MD90: Drake Callahan vs. Titus

[Viola Moonlight]

A huge return happened on Ascension when the living legend Titus came back and laid out the challenge to Chris K.O., who was unable to comment on the situation, about finishing off their unresolved business. Whilst we wait for the White Knight's answer, Titus will be busy dealing with his former partner crime and Lethal Lottery winner Drake Callahan who will be looking to avenge his loss last week to Celeste Crimson, in any way possible, and make sure people understand why he is challenging for the World Heavyweight championship at Kingdom Come.

Deadline is Tuesday, June 11th 2013, at 11:59 P.M. (Central Time Zone)​

 

[Kermit]

Titus has been granted a 24hr extension.

 

[Lee]

Week one of Titus' injury: Hollywood, California
​

Cameras are flashing and the lights. Men in suits are walking buy and women dressed to impress. These are no ordinary people and there is a reason the floor is red. It is, of course, a movie premier. The movie matters not in this tale but pick one to amuse yourself. Say it's Jaws 17 or Galaxy Quest 2 or The Lion King in black and white. The camera is focussed on a rather attractive brunette lady. Carly is one of the presenters on the Celeb News Now channel.

Carly: Hi guys, the weather is beautiful in sunny Hollywood where I have heard rumours that a huge celebrity is due to make an appearance. The rumours have been going in hyper-drive all day with TMZ theorising that he could be here.

A limo pulls up to the carpet and all cameras turn towards it. Carly stands still and gives a knowing look to the camera.

Carly: There is no theorising needed with CNN as I have been told reliably that the four time Oscar winner...

The camera quickly cuts to the limo and out steps the commanding presence of Titus Avison. There is a huge buzz with the crowd as they cheer. Cameras are flashing left right and centre and all the interviewers rush to ask questions. All aside from one lady.

Carly: Here he is right on queue. It seems like everyone wants a piece of Titus tonight, and who am I to get in his way?

At that point Titus is caught up and stood behind her, he pulls a face at the camera and she turns around.

Titus: If it isn't the wonderful Carly from CNN. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance.

Titus kisses her hand like a true gent and she blushes a bit.

Carly: It's a real honour to finally meet your Mr. Avison.

Titus: Cut the pleasantries Carly. You're in Hollywood, this is not the place for that. CNN is pretty much the only avenue that has not painted me as a crazy man and I thank you for that.

Carly: Well it's not every day you see Titus on the red carpet. It's been two years since you attended a premier.

Titus: I have time off work now, I may as well make the most of it. Look I need to run inside, but I'm sure you'd love to have me as a guest on your show next week.

Carly: Yeah definitely.

Titus carries on inside but stops to sign a few autographs on the way.

Carly: Looks like Tyler Perry will have to be cancelled.

________________________________________________​

Week one of Titus' injury: Channel 4 news.
​

The image cuts to a news station anchorman. He's a true stereotype with white hair and a moustache.

Clark: Clark Samson here for channel 4 news. After quite some time the rogue vigilante Red Mask has been spotted. He was seen in Hollywood saving a woman from a mugging. Detectives are looking for further information on this and they believe it to be a copycat. Former Red Mask Titus Avison was caught on camera at the time sitting down at a movie premier. The fact he was in town is said not to be linked.

________________________________________________​

Week one of Titus' return: WZCW Headquarters
​

WZCW HQ's and we see Stacey Madison stood with Titus.

Stacey: I'm stood here with former world champion Titus and I'm the first to get the scoop on his return.

Stacey turns to face him.

Stacey: I don't watch Celeb News Now but my esteemed colleague does, you've been quite the busy boy.

Titus: Becky?

Stacey: No, Leon.

Titus: Oh that makes sense.

Titus chuckles

Titus: It's been great actually, I think people forget that I'm actually world famous. I don't say that in a cocky way like I'm better than anyone, I'm not, but when you've achieved what I have the press want to know everything. My focus for the last couple of years has been on wrestling and fighting to the top so I've not been to 'Hollywood' for a while. I know of some people who hate it, that's why Bill Murray hangs around college dorms in New York. It was fun seeing old friends, seeing the glitz and glam and seeing people who respect your work.

Stacey: Respect? Did you hear that crowd last week, they respect the heck out of you.

Titus: I'm talking about my movies. I've won four Oscars, been in some of the most critically acclaimed pictures ever made. Yet all I hear are 'he's a two bit actor, second rate' by my wrestling colleagues. I can understand that thinking when I first came in, why should an actor become a wrestler? It took me a number of years to prove myself and by goodness I did. You know it, I know it and the fans definitely know it.

Stacey: You've issued a challenge to KO and you're waiting for an answer. Have you seen him about or attempted to clear the air?

