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Resurrection
Act 1
Off Camera
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Why did I leave Samantha Hodgson and side with Silas
Mason? It makes perfect sense if you
bother to take time and consider what I’ve had to go through these last seven
months as a member of The House of Hodgson.
I had to change my image to fit her idea of what a champion is, I had to
hide my wife Lindsey Carter from public view, and in return I was promised a
world championship. Hodgson made me jump
through hoops while promising me the world but gave me nothing in return.
With a few peanuts you can train a monkey to do damn near
anything. The monkey performs his task,
the monkey gets his reward. It’s
conditioning and it’s real simple. Call
me a trained monkey if you want but I believed Samantha when she told me I
would be rewarded with championship gold, just as monkeys believe that they
will be rewarded with their tasty treat.
So this trained monkey decided that enough was enough when Samantha
Hodgson failed to deliver on her promise, when she failed to get me a world
championship. I would no longer perform any
tricks or jump through anymore hoops.
Now the question some might have would be, why would I join
Silas World when the sole purpose of that group is to win and keep the SCW
World Championship for Kelcey Wallace? The truth is that my allegiance with Silas
Mason has already paid dividends. After
failing to capture the GFC World Heavyweight Title when Chandler Scott in a
cowardly move used a count out to retain the title, I have already received a
rematch, this time with stipulation of no count outs. That’s two straight world title shots I have
had and I currently reign as Global Heavyweight Champion in GCW, all of which
came in hardly two weeks time since aligning myself with Silas Mason. Samantha Hodgson managed to do absolutely
nothing in seven months.
How can I not show my appreciation for everything Silas
World has done by doing them a favor or three?
One such favor involves a man by the name of Jake Starr. He had earned a title shot that he could cash
in at any time he wanted and he used it to insert himself into the main event
of Rise To Greatness.
Normally I would applaud such a move. Hell, I would’ve done the same damn
thing. But the problem is that by doing this
he is screwing with Kelcey Wallace’s business and by screwing with her business
he is screwing with Silas Mason’s business and when you screw with his business
that puts you right in the line of fire.
That makes you my next victim.
Jake Starr, much like most individuals in Supreme
Championship Wrestling, has yet to be formally introduced to me. He doesn’t quite know exactly what I am
capable of. True, he may have heard
things. But I am almost certain he has
only heard the good things, the stories of championship glory and victories
galore. Those are stories of The Golden
Goddess and Firestar, but the problem for him is that he won’t be fighting
either of those incarnations at Breakdown.
He’ll be facing The Dragon.
It’s the mode I fear most because it brings out the worst of
me. But I knew I had to do it, not for
me, but for Silas and Kelcey. The Dragon
had a job to do and eliminate Jake Starr so he wouldn’t even make it to the
main event of Rise To Greatness.
Alone time is what I need in order to get into that
mindset. Being with Brittany Lohan is
fun, and I do love my wife Lindsey, but neither of them can help me get into
Dragon mode. Only myself, my sadistic
self, can do it. That’s what brings me
to my personal gym on the grounds of Jones Estate, which I playfully and
legally call Purgatory.
Little do I know that I am about to have my privacy invaded…
“Angel? Angel, are you…” his voice trails off;
obviously he just now spotted me standing in the center of the blue amateur
wrestling mat with my head bowed and my back turned towards him “…oh, there you are.”
That voice belongs to my father, Bart Jones. Bart and I have had an up and down
relationship ever since my mother died when I was still just a teenager. I blamed him for most everything negative
that happened to me since then and practically kicked him out of my very
life. I didn’t want anything to do with
him. Only recently did we reconnect with
a promise to, at the very least, talk things over.
Today is not a good day to do any talking. I am preparing myself not just for a match
with Jake Starr, but for the very execution of a man who wronged and
disrespected Kelcey Wallace and Silas World.
Blood is on my mind. A thirst for
death and destruction is what I want. I
do not desire any small talk with a man who has barely been in my life.
I do not bother to give him a proper reaction. This is rude to most but for me, right here
and right now, this is the best reaction I can give, not just for my sake but
for his own well being. He has no idea
what he has just set foot into. This isn’t
his daughter he is staring at. This isn’t
his baby girl he is talking to. This is
a dangerous creature, a monster that has ended careers. This is The Dragon.
“Angelica?”
He is a very persistent individual, you have to give him
that. Some would call Bart Jones
stubborn and perhaps that is where my sister and I get our infamous stubborn
streaks from. Nevertheless, he needs to
know to stay away…for now…
“This is not a good
time, dad…”
“You never answered
any of my calls, Angel.” He acts as if he didn’t hear me. He ignores me as he continues speaking, as if
I said nothing to him. “You said you
wanted to hammer things out, you said you wanted to talk, but you never did
call me back after that time we spoke at your mother’s grave.”
