Tag Team Unity

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Off Camera

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It is a bitter cold day in Boston, Massachusetts as Bart Jones, the father of Angelica and Kayla Jones, together known as The Sisterhood, stands in a bright and yet, by contrast dreary, cemetery near Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church where the family grew up.  Age has caught up with him.  Age had not been kind to him even before he returned to the United States from Russia decades ago to reunite with his daughters.  Now the gray hairs and bristly beard tells the story of an old war horse who has been through pure hell on earth during his lifetime and has yet survived it all.  He survived the Russian Mafia going after him, he survived being separated from his family, he survived his daughters turning on him, and he stands here today, alive, well, and, as far as he knows, fully reunited with his children, with Angelica and Kayla, just as he had wanted so long ago.

Or so he thinks…

The grizzled and aged former FBI agent stands at the entrance to the cemetery’s Mausoleum.  He recently received a call from his daughters, Angelica specifically, with one simple request: meet them at the cemetery.  Bart has no idea what Angelica and Kayla want but when they ask to meet them at “the cemetery” he knows which one they mean.  They mean the Mausoleum that contains the remains of Kelly Jones, Angelica and Kayla’s mother, and Bart’s wife.

This particular spot is very important to the Jones family and especially to Angelica and Kayla.  Therefore, Bart knows that whenever they want to meet here that it must be something important that they want to discuss and it is for that reason that Bart is slightly concerned.  He can only wait until they arrive before he can find out what is going on.  He has been waiting for an hour now…

…his wait is over.

A hand suddenly grabs him by the throat and squeezes tightly.  Bart’s FBI training instinctively takes over and he snatches a hold of the hand and pries it off.  He is about to turn the person into a hammerlock until he sees that the hand belongs to…

“Kayla…”

Bart’s voice trails off as he lays his eyes upon his younger daughter standing there before him glaring angry dagger-like eyes into his very heart and soul.  She is wearing black leggings, black flats, and a dark red dress that stops just above the knee.  Her long red hair hangs  unrestrained to just below the shoulder.  Immediately Bart releases his grip upon her hand and backs away slowly, cautiously.

“Kayla…” he repeats “…what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” She asks in an angry tone. “You should know what’s wrong!”

Bart is about to begin his defense when someone speaks up for him instead…

“Whoa, back off, sis…”

Bart and Kayla turn to see Angelica Jones approaching from the other direction.  Angelica is wearing denim jeans, a long sleeve black sweater, and a black leather jacket.  Her long red hair is also left to hang unrestrained to just below the shoulders.

“…we need to hear him out.”

“Hear him out?”  Kayla looks at her older sister incredulously. “Are you freaking nuts?!  Are you defending him?!”

“I may be nuts,” Angelica smirks knowingly “but I am NOT defending him.  I’m just saying we need to give him a chance to offer an explanation and answer some of our questions before we kick his ass.”

Kayla folds her arms over her chest. “Fine.”

“Uh, girls,” Bart interjects “if I may ask, why do you think I deserve to have my ass kicked?”

“Oh we don’t THINK you deserve to have your ass kicked,” Kayla snaps back at him “we KNOW you deserve to have your ass kicked!”

“Kayla!” Angelica snaps. “Back…off…”

Kayla sighs and shakes her head. “Sorry…”

Bart turns his attention away from the now pouting Kayla towards the still calm and collected older sibling Angelica Jones.

“What’s wrong, Angel?”

“I don’t quite know how to put it, dad.” Angelica says as she thinks things through in her mind. “I just don’t know how to properly say it or how to properly ask this, but…”

Angelica shuts her eyes tightly and sighs deeply before letting out a deep breath.  “Fact is, dad, Kayla and I recently discovered something troubling, something disturbing, and, quite honestly, you are connected to it and you owe us an explanation.”

Bart frowns.

“I wish I could deny it.  I wish I could say that I am not connected but the fact is that I know there is a good chance that I am connected.  My time working with the nation’s top law enforcement agency has caused me to make many powerful friends…as well as many powerful enemies…”

Angelica tilts her head to one side. “Right, so tell me this, does the name Anastasia mean anything to you?”

Bart and Angelica stare at one another for an indeterminate amount of time before Bart finally lets out a sigh and nods his head.

