Thinking about the Future: Part 5

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Off Camera

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Angelica and Kayla Jones reformed The Sisterhood shortly after Rise To Greatness but, outside of a victory over Adrenaline Rush on a House Show, the pairing had shown little success.  They lost to The Honour Code on a Breakdown and failed to defeat Gable Winchester and Autumn Valentine on a house show.  The Jones siblings were granted another opportunity to get back on track against Donovan Kayl and Rocky O’Reilly.  It was a match to be held in their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts no less, so Angelica and Kayla knew that they would have to perform.  And sure enough, The Sisterhood stepped up to the plate and defeated Kayl and O’Reilly on Breakdown in front of the hometown Boston crowd.  And while it was not The Honour Code or Autumn and Gable or even the Daughters of Darkness, this was an SCW legend and his understudy.  Donovan Kayl, the Cornerstone of SCW, is never to be taken lightly, and to pick up a win over a team with him on it is a signature win for The Sisterhood.

Now they hope to continue the momentum they’ve picked up with another win on their next Breakdown appearance which will be live from Paris, France.  Kayla has only been to Paris once or twice but for Angelica Jones, France is like a second home.  In fact, Angelica owns a small home on the outskirts of Paris where she stays on the times that she goes to this country for vacation.  But this will be no vacation.  Angelica and her sister Kayla are here on business and that business includes picking up another win for The Sisterhood, this time against Derek Adonis and Manvel.

Adonis and Manvel are still not a signature tag team match that some may feel The Sisterhood are worthy of, but it doesn’t matter to Angelica and Kayla who they face.  They are willing to work their way back up to the top from the bottom up if they have to.  And for Angelica personally, it’s just another twist on her road to redemption.

The career of Angelica Jones has been one painted in the blood of her opponents, a career littered in the broken bodies and bones of her adversaries.  This is not the kind of legacy she wants to be remembered for.  She does not want to retire and leave the wrestling world with the knowledge of her as some kind of psychotic monster.  She wants to be remembered as a wrestler, a true warrior, someone who fought with honor and left a good lasting impact upon this industry.

Changing one’s reputation and image is difficult, especially for Angelica who has decades of damage to correct, but she hopes that this tag team run with her younger sibling Kayla Jones will do the trick and give her the opportunity to create new memories for the fans; memories of her as a warrior as opposed to a monster.

The truth be told, Kayla Jones is still worried about her older sibling.  Angelica may say she wants to rid herself of The Dragon, and she may be sincere about turning over a new leaf, but can she truly control the darker impulses that surely still reside within her?  Kayla had considered this before but a meeting with Sister Maria, a longtime associate of Angelica’s, seemingly confirmed it when she told Kayla outright that The Dragon was not truly gone and would not be truly gone until Angelica confronted the one thing that created that darkness to begin with.  But what does that mean?

Kayla has an idea and she doesn’t like it one bit.

Currently Kayla Jones is walking the streets of Paris, France.  These are the suburbs of Paris and while some may expect the wrestlers on tour to get the nicest of hotels (especially the rich wrestlers, like the Jones sisters are) Kayla is just as happy spending time at Angelica’s vacation home in Paris, a small quaint place.  Why spend the money on a hotel when you have an older sister who owns a home here?

Kayla is wearing a petite floral print fit and flare dress, her feet are encased in white sandals with a low heel, her long red hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length, and sunglasses cover her eyes.  Walking with her, holding her hand, is her future husband, Trenton Snow.  Snow is wearing a t-shirt, khaki shorts, and tennis shoes.

Trenton and Kayla enjoy a good walk now and then, so days like this, walks like this, they are normal.  What isn’t normal is how quiet Kayla has been, and Trenton notices this almost immediately.

“Are you ok, babe?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been awfully quiet.  Is something wrong?”

“How can you tell?”

Trenton grins.

“You always have something to gripe about, babe.  You may complain about your sister, you may complain about your opponents, or you may even complain about the management, but you always someone or something to complain about.”