Titus: No, not at all. I was declared medically fit the morning of Ascension and I made a few phone calls. I knew I'd be at Kingdom Come anyway and so they allowed me to show up on Ascension. I came in, did my bet said hi to most of the locker room then went home. At no point did I see him or anything.

Stacey: You said you'd be at Kingdom Come, how would you know that if you weren’t medically clear?

Titus: I've never missed a Kingdom Come, even when I was saving Keystone City I was sat in the crowd watching every moment. No one noticed though they kept telling me I looked like Titus. They just assumed if Titus was there he'd at least be backstage.

Stacey: So what is your plan for KO?

Titus: That match, if he accepts, if some way off. I'd rather focus on the now.

Stacey: The now is you're in a match against Drake Callahan. A man who years ago you had a friendly allegiance with, a man who has since gone on to do big big things. How do you feel about that?

Titus: Such as the time he won the World Heavyweight Championship? I've done that, twice.

There's an awkward pause.

Titus: Or the fact that he won the Lethal Lottery? Again that's something I've done.

Once again there's a pause, then Titus laughs. Stacey laughs along but hers is an uncomfortable laugh.

Titus: Yet he's still done something I've yet to achieve. Something I talked at length in my interview with Carly of Celeb News New. I respect Callahan a lot. I remember when he came in and could barely function unless he had a beer with him. No one would give him the time of day, yet I did. I didn't expect anything in return, I just know that sometimes in life you need that helping hand. You're right, he did go onto bigger things. How many Mayhem, Eurasian, World Heavyweight champion, Lethal Lottery winners are there? Three. In five years over 150 people have entered a WZCW ring. We've only had two others who have matched what he has done. It's hard not to respect someone like that.

Stacey: So the great Titus Avison is prepared to step into the ring once again?

Titus: Physically? Definitely. Mentally? I'm not sure, I'd like to think so but you can never tell. Usually the returning superstar would have the advantage but this is Drake Callahan I'm talking about. He's just won the Lethal Lottery, the ball is definitely in his court. Yet don't count me out. There's a reason people have heard legends.

The camera fades to black.

 

[Harthan]

I stood in the uncomfortable glare of WZCW lighting, with a camera in front of me and Becky Serra next to me. Somewhere behind those cameras was Stoya, but I couldn't see her for the light. There was only light, the camera, a microphone, and questions.

So many questions.

"Ever since it was announced, the WZCW universe has been buzzing. The question everyone wants answered is this - can you beat Titus?" She said it to me in her best professional interviewer voice, all class and charm, but I saw the glare in her eyes when she pushed the microphone towards me. A small, faraway part of me remembered when she and I had been friends. When I'd even dreamed of something more.

That time was dead and gone, a memory near faded. Not faded enough, as far as I was concerned. I took hold of the microphone.

"Can I beat Titus? Do you people even remember what you had for lunch today? I've already beaten Titus before. There's no questions to be answered. I have absolutely nothing to prove to him or you or anyone."

It was all I could do not to grind my teeth after I said it. If you checked the records books, I had a win over Titus. But I knew it had come with plenty of assistance.

"There are some who would say that win came with some controversy," Becky was saying. I cut her off and grabbed the microphone.

"You want to know about controversy, Becky? Controversy is me getting ganged up on by three people and still taking a loss. WZCW has had two weeks to reverse that call and award me a win over Celeste Crimson by disqualification, but they've done absolutely nothing. Because make no mistake, Becky, just because Ty has returned to the shadows, exposed and beaten, don't believe for a second that his influence still doesn't reign over WZCW, even if he doesn't. He put into place legions of cronies who hate me and will do everything they can to hold me down."

Becky jerked the mic back with as much professionalism as she could muster.

"Do you expect Steven Holmes and his friends to interfere with your match with Titus?"

"I expect Holmes and his cronies to do everything they can to mess with me. I expect them to do anything and everything they're capable of. So yes, I expect it. How could I not?"

Becky looked at a cue card, reminding her of her last question. She nodded almost imperceptibly, and asked it.

"If you lose to Titus this week, how will you recover going into Kingdom Come?"

"If I lose to Titus? If I lose to Titus, you ask? Try to make it less obvious that you and everyone else in WZCW is hoping and working as hard as they can to make me failure. If I lose to Titus, I'll still be Drake Callahan, and I'll still have a spot in the main event at Kingdom Come. No one, not you, not Titus, not Holmes, not even Ty Burna can take that away from me. I won't need to recover because I won't even be hurt, Becky. The only way I lose to Titus is by Holmes and his pack of wild dogs showing their ugly faces and costing me the match. But you can be damn sure that if that happens, Titus won't hesitate to take the win, because you want to know what the biggest secret in WZCW is? The thing nobody ever talks about? You think Titus is some big goddamn hero, right? I know it, everyone is practically pissing themselves with excitement for the big hero's return. But I'll tell you something - your hero is a lie. Titus is out for one man and only man only, and that's Titus. He wants the Oscar, he wants the world championship, he wants the money and the fame and the glitz and the glory but he does not, never has, and never will care about anyone besides Titus."

