I'm the hero this city deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So you can hunt me. Because I can take it. Because I'm not a hero. I'm a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.
Get off the bloody fucking roof!
I am the bat!
With that I spread my makeshift cape and jumped from the roof.
Fucking hell!
James prepared to lunge forward to try to catch me, but then the one hundred pound weight difference crossed his mind and he thought better of it. With a large thud I fell to the cold hard ground. I lie motionless for a minute as James and a very pregnant Dinah rushed to my side.
At first they were afraid to touch me, fearing I may have hurt my neck or spine. Once I started to stir and rolled over onto my back, James knelt beside me. I reached up and grabbed him by the collar and in a gravely voice spoke to him.
Where is the Joker?!
The fuck are you on about?!
James recoiled and slapped the hands from his collar. I asked my question one more time, before I passed out.
James and Dinah had a habit of leaving windows open in their house, which was great in the summer, but the weather had quickly turned cold. The crisp air bit at my exposed skin and I awoke. I could feel something gripping tight to my face, my vision obscured and my breathing labored. I clawed at my own face, trying to rip whatever was causing these problems off. After a few moments I was able to rip off a rubber Batman mask. I threw it aside and then I stumbled over to the window to close it, before setting off in search of someone who could tell me why I had an old bed sheet tied around my neck.
As I made my way up the stairs, I thought back on the battle royal. I had come so close, yet was so far away. I hadn't expected to walk away a winner, but not a single person in the arena expected me to last until the final four. I graced the ring with a former, and two likely future world champions. To say I was out of place was an understatement. I had little time to dwell on my eventual elimination, as I rounded a corner and bumped into James.
There you are, I was worried for a bit you were dead.
What the hell happened?
James shook his head at me.
You're knee was bothering you so you took an extra pain killer, even though the backstage doctor told you to only take one. We were discussing our match next week and you mentioned how you wanted to go out and buy a mask to help you get inside Gent's head. Dinah was craving ice cream, and since a certain someone ate it all while spending a drunken night listening to Skylar Gray, I had to run out and get some. Dinah phones, says you are on the roof, shouting at an imaginary Joker, and I had to come get you down.
How did you get me down?
Gravity.
I start to nod my head when James shuffled past me.
I've got to go man, I need to run somewhere real quick.
With that he was gone, again. The past couple of weeks he had been leaving more frequently, often without warning. I hadn't been able to keep total track of it, but at least four times in two weeks I had gone to the kitchen to acquire more booze when I heard him on the phone. I knew both he and Dinah would still make calls back to their family in friends in the UK, so them being on the phone at two and three in the morning wasn't totally unheard of, but because of the cost it was usually saved for special occasions. Plus, from what I overheard, he wasn't having conversations one would have with their family.
I walked to my room and tried to push it out of my mind when Dinah came in.
Good Lord you are getting fat. Lay off the desert girlfriend.
Dinah punched me in the arm before taking a seat at the end of my bed.
Shut up, you aren't looking so fit yourself. In fact I think we may be the same cup size at this point.
I started to turn a little red, both from humiliation and my best friend's fiance mentioning her breasts.
Seriously though, I need to ask you something.
I turned my attention away from my computer and spun my chair back around to face her.
Do you think James is having an affair?
I laughed at the suggestion.
Of course not.
He has just been so distant lately, and has been sneaking around so much, I worry.
He has been sneaking around a lot, can't deny that. The last time I saw anyone act like that was when I was seventeen and was trying to buy pot brownies behind my parents back.
She snickers a bit, despite her best efforts to be serious.
Well what do you think he is doing?
I ponder for a few seconds. I spin from side to side in my chair as I think of what to say.
I honestly don't know. I know he has taken the attack personally. Me, I just see it as the nature of the business. James is the type of guy who would pull something like that off himself.
I would think you would stop him though.
I simply shrugged my shoulders at her.
Maybe. Some people deserve it, some don't. I don't like to fight when it isn't necessary. James though, he lives for the fight. You know it, I know it, most of us know that by now.
Do you think he would ever do that to you?
I lean forward, resting my elbow on my knee and using my arm to support my head.
Yeah, I do.
You really believe that he will turn on you and attack you like that?
Her voice suggested an equal mix of shock and anger.
Have you ever heard the story about the the scorpion and the frog?
She shook her head no.
Once there was this scorpion that needed to cross a river. He asked a nearby frog to carry him across. The frog was afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion argued that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion explains that this is simply its nature. I knew who James was when I decided to team with him. I could have said no, maybe I should have said no, but I can't change the past. Maybe I'm here to protect those he would strike out against. Small things can make all the difference in the world.
I take a moment to switch arms.
Look at Taylor Swift. Just think, if those guys she writes all her songs about wouldn't have rejected her, she wouldn't be famous, she would be a ****e. She still has a fifty-fifty chance of being famous off that, but I guess that is more a comment on society as opposed to our current situation.
