever they want is free all night." He points to Alexandra and John so Ashley -the bartender- understands his instructions clearly.
Alexandra nodded, leaning back against John who stood behind her; the two of them focused on Portia and Terrella. “Sorry it took us so long to get here, we had a few issues we had to deal with before getting here.”
John nodded and the two sat down next to Portia and Stephen, his hand on Alexandra’s thigh. He orders their drinks and then turns back to listen to the conversation. Despite Alexandra’s trust in Terrella, he wasn’t going to allow her to go into an unknown place without him, especially not with someone they barely knew and in unfamiliar territory.
Alexandra smiled at him, placing a hand on top of Johns before turning to look at Terrella. “I want you to know that you gained a lot of my respect in that match, between the two of us, there’s no way that we can lose. Your brute strength and my technical prowess, the desire we both have to make people bleed, makes us a formidable team.”
Terrella rubs at his chin, then nods as he takes in a heavy breath of the smoke-filled air. "Yeah, we could be. Let me shoot straight with you for a minute though. You ask around, I'm a lot of fucking things. Some people will say I'm an asshole, a bully, a ruthless son-of-a-bitch… and it's true, I am. I don't hide who the fuck I am. I've never pretended to be someone's friend to fucking cut'em. I say that shit cuz' yeah, you earned my respect in that fight too. I don't hand that shit out lightly. I want this shit to work."
"Because this right here," Terrella says while gesturing to John, Alexandra, Portia and himself, "is a group of killers. Any of us could get whatever the hell we wanted on our own, but I see the same shit you do- I see how strong we could be running together."
"We don't have to follow anyone's bullshit rules. We ain't got to ask anyone's permission. We can take what we want, how we want. Tell'em the best fucking part, babe."
Portia puts her drink down on the bar before turning her head to look at Alexandra and John. "I have Haynes wrapped around my little finger." She holds up just the pinky finger on her hand for emphasis. "There will be almost no consequences. If the two of you need a favor, it'll be done. The only thing we've ever had to answer for was when Stephen got a little too rough with Matt; and that's only because he damn near killed him, as you know."
"And I'm going to get Brandy's ass straight too," Terrella tells them. "I don't know what the fuck her deal is but we're going to sort that fucking shit out. She's going to be in, I guarantee it. We can run that fucking fed. Anyone gets in our way, we bleed their fucking ass out on that canvas."
“I’m not worried about all that. What I want you to know is that shit Knox said, about one of us betraying the other.. Won't happen, at least not from this end.” She took a drink of her own before speaking again. “I don’t know why I ever thought it was a good thing to try and work with him, but it seems that, in the grander scheme of things, I’m the one who came out on top. And if he feels that is a betrayal, perhaps he shouldn’t have swept me under the rug when it came to who helped him when the chips were down.”
John squeezes her leg and she nods, knowing what he was saying. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to get involved in his and Terrella’s issues, but I understand what you were doing.”
“Well that’s in the past now. I got the better deal. Now, what we need to think about here is the bullshit we are facing with our wonderful opponents.” She said that with a cocky smirk. “I’m sure they are going to have a field day knowing they are facing a team, where one member is a woman.”
John chuckled. “Well I’m pretty sure they saw what you did with Terrella. I’m sure they are probably quaking right about now.”
“If they have half a brain between them they are.” She gave a quick laugh and looked back over at them. "They are between me and what I want.”
Feeling a little tipsy now from the alcohol, Portia leans into Alexandra while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Those losers couldn't beat either one of you if you were by yourselves, let alone the two of you together. The last time anyone saw Adel he couldn't even think for himself. It was pathetic." She laughs as she pulls herself off of Alexandra and goes back to her drink.
"Ain't a fucking doubt in my head that we can beat'em… " Terrella tells Alexandra. "What we need to do is fucking hurt'em."
"I want to send a message to Knox and anyone else in that locker room watchin' that you don't fuck with us. You do, there is a price you're going to pay… and you're going to pay it in broken bones and you're own fuckin' blood. We need to make people fucking uncomfortable. We need to be fucking savage… and I know, looking at the two of you, you can do that. And like I told you when we were talking business the other day, this ain't me trying to play fucking leader. Portia talked to Haynes though and we got an ace in the hole… something that's going to put us on top of that fucking company when I get it."
"Who's the ace in the hole?" Alexandra tilted her head looking at Terrella. "Now you've got my curiosity up.."
Stephen, seated on the far left of the four, takes a quick look to his left, then back to the right to face them. "Ain't a fucking who, it's a what. Grab another drink, both of you… we'll go back to the office and I'll explain it."
Stephen gets up from his seat and Portia soon follows, hanging on Stephen's side as John and Alexandra gather themselves up to head back for a very private conversation.
The scene opens on a shot of Stephen Terrella seated behind a large desk in his office, with Portia comfortably seated on his lap. Alexandra Calaway sits on the front corner of the desk; holding hands with John Nash Strader, who stands to the side of the desk beside her.