“This is not a good
time…”
“When will it be a
good time?” I can feel his breath down my neck. He must be right behind me now. “This talk has been decades in the
making. We cannot avoid it any longer.”
He places a hand on my shoulder. “Please, Angel…let’s just talk…”
The Dragon has been contained for as long as it can be. This hand, this man who is my father, his
hand on my shoulder is enough to spark the flame of The Dragon and it now is
unleashed, whether he likes it or not. In
one swift motion I swing around and swat his hand off of my shoulder. I grab him around his neck by both hands and
squeeze tightly, glaring angrily into his face.
“I said this was not a
good time!”
“Angel, don’t make me
do this…”
“I will kill you, Bart
Jones!” My voice comes out almost demon like. “I
swear I will!”
He snatches my hands and in a swift movement of his own he
switches positions, spinning me around and now he has me in a hammerlock.
“Calm down, Angel…calm
down and I’ll let you go…”
“Calm down?!” I
reverse the hammerlock into one of my own on him. Then I reach into my pocket and produce a
blade and hold it to his throat. “I’ll
calm you for good Bart Jones…”
You would expect someone to be afraid, worried, nervous as a
blade is put to their throat.
Surprisingly, my father is none of those things. He seems extraordinarily calm despite the
fact that his life is perhaps at stake here.
“Angelica Kelly Jones…”
He speaks this in a strong, stern tone of voice. And yet the voice is also warm and
fatherly. It is enough to pour water
onto the nearly unquenchable fires of The Dragon.
“Huh?”
“Angelica Kelly Jones…put
the blade down.”
That final sentence did it.
I stare at the blade and my hand starts to shake. I drop it to the floor and slowly back away,
releasing the hammerlock I had on my father.
Tears start to form in my eyes and voice cracks.
“Daddy I…I can’t…I’m
sorry I just…”
I bury my head in my hands, turning my back to him. He walks up to me and places an arm around my
shoulders, comforting arms to hug me tight in an embrace, letting me know it’s
ok.
“It’s ok, Angel. I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” I
reply bluntly. “You really don’t
understand what it is like in my head.”
I bring my head back up and face him with my tear filled
eyes. With my right hand I point to my
head.
“I usually keep a good
control over myself…over my emotions…but that dark side of myself still lies
dormant, right up there in my head, ready to be awaken by something.”
“I see…” he nods
his head, knowingly “…I take it I set it
off then, am I right?”
“…yeah.”
We break the embrace.
My father sighs. “I can’t say I
blame you, darling. Not after what I
did.”
“That was The Dragon,
dad. Not me.”
“But you are one and the same.” He accurately points out. “This isn’t like Arcadia Chavez. These are not multiple personalities. The Dragon is every bit you as Firestar or
The Golden Goddess is. The Dragon is
just your temper taken to the nth degree.
And like I said, I can’t blame you for being angry.”
I watch as he slowly makes his way across the room. His slow stride and the demeanor in which he
lumbers across the room, which his back hunched over, makes me feel guilty at
how I treated him, especially here just now as I pulled a blade on him. I pulled a blade on my own father and, to be
honest, it was me that did it. I can’t
say it was The Dragon as if it is another entity altogether. The Dragon is really and truly me. I have to accept that. I have to come to terms with that.
Eventually my father makes his way to a bench against the
far wall. He sits down on it and motions
for me to follow. I hesitate at first,
for this is not a meeting I had been looking forward to and me almost killing
him just now makes it even more awkward.
But it’s now or never, I guess. I
glide across the floor, making my way over to the bench where I sit down next
to my father.
“I have followed you
very closely, Angel. Ever since you got
your start in the industry I have kept my eyes on you.” A low chuckle escapes your lips. “Your first year was phenomenal. GDW World Champion as a rookie.”
A grave, more serious look forms on his face. “But then I saw what the industry did to you…”
“What do you mean?”
“You grew more
violent, more aggressive, and more sadistic.
The things you did to your own body and to other people shocked me. I couldn’t believe and I found it difficult
to accept that my little girl was capable of such things.”
He says this like a parent chiding his child. Oddly enough, I do feel some guilt stemming
from his words. He sighs and nods his
head.
“But then I realized
that I shouldn’t be surprised…it is my fault after all.”
“Your fault?”
“Well, I take partial
blame. What that monster did to your
mother on that horrible night scarred you forever and it got the ball rolling. But I’m the one who sent you away. I sent you and your sister both away and what
happened to you while you were all on your own created that monster you call
The Dragon.”
My father, Bart Jones, turns his head away in shame. “I created The Dragon, Angelica. You and I both know it. I’m sorry…”
I reach over with my right hand and guide his head so that
he is once again facing me. I can see
the deep regret etched across his face.
