Post by Delikado/J-Noble on Feb 19, 2011 22:38:21 GMT -5
The Kingdom of Pride's "The Knighting"
Tag Team Match: Eddie Nash and Johnny Noble vs. Der Krieg Maschinen
February, 20, 2011
Tag Team Match: Eddie Nash and Johnny Noble vs. Der Krieg Maschinen
February, 20, 2011
The scene fades in with a shot of Johnny Noble walking backstage at the arena dressed for relaxation rather than match preparation in his sports jacket and buttoned down shirt for the time being. As he enters his locker-room, his partner Debra Mason turns his way. She's presently holding a folder with and giving it a look to hint some definite interest. Johnny speaks to her as he walks across the room to his locker.
Johnny Noble: Any sign of Nash?
Debra Mason: No.
Johnny exhales softly as he pulls open his locker and begins to go through it. He pulls out some gloves and tosses them on a nearby chair. He begins to take off his sports jacket as he looks to be both a bit agitated and yet unsurprised.
Johnny Noble: It’s started, then...
Johnny places his jacket on a hanger and begins to unbutton his shirt. Discarding it, he pulls out the red bandana he’s always seen having tied to his right upper bicep and begins to wrap it around his arm. Debra walks over to Johnny with a peculiar look as she hands him a folder and some additional papers.
Debra Mason: These two guys, the Krieg, look at this.
Johnny finishes tying the bandana and takes the folder from her. He glances over them for a split second as Debra stands at his side casually and anticipating his view on the documents.
Johnny Noble: Visas, agency names and resources, other paperwork, some shady pay-offs, numbers, so on…
Johnny looks up as another two wrestler enters to room.
Johnny Noble: Hey, pal, you wouldn’t happen to have seen Eddie Nash around here, would you?
Wrestler #1: Nah, sorry.
He looks to his friend, who shrugs his shoulders.
Wrestler #2: Might’ve seen him earlier, an hour or two, but I dunno where he is now.
Giving Johnny their answers, the young guys go to their own lockers minding their own business as Debra looks over the documents in Johnny’s hands.
Debra Mason: What do we think about Kaja Reinhardt?
Johnny Noble: She’s their manager, in every sense of the word. Like it or not, she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her boys in the limelight. Anything.
Debra takes one of the pieces of paperwork, a document pertaining to the Krieg and their Pride deal, and reads over it.
Debra Mason: Hmm. These two are more situated than I would think any German in Kaja’s state would be able to make possible. And even with all these question marks, they’re still in a job.
Johnny pulls on his gloves and talks at the same time with a deadpan expression on his face, like the answer’s plain as day.
Johnny Noble: So it would seem. But is that all to do with some crafty witch’s ability to pull the wool over people’s eyes? Is she really capable of getting these two monsters into a business like this and then able to maintain them in the same caliber spot week after week…or does a certain power player find them to be the most useful tools in all of the Kingdom to keep people in check…? Think of it that way, my way, and you’ve just made the Krieg a business.
Debra frowns a little as she goes over the paper again. She blinks once, boiling over this info in her head.
Johnny Noble: And honestly, military “equipment” like them is always given business. It’s always covered in garbage like this, always granted shortcuts and free passes to do as it pleases so long as the powerful people who hired it get what they want. If that wasn’t the case, then why am I stacked against them again with Nash in my corner? We survived, and that just pisses off those same powerful people who wanted to see my career ended. Ended simply because I have the guts to speak out and go against the tide of Pride’s history. Just look at it. Look around…
Johnny turns his head to the opposite side of the locker-room. Debra looks as well. All they see is the locker-room that contains themselves and the two other no-name wrestlers who are busy preparing for training.
Johnny Noble: Pride’s steadily losing its real talent in place of instruments, guys with nothing new they can bring to the table except stupid “yes or no” answers to everything their bosses ask of them. Monsters like the Krieg are in a job because they kill off the bold.
Debra Mason: Huh…
Johnny clicks his teeth together once and exhales. In truth, he isn’t mournful to ANY of the talent that has fallen from Pride in the past few weeks. To him, they either got in the way of real talent or just made a lot of unneeded noise because of who they were at one time. The speech he made was just for attentive purposes, to keep his mind focused on the real tasks at hand. What that was, was something known only to Johnny and Debra alone. Suddenly, Johnny spots a piece of paper hanging stashed in between two lockers and walks over to it.
Johnny Noble: Look.
Johnny walks across the room to the new discovery as the other wrestlers go about their business. They both begin to quietly chat just as Johnny approaches them.
Johnny Noble: Out of my way, please.
