Post by SammieSinclair on Apr 12, 2015 15:04:37 GMT
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MARCH TO WAR!” proclaimed the Ring Announcer over the wild roars of several thousand FAWNatics, “Our opening contest is scheduled for one fall, with a fifteen minute time limit. Introducing first… hailing from Manchester, England in the United Kingdom… standing five feet two inches tall and weighing in this evening at one hundred and eighteen pounds… JAAAIIIMMMEEE LOOONNNDDDOOONNN!”
The hometown and the surname were more than enough to clue the FAWNatics in. They were witnessing the emergence of the next generation of certified FAWN royalty, and they gave the youngster an ovation worthy of her more accomplished aunt, almost drowning out the opening of Bjork’s “Army of Me”. The roar had only just begun to fade when the curtains part, and the youngster burst onto the stage.
Jaime London
ARMY OF ME:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3biZkA-TNvs
As indicated by the Announcer’s introduction, she was a little bit shorter than the elder London, and sported short red hair in place of Shea’s long, dirty blonde locks. One thing both women shared, however, was the million megawatt smile that instantly cemented the house being in the Briton’s corner. Jaime’s powerful, diminutive frame was clad in a dark blue two piece, her elbows and knees adorned in red pads and feet encased in red boots. Written across her tush, in flowing and rather girlish cursive red script was a one-word warning to any and all upcoming opponents: “Ka-BOOM!”
London 2.0 made her way down the aisle, slapping hands, her feet barely touching the floor; such was the energy with which the Lightweight approached the ring. Almost vaulting onto the apron, the young Brit swiftly headed to the nearest corner, mounting the top turnbuckle with all the grace the London name would suggest. Jaime pumped a fist, earning a cheer from the masses—a cheer that grew only louder when the redhead launched a perfect backward somersault, sticking the landing without as much as a wobble.
“And her opponent,” the Announcer resumes, “appearing tonight courtesy of our sister promotion, Desert Divas... Hailing from Poughkeepsie, New York, she stands five feet one inch tall and weighs in this tonight at one hundred and twenty-one pounds... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... KAAATTTHHHYYY ATTTLLLAAASSS!!”
Being an opponent of Baby London pretty much presupposed a crowd to jeer one, but despite those boos, there was also an initial round of respectful applause as Green Day’s “At the Library” began to play over the speakers. Call it “Orlando Courtesy.” But that would soon change when the developmental talent strode into view.
Kathy Atlas
AT THE LIBRARY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3biZkA-TNvs
And out stepped perhaps FAWN’s truest “little teapot”, short and stout, but by NO means unappealing. The curvy young blonde stood clad in a long sleeved purple blouse, unbuttoned very nearly to her navel and revealing a white lace bra underneath. Her legs were encased in stockings, with garters disappearing underneath a short, black miniskirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, with a pencil lodged behind her left ear, and sitting at the edge of her nose are a pair of glasses that at once managed to be both old fashioned AND stylish. White pads and boots completed her ensemble.
The first thing that began to mute the remaining cheers was the confident sneer firmly planted on Kathy’s lips. And what little warmth the young bookworm’s good looks might’ve earned her is finally silenced when Atlas brought a finger up to those very same lips.
“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Surprisingly, the FAWNatics did no such thing.
Kathy rolled her eyes and shook her head before beginning the journey down to the ring, and she promptly scolded anyone who so much as reached a hand out to touch her. Reaching the ring, Atlas climbed the steps and slipped through the ropes. As the official moved to inspect Jaime for foreign objects, Kathy undid her bun, allowing her golden locks to fall toward her shoulders before she also removed the pencil and her glasses.
The official had just turned his attention to Kathy when a telltale electronic scream from the speakers at the top of the ramp. Astounded by the possibility of seeing the party crasher so early in the evening, the crowd leapt to their feet and kept their eyes locked on the curtain through the first fifteen seconds of ‘Crown On The Ground’…
CROWN ON THE GROUND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPoIznBujEA
SUSANNAH BURLINGAME:
Susannah Burlingame stormed into view, her usually smirking features darkened by the angriest of frowns. Lest you wonder whether she was here to talk or fight, the Ace of the Black Court wore her standard dark blue two-piece with matching black boots and gold-trimmed pads. Burlingame produced a microphone from behind her back, raised it to her lips, then apparently decided against it because she lowered it to her side and started down the ramp.
