IF I WIN, I LOSE

MIDWAY THROUGH FIRST CLASS: WHEEL OF STIPULATIONS

“Solace, can we go over this later?” Lien asks, “Katia and I have this parking lot brawl after two nasty injuries, and we really have to focus on that right now…”

“Yeah, it’s fine! I’m just super pissed off…” Solace says, turning her face to Ada who is feeling just as angry.

“Don’t worry, Sol…” Ada says, “Let them do their thing… We can totally handle Jolie and Cedes by ourselves, any day of the week…”

“You’re right…” Solace says, “You guys, you know what? I’m just gonna go walk off some of this steam…”

“You sure?” Ada asks, “We can go together…”

“Trust me, new girl…” Katia interjects, “Sometimes Solace is just better off gettin’ some ‘air’ on her own.”

“It’s fine, Ada…” Solace says, “She’s right… Sometimes I like to get away from everything and everyone and just process things… it’s just my own kinda crazy.”

“Say no more.” Ada says, “I’ll be hangin’ out in the Triumvirate locker room, stretchin’ out the kicker.”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t be long… I’ll be back there soon.” Solace says, fist bumping Ada, and nodding to the Triumvirate girls before turning from them.

As Solace storms off from the girls she trusts, her stride through the backstage leaves a trail of fire; no one that knows her would dare to follow too closely. Each step forward automatically, for her mind is elsewhere, and although distracted, the focus on her troubles has absolute attention.

If it was one thing Solace hated more than a cheater, it was a backstabber. She had seen her fair share of backstabbing in this industry, but she wasn’t sure whether it had been worse at XWF in America… or at IIW/FC in England. It seemed that, either she was naive to believe professional wrestling wasn’t always like this, or something changed… it was almost like a toxic cloud had overcome the sport, but was it always there? Or was it something that happened to arrive coincidentally with her own arrival? ‘What luck.’ she thinks.

Her thoughts are deep, wondering exactly when Jolie Vexx had conspired with that psychotic witch, Mercedes- her inner voice struggling to combat the audio of Josh Grobin’s normally beautiful rendition of O Holy Night, playing out in the arena for some reason.

It was Christmas, afterall, made sense… must be a commercial or holiday greeting of some sort. Once the rationale was made, her thoughts returned to the present, and what a present she was about to give the First Class General Manager… All she could think about was getting her hands on her, trying desperately to think back to Annika; trying desperately not to let herself go too far once she had.

It wasn’t soon after the christmas melody ended that her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running feet. On guard, she dropped her thoughts, feeling her alertness warn her like a secret sense of pending danger as the running came closer from behind her, and with curiosity, Solace turned her face towards the potential threat.

“Ash…” Solace blurts out, automatically dropping her readiness at the sight of a teary faced, Ash Quinn running passed her, unphased by Solace’s greeting.

Solace looks around, wondering if someone was chasing after her, because that’s what it looked like… the way her face contorted into terror, something that she has only seen in expressions of fear; child-like fear.

Ash darts to the side, knocking the papers out of a correspondent's hands, but not stopping to help them pick it up. Instead, she turns to open a locker-room door and slams it behind her. Solace is concerned, it isn’t like Ash to behave in this way, she wonders what could be troubling her.

Before Solace instinctually moves towards the door, she leans down to help the correspondent pick up the papers that haven’t already been retrieved.

“What is wrong with that, bitch?” He asks.

“Hey… watch it.” Solace says, handing him a small stack of papers, “That ‘Bitch’ has been through more than you know, I’ll go talk to her.”

“Thanks.” He stands back up with the papers and walks away, leaving Solace to scoff in disbelief at his rudeness. She turns to gaze at the still shut beige door and moves at it, knocking first, then opening it slowly to peek in.

“Ash?” Solace searches, noticing a small girl balled in the corner across the room, her black hair fallen over her legs with her head buried deep between them.