Kayla playfully shoves Trenton.

“I don’t complain THAT much!”

“Yeah you do.”

“Well you don’t have to bring it up.”

Trenton leans in and kisses her on the cheek.

“I’m sorry.  Forgive me?”

Kayla grins.

“Sure.”

She kisses him right back, this time on the lips.

“So, what is bugging you, Kay?”

“It’s my sister.”

Trenton nods his head.

“Thought so.”

“I’ve seen her go through changes, Trenton.  I’ve seen her evolve from a typical, arrogant pro-wrestler to the monster she called The Dragon.  Did I approve of her actions as The Dragon?”

She shakes her head.

“No, but she was still my sister at the end of the day.”

“I can definitely understand you wanting to support your sister.”

“But now things are different.  She said she wanted to get rid of The Dragon and I was there every step of the way as she agonized over trying to rid herself of it.  I watched her compete against Victoria Salinas in that first blood match at UWA Sectioned.  But then to see her come back to the dressing room, even through that blood soaked face, I could tell she was finally happy.  I thought everything was over.”

She sighs.

“Then I met Sister Maria.”

Trenton contorts his face into a look of confusion.

“Who?”

“I told you that Angelica was once a nun.  Well Sister Maria was a nun that Angelica met at the convent.  We sat down over coffee and we talked and the things she told me, the stories she shared about Angelica, I just…”

Kayla shakes her head.

“I just find it hard to believe that the person she describes is the same person as my sister.  It’s almost like they are two completely different personalities altogether.”

“Do you think your sister has a split personality?”

“God I hope not.  That’s the last thing she needs.  What worries me is that Sister Maria said if Angelica really wants to rid herself of The Dragon she’ll need to confront the one thing that created The Dragon in the first place.”

Trenton arches his brow.

“Now there’s another story you haven’t told me.”

“I haven’t shared it because it’s Angelica’s story and it’s a very painful one for her.  You know our mother was raped and murdered.  What you do not know is that Angelica was there when it happened, and the sick sociopath who perpetrated the act tied Angelica to a chair and forced her to watch the whole thing.”

Tears form in Kayla’s eyes as the memory comes flooding back.  Trenton gently pats her on the back.

“She was just barely a teenager, Trenton.  How do you think her psyche reacted to that?”

“Not too well, I imagine.”

“And I am guessing that’s where her angry and rage, The Dragon, where all of that stems from and…”

She shakes her head.

“…and I’m just not sure she can handle it.”

Trenton holds Kayla’s hand even tighter in an attempt to comfort her as they approach their destination, a place that has become familiar to them in the past few days…

…a modest one story home complete with a garage.  As Trenton and Kayla walk up the sidewalk towards the home they have an inkling of where her sister could be.   Kayla approaches the garage and steps inside.  Sure enough, she finds her sister, Angelica Jones, there in the garage, and much to Kayla’s surprise, she is not alone.

“Good…keep up the pressure…”

Angelica’s words of encouragement are directed at Audrey Russo.  It was Angelica’s idea to secure a ticket for Audrey when they went to Paris, France for Breakdown and that in and of itself was surprising considering Angelica was also the one who threatened to call the police on Audrey when she learned Russo had been stalking them.  So needless to say, Angelica wanting to bring Audrey along with them to Paris was a surprise but seeing Angelica now helping to train her nearly causes Kayla to have to pick her jaw up off of the floor.

Russo still hasn’t revealed much about her past or what brought her to the doorstep of The Sisterhood, but she did reveal that she wants to learn how to be a wrestler and she wants to learn at the feet of Angelica and Kayla Jones.  Once again, Angelica was the one who was adamant against this.  Kayla was slightly more sympathetic towards Audrey.  At least Audrey did approach them.  At least she was honest that she had been watching them and waiting for the opportunity to ask.  Angelica was not ready to give her a chance at all.