No pyro from the Rainmaker tonight and no trash talk for that matter, the tawny brunette stunner remained eerily silent as she stalked through the veritable sea of hands extended from either side. Reaching the edge of the ring without incident, Susan slid under the bottom rope, sprang to her feet and claimed a mic from a tech before the Sleigh Bells faded out. Stick to her lips, the Rainmaker held out an apologetic hand to Kathy as she strode toward the newcomer. “Sorry, I’m not here to step on your initiation, I know everyone’s gotta trash a London to really earn their spot, but I have a problem that only you can solve.” Atlas started to open her mouth, only to shut it when Burlingame went on without waiting for an answer. “Here’s the thing, I checked out To Kill a Mockingbird in junior year and I’ve felt guilty about it ever since. Do you know who I might call if I wanted to square away all those late--”
Sue whirled the mic around, raised it overhead and BWUUUNKED the padded end directly between the ingenue’s eyes. Kathy staggered back, which proved disastrous as it gave Sue all the room she needed to twirl around and spring off her left foot. The former World Champion’s right leg flicked out like a switchblade, her heel THWHUNKING flush across the back of the blonde’s skull.
DEATH ROLL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXvbSKohcqM
Kathy went down in a heap and would’ve happily stayed there if Susannah hadn’t grabbed a savage double handful of hair and hauled her upright. Stuffing Atlas’s throbbing noggin under one arm, the Ace tossed the younger woman’s near arm across her shoulders and helped herself to a grip on Atlas’s black skirt. With Jaime and Merle as stunned as the FAWNatics, Sue encountered no meddlers when she popped her hips to whip the pole-axed blonde up, over and, “OOOOOOHHHHH!” Groans of sympathetic anguish from those assembled when Burlingame laid out at the apex of her lift, thus TWHUNKING the point of Kathy’s skull into the canvas with a gawdawful Snap Brainbuster. Atlas pooled out in a defenseless sprawl and didn’t so much as twitch even after Susan peppered her cheeks with a few ‘are ya fakin’, bytch?” smacks.
SNAP BRAINBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8bhFZWy-3c
Apparently satisfied, she picked up the microphone and turned her attention to Jaime London, who was standing at full alert. “Relax.” the Ace said with a smile. “I’m not here for you, I’ve got too much respect for your aunt to do that. I just really, really, REALLY can’t stand librarians and that’s been building for a long time. I’ll go now. Hey, can you get rid of this for me?” Susan tossed the microphone underhand to Jaime and the redhead instinctively stepped forward to pluck it from the air.
That’s when Susan lunged in and planted a cringe-inducing punt between Jaime’s thighs.
“ALL RIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH SUSAN!” Merle barked in hopes of regaining some semblance of control over the proceedings. “GET OUT OF THIS RING OR I’LL--”
“YOU’LL WHAT?” Susan roared right back. “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’LL DO, GEEK! YOU’LL STAND THERE WITH YOUR STUPID MOUTH HANGING OPEN AND WATCH ME DO WHAT I DO BEST!”
Dismissing him before the words were fully free of her mouth, Susan twined her hands in Jaime’s hair and forced her to stand with a single vile pull. London’s knees looked like they’d give way at any second, so Burlingame seized her right wrist and dipped behind to apply a Chickenwing. Immediately thereafter she placed her free hand on the back of London’s neck and pressed forward and down to turn the blindsided Englishwoman around into a relaxed Front Facelock. Jaime’s already vulnerable state grew all the more advanced when Susan reached down with her left arm, caught the redhead’s right leg behind the knee and lifted it off the canvas in an unpleasant cradle. Trap set, the Ace of the Black Court boosted Jaime upside down, letting her rest heavily against one hip to make sure she didn’t go anywhere when Sue started to spin. Burlingame usually tired of the twirls by about three or four, but tonight must’ve been special because she went through a full ten (as tolled by the FAWNatics) before she pushed up and sat out to SPIKE Jaime’s head with a heartless spirit crusher.
SPIRIT CRUSHER: `
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6BxSq6k68
The redhead bounced free to join Kathy in an insensate starfish, or at least would have if Susan hadn’t snatched hold of some hair and scraped her off the mat. “Jesus, Sue, leave her alone! She’s out!” Merle’s voice had dropped several notches, he simply didn’t know how to respond to this show of unexpected aggression.