Solace walks in, shutting the door behind her, and lowers herself down to Ash’ level.

“Are you okay?” Solace asks, noticing Ash’s shoulders trembling, muttering something in between sobs, but too difficult to make out.

“I’m sorry… I can’t hear…” Solace’s eyebrows curl with empathy as she leans towards Ash Quinn to hear her better, but Ash’s face rises up, with eyes that startle Solace.

“He’s back!” Ash cries out, eyeliner making her cheeks smeared with black, her nose running down her upper lip, but her eyes… her eyes were horrified, a gaze of horror that transcended deep into Solace at which, she too, could feel the terror herself.

“Who?” Solace holds herself together, struggling not to act on her own anxiety rising, “Who’s back?”

But Ash doesn’t answer. She only looks at Solace with the same eyes, only now, her face goes from afraid to despair, as if Solace’s question revealed that Ash was truly alone, and that hope was completely out of her reach. She never answers, her head falls back down, subdued by Solace not already knowing, continuing to sob until the her head rises again, this time accompanied with the quick, short breaths as she struggles to breathe.

“Ash!” Solace grabs her shoulders, embracing her lovingly, “Please calm down. Slow yourself down… breathe with me…”

Solace exhales deep and slow… and then breathes out again even slower.

“Just like that.” Solace repeats the process, hoping Ash hears her beyond her own panic, “You can do it. Do it with me.”

Ash does, and together, they can breathe slowly and finally, Ash calms herself enough. Solace hugs her, patting, brushing her hair, and whispering “It’s okay. I’m here for you.”

“I’ll never be free.” Ash breaks down, hugging Solace like a child- reminding Solace of herself, hugging her Father as an eight year old, finally reunited.

When their hug detaches, Solace’s hands remain on Ash’s shoulders, looking to her to see the fear was still there, but hope had returned.

“Whatever it is… whoever it is… I’m here for you. Lien, Katia, Ada… we’re all here for you.” Solace assures her. Ash smiles and Solace smiles back, knowing Ash felt better… until the smile opened, her eye-brows lifted, and what was once sobbing became a bout of maniacal laughter. Solace is startled once again, her eyes narrowing in confusion, with a feeling nothing short of unsettling.

“Here for me…” Ash’s laughter becomes erratic, “It’s not enough. It’s never enough. You should go…”

“You want me to give you some space?” Solace asks.

“No, I mean…” Ash grabs Solace’s shoulders and it is her now gazing into Solace’s terrified eyes, “You should get as far away from here… as you can…” and begins to laugh again.

Solace pulls away, bothered, and stands up; but still looking down at Ash, concerned.

“Who is back, Quinn?” Solace asks, this time, more sternly.

Ash simply smiles, looking up at her, tears still falling down her eyes as she lifts her left hand up into the air… the scar of a goat’s head in her palm.

Solace backs away, unsure how to help her.

“I know you are scared… but what happened back then, that will NEVER happen to you again.” Solace promises, “No matter what, I got you.”

“You don’t get it.” Ash stands up, her back against a locker, tears still streaming down her cheeks, “No matter how many times they’ve been stopped… they always come back.”

“Let em’.” Solace says, her chin up in the air, “Let em’ try. Be the worst mistake they ever made, I promise you that.” Solace smirks.

“I hope you’re right…” Ash says, wiping away the tears from her cheeks.

“If it makes you feel better, you can come hang out in our locker room tonight.”

“Really?” Ash asks.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Solace says, “C’mon.” Solace leads Ash out of the locker room and together, they head for the Triumvirates’.

WEDNESDAY 12/8
PARKED OUTSIDE OF A MANSION IN HARTFORD

“They make Mercedes and her warpath look like child’s play.”

“That’s kind of… dramatic, don’t you think?” Solace lifts one eyebrow in doubt.

“You were at XWF… you should know.” Tigran says.