"Everyone loves an underdog, don't they?" Portia says, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "It makes people feel good to root for the underdog because, on the inside, it makes them feel as if for once in their miserable, pathetic little lives they could overcome the odds, too. The loser could get the girl. The hapless idiot could get the big promotion. Anyone and everyone could have their happily ever after."
Alexandra kept a wicked smile on her face, trying to not laugh at Portia’s taunting. She found it hard not to, then John squeezed her hand and she looked up at him.
"Sure, sometimes it actually happens. Take Nick Danger, for instance- the walking definition of a born loser. He tried, and tried… and tried to win any type of championship gold he could here. Every time he lost, and the look on his face afterwards was always priceless. Then one day he actually won a title! Stunning as it was, it was a fluke… and it showed when he lost it by putting his belt on the line in the dumbest way imaginable… when all he had was everything to lose and nothing to gain."
Alexandra nodded in agreement with the things that Portia had just spoken. It was the truth, one hundred percent.
"Which just goes to show you… even when the underdog has their moment, they can't escape the hopelessness of their own lives." Portia flashes a cruel smile.
"Billie, Adel… I want you to understand that. I want you to let that sink in because, make no mistake, no matter how hard you've trained since your last failure… no matter how much therapy one of you may -or may not- have gone through, you're still failures. You are still the underdog going into this match against my man," Portia says as she runs her hand across Terrella's chest. She then points to Alexandra, adding, "and his partner, Alexandra Calaway."
"No matter how much hope you have, no matter how many pep talks Pooler has given you… you're not only going to lose, you're going to be made to serve as an example of the type of beatings and pain that are going to be handed out way more frequently around the IWF." Portia looks at Stephen, saying to him, "Tell'em, baby."
As Portia nuzzles up to Terrella, he looks straight ahead into the camera. "Real fuckin' simple, shitheads. We're going to beat the living piss out of you. Only thing is, after you quit, we're going to beat the piss out of you some more. We'll stop when you're bloodied and we get fucking bored. Then after they stretcher your asses out, maybe we'll come find you and beat your asses some more. Or maybe I'll just piss on your asses and call it a night cuz' I got no respect for either one of you motherfuckers."
"What do you think Calaway?"
She looks into the camera, her gaze cold, the wicked smile spreading across her face again. The camera focuses on Alexandra Calaway, her eyes gleaming with malevolence as she addresses her upcoming opponents, Billie and Adel.
"Listen closely, you pathetic little twerps," Alexandra sneers. "You may have your delusions of grandeur, thinking that you've grown stronger since your last encounter with some other laughable talent here in IWF. But let me make one thing abundantly clear: your growth is insignificant, your hope is laughable, and your dreams of victory are nothing more than fleeting fantasies. You haven’t stood against me and if you weren’t paying attention.. My friend Terrella, the man who I stood toe to toe with just a few weeks again when we spilled each other’s blood all over that ring."
"Billie, Adel, I want you to listen closely," she begins, her voice dripping with disdain. "You two have no idea what awaits you in the ring with me. You may think you have what it takes to stand against me, against Terrella, but you are sorely mistaken." A wicked smirk dances across her lips as she continues, "You see, I thrive in the darkness. I revel in the pain and suffering of my opponents. It fuels me, drives me to heights of sadistic pleasure that you could never comprehend."
She slips off the desk and takes a step forward, her voice growing colder and more sinister. "You may have your supporters, your feeble attempts at camaraderie, but let me tell you something. When you step foot into that ring with me, your so-called allies will be nothing more than spectators to your demise. She pauses for a moment, savoring the anticipation before continuing, her voice dripping with disdain. "I've heard your empty promises, your feeble attempts at bravery. But let me tell you something, my precious little darlings. The darkness that engulfs my heart is far more powerful than any flicker of hope you can conjure." She snaps her fingers.
A wicked glint dances in her eyes as she stays in her place, her voice growing colder and more menacing. "You see, I thrive on pain, on the despair of my opponents. It fuels me, drives me to new depths of sadistic pleasure. So, when we step into that ring, Billie, Adel, prepare to experience a torment unlike anything you've ever known." Alexandra's gaze narrows, her voice oozing with malice. "I will expose your weaknesses, exploit your vulnerabilities, and revel in every ounce of agony I inflict upon you. There will be no mercy, no respite. Only a relentless assault that will leave you broken and defeated."
She pauses, letting her words sink in before delivering her final warning. "Billie, Adel, mark my words. When the dust settles, there will be no trace of the fighters you once were. Your dreams of victory will crumble, your spirit will be shattered, and you will become nothing more than a cautionary tale, a reminder of the futility of standing against Alexandra Calaway and Stephen Terrella."
With a chilling laugh, she turns away, leaving behind an aura of darkness and impending destruction, as the scene fades to black.
Well howdy there pardner.