For her part Susan had no interest in spiking this dead weight again, she did however desire some privacy, so she gripped Jaime by trunks and tresses and treated her to the Bum’s Rush all the way over the middle rope to the floor. Kathy Atlas joined her shortly thereafter, albeit on another side of the ring. Susan might’ve been on the warpath, but that didn’t mean the rookie deserved to wake up next to a London. No one deserved that.
Alone in her ring save for the mic and the official, Burlingame picked up the former and glared balefully at the latter. “Shouldn’t you check on the kiddies? They were in pretty bad shape the last time I checked.”
`
Merle thought that was a grand idea and he scurried off to see what aid he might administer before the medics arrived.
Looking to the fans for the first time since the massacre began, Susan took a deep breath and said, “It seems that many of you have forgotten just who I am as of late… so consider what you just saw a friendly reminder. In case you’re still not quite with the program, allow me to help. My name is Susannah Burlingame. I am a two time former FAWN World Champion. I am the Rainmaker, the Ace of the Black Court and more importantly, I AM THE SINGLE MOST ENTERTAINING WRESTLER WALKING GOD’S GREEN EARTH TODAY! No matter WHERE, no matter WHEN, no matter WHO, I ALWAYS deliver the match of the night! Oh, don’t even think about booing me, you know it’s true! You fat slobs might’ve just polished off a soda big enough to take a bath in, but if my music hits, your dimpled asses go back in those seats and stay there until I’ve blown those disgusting little minds!”
Burlingame broke off to rake a hand through her hair. When she resumed speaking she started pacing back n’ forth, presumably to stop herself from flying into another rage. `
“I am who you paid to see, I am who every woman behind that curtain wants to be and I am who will guide this company to the greatest heights its ever seen for at least the next decade!” Sue came to a halt in the middle of the ring and shook her head in disgust. “Rare is the woman who would cross me once. But a woman who would cross me twice? I didn’t think such a bytch existed. And yet… someone has. A petulant, inadequate, pathetic little hanger-on of a someone who goes by the name of Eliza Bliss. The first time was at All Hallows Evil when she stopped me from having my way with the coffin that just so happened to contain Olivia Dare. That one I can ALMOST forgive because Olivia is clearly this leech’s meal ticket and if she were to find herself without the Storm’s protection Bliss’d be rotting away in the Jungle by month’s end. So just that once, I was willing to let it slide. But then came Thrills, Chills & Spills. I had Sydney Deschain mewling at my feet and do you know what you did, Eliza? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID YOU THOUGHTLESS, PASTY WHORE?”``
The Ace tromped to the ropes and mounted the second, looking for a moment like she might actually dive down on the still smoldering wreckage of Jaime London. But she held her position, much to Merle’s relief.
“You stole her from me, Eliza. I was seconds away from capping off a decade long rivalry with the sort of humiliation that would’ve retired her on the spot… and you stole her from me. In stealing her, you stole the moment, defiled it, even. What should’ve been one of the greatest nights of my career ended up with my face buried in that old bytch’s ass. She posterized me, Eliza. No, YOU, posterized me. Be honest, Bliss. Did you get a sick, vicarious thrill when Deschain humiliated me? I hope you did. I hope it gave you the thrill of a lifetime because what I’m giving in return is the BEATING of a lifetime. And I won’t need anyone else to help me either. What I do to you, be it in this ring, somewhere in this building or anywhere else in this great big world of ours, will not be for the faint of heart. It will not be a match or a brawl or an athletic contest of any kind. It will go down in the annals of FAWN as one of those truly uncomfortable moments when those who see it unfold realize they are seeing the end of a once promising career. Because that’s what I’m going to do, Eliza. End you. As a wrestler, an opera singer or even a pop culture footnote. Your only legacy will be bloodstains on this canvas. And even those fade away eventually. So get ready, Songbird. Say your goodbyes, make the proper arrangements and make your peace with whatever god looks out for understudies. You might’ve bluffed your way through a hand or two back in January, but when the stakes are high and we’re alone at the table…. nothing… and NO ONE … trumps the Ace.”