Yet now Kayla is watching Audrey, wearing gray sweatpants and a white tanktop, striking a heavy bag set up in the garage, a garage that is set up for training purposes.  Angelica sits on a stool nearby, wearing denim jeans, flip flops, and a black “SCW” t-shirt.  The woman who was adamant that The Sisterhood not give Audrey any help at all whatsoever is now personally providing all of the help she could want.

“Stay focused.  Keep going.”

Kayla watches with wide eyed awe at her sister train the younger Russo.  She didn’t think Angelica had it in her.  Trenton joins Kayla’s side, wrapping his arm around Kayla’s shoulder.  Then together the two watch as Angelica reaches down and picks up a small token New England Patriots football.  She throws it at Audrey and strikes her in the head, causing Audrey to stumble backward and then fall to her knees.  Audrey picks up the football and then stands up, glaring angrily at Angelica.

“What the hell was THAT about?!”

“That was a lesson.”

Angelica hops up off of the stool.

“In wrestling you always have to expect the unexpected.  Anything can happen at any time.  Never think things will go exactly as you plan because they won’t.  You weren’t expecting me to throw that ball at you.  You should’ve been prepared to duck.  It’s just like that in the ring.  You may be competing against, say, me for example…”

She motions to Kayla who she just now noticed standing there, watching everything.

“…but how do you know Kayla won’t get involved?  You need to be ready for anything, Audrey.”

Russo sighs and nods her head.

“You’re right.  I’m sorry, Ms. Jones.”

Angelica grins.

“It’s ok…and please, don’t be so formal.  Call me Angelica.”

Angelica notices the surprised look on her sister’s face and realizes that, perhaps, an explanation is in order.  So she turns back to Audrey and smiles, motioning to the heavy bag.

“Go back to the heavy bag, and remember what I said…”

“Be prepared for anything?”

Angelica nods her head.

“Right.”

Audrey nods her head and then resumes striking the bag with rights, lefts, and even throws a few kicks in there as well for good measure. Satisfied with her student’s work, Angelica turns and walks back over to Kayla and embraces her in a tight hug.

“Hi there, sis!”

Kayla is still stunned into silence even after breaking the embrace.  She just listens as Angelica continues talking.

“I hope you don’t mind that Audrey and I got started without you.”

Angelica turns her attention to Trenton.

“Hi, Trenton!”

“Afternoon.   I see you and Audrey are making progress.”

“Definitely, from what I can tell this isn’t her first rodeo.  She may not be a trained athlete but she definitely has experience fighting.  Granted, that also adds a touch of frustration to this.  I’d like to know exactly what I’m dealing with ahead of time but if she doesn’t tell us her back story, then I don’t know what experience with fighting, martial arts, or whatever else that she has.”

Trenton nods his head.

“I understand, but hey, why don’t I go over there and keep her company?  I’ll keep her on task while you and Kay can visit.”

“Sounds like a great idea to me!”

Angelica is beaming from ear to ear as she watches Trenton walk over to the heavy bag and Audrey.  Angelica then turns back to face Kayla.

“Did you and Trenton enjoy the city?”

“Huh?”

“I said did you and Trenton enjoy the city?”

Kayla, still a little dumbfounded but now finally recovering, shakes her head.

“Oh, well it was alright I guess.”

“Alright?  It was only alright?”

Angelica throws her head back and lets out a sigh of pleasure.

“But it’s Paris!  I LOVE Paris!”

Kayla places her hands on her hips and frowns.

“Angelica, you love ANYTHING and EVERYTHING French.  It’s one thing annoying about you.”

“Je ne suis pas ennuyeux!”

Angelica sticks her tongue out at Kayla.

“I hate it when you speak French.”

“Oh lighten up, Kay!”

Angelica places an arm around her sister’s shoulder.

“SCW sent us here, to France!  It’s Paris, a very lovely and beautiful city, and I already have a place here.  The people love me here!”

She smirks.

“And the people will love you too by association!  We’ll be a hit on Breakdown from Paris!”