“Yes…I adopted her while I was overseas in Russia…”

“We figured that much out on our own.” Angelica remarks. “You need to tell us the rest of the story, dad.  And be honest with us.  Hold nothing back.”

“Her mother was a woman named Nicola, a prostitute who worked for the Bratva.”

“The Russian Mafia?” Angelica asked.

“That’s right.” Bart nods his head. “During that time she must have gotten pregnant and had that child.  In any event, she kept the child and tried to maintain her.  But obviously, raising a child can be expensive and she wasn’t getting much from what the Bratva was paying.  So she started cheating them out of their cut of the money.”

“I take it the mafia tried to make her disappear.”

“They tried once to make her disappear, yes…but I stopped them.  Nicola realized that the Bratva would continue to go after her until she either paid them or they killed her.  So she made the kind of decision no parent should have to make.”

“She gave up her child to you.” Angelica suggests.

“That’s right, fearing that she could no longer safely protect and raise her child, she gave her up to me. And I agreed to raise her at least until she was of age that she could make her own way.  I agreed because I knew better than anyone else what it was like to be a parent who could no longer protect his children, and thus had to give them up.”

That was NOT a good thing to say…

“YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE!”

Kayla, who up to this point had been boiling over with rage but had managed to keep it contained to some extent, lunges forward and strikes her father with a closed fist right hand to the jaw.  Bart staggers backward, hitting the wall of the Mausoleum.  Angelica rushes forward and gets in between her sister and their father before any more blows can be dealt by Kayla.

“Kayla…please stop…”

“He gave us up!” Kayla exclaims loudly and angrily. “He gave us away like a damn coward claiming that he could no longer protect us but then he runs off to Russia and starts raising some whore’s kid?!  He is a hypocrite, Angel!”

Angelica sighs and nods her head.  She then turns around to face Bart, their father, who is rubbing his jaw in pain.

“She is right.  That was hypocritical of you.  If you couldn’t protect us, why try and protect her?”

“What should I have done?” Bart asks. “Should I have left the mother and child alone to fend for themselves?  You know what would have happened to them.”

“No we don’t.” Kayla remarks sounding almost like a petulant child.

“Be realistic, Kayla.  You know what would have happened to them against The Bratva.”

“Yeah, they would have been killed.” Angelica answers.

“So yes, I adopted the child.  But not legally.”

“What do you mean?” Angelica asks.

“I mean there was no legal adoption made.  The United States government doesn’t recognize it because I never left Russia with her.”

“Is that so?” Angelica asks, her face going slightly pale.

“Yes…” Bart’s voice trails off showing some concern “…why do you ask?”

“A woman calling herself Anastasia Jones recently started stalking us and harassing us.  She claims she is our sister.”

Bart looks genuinely shocked. “I don’t know what to say.  I guess it is possible that Anastasia could have made it to the United States but…who brought her here?  And why?”

“That’s what we’d like to know.” Angelica answers back.

“Your best bet to get those answers would be to ask her yourself.”

“Bullshit!” Kayla tries to lunge forward again but Angelica is in the way this time.

“I do not have the answers you want!” Bart exclaims. “I truly am sorry but you will not get any answers from me because I do have any.”

“Then we’ll talk to Anastasia ourselves.”

“Just be careful.” Bart answers back. “She comes from a truly deadly and dangerous life in a truly dangerous country.  I have not seen her in a long time.  I do not know what she has become since we parted ways.”

“Typical of Jones men.” Kayla spits out. “None of you are good fathers.”

With that Kayla turns and storms away.  Angelica sighs and turns towards her father.  Angelica embraces her father in a hug.

“Thank you for talking to us, dad.”

“Anytime.  Just like I said, be careful.”

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On Camera

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From the sky we see the iconic image of Madison Square Garden in New York City extending up to the heavens in the New York City skyline.  Suddenly the camera angle cuts from hovering high into the heavens to a shot from ground level at the entrance area of the world’s most famous arena.  Angelica Jones then enters the scene from stage left.  The lovely red head is wearing a sleek and clean black pantsuit with a two button jacket and a white blouse underneath.  Her feet are encased in black high heeled pumps that match her pantsuit and she has black sunglasses covering her eyes.  The strange thing about the Boston native is what she is carrying with her today; in her left arm is a cardboard cutout of Jacob Goodman and in her other arm is a cardboard cutout of Syren.