Susan flipped the microphone over one shoulder and exited through the ropes without paying the slightest bit of attention to Kathy, Jaime or the half dozen medics divided between them. Her mind was still dwelling on Eliza Bliss and just what sorts of notes she might produce the first time Burlingame drove a fist straight down her throat.
The hometown and the surname were more than enough to clue the FAWNatics in. They were witnessing the emergence of the next generation of certified FAWN royalty, and they gave the youngster an ovation worthy of her more accomplished aunt, almost drowning out the opening of Bjork’s “Army of Me”. The roar had only just begun to fade when the curtains part, and the youngster burst onto the stage.
Jaime London
ARMY OF ME:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3biZkA-TNvs
As indicated by the Announcer’s introduction, she was a little bit shorter than the elder London, and sported short red hair in place of Shea’s long, dirty blonde locks. One thing both women shared, however, was the million megawatt smile that instantly cemented the house being in the Briton’s corner. Jaime’s powerful, diminutive frame was clad in a dark blue two piece, her elbows and knees adorned in red pads and feet encased in red boots. Written across her tush, in flowing and rather girlish cursive red script was a one-word warning to any and all upcoming opponents: “Ka-BOOM!”
London 2.0 made her way down the aisle, slapping hands, her feet barely touching the floor; such was the energy with which the Lightweight approached the ring. Almost vaulting onto the apron, the young Brit swiftly headed to the nearest corner, mounting the top turnbuckle with all the grace the London name would suggest. Jaime pumped a fist, earning a cheer from the masses—a cheer that grew only louder when the redhead launched a perfect backward somersault, sticking the landing without as much as a wobble.
“And her opponent,” the Announcer resumes, “appearing tonight courtesy of our sister promotion, Desert Divas... Hailing from Poughkeepsie, New York, she stands five feet one inch tall and weighs in this tonight at one hundred and twenty-one pounds... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... KAAATTTHHHYYY ATTTLLLAAASSS!!”
Being an opponent of Baby London pretty much presupposed a crowd to jeer one, but despite those boos, there was also an initial round of respectful applause as Green Day’s “At the Library” began to play over the speakers. Call it “Orlando Courtesy.” But that would soon change when the developmental talent strode into view.
Kathy Atlas
AT THE LIBRARY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3biZkA-TNvs
And out stepped perhaps FAWN’s truest “little teapot”, short and stout, but by NO means unappealing. The curvy young blonde stood clad in a long sleeved purple blouse, unbuttoned very nearly to her navel and revealing a white lace bra underneath. Her legs were encased in stockings, with garters disappearing underneath a short, black miniskirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, with a pencil lodged behind her left ear, and sitting at the edge of her nose are a pair of glasses that at once managed to be both old fashioned AND stylish. White pads and boots completed her ensemble.
The first thing that began to mute the remaining cheers was the confident sneer firmly planted on Kathy’s lips. And what little warmth the young bookworm’s good looks might’ve earned her is finally silenced when Atlas brought a finger up to those very same lips.
“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Surprisingly, the FAWNatics did no such thing.
Kathy rolled her eyes and shook her head before beginning the journey down to the ring, and she promptly scolded anyone who so much as reached a hand out to touch her. Reaching the ring, Atlas climbed the steps and slipped through the ropes. As the official moved to inspect Jaime for foreign objects, Kathy undid her bun, allowing her golden locks to fall toward her shoulders before she also removed the pencil and her glasses.
The official had just turned his attention to Kathy when a telltale electronic scream from the speakers at the top of the ramp. Astounded by the possibility of seeing the party crasher so early in the evening, the crowd leapt to their feet and kept their eyes locked on the curtain through the first fifteen seconds of ‘Crown On The Ground’…
CROWN ON THE GROUND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPoIznBujEA
SUSANNAH BURLINGAME:
Susannah Burlingame stormed into view, her usually smirking features darkened by the angriest of frowns. Lest you wonder whether she was here to talk or fight, the Ace of the Black Court wore her standard dark blue two-piece with matching black boots and gold-trimmed pads. Burlingame produced a microphone from behind her back, raised it to her lips, then apparently decided against it because she lowered it to her side and started down the ramp.