Dinah flashed a grin, struggling to maintain her serious demeanor.
Promise me you will keep an eye on him when I can't. Everyday I'm one step closer to popping, I can't keep up as well as you can.
Of course I will, don't worry.
Just as I finish the front door slams shut and shortly after James makes his way upstairs.
What's going on up here?
Nothing much, I was just asking Mikey about your match this week.
I spun my chair back around to face my computer as Dinah stood and walked out of the room, kissing James on the way out. As James filled the void Dinah left at the foot of my bed, I pulled up The Gent's page on WZCW.com.
We should have an easy go this week, don't you think?
I spun back around to face James.
Well we have history with Beard. Twice we have stepped into the ring with him, and twice we have walked out with our hands raised. I don't want to overlook him though. We made that mistake with Saboteur and Saxton when we were champs, and you see where that got us. I'd rather not fall back into that trap.
No worries mate, we are going to get that gold back soon enough. Then we will put The New Church, Saxoteur, Steamboat Ricky, Krypto, whoever might be guilty on the injured list for what they did. I'll make sure of it.
You know I was the one who was in the hospital because of the attack, yet you are taking it way more personally than I am.
Damn right I am, it was a coward's move. A blindside attack on two defenseless men!
I'm a three hundred pound athlete, and you were one of the hottest mixed martial arts prospects in the world. I would hardly call us defenseless.
My point stands, it was low and cowardly, and they will pay.
I just shake my head and quickly move to the next topic.
I feel like people don't care anymore. I get the feeling that Strikeforce are the pancakes of the company.
Please explain that one, you lost me.
Okay, you know I flew home to spend Thanksgiving with my family since you crazy Brits don't celebrate it. My mom made pancakes the morning I flew back here. At first I was super excited, but by the end I was sick of pancakes. I feel like that is what we have become. At first people were so excited for us, we were practically guaranteed a title shot before we had our first match. Now I get the feeling that people are tired of us, or at least don't care.
Well lets make them care again. You gave us a good start by putting on a hell of a show in that battle royal.
I let my head drop, annoyed that we aren't on the same page.
That's the thing though, I didn't win.
No one expected you to, but you went out and put on a hell of a show. I'd call it a moral victory.
Maybe. I guess I just don't put much stock in it. Say the next World Cup rolls around and the US manages to make it to the quarter finals by some miracle. I'm not going to be happy about that, because we didn't win.
Now you are talking crazy, America making it that far in the World Cup.
Says the man whose home country hasn't won anything in his lifetime. By the way, the last time we played each other I believe it was a one all draw.
James throws a pillow at me, trying to feign anger.
Alright, alright, lets agree to disagree. So what does Gent's page say about him anyway?
I haven't had a chance to read it yet, you came in and started complaining about soccer.
Football!
Yeah, soccer, just like I said. Anyway, I know that when he first got here he was on a roll. Up until he fought Rush for the EurAsian title, I believe he was undefeated. A bit up and down since that time, but solid nonetheless.
I was thinking, they are a bit of an oddball pairing. Granted it isn't as odd as a former MMA star and an overweight nerd, but it isn't a run of the mill team.
Maybe my head hurts from the fall, but I actually agree with you. I think we can use that to our advantage. As a team they are still fresh and have yet to have time to properly click. We have been there, we can exploit it.
James stands and reads the computer screen over my shoulder.
Hey, says he has a weakness for women. If all else fails we can put you in a wig and a tight tank top, you certainly have the boobs for it.
Jog on!
You look like you could use it.
I stand from my chair and grab James in a headlock. We wrestle around for a few minutes before the ruckus brings Dinah into the room.
I could have sworn you two were mad at each other for something just minutes ago.
I smile from behind James, who I had locked in a full nelson.
You know what they say, friendship is magic.
Just try not to destroy to house boys.
As Dinah walks away I release one of his arms to wave goodbye to Dinah. When I do he makes a fist and tags me between the legs to get away. I double over in pain.
Damn it man, I know my princess is in another castle, but that doesn't make it open season on my fellas.
Tell you what, lets run through a couple matches on the WZCW game, loser buys drinks later.
The next few hours were a blur a gaming and vodka slushies.
Mikey man, we are in our mid twenties now, hang overs are a real thing. You don't even need to be drunk to wake up the next morning with a headache.
That was the last thing I remembered before I passed out on the sofa, luckily this time I was fully clothed.
That is not how it works Sergei, you owed me a favor, you cant just call me at four in the morning now saying you need me to do something.
James stared intently at the wall in front of him as the indecipherable whisperings from the other side of the phone caused his face to flick through several emotions, contorting his face into ungodly expressions, before resting firmly at anger.
причинять боль моя семья и я убью тебя.
More whispers.
Отвяжись.
James hung up the phone and turned to walk away, not even noticing I was perched on the sofa holding another handset.
What the hell has he gotten himself into?