“I was, but when I got there… they were already fizzling out.” Solace says, “I only heard the stories… plus, I was on Anarchy… the only weirdo’s I had to deal with were B.O.B. and after they tried burying me in the desert, I beat most of em’ up. When my contract was up, I left for bigger and better things.”

“Gotta love America.” Tigran chuckles.

“Between my mother and my first venture in pro wrestling outside of China, I think I’ll stick with England.” Solace smiles.

“So, why even bother checking out this estate then?” Tigran asks.

“I don’t know…” Solace says, “You did all this work… I feel bad.”

“You should!” Tigran jokes, “But seriously, we don’t have to even do this… I was just trying to find you the best deal.”

“Look, I’ve put it off long enough… the house is beautiful in pictures, checking it out in person won’t hurt… plus, if it’s worth it, maybe it’ll be the first time I find something redeemable about America.”

“Well, we can still sit here out front… or we can actually go look at it.” Tigran says, pointing at the very mansion out Solace’s passenger side window.

Solace sighs.

“Sol, we don’t have to.” Tigran grows annoyed.

“No, let’s go.” Solace obviously goes against her better judgment, opening the door to feel the brisk air of Hartford, CT.

“At least it’s not raining…” Solace jokes, referencing the weather in England.

“Oh, good!” Tigran peers passed Solace, “The grass has been cut finally. Let’s go check out the backyard, because last time, I couldn’t really get a good feel for it.”

“Alrighty.” Solace says, “I’ll just follow your lead.”

Tigran retrieves a key from his coat pocket and unlocks the chain binding the black metal gate from the bars, letting it swing open so they can enter the premises. They head left around the front of the house to gander at the land itself, coming around a long side to a quite large area of open field.

“Wow.” Solace says, her eyes widen at the sight of such vast space.

“23 acres.” Tigran says, stepping over lower parts of land attempting to keep his footing on uneven terrain.

“Yeah, I read the appraisal. The highly redacted appraisal.” Solace rolls her eyes until they return and narrow at the sight of an on-ground family cemetery. “Is that a tombstone?”

“Fairly common on ancestral estates…” Tigran nods.

“I wanna see!” Solace begins to jog over to it.

“Alrighty.” Tigran walks a little faster behind Solace as she reaches the small grave site.

“Holy shit!” Tigran hears Solace’s reaction and realizes the inevitable revelation has come to fruition.

“Is this…”

“Yup.”

“No freakin’ way!” Solace is dumbfounded, her mouth open as she freezes in place, staring back at Tigran in utter shock, “You knew and you didn’t tell me!?!”

“I thought maybe it would make your already reluctant interest a hard no.” Tigran admits, “but it’s just a house… just a building…”

“Dude, this is Danny Starr’s mansion!!” Solace shouts in excitement, to be shushed by Tigran, “This isn’t just a house!”

Tigran blows out a deep exhaled stress breath as Solace turns back to the gravestones, her eyebrows scowl.

“Where is his tombstone?” Solace searches, finding nothing, “Didn”t he...?”

“Yes.” Tigran confirms.

“Then… where?” Solace asks…

“Here…” Tigran points down in front of where he stands, Solace moves in front and looks down.

“Jennifer Copelin.” Solace reads, “Died 2006. This isn't it... her name isn't even Starr.”

“He’s buried here… next to her.” Tigran says, “The realtors said that his will requested he be buried next to her, despite never marrying… but off the record, they said they didn’t produce a tombstone to sway sickos from trying to dig him up.”

“Yeah, well…” Solace flutters her eyes, “Makes sense. But WOW. No wonder everything was so secretive!”

“Exciting, I know… Now you know why it's so cheap!” Tigran smiles, “Did you want to go check out the-”

As he looks back, she looks as well, both catch in the basement window a set of blinds being held open by a single finger.

Solace squints to see if it’s a trick of the eye, and as she begins to walk closer, the finger slips back and the blinds close.

“Nope!” Solace says, walking passed Tigran and towards the car.