“I would hope that they would love us, I mean, look at who we’re facing…Derek Adonis and Manvel…”

Angelica rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, not exactly a five-star quality team with five-star quality personalities or attitudes, but they are our opponents and we are going to take this match, like any other match, very serious.”

Kayla frowns.

“Angelica, are you ok?”

“Of course I am.  Why wouldn’t I be ok?”

“You just don’t seem like yourself.  You’re acting completely out of character.”

Angelica laughs lightly.

“What can I say, sis?  The city of Paris and the Parisian people do that to me!”

Kayla shakes her head.

“It isn’t just that and you know it.”

Kayla motions to Audrey, who is still working hard at her training today, only now under the watchful eye of Trenton Snow.

“You were deadest against us training her.  Do you know how bad I felt about keeping it a secret from you that I had invited her to try out to be one of the models for my company?  I never expected you would actually suggest we bring her along on the Paris trip.  And then I come home after spending a day with Trenton and I see you training her how to be a wrestler?”

“Kayla…”

“You told her that you were going to have her locked up for stalking us.  Now here you are giving her exactly what she wanted.  What’s changed?  What happened?”

Angelica lowers her head in a look that resembles shame.

“I…can’t…”

Angelica shakes her head.

“…I can’t talk about it.  It’s just something we HAVE to do, ok?  We HAVE to train her.”

“We?”

Angelica sighs.

“Fine, then I have to train her, but she will trained by a Jones, one way or the other.”

“I have no problem training her, sis.  I wanted to, actually, but you were so adamantly against it that I wasn’t going to push the issue.  I’m just confused as to what’s different now.  This isn’t just a matter of you changing your mind.  This is like a…”

She sighs.

“…a completely different personality.”

“Maybe so…maybe not…”

Angelica shrugs her shoulders.

“I honestly don’t know.  What I do know is that this woman…”

She motions to Audrey.

“…deserves our help.”

“Deserves?  Why do you say…”

Kayla’s eyes grow wide as a sense of realization washes across her.

“…she’s told you, hasn’t she?”

“Told me what?”

“She told you her back story.”

Angelica turns her back to Kayla.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit.”

Kayla places a firm hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“That’s the only explanation.  She told you her back story and something about her story got to you, something she said touched you and made the big bad Angelica Jones feel bad for her.”

Angelica turns around to face Kayla.

“Tell me, Angel. What did she tell you?”

“Audrey, she…”

Angelica sighs as she fights back tears.

“…she bounced around from foster to foster after both of her parents were murdered.  They were caught in a drive by shooting.  At eighteen she walked away from foster care and decided to try and make it on her own.”

She shakes her head.

“She wasn’t exactly successful.”

“What do you mean?”

“She had to do whatever it took to survive, sis.  She stole money, she prostituted herself, she spent time in jail for this stuff.  It reminded me of how damn lucky we both were.  We both walked out on our individual situations when we turned eighteen but we were lucky enough to make it on our own.  She couldn’t.  She wants to turn things around.  And I…”

She wipes some of the tears from her eyes.

“…I just want to do whatever I can to help, because yes, I was lucky to get to where I am today.”

Kayla embraces Angelica in a warm tight hug.

“You are definitely not the sister I know, but you’re right, we should help her, and I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

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On Camera

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An SCW logo flashes upon the screen.  Kayla Jones and her older sibling Angelica Jones step out onto the scene from stage right.  They take center stage with the camera focused entirely on them.  Both look serious and intense.  Kayla is the first one to break the silence.

“We came into Boston, Massachusetts, the seat of power of the Jones family, and we had to face Donovan Kayl and Rocky O’Reilly.  A legend and a legend in the making.  And then you had us, me and Kayla, former SCW World Tag Team Champions who were on a downhill spiral despite a recent reunion after Rise To Greatness.”

She shakes her head.

“But this wasn’t just any match for The Sisterhood.  We were in our hometown, so we couldn’t afford to let our fans down, and after losing to The Honour Code we also could not afford to lose too many more tag matches.  This really and truly was a must win situation for us against some very stiff competition.”