I feel bad for giving him such hell for so many years.
“Look dad, there’s no
need to apologize.”
“But…”
“No…” I hold up a
hand to silence him “…there is no undoing
what has already been done. The Dragon
is there. There’s no changing that. Mom is dead, there is no changing that. And Kayla is forever scarred. There is no changing that. There is absolutely no point in dwelling on
the past.”
“Then why did you want
to talk?”
“I want to focus on
the future.” A smile slides across
my face. “For awhile I thought there was no
future for us, but then cousin Glory convinced me to do a little
introspection. She convinced me to look
into my own soul and see what I had been doing.”
Tears once again well up in my eyes as the emotions run
wild, the sadness and remorse rise up again as I remember my own past mistakes,
mistakes almost as grievous, if not more so, than my own father’s.
“Marie’s father is
dead because of me. For eighteen years
of her life I treated Jessica as a second class citizen. I once took a lead pipe to my sister’s head
and tried to end her wrestling career all on an angry rage.”
I wipe the tears out of my own eyes even as I gaze into my
father’s. I can tell he is shocked by
what I am telling him. There is even a
hint of disappointment. He won’t say it
to me but it’s there. I can sense it.
“They forgave me,
dad. All of them forgave me. And that’s when it hit me…Marie, Jessica, and
Kayla all forgave me for what I did but then I can’t forgive you for what you
did? That’s rather hypocritical of me.”
“Are you saying what I
think you’re saying, Angel?”
I nod my head, fighting back the desire to start bawling here
and now. “Yes, daddy. I forgive you. I want to start over with a clean slate.”
And just like that we embrace once again in a tight hug, and
for the first time ever a true, loving hug between father and daughter. I can hear him sobbing tears of joy.
“You have no idea how
long I have waited for this moment…a moment I never thought would come…”
He isn’t the only one who never thought this day would come. I spent many years hating him for splitting
me and Kayla up and sending us away from him.
I spent many years blaming him for everything bad that ever happened in
my life. It’s amazing that finally,
after all of the pain and heartache, after the trials and tribulations I have
been through, I finally have grown up enough that I can look into the mirror
and take responsibility for my own actions and, most importantly, I can forgive
him for his actions, and forgive him for some things that were outside of his
control. For a long time I considered a
girl without a father but now, I can honestly say, on this father’s day I am
happy to be with my dad.
“It will be tough in
the early going, you know?” My father says as we break the embrace. “We can’t permanently erase the past and
pretend it never happened.”
“I know, dad. I know.”
“Speaking of the past,
how do you think your sister will react to this?”
I take in a deep breath and sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “I honestly don’t know. Kayla was probably
hurt the most of the two of us. It would
take a lot to get her to even consider the possibility of talking to you again…no
offense…”
“None taken. Like I said, I understand what I did and I
accept the consequences. But…” he
reaches into his coat pocket and produces a packet, a packet of pictures which
he hands to me “…there may be hope yet.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s why I have spent
so much time away from the United States, away from you girls.”
I look at the packet of pictures, going through them one by
one. Each one brings another surprise
and shock to my face. I look up at my
father who is nodding his head.
“Dad…does Kayla know
this?”
“No. I thought you might be the best one to share
that information.”
This isn’t going to be fun…
==========
The Dragon
On Camera
==========
Pitch black.
Darkness. That is what we see at
this point until a lone voice breaks through…
“Taking Hold of the
Flame turned out exactly as it was supposed to turn out. For well over thirty minutes I unleashed hell
upon anyone and everyone who got in my way.
I gave just as much punishment as was given to me and I enjoyed every
bit of it. Then, at the end of it all,
only one individual took that flame and held it high over her head victoriously
and that person was Kelcey Wallace.
Everything was as it should be.”
“Unfortunately, as with
any competitive sporting event, there are sore losers. You have outsiders looking in who want what
they know they should not have, that should never have been theirs. The impatient ones who instead of waiting
their turn they just reach out and take it!
They steal the spotlight from those who deserve it.”
Just then one line shines down upon a female figure, that of
Angelica Jones. The red head is wearing
blue jeans, black boots, a black “Angelica Jones” t-shirt and her signature black
leather jacket. Her long red hair hangs
down to shoulder length.
“Shaun Cruze should be
defending the SCW World Championship at Rise To Greatness against Kelcey and
Kelcey alone. You know it, I know it,
the rest of the world knows it. She was
the one who outlasted thirty-nine other superstars, she is the one who took
hold of the flame, she is the one who rightfully earned this spot, what had
been promised to her as a one on one match against Cruze for the belt.”