“What?” Tigran says, “What’s wrong??”

“There’s a squatter in there!” Solace says, pace quickening.

“No, no… that’s not possible. The gate was locked, they checked the house fully before making this appointment. Maybe… maybe a cat got in?” Tigran tries his best to persuade Solace.

“I was down for a haunted house, hell, I was even down for dealing with the notorious history of the previous owner, but i am NOT down with a squatter. Did you ever see the movie Parasite? Ain’t doin’ it!” Solace is adamant.

Tigran runs faster than she is storming up the side of the house to get in front of her, holding her shoulders to stop her from moving any further.

“Sol, we came too far to not at least check it out!” Tigran urges her, “Look, how about I call Law Enforcement, have them go in there and clear it before we go in! If there’s a squatter, given the nature of the ‘previous owner’ it’s not the most unexpected thing in the world… it happens with high profile people, and once it’s cleared, you can at least check it out without fear of anything… deal?”

Solace looks away, her eyes stubborn, but thinks how excited she was to even be here once realizing it’s history.

“Fine!” Solace gives in, rolling her eyes, “But not until it’s cleared. My Daddy would kill you for letting me go in there with a crazy person.”

“Of course! Look, I’ll tell you what.. I’ll handle the security, call local law enforcement, you sit in the car, do a promo or whatever, and when it’s cleared, we’ll just check it out real quick so we can get back to the UK for Nor'easter in time. Okay?” Tigran asks.

“Promo.” Solace remembers, “Shit!”

Solace rushes to the car, pulling her phone out of her coat pocket as she enters the passenger side of the vehicle. She looks through the window at Tigran as he gazes back at her. She wonders why he looks so… relieved. It’s a passing moment, and soon he is on his phone to do as he said, and she is on her phone to do what she must do… prepare for war.

INSIDE HER MIND

When did she betray us? It surely wasn’t the moment she stopped counting at two. It wasn’t even the moment she counted three for Mercedes… no, this alliance was the actual conception of the betrayal and the answer to the question of when isn’t so clear…

Was the betrayal brewing before Queen of the Ring? No, she had been co-managing with Brandon Hendrix, she barely had any power at all…

But then… she and Brandon bumped heads… something changed with them, and suddenly, Brandon Hendrix got the boot and Jolie assumed full control of First Class as General Manager…

Think back…

When… When did she betray us?

Was it when The Coven first struck? No, she was against them… right? She rallied behind me to help her stop them, so, why do that? Why would she orchestrate this? No, it couldn’t have been that far back?

What did she say at Wheel? That she did it after seeing Mercede’s path of destruction? Why join her after I put an end to it at Malevolence? Why set up Casie the very next event? No, this couldn’t have been a design from the beginning, could it?

Think, damnit!

Jolie Vexx showed no signs of this coming… she had been against Mercedes… it was affecting her brand, but then, even as the Coven broke apart and Mercedes had lost everything… Jolie still aligned herself with Mercedes after she had already been stopped! Why, Why, why!!!

It doesn’t make sense. How does Jolie benefit from forming an alliance with Mercedes? How does Mercedes winning the Women’s title benefit anyone other than Mercedes? Jolie already had Porcelain to be her muscle… so why? For what purpose does Mercedes serve as the GM’s chosen one? There must be more to this story… there must be something under the surface that I just can’t see…

Why, Jolie? Why did you betray us? And when did you decide to?

OBLIGATORY PROMO

The Instagram Live begins to record.