No pyro from the Rainmaker tonight and no trash talk for that matter, the tawny brunette stunner remained eerily silent as she stalked through the veritable sea of hands extended from either side. Reaching the edge of the ring without incident, Susan slid under the bottom rope, sprang to her feet and claimed a mic from a tech before the Sleigh Bells faded out. Stick to her lips, the Rainmaker held out an apologetic hand to Kathy as she strode toward the newcomer. “Sorry, I’m not here to step on your initiation, I know everyone’s gotta trash a London to really earn their spot, but I have a problem that only you can solve.” Atlas started to open her mouth, only to shut it when Burlingame went on without waiting for an answer. “Here’s the thing, I checked out To Kill a Mockingbird in junior year and I’ve felt guilty about it ever since. Do you know who I might call if I wanted to square away all those late--”
Sue whirled the mic around, raised it overhead and BWUUUNKED the padded end directly between the ingenue’s eyes. Kathy staggered back, which proved disastrous as it gave Sue all the room she needed to twirl around and spring off her left foot. The former World Champion’s right leg flicked out like a switchblade, her heel THWHUNKING flush across the back of the blonde’s skull.
DEATH ROLL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXvbSKohcqM
Kathy went down in a heap and would’ve happily stayed there if Susannah hadn’t grabbed a savage double handful of hair and hauled her upright. Stuffing Atlas’s throbbing noggin under one arm, the Ace tossed the younger woman’s near arm across her shoulders and helped herself to a grip on Atlas’s black skirt. With Jaime and Merle as stunned as the FAWNatics, Sue encountered no meddlers when she popped her hips to whip the pole-axed blonde up, over and, “OOOOOOHHHHH!” Groans of sympathetic anguish from those assembled when Burlingame laid out at the apex of her lift, thus TWHUNKING the point of Kathy’s skull into the canvas with a gawdawful Snap Brainbuster. Atlas pooled out in a defenseless sprawl and didn’t so much as twitch even after Susan peppered her cheeks with a few ‘are ya fakin’, bytch?” smacks.
SNAP BRAINBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8bhFZWy-3c
Apparently satisfied, she picked up the microphone and turned her attention to Jaime London, who was standing at full alert. “Relax.” the Ace said with a smile. “I’m not here for you, I’ve got too much respect for your aunt to do that. I just really, really, REALLY can’t stand librarians and that’s been building for a long time. I’ll go now. Hey, can you get rid of this for me?” Susan tossed the microphone underhand to Jaime and the redhead instinctively stepped forward to pluck it from the air.
That’s when Susan lunged in and planted a cringe-inducing punt between Jaime’s thighs.
“ALL RIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH SUSAN!” Merle barked in hopes of regaining some semblance of control over the proceedings. “GET OUT OF THIS RING OR I’LL--”
“YOU’LL WHAT?” Susan roared right back. “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’LL DO, GEEK! YOU’LL STAND THERE WITH YOUR STUPID MOUTH HANGING OPEN AND WATCH ME DO WHAT I DO BEST!”
Dismissing him before the words were fully free of her mouth, Susan twined her hands in Jaime’s hair and forced her to stand with a single vile pull. London’s knees looked like they’d give way at any second, so Burlingame seized her right wrist and dipped behind to apply a Chickenwing. Immediately thereafter she placed her free hand on the back of London’s neck and pressed forward and down to turn the blindsided Englishwoman around into a relaxed Front Facelock. Jaime’s already vulnerable state grew all the more advanced when Susan reached down with her left arm, caught the redhead’s right leg behind the knee and lifted it off the canvas in an unpleasant cradle. Trap set, the Ace of the Black Court boosted Jaime upside down, letting her rest heavily against one hip to make sure she didn’t go anywhere when Sue started to spin. Burlingame usually tired of the twirls by about three or four, but tonight must’ve been special because she went through a full ten (as tolled by the FAWNatics) before she pushed up and sat out to SPIKE Jaime’s head with a heartless spirit crusher.
SPIRIT CRUSHER: `
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6BxSq6k68
The redhead bounced free to join Kathy in an insensate starfish, or at least would have if Susan hadn’t snatched hold of some hair and scraped her off the mat. “Jesus, Sue, leave her alone! She’s out!” Merle’s voice had dropped several notches, he simply didn’t know how to respond to this show of unexpected aggression.
