"I can never tell when you're lying. You look up the phrase "pokerface" in the dictionary and there's just a sole picture of your emotionless mug in it."
Johnny Scumm was stood up straight, hands in his pockets. His inability to win his second match back in WZCW had clearly taken it's toll & now he was feeling the strain of returning to a company a lot stronger than it was before he left.
"Funnily though, I think I've got a grasp on what's the truth this time around, Mick. We've been friends for so long now that after a while, you can start to tell what's on someone's mind."
Mick Diamond was a long time friend of Scumm's, who got a call to fly out to see him once Johnny landed back in the USA after the Ascension Supershow. Scumm arranged a meeting place, a conversation topic...and a chair.
"Look, J. I honestly couldn't tell you where the hell she's got to. For all I know, she could be in Timbuktu married to a man three times her age with no more than a goat for a pet and you'd probably believe me seeing as you're that infatuated."
"You trying to have a fucking joke with me?"
Ok... to call Mick a "good" friend would be a stretch in this day & age. Actually, to call him a friend was becoming a stretch. The chair was for Mick, who upon being greeted by Scumm was struck clean over the head with Johnny's fist. It had knocked him silly for bit, giving the superstar enough time to just casually cable-tie Mick's hands together around the back of the chair. If there was a problem, this was the way to deal with it.
"Believe me, if I wanted to joke with you then I would. You think I'm going to have a laugh while you've got me stuck here?!
*SLAP*. The backhand of Scumm strikes Mick across the cheek hard, bringing it up a shade of dark red, as he winces in pain.
"Oh Mick I'm...I'm sorry. Ignorance, this avoidance of the entire situation and reason we are here today is starting to really piss me off! I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get any type of answer from you. Once you ran off with her you knew I was annoyed. You knew that I wanted to hunt you down and gut you like a fish, but look! You're still alive. I could gut you if I wanted, but she left you too. Just like she left me. We're two peas in a pod filled with shit really, but right now I'm the one getting out and not drowning in it. "
To think that Scumm is overreacting in this situation is probably entirely right, but what must be done must be done.
"Oh come on Johnny, you think smacking me about is the right way of doing things?"
*SLAP!*. Once again, another backhand. Obviously, to Scumm this is most definitely the right way of doing things.
"When you're Johnny Scumm there isn't a wrong way of doing things! There's just many ways and one of them I happen to prefer to the other...mindless violence." *Scumm begins to laugh, with an almost villainous-like cackle.* "You see you're much like a Pinata, Mick. If you smash the shit out of it long enough, eventually what you want just comes falling out!"
Backhand after backhand swipe the helpless man stuck in the chair. Mick knew sitting down was the wrong idea but let's face it, when there's only one chair for two of you, you're going to take it. His left cheek begins bleeding as each blow strikes similar to a thunderclap.
"Ok! Ok! Seeing as you're just intent on trying to kill me, I'll tell you! Why you're getting so over the top and ridiculous over this is beyond me Johnny."
Scumm grins, as he's finally got what he wants. Turns out slapping a man works.
"I don't know what you want with her Scumm but you better not give her any of what you gave me!"
"Don't be a dick, Diamond. I just want to talk."
He had said that to Mick too. "I just want to talk" seemed to be a typical line of Johnny's, surprisingly he doesn't choose to use it as the bell rings in a match.
"You see Mick, I'm not all that bad. Maybe ninety-seven, ninety-eight percent maximum. For someone like Claire, she could get twelve percent of a nice Johnny Scumm. For someone like Mikey Stormrage, definitely not. That's where we get the one hundred and zero split. See, I could get a shot at Stormrage at Unscripted but that's a story I don't wish to share with you Mickey-boy."
"Do you honestly think that I care right now?! I'm beaten, I'm afraid and I just don't want to be here anymore!"
"Well neither do I Mick. Look, I'll let you out if you can sort it out yourself. I've got some cable cutters, but I'm not cutting that grip myself. I'll just put them down here by your feet, why don't you text me when you get out?"
Never one to make things easy, Scumm does as he said and puts the cable cutters by the feet of Mick. He begins struggling as Scumm grabs his jacket from the floor, throws it over his shoulder and walks out the door, whistling.
---------------------------------------
On the way to finding Claire, Johnny Scumm had time to think. Taking out Garth Black in his first match back was easy. The people didn't think he could do it, taking out a name such as Black but when you don't care what the fans think, it's a lot easier to beat down someone like. Last week at the Ascension Supershow however, his worst nightmare came true. Taking on three men at the same time (when really, all you want to do is make sure that none of them ever stand again) can't always happen the way you want it to. But now, going from losing a match that you haven't been pinned in to going to not even knowing whether you're going to be in a match, that's enough to wind a bloke up. Scumm was told that he would have the opportunity to face Mikey Stormrage at Unscripted...provided he was voted into the match as a competitor. A smart move on behalf of WZCW, trying to keep Scumm away from getting any form of match on TV. A man who hates the people has to voted into a match, BY the people. Talk about stupid. After all that thinking, he hadn't realised where he was. The doorstep of the house he was looking for.
"Claire Leach. The toughest nut to crack."
Walking on up to the door preparing for a confrontation, Scumm stops still as the door swings open. A scruffy looking woman, stood in the doorway stares into the eyes of the man in front of her.
"Johnny. Fucking. Scumm. How the hell did you find me?"
"Well Claire, let's just say a few good hands leads to all the right information." *Scumm grins at Claire, who retreats slightly from the door.* "Of course, when I say a few good hands I mean ones that were laid on the face of our old pal Mick."
"Have you hurt Mick?!"
"Woah. He brought it on himself! If anything, Mick hurt Mick."