She smirks.

“And that’s just the way we like it.  We don’t want things just handed to us on a silver platter.  We want to earn it and that’s exactly what we did on Breakdown.  We went out there in front of our hometown fans and we earned a victory over Kayl and O’Reilly.  And now we’re moving on from two individuals who epitomize respect for the industry, two individuals who we respect as athletes, to two individuals who…”

“…are annoying?”

“…yes, but that’s not…”

“…quite possibly on the sex offender registry?”

“…NO!  After firing Cassidy Carter for less, I doubt Mr. D would keep a sex offender on the roster.”

“…are…”

Kayla holds a hand up to her older sibling’s mouth.

“Just be quiet and let me finish.  Please?”

Angelica nods her head.  Kayla sighs.

“We are moving on from two individuals who respect this industry to two individuals who respect nothing and nobody.”

Angelica nods her head.

“It’s worse than that, Kayla.  These two clowns are looked at as a joke.  They are the comic relief of SCW Breakdown.  And you know who that reminds me of?”

She motions to herself and Kayla.

“Us, we once thought playing games was the way to go.  We ran around with the Free Botswana crap, we brought in two loser luchadores from Mexico to fight our battles for us, and it nearly cost us our standing in the tag team division.  That fact alone gets my blood boiling and gets me ready to fight these clowns.  Do you guys really think that this is a game?”

Angelica shakes her head.

“It isn’t a game, and this damn sure isn’t some cheap excuse for you to hit on women.  Why you haven’t been reported for sexual harassment is a shocker in and of itself, but for you this is clearly just a joke and this is clearly just your way of picking up girls.”

She motions to herself and Kayla.

“Well these two women are going to kick your ass on Breakdown!”

Kayla smirks.

“Yeah, Angelica’s a little fired up for this one, now I could try to calm her down but I don’t want to.  For starters, I agree with her.  You two bozos don’t respect this industry.  You should be damn grateful for your opportunity here in SCW and yet you treat this like a joke.  I also don’t like the way you treat women like objects, like some sexual prize you have to conquer.  I thought I had already met the biggest piece of scum at Apocalypse in the form of Memphis Cade.  But you two?”

She sighs.

“You two really take the cake.  So for that reason alone I am going to kick your teeth right down your throat.”

“You did it wrong.”

“Huh?”

“That’s supposed to be said at the end, sis.”

Kayla rolls her eyes.

“Anyway, that’s not the only reason Angelica and I are going to unload on you two asshats.  We are also doing this to make a point.”

Angelica nods her head.

“That’s right, Kayla.  We are The Sisterhood and we’ve been in some pretty big matches, we’ve also had to fight from the ground up. Since reuniting at Rise To Greatness we’ve done battle with The Honour Code, Adrenaline Rush, Gable Winchester and Autumn Valentine, and Donovan Kayl and Rocky O’Reilly. Now we’re facing tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber.”

She motions to herself and Kayla.

“My point is that we will fight anyone SCW management puts in front of us.  Anyone.  That includes Derek ‘Sexual Predator’ Adonis and his trusty sidekick who is clearly trying to overcompensate for something, the kid named Manvel.  We’ll fight them and we’ll beat them.  And we’ll beat the next team that comes after that.  And the next, on and on, until we get back to the top, until we have proven our worth to SCW management and to Mr. D once again.”

Kayla shakes her head.

“We’re not here to demand a tag team title shot.  We’re going to prove that we deserve it through our actions inside of that ring each and every house show we compete at and each and every Breakdown we compete at.  We already proved our ability by defeating Donovan Kayl and Rocky O’Reilly.  Now we’re tasked with defeating Adonis and Manvel?”

Kayla smirks.

“Challenge accepted.  So Adonis?   Manvel?  Breakdown from Paris is when the joke is over and when Angelica and I kick your teeth right down your throat!”

“Yay!”

“What?”

“You ended it right!”

Kayla rolls her eyes.

“Shut up!”