I spat on the floor, and grinned as Becky had to dance aside to avoid it.

"That's for your hero. How you people don't see it I'll never understand. All of your heroes are scum. I told you all the same things about Showtime, but you love him all the same. Every hero in this company is about themselves, don't believe otherwise. This company is poisoned from the top down. The heroes are liars, and the world champion hides behind his girlfriend's skirts and his mongrel brother. There's only one man in this company who goes out every night and does what he says he'll do, and that's me. I step out into the ring, I wrestle, and if you haven't noticed, I have a habit of winning. I won the world championship, I won the Lethal Lottery, I beat Ty Burna. I'm going to beat Titus, and I'm going to win at Kingdom Come, and I'm still going to be the only honest man in WZCW when I do it. So hate me if you want, cheer for your false idols, but if you want to get behind the last real hero in WZCW, maybe it's time some of you people started thinking long and hard about just why the hell you love Titus and his friends so much."

I shoved the microphone back at Becky and stalked off. I heard her stammer a sign off, but I didn't care. Stoya fell in beside me and I walked out, a sour taste in my mouth. I hated talking to the interviewers. They all hated me. I much preferred to send in video from my phone, but Stoya had said I needed to make an appearance before WZCW management started to get upset about it. Well, fine. I did, and now it was done.

For now.


------

My head was pounding as Stoya and I unwound in our suite. The day had fared no better after my interview. I felt half sick, wanting nothing more than to go to bed. The sun wasn't even down. Stoya had noticed, but held her tongue for once. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. I couldn't take it anymore.

"I lost," I said. It hung in the air between us for a long moment.

"Obviously. Celeste cheated to win, everyone saw it," Stoya replied, her voice calm and level.

I shook my head. "No. You don't understand. I knew. That whole match, I knew it. Celeste was better than me. She had me. Whether or not her disgusting boyfriend and his brother had interfered, she had me."

"You don't know that," Stoya said, still calm, obviously trying to keep me calm.

"No, Stoya, you don't get it. I knew. From the first few minutes of that match, I had no idea how I was going to beat her. She was too good. Not a week after you kick my ass in a sparring match, then I was hopeless against Celeste, what the hell is next?"

Stoya stood up and came over to me. I sat up and looked at her as she crouched down and looked me in the eye.

"And before that, you won the Lethal Lottery. You literally defeated everyone in the company. You weren't close to ready for me in that sparring match, and Celeste cheated. Stop second guessing yourself. It's unbecoming."

It should have reassured me. It should have helped me stay calm. But I couldn't help it - my mind was racing. Everything felt like it was falling apart. I shook my head fiercely.

"Stoya, you're not hearing me," I started, before she cut me off.

"You're not hearing me, Drake. You said as much this afternoon - you are the top of this business. The more you worry about this, the more it's going to eat at you and actually cost you in the ring."

"It was all I could do not to say this during that interview, Stoya. I am off my game - "

She slapped me. Hard, across the jaw. My mind went blank for a few long moments before I slowly turned back to face her. There was nothing in her eyes but calm, two calm oceans that threatened to drown me.

"Well, I guess we're even," I said, the words coming to me only as I was saying them.

Her face didn't change - until she slowly grinned, obviously in spite of herself.

"Go fuck yourself," she said, smiling ear to ear.

"I'd sooner you helped."

"Would you now?" she said, leaning in to kiss me, pushing me back into the chair. My face burned and stung even as she kissed me, all the pleasure and pain mingled together as one.


-----

I watched her sleep, hours later. I couldn't say honestly that all my doubts were resolved, but Stoya had helped. I knew she was right, at least about the sparring match. But I also knew that Celeste had been beating me before any interference had began.

Titus. It came down to Titus. I had said I didn't have anything to prove to anyone, but I had lied. I had to prove myself to myself. It's one thing to win the Lethal Lottery. It's another to win the world title, and you don't win the world title by losing to everyone in the menagerie on your way to the the match. I needed to beat Titus. I hadn't forgotten his role in Ty's ascension either - I was still convinced he'd been paid off to target me inside Hell in a Cell, or convinced to or something, at any rate. Beating him was a matter of closure. Closure for that, and certainty that I had what it took the get the job done at Kingdom Come.

I watched Stoya breathe, in and out. Her calm was something I needed desperately. My anger and suspicion had served me well against Ty, but I was fighting a shadow war. My enemy was in my face this time, and I knew his pawns. It was time to be more than a raving lunatic. It was time to be better, stronger.

It was time to be a champion.