“Hey Guys!!” Solace begins, “Sorry, No make up today, hope you don’t mind. Don’t really care if you mind… I'm off, and this is a video that is for only one person, and that’s my courageous leader, the boss lady, the general manager, Miss Jolie Vexx. You know, Jolie… I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching myself lately, and I’ve been self-reflecting, giving some thought to the past, and going back to the beginning over and over and over and you know what? This little endeavor that you are behind, it doesn’t make much sense… I mean, you can argue that it was spur of the moment, or that you did it out of pure desperation to be on Mercy’s good side, which, in my opinion, is kind of ill-timed if you’re pulling the.. “I’m scurred of the witch now” angle, because at the very worst, you seemed like you weren’t going to back down to Mercedes or any of her bullshit- I mean, even at her most extreme, you stood against her actions pretty vocally… So why, all of a sudden, did you decide to join up with that punk bitch? Just doesn’t add up right, and not only that, but to betray the people who actually backed you up during that whole mess? Weak, girl… really, really weak.”

Solace clears her throat, still dealing with the cold, dry air before continuing.

“Sorry, East coast weather. Bleh.” Sorry interjects in her own rant, “Anyway, your intentions aren’t really clear… your motivations aren’t very obvious… and your reasoning for all of this… isn’t very rational… but you did what you did, and now, well, now you’re going to have to pay for it. It’s personal between us, because I thought we were friends… and no, this isn’t a sob story, in fact, this is the opposite… it’s kind of a funny story, isn’t it? You had people behind you… but you threw them in the trash… then you set yourself up as a union with a whacko thinking you could outsmart everyone and just walk away, but guess what? You lost the title as quickly as you stole it, in fact, as far as records are concerned, it never even happened! Which means, I still don’t even have a loss on my ranking! But you do… you put it all in joining Mercedes, and now, you’re out of chips… and at Nor'easter, you’re going to be out of a job! God, didn’t you see what I’ve done to your new BFF time and time again? And despite knowing that I'm going to beat your little ass all over that ring, I'm not going to underestimate you, Jolie… I already did that when I underestimated your moral value… and now, I can see clear as day, just how morally bankrupt you are… sorry, baby doll.. I have no room in my circle for people like you, we’re doin’ big things here at FC, and in 2022, things for us are going to be even bigger! See, I like to stay positive, despite how many negatives piled up these passed few months, what, with losing my contendership, getting a leg injury, losing some friends, you know, but this is life, isn’t it?”

Solace takes a moment to think.

“I can’t lie though…” Solace admits, “There is a bit of me that’s sour… even if I win at Nor'easter, I still kind of lose. Yeah, I become the General Manager, which, to me, is the greater good… mostly because YOU WON’T BE IT. But, the moment I do, I forfeit the number 1 contendership for the Women’s title that I earned by winning the Queen of the Ring… and that has been the hardest part of all of this. So, i gave it a good think… and I must be growing up, because I would rather turn in my personal ambitions if it means making sure the other competitors can have a place uncorrupted by people like JOLIE VEXX; people like her that abuse their power, people like her that make women into the cold-hearted stereotype that has held back professional women from being taken serious for, well, since forever… You should be ashamed of yourself, Jolie… and you don’t deserve to be ‘The Boss Lady’ anymore than Mercedes deserves to be number one contender for the Women’s title… but most of all, Jolie, this whole thing has become bigger than just myself… I’m going to walk into Nor'easter, beat your ass, and take your title of GM away from you… sacrificing my career either way to make sure First Class goes into the new year… under the leadership of someone who truly strives to empower the IIW Women… not hinder their progress… not enable the worst of us to abuse their talents for dark or selfish purposes… no, at Nor'easter, it’s going to be the end of your lackluster run as our General Manager… it’s going to be the end of your road, and the first thing I’m going to do when I am ‘the Boss Lady’ is fire your ass!”

Solace laughs.

“So, enjoy the perks while you can…” Solace advises, “Maybe you can answer my phone calls, or pick up my laundry, but you know what? I think maybe i’ll keep you on as a competitor, so I can Facetime you morning, noon, and night to ask you to post a promo… and when you say you’re busy? I’m going to say TOO… BAD…”

Solace smiles brightly, “Just kidding. I’m not going to call you at all. Peace, Bitch!”

The video ends as Solace waves, smiling like a smart ass.

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