*The scene opens up to show a strutting figure walking down a dimly lit corridor. There is a hop in his step and a beat in his heart as the figure pulls his best Saturday Night Fever walk impression. He turns a corner before fading into almost total darkness. However, he soon emerges with a freshly lit face due to the low light produced by his cell phone. The man in question is Super Agent, Eli Silver. He is wearing a slick dark blue suit, with white collar and red tie, as he brazenly checks his phone. He once again disappears into darkness, and emerges. Noticing a trend? Its like hes walking through a tunnel. He glances up for a quick and subtle second, turns around, turns back around, rubs his eyes, and finally...*
Eli: WHERE THE F*** ARE YOU!?
*Screams.*
*The camera leaves him in the hallway of his own despair as we now join two figures, one sitting and one standing, at a table in front of a bright light. As the camera spins around to show the length of the table the two figures are shown to be Grand Mystique, and his devout follower, Mason Westhoff. GM is wearing a long leather trench coat. Mason, a black suit and tie. A third man is shown at the other end of the table, and that man, is the newly returning D.C.. He is wearing a hoodie with faded jeans. A backwards black hat, and white shoes. The contrast is pretty striking, considering this seems to be a meeting of some sort. Though the description has taken a little bit to get through, we have joined them in mid-conversation.*
Mystique: ...and should everything remain according to plan, The Sacrificial Alter can proceed forward. If everything on your end will still hold up?
*D, who seems to have been somewhat out of it, slowly looks over his shoulder and back at GM.*
D.C.: Yeah... I'm not entirely sure.
*GM tilts his head to the side, troubled.*
GM: Not sure? I-
D.C.: I haven't heard from him yet, okay?
*GM lets out a small sigh, but sits up in his chair. Resting his hands on the table.*
GM: Are you even sure why your here?
*D, almost mocking the posture of GM, does the exact same thing.*
D.C.: I came to you, because I thought, you were the Grand Mystique I knew from years ago. Instead, I'm finding myself walking into the Westboro Baptist Church, being handed a f***ing bazooka, and given life lessons.
Westhoff: WATCH YOUR TONGUE!
*D blows a raspberry at Mason. Mason takes a step towards DC but before he can make any advance, GM has extended his arm, preventing the move.*
GM: The defiant soul is not easily tamed. Trust me Brother Mason, if he did not want to be here, he would not have come.
Westhoff: Forgive me.
*GM relaxes his arm as Mason takes a step back.*
GM: Unnecessary. D.C., you see, has more fire in his stomach then most other men.
*D kind of cracks a smile at Mason, who looks on in disgust.*
GM: But he is a fool. A boy, prancing around this earth as a man.
*D's smile begins to leave his face as GM finds some kind of pleasure in his analysis.*
GM: Pride, will be his downfall. He will not bend nor break to force. Striking him will only play to his favor. Violence is his resolve. He thrives on attention.
*GM rises from his chair, as Mason steps aside, he pushes the chair in as GM steps away from the table. He extends his arm out as Mason takes his leave from the view. GM turns back to face D.C..*
GM: I know you better then you think D.C.. You can kick and scream like a child all you like. But I know, if you did not want to be here, you would not have heeded this call.
*D chuckles to himself. Rolling his eyes as he does so. He lifts himself out of his chair as well. As the two stand and stare at each other, a tense silence fills the room. The silence breaks when GM finally turns away from the table and takes a small step towards the light. He pauses though, glancing over his shoulder.*
GM: You need our help, far more then we need yours my friend. It may take some time. But you will see the error of you're ways. You will see.
*As GM walks behind the light, D steps away from the chair and begins to leave out of the other side of the room.*
GM (off camera): Let this be the first lesson.
*D stops in his place. He turns around and looks but all he can see is the bright light GM was sitting in front of. No sound emits. A quiet room and a chair in front of him is the only foe D.C. has to face right now.*
Eli (off camera): WHERE THE F*** ARE YOU!?
*D kicks the chair under the table as he finally steps outside of the room and into a dark hallway. The camera follows him as a few feet away, Eli Silver is practically spinning in circles. Eli sees what he thinks is a person.*
Eli: D!?
*DC begins to walk towards him, rubbing his chin for a second.*
D: Yeah, whats up Eli?
Eli: Whats up? THAT is what you say to me, Jesus Christ! First, you f***ing call me, after like two or three years of dead silence. I don't hear from you. But SUDDENLY you want me to negotiate a contract for a fed I'm pretty sure you swore you'd never be a part of again. I get told to meet you in what can only be described as top market Detroit real estate. And, when I finally see you, face to face, after all this time, the first thing you say to me is, whats up?
*D, un-phased by the rambling, just kind of shrugs.*
D.C.: Yeah... whats up?
Eli: Oh suck my f***ing d***.