For her part Susan had no interest in spiking this dead weight again, she did however desire some privacy, so she gripped Jaime by trunks and tresses and treated her to the Bum’s Rush all the way over the middle rope to the floor. Kathy Atlas joined her shortly thereafter, albeit on another side of the ring. Susan might’ve been on the warpath, but that didn’t mean the rookie deserved to wake up next to a London. No one deserved that.
Alone in her ring save for the mic and the official, Burlingame picked up the former and glared balefully at the latter. “Shouldn’t you check on the kiddies? They were in pretty bad shape the last time I checked.”
`
Merle thought that was a grand idea and he scurried off to see what aid he might administer before the medics arrived.
Looking to the fans for the first time since the massacre began, Susan took a deep breath and said, “It seems that many of you have forgotten just who I am as of late… so consider what you just saw a friendly reminder. In case you’re still not quite with the program, allow me to help. My name is Susannah Burlingame. I am a two time former FAWN World Champion. I am the Rainmaker, the Ace of the Black Court and more importantly, I AM THE SINGLE MOST ENTERTAINING WRESTLER WALKING GOD’S GREEN EARTH TODAY! No matter WHERE, no matter WHEN, no matter WHO, I ALWAYS deliver the match of the night! Oh, don’t even think about booing me, you know it’s true! You fat slobs might’ve just polished off a soda big enough to take a bath in, but if my music hits, your dimpled asses go back in those seats and stay there until I’ve blown those disgusting little minds!”
Burlingame broke off to rake a hand through her hair. When she resumed speaking she started pacing back n’ forth, presumably to stop herself from flying into another rage. `
“I am who you paid to see, I am who every woman behind that curtain wants to be and I am who will guide this company to the greatest heights its ever seen for at least the next decade!” Sue came to a halt in the middle of the ring and shook her head in disgust. “Rare is the woman who would cross me once. But a woman who would cross me twice? I didn’t think such a bytch existed. And yet… someone has. A petulant, inadequate, pathetic little hanger-on of a someone who goes by the name of Eliza Bliss. The first time was at All Hallows Evil when she stopped me from having my way with the coffin that just so happened to contain Olivia Dare. That one I can ALMOST forgive because Olivia is clearly this leech’s meal ticket and if she were to find herself without the Storm’s protection Bliss’d be rotting away in the Jungle by month’s end. So just that once, I was willing to let it slide. But then came Thrills, Chills & Spills. I had Sydney Deschain mewling at my feet and do you know what you did, Eliza? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID YOU THOUGHTLESS, PASTY WHORE?”``
The Ace tromped to the ropes and mounted the second, looking for a moment like she might actually dive down on the still smoldering wreckage of Jaime London. But she held her position, much to Merle’s relief.
“You stole her from me, Eliza. I was seconds away from capping off a decade long rivalry with the sort of humiliation that would’ve retired her on the spot… and you stole her from me. In stealing her, you stole the moment, defiled it, even. What should’ve been one of the greatest nights of my career ended up with my face buried in that old bytch’s ass. She posterized me, Eliza. No, YOU, posterized me. Be honest, Bliss. Did you get a sick, vicarious thrill when Deschain humiliated me? I hope you did. I hope it gave you the thrill of a lifetime because what I’m giving in return is the BEATING of a lifetime. And I won’t need anyone else to help me either. What I do to you, be it in this ring, somewhere in this building or anywhere else in this great big world of ours, will not be for the faint of heart. It will not be a match or a brawl or an athletic contest of any kind. It will go down in the annals of FAWN as one of those truly uncomfortable moments when those who see it unfold realize they are seeing the end of a once promising career. Because that’s what I’m going to do, Eliza. End you. As a wrestler, an opera singer or even a pop culture footnote. Your only legacy will be bloodstains on this canvas. And even those fade away eventually. So get ready, Songbird. Say your goodbyes, make the proper arrangements and make your peace with whatever god looks out for understudies. You might’ve bluffed your way through a hand or two back in January, but when the stakes are high and we’re alone at the table…. nothing… and NO ONE … trumps the Ace.”
Susan flipped the microphone over one shoulder and exited through the ropes without paying the slightest bit of attention to Kathy, Jaime or the half dozen medics divided between them. Her mind was still dwelling on Eliza Bliss and just what sorts of notes she might produce the first time Burlingame drove a fist straight down her throat.