“Welcome to New York City, the Big Apple!  I prefer Boston but, eh, this place isn’t too bad.”

Angelica smirks.  She then sets the cardboard cutouts down, one on her left and one on her right, and she stands between the two of them.

“The Trios Tournament is coming up and you have to love the combination of lethal lottery with a test of endurance that this unique event creates.  Not only do you have to survive with tag team partners you have never been with before, perhaps even people you do not like, but you have to do it for three matches!”

She holds up three fingers. “You have to win a one night single elimination tournament with this team of three that you may or may not like in order to get the prize and if you can, if you can endure the pain and suffering, if you can manage to work with your greatest enemies, then you can potentially walk out of Supreme Saturday with a Trios Contract that guarantees you a title shot.”

“Now I look at my opposition in this tournament and I see teams like Dawn Lohan, Alexis Quinne, and Bree Lancaster.  Bree may be new, but Dawn and Alexis sure are not and their twitter arguing is very public.  They can’t get along.”

Angelica shakes her head. “Not a chance.  And what about MY opponents specifically?  Ace Marshall, Jake Starr, and Derek Adonis…well no one can trust Ace, Jake hates everybody, and Derek is a sorry sack of shit.”

“Now I could go on and on but the point is that these teams are a great big pile of jumbled up crap.  Each team has so many combustible elements that we are all just waiting anxiously for them to explode at any moment.  Now I know what you’re thinking.  What is so different about this message?  Of course that’s what Trios is all about.  This is nothing new that I’m saying!”

Angelica laughs lightly. “I will TELL you what is so special and unique about this particular Trios tournament and that special and unique element is this team right here!”

She looks to her left at the Jacob Goodman cardboard cutout and then she looks to her right at the Syren cardboard cutout.

“Me, Syren, and Jackson Goodman here…”

Jacob (Angelica): “That’s Jacob, Ms. Jones…”

Yes, that was Angelica speaking on behalf of the cardboard cutout.  Her lips even moved, leaving no doubts…

“Whatever…me, Syren, and Goodman are a united force!  We are ready to work together to win this tournament!  Right guys?!”

Syren (Angelica): “Like, totally for sure, Angelica!  You are soooo awesome and this is a complete honor and privilege to be teaming with a legend like you!  Finally I get to team with someone with talent unlike that lazy bitch Ravyn!”

Yeah, that was Angelica too…she’s a terrible ventriloquist…

Jacob (Angelica): “It is an honor to be working with you, Ms. Jones, and I hope by teaming with you and by allowing you to carry my sorry ass to the Trios Tournament Victory that I will learn something from you.”

Angelica nods her head. “Yes, that is a dream of everyone in SCW, to learn from yours truly, but unfortunately neither you nor Syren will ever be quite as good as I am, but it is a good thing that you two losers will never be quite as awesome or as talented and definitely not as sexy,”

She winks at the camera “as The Dragon.  Am I right?”

Syren (Angelica):  “That’s right, Angelica!  I will never be as good as you, no matter how hard I try!”

Angelica snickers nastily. “But together…”

Angelica pauses, thinking over what she is about to say, and then changes her mind…

“…well, mainly ME, because I’m gonna carry this team during Supreme Saturday! I will make history in Madison Square Garden where I have made history time and time again!  I will single handedly win the Trios Tournament while you two can sit back, relax, and watch and be grateful to me, singing my praises afterwards along with the rest of the peons and peasants who are lucky to be in the presence of greatness, greatness like Angelica Jones!”

Jacob (Angelica):  “Thank you, Ms. Jones, for putting up with us and for winning the Trios Tournament for us!”

Syren (Angelica):  “Yes, thank you Angelica!”

“You are welcome, Goodman.  You are welcome Syren.  After all, it is thanks to me, me and me alone, that we will defeat the three stooges of Ace Marshall, Jake Starr, and Derek Adonis.  And it will be thanks to me and me alone that we will advance to win it all!  ALL HAILL JONES!”

Jacob & Syren (Angelica): “ALL HAIL ANGELICA JONES!”