*Eli turns around, complaining incoherently as the two make their way down the hallway. D finally catches up to Eli as he waves his arms about in a fit. They continue to walk side by side as Eli finally seems to slow down his words and eventually settles into a silence. It doesn't last long.*
Eli: Sorry. I didn't mean to...
D.C.: Sound like a woman?
Eli: Yeah.
*They take a few more steps together as Eli glances over at D.C..*
Eli: Well, at least your still marketable.
*D appears to look like he just bit into a sour grape or something. His face squishes up as he shakes his head.*
D.C.: Is that a compliment?
Eli: Considering the last time I saw you you looked like a f***ing lumberjack, yeah. I'd take that as a compliment.
*D shrugs his shoulders.*
D.C.: Alright.
Eli: So hows the Cobra Commander?
*D lets out a small laugh as he turns to look over his shoulder. He turns back around and leans over towards Eli, but still looks ahead.*
D.C.: I don't think he likes me much. And his backup dancer looks like he wants to rip my head off every time I say something.
Eli: Oh, fancy that, you're pissing people off by talking. Who would have seen that coming?
*The sarcasm coming out of Eli is so thick you could butter toast with it. As they turn a corner, another spell of silence is cast by Father Time.*
D.C.: So... how is she?
*The questions is met with a deep long sigh. As Eli looks away from D, and kind of flips a piece of paper or something hanging from the wall.*
Eli: How was the f***ing Bay of Pigs D?
*The camera stops following them as they walk down the rest of the hallway away from the picture. Light at the end of the long narrow passage greets them, almost like a crossing over type moment. Less "badass" as Grand Mystique. But this is just a transition. The camera switches to an outside view as the two come back into the picture standing outside of a broken down building. The two stand still, look at the building, and turn around to face the world beyond.*
D.C.: Well...
Eli: Let's go get 'em kid.
*Eli puts on some kind of expensive sunglasses. They're probably worth a lot more then I'd even like to imagine. He lives a very expensive lifestyle. But that is neither here nor there. The two walk past the camera as we fade to black. This is the part in the dialogue where I would start to build up some kind of plot device, but I'm not going to. I'm already getting kind of paranoid at how boring this introduction is becoming. It will move along better next time. However, we aren't done friends. There is still a bit left.
As the scene begins to come back into view, D and Eli are seen once against standing beside each other. The are wearing the same attire they were wearing in the decrepit building they left earlier. However, they are now standing in front of a interview area. It doesn't appear they are backstage or anything, but there is a WZCW banner hanging behind them. D turns to face it, grabbing it with both hands and tugging it down to straighten it out. Eli glances back and nods approvingly. As D double checks his work he finally turns around with a crooked smile.*
D.C.: At one point in time in my career it was hard to shut me up. At one point in time in my career, all I really had to do was be booked in a match and people were already talking about how I was going to walk away with another easy win.
*D.C. smiles longingly. As if collecting a wave of memories.*
D.C.: I'm finding myself in a very strange place now because... I'm not used to square one.
*The smile leaves his face as he stares into the camera with a deadpan gaze. He pauses for a few moments.*
D.C.: James Howard, it would have been a walk in the park for me little more then three years ago to just look into this camera, flash a smile, walk into our match, and leave. With another W in the stat column and another believer of the hype.
*As D shrugs, he turns towards Eli, almost like asking him if he is wrong. Eli responds with a simple smile and shake of the head. D turns back to the camera, and points to himself.*
D.C.: I'm not getting humble by any means. What I'm saying is that, once you get that Midas touch, it's hard to just fall back into line. See we kind of have some similarities. Minus the part where you were undefeated in the Mixed Martial Arts game. But, you were on the cusp of breaking into the big leagues... But you broke. Don't feed me the bullshit saying that seeing your own blood throws you into a rage. Come on kid.
*D cranks his wrist in front of his waist and "tosses it aside".*
D.C.: You flipped out because someone was better then you and you were being forced to realize it before you were ready to admit it.
*As he makes the point he sort of gazes into the camera. Shaking his head slightly as if snapping out of it.*
D.C.: But we were both cast down before we were ready to give up that throne. I had a career you have wet dreams about. I faced down devils without batting an eye. I started wars. I won championships. I won every award you could possibly think of.
*D raises his shoulders, again looking at Eli.*
D.C.: A Hall of Famer... At least to some people.
*He turns away from Eli, lowering his shoulders, and back towards the camera with a small lean.*
D.C.: But like I said James, we were both cast down before we were ready. Granted, you were cast down for flipping out. I got paid to lose my mind, and got paid to make others lose theirs. The point I'm making, is that while we were both at that low point, that is where our similarities end. We were forced into starting over. So instead of doing what you did and just get paid to beat people up again I tried that "normal life".