“Shaun Cruze against Kelcey
Wallace one on one is what the wrestling world wants. That’s what the SCW fans want. And we do care about those little people,
right? Right?” She shakes her head. “Not all of us. There is one individual who has taken it up
himself to deny the wrestling world and the fans what they want to see, but
more importantly than that this one man is denying Kelcey what she has
rightfully earned.”
“That one man is Jake
Starr.”
Jones lets out a slight chuckle. “You know, Jake, what you did to insert yourself into the main event of
Rise To Greatness was brilliant, I’ll give you that much. I’ll even go as far as to say that I would
probably do the exact same thing had I been in your shoes. I mean, why not? Ultimate opportunists use the ultimate
opportunity presented to them to reach up and grab that brass ring, right? It only makes sense.”
“Your mistake was that
you picked the wrong time to cash in.”
“Why did you do it,
Jake?” Angelica shrugs her shoulders. “It
just doesn’t make any sense to me! Why
did you go and ruin a perfectly opportunity?
There were plenty of good times, good opportunities you could have
cashed in and become champion. But you
just had to wait and use it the Breakdown after Kelcey became number one
contender via her victory at Taking Hold of the Flame.”
Angelica shakes her head with a look of disappointment on
her face. “It’s sad. It really is sad because what could have been
an incredible opportunity for you to become SCW World Champion has been
squandered. It has been wasted with your
stupid decision to throw it all away and for what? Main eventing Rise To Greatness?”
“You know as well as I
do that you didn’t earn your way there, Jake.
Only two people earned their way into that main event; Shaun Cruze by
virtue of remaining champion and Kelcey Wallace by virtue of winning Taking
Hold of the Flame. What did you do to
earn your spot? You marched your ass to
the ring, interrupted a contract signing, and put your little contract on the table.”
She waves with her left hand as if pushing something aside. “But let’s leave that aside for just a
moment and focus on what really boggles my mind, Jake. You messed with Silas World. You just had to go and fuck with Silas World.”
A sinister grin forms across her face. “You do not want to screw with Silas World. And I’m going to tell you why. Silas Mason can certainly handle himself but
he isn’t going to lower himself to messing with the likes of you. Kelcey will defeat you if she gets her hands
on you. But there are two individuals in
Silas World, both of whom have no problem dirtying their hands, both of whom
love to shed a little blood, both of whom will push the envelope far beyond any
limits set by any sane person. One of
those individuals is Brittany Lohan.”
“The other is your
opponent at Breakdown. The other person
is me, Angelica Jones.”
“When I debuted I told
the world what I could do. When they
didn’t believe me I showed them what they could do, against Alec Jacobs and then
at Taking Hold of the Flame by lasting over thirty minutes. You now know what The Golden Goddess is
capable of, you know what Firestar is capable of.”
“But those two
incarnations of Angelica Jones are staying behind.”
She shakes her head. “No,
I realize that for this match I need to introduce you and the rest of SCW to
the third incarnation of Angelica Jones.
It’s time I introduce you to The Dragon.”
“You want to know why
I defeated Alec Jacobs? The Golden
Goddess wanted to beat him up, beat him down, and take that victory so that’s
what I did. Do you want to know how I
was able to last so long at Taking Hold of the Flame? Because Firestar had that one singular goal
every superstar has, to last as long as possible, to do as good as she can, and
that’s what I did.”
“But The Dragon is
different. The Dragon is that dark part
of my mind that I try to keep locked away.
I try to keep it chained up because it’s too dangerous to let out. The Dragon is dangerous because it doesn’t
want to win, per se. The Dragon just
wants to hurt people. The Dragon wants
to inflict as much pain and destruction as humanly possible. The Dragon will not rest until you are
bleeding from every pore and are left a quivering mass in the center of the
ring.”
A sinister laugh escapes her lips. “I might snap, get disqualified, and lose, but as long as in the
process I have left you completely and utterly destroyed then I am happy. That is what separates The Dragon from the
others.”
The one spotlight that had been illuminating everything
suddenly disappears. The pitch black
darkness reemerges. Angelica, though,
continues to speak.
“The Dragon is the
darkness that I have to live with. It is
the potential that on any given night that monster could be unleashed and end
someone once and for all. That is the
darkness that I live with, that I have no choice but to deal with.”
“Now you are about to
step into my darkness. When you feel
every bone in your body snapping like twigs, when you feel that blood rolling
down your face and your skin, when you feel the flesh being peeled from the
bone until there is nothing left but marrow, know that The Dragon has come and
done the job it was set out to do.”
“Take my advice, have
an ambulance on standby. The only way
you’re making it to Rise To Greatness is if you get a damn good doctor at a
damn good hospital, because there is no way in hell you are going to survive
The Dragon. I am unleashing The Dragon
on Breakdown, not for myself but for Silas World, for Kelcey Wallace, and…”
A laugh is heard in the darkness. “…just for shits and giggles.”