Striding with confidence towards his former lover, Scumm has taken a free pass of entry to the house. That is before Claire grabs the first thing to hand closest to the door. Continuing walking, Johnny's stopped by an umbrella.
"It's not raining out! Jesus Claire, you think I'm here to try and do something stupid? Put the damn thing down."
On the assumption that a woman taking to defending herself with an umbrella is going to drop it immediately as you tell her too, Scumm makes his way ever closer. Unfortunately, she'd chosen to not drop it yet swing it, straight towards the face of Scumm. It should be known though, that wrestlers are known for their reflexes. As quick as it was swung is as quickly as it's caught. Landing in his palm, Scumm takes hold of the umbrella.
"Now...Claire. I said I wasn't here to do anything stupid. You're not making this any easier for me."
Still holding onto it, Scumm has control. Moving forward and backing Claire up towards the bannister, her hands comes off of it as only Johnny remains holding it, pointing it towards the girl he once dated.
"So, you're going to attack me with that thing? You were making jokes about it a minute ago and now you've got control of it!"
Immediately, he takes the initiative and drops it to the floor.
"You think I wanted to hurt you? Week in and week out I get my chance to hurt people. Just yesterday, I got to hurt Mick. Yeah, it was completely unplanned, a gentle interrogation if you must. But I get to hurt people for a living, why would I hurt you?"
"Oh."
"Claire. I love you. God you know I hate saying things like this."
A total change of mood brings Johnny to say something that you would never usually hear. But, while you can hate everyone in the world, there's always one person that will take your eye.
"Johnny."
Without thinking, Claire leans in and grabs Johnny by the scruff of his neck, kissing him passionately on the lips.
"Yeah, I came out here to look for you. Mick wouldn't tell me at first and then I had to go to the extreme to get the information. It's the first time I've ever smacked someone in the face with a purpose. As I said to Mick, there's something very fun about mindless violence."
The two of them smile at each other, as Claire sits down on the stairs, hands on knees. See, tell someone you love them and you've got their attention for at least the next five minutes.
"Remember us? The way we used to stroll through the streets, causing havoc everywhere we went? Remember when you smashed up that restaurant because you had a steak as touch as an old boot?"
The two smile, happy memories are always those that involve breaking crockery.
"The question I've got for you Johnny is, why now? Why, after what I done to you?"
"You know what? At first I wasn't sure. But now I know. We used to be trouble. There's only one person I know who hates people as much as I do and that, is you. Last week, Noah Ryder stole a win from under my nose and it pissed me off. Then I realised, I don't have my own little troublemaker anymore. The person who used to tell me to go and kick a hole in someone I hated wasn't around me anymore. That's when it dawned on me, I don't need those idiots who think it's fun to chant for Johnny Scumm behind me."
The look on Scumm's face currently is one of bemusement. Even he can't believe that he's being nice currently.
"Let's do it then. You, taking on WZCW with me making sure that all you do is destroy everything on your way to the top of the company."
The newly-crowned "couple" hold hands.
"Tell me then, what's on the card for Unscripted?"
The WZCW PPV was proving a tough topic. Scumm really wanted to fight, he wanted to kick Stormrage's teeth down his throat so hard he left them in the toilet the next morning. But until the night, he wouldn't know. He couldn't lie to Claire, as they only just seemed to start being nice to each other. So, it was going to be a straight up answer.
"Right now, I don't know. Mikey Stormrage is holding an open challenge and I'm one of six different people that could be his opponent. Along with Cassanova, The Eternal Question, Garth Black, Logan McAllister and Vee A.D.Z, any one of us could face Stormrage."
"Christ. Really? I forgot people got to vote for what they want at this Pay-Per-View. You know Johnny, I'll throw you a vote."
"See, this is my problem. This match is voted for by the very set of people that I so thoroughly despise. These people won't vote for me. I don't choose to acknowledge them, why are they going to give me what I want by letting me take Stormrage down and out for good? He's been so down on his luck recently that you could probably bribe him to lie down."
Scumm grabs out his wallet, flicking through to see how much money is in it. He drops it to the floor, maybe bribery is off the cards this time.
"Then again, maybe they WANT to vote me in. That sounds like fucking madness, doesn't it? Think about it. Those imbeciles, they think that by voting me into this one that they can watch Stormrage beat Johnny Scumm. I do call them imbeciles for a reason. Then, when they've voted me in and they're all cheering on Mikey, I get my crowning glory when I re-injure him and send him back to the hospital after I'm declared the winner of the match. You know, a plan like that is almost perfect."
The pair look excited, as if they've finally hatched a plan.
"Well, I'm gonna throw a vote your way. You can probably vote for yourself if you try..."
"Hmm, I can only try. Tell you what, I'm going to bring you along on the night, see if you can work your way in and get your hands on the information. Doctor it, fake it, do whatever you have to do. Just make sure that I get in there and face Stormrage. If I don't, I'll end up as a Lumberjack. Not really where I want to be but if I am one, I will take out every other Lumberjack at ringside."
"But you're not going to be a lumberjack Johnny. I promise you that."
"If you're sure..."
It turns out that if you have someone by your side, you can believe anything's possible. Even if it's part of an evil, dastardly scheme. There's always someone to help you hate and to help you become nastier as the days go by and for Scumm, that was Claire.
"Look, we better get going now. We've got preparations to make and we've got raging storms to put an end to."
"You're right Scumm. You know what? Maybe I just love you too."
There's definitely a storm raging, but in WZCW, that's just Johnny Scumm starting to tear his way through everyone that stands in front of him. Unscripted it may be, but come the Pay-Per-View, Johnny Scumm will start to write his own tales.