*D points away from himself, out towards the distance.*
D.C.: I walked away from this business leaving friends behind. leaving a legacy that no one has since matched. Leaving a history chalk full of memories people still hold on to and talk about.
*As D brings his arm back to his side he lets out a sigh.*
D.C.: And it was just about three years ago.
*He lowers his head, almost as if talking to himself.*
D.C.: That, is not normal. I had made such an impact in this industry that when I walked away and tried to be normal, I was constantly reminded of what I'd done. What I had accomplished.
*Slowly gazing up at the camera, he seems to have a yearning in his eyes.*
D.C.: Do you know how that feels James? Of course not because you traded in one fist fight for another. You knew better. A fighter can't be anything but a fighter.
*He manages a smile, but its forced.*
D.C.: Being reminded about those days got really fucking annoying. My life was like a History Channel special. People would tell me about things that I had forgotten. Reminding me of names I can't even put faces to.
*D sways a little bit as he continues almost with a rising anger.*
D.C.: And then it always followed with that final question. "When?"
*He lets out a laugh, albeit a condescending one.*
D.C.: "When is DC coming back?" "When?" soon followed by,"where?".
*Another laugh.*
D.C.: That, is why we find ourselves here James. About a year ago now I left my house and went back out on the road, but this time... This time was going to be different. I reached a crossroads James. I got so sick and fucking tired of people telling me how good I was. I started to believe a normal life is not something I'm allowed to have. I tried to bottle it up, but it never stopped. Everyone kept talking about my past.
*Like a slap to the face D kind of stands straight up. A light bulb went off.*
D.C.: And then it hit me. THEY were living in the past, not me. I was living in the now, but not allowed. But nobody...
*With brooding intent D leans to the camera.*
D.C.: Nobody sees the future.
I am the future.
*He pauses, gazing away from the camera with a smile that only he can muster. He adjusts his hoodie, rather confidently.*
D.C.: I took those questions James, I took those questions with me when I left my house. Those questions didn't inspire me. Those questions defined what I was going to do.
*D holds his hand up, index finger extended.*
D.C.: If I couldn't live my own legacy down, then I was going to rise above it. I got to a point in my life where I knew, the DC that people knew, wasn't going to come back. It would be brand new. It would be something nobody would see coming.
It would be the future.
*He lowers his hand, pointing directly into the camera.*
D.C.: You my friend, have just enough luck left inside your sorry ass excuse for a career to be the first person I face down this road. Don't call it a comeback, because all those things that happened before, the person I was, has changed.
*D slaps his hand, palm to back hand...*
D.C.: New moves, new style, new look, same fucking attitude.
*The final slap at the last word as he holds the position he stopped in.*
D.C.: So when this all came to head, I met up with another person who went through a transformation. I met up with Grand Mystique... Imagine my surprise. He isn't the man I knew, and I'm sure I'm not the person he imagined I would be. But he made an offer...
*Standing straight up now, D extends his arm out towards Eli, who has been standing there this entire time in case you forgot about him.*
D.C.: So, I made one phone call. One phone call to Eli Silver. He got the contract. I had a return at the Lethal Lottery, albeit as baffled as everyone else that I was being handed a bazooka rope shooter. BUT, I returned.
*D playfully smiles and sort of rolls his eyes a little. But he shakes his head quickly a few times, and continues.*
D.C.: I went on to raise hell outside of the Lethal Lottery match. James, I eliminated more people then you did and I wasn't even in the match! I don't even think your music stopped playing!
*He lets out a chuckle holding his hands on top of his head.*
D.C.: So, after all is said and done, mind you I'm still getting used to this place that night, I find out, that YOU, are Stormrage's former tag partner making you're "triumphant return."
*D lowers his hands.*
D.C.: Well the world isn't big enough for two feel good moments Jim. My return, is a tsunami. Your return, is the ripples in the kiddy pool after Stormrage farts. Your already dead in the water.
*D steps away from the camera, doing a half spin. Showing his back, he turns around to face the camera again. He leans in.*
D.C.: It's going to take a lot more then a bad temper and clinched fists to knock me down, Jimmy.
*Making a "finger gun" with his hand, he places it against his head.
D.C.: The Sacrificial Alter is the gun pointed at the head of WZCW.... Blink, and your dead.
*He whispers.*
D.C.: Don't blink.
*Suddenly, he rises straight up, looking down into the camera, as if nothing happened. Calm, cool, and collected.*
D.C.: And if you don't like it...
*Its not too familiar around these parts, but we'll get used to hearing those words and seeing him spit on the camera. Which he does, as the scene slowly fades to black Eli walks over to him patting him on the shoulder. A big smile comes across Eli's face, dollar signs dancing in his head. D continues to look into the camera until we are left with total blackness.*