The two men---both larger than Johnny mind you--- cock their eyebrows as Noble pushes his way between them to get to the lockers holding the piece of paper. He rips it out from in-between the lockers, finding it to be the same sort of paper as the other documents in the Krieg folder. Johnny turns back to Debra, giving the paper a small shake as he returns to her. On it is one single line in average-sized text. Debra reads it aloud.
Debra Mason: “Ser Saidem Ni.”
Johnny slowly inhales and exhales with a serious look on his face.
Johnny Noble: We’re starting right in the middle of all this, in the center of things. In Medias Res.
Debra scans the paper again, reading the words in reverse this time. Finding it to match like some kind of small-leveled code, she looks up to Johnny with her mouth slightly agape.
Johnny Noble: Coincidence that something like this gets stored away with files on the Krieg? A particularly nosy journalist program? What would our assist want us to gain from reporters like the ones that went after my brother and nearly took him down?
Debra Mason: Information?
Johnny looks Debra in the face as he continues to hold up the paper reading “In Medias Res” on it. He takes the folder and all the papers inside it and gives them a little shake to suggest they are related.
Johnny Noble: Things like this come from places like this. Dig deep enough, talk to the right people, you can find anything. Likewise, if you talk to the opposition to those people, you can bury almost anything. Sterling won’t help us with the Big Brother Noble dilemma because it puts him at risk as well. That’s not to say…
Debra Mason: He won’t tip us in the right direction.
Johnny tosses all the papers aside, not caring as they scatter all over the floor in a messy pile.
Johnny Noble: The Krieg’s my mark this night, but we’re going to start dealing with some people who are really chatty unlike these mutes and that hostile European in the nights and days to come.
Johnny pulls on his other glove now and nods his head as he closes his locker. Dressed for the night’s event now, he and Debra turn and go to exit the locker-room.
Debra Mason: And Nash? He’s still out there somewhere in this building tonight.
Johnny Noble: When a biker like him is beckoned and called to a fight, I’m positive Nash will pop up when the hour is at hand for our match with Der Krieg Maschinen. If anything, we just have to hope he’s not drunk or suffering from a hangover.
Debra Mason: You really see something not worth liking in that man, don’t you, John?
Johnny stops and gives his partner a small, snarky grin.
Johnny Noble: It’s never been a question of “like or dislike” with me. For any of the people on this roster, Deb. It’s just a question of who’s going to be around at the end of the night. Who’s a soon-to-be-victim of this system Pride has going…and who’s meant to be a long-lasting competitor.
Debra nods with a look of uncertainty noticeable on her face. Either way, she accepts Johnny’s point and follows him as they exit the locker-room and enter the hallway. Suddenly, a voice calls out to Noble.
Alex Avice: Johnny!
Johnny and Debra stop as Pride interviewer Alex Avice appears with a microphone in hand. Both Noble and Ms. Mason stare at the interviewer with patient faces as he holds up the mic and speaks.
Alex Avice: Excuse me, John, Debra, I was hoping that since tonight is “The Knighting” if I could get your quick thoughts on the tag team match you and Eddie Nash have later on this evening against The Krieg. As you probably remember, the last time you and Nash faced The Krieg was the triple threat tag team match that saw Somba and Balraj pretty much…well, do some pretty decent sized damage to both you and the Spooks and Gooks, of whom have both since left the Kingdom of Pride for a number of reasons, their injuries being among them. Now, last week, however, we saw your tag team partner, Eddie Nash, defeat Somba one- two-three in the ring while you sat at ringside.
Johnny crosses his arms but doesn’t say anything, creating a rather awkward silence at first. Avice is quick to keep the interview going, however.
Alex Avice: My question to you, John, is are you prepared to face off with the most powerful team Pride has seen in perhaps its entire history? Are you prepared to work together with the King of the Road in order to take on the two silent behemoths? As many of us are aware, you and Nash have proven to not be the best of the friends the past couple of weeks. Is that going to get in the way of the match at all, or can you two make up for the last tag match you had with The Krieg?
Johnny slowly inhales and then exhales as he steps forward, giving Avice a look from head-to-toe not meant to necessarily intimidate the man, but rather to show these questions aren’t of much interest to him, namely because he’s thought of the questions before on his own and discussed them openly with his partner Debra.
Johnny Noble: You know what, Alex? Asking a lot of questions at once---without waiting for an individual response to each one--- tends to give people the impression you’re not really interested in what they have to say. That’s not necessarily the sign of a bad reporter, but it’s definitely the sign of one who has room for improvement. As I was just telling Debra here, something like that could eventually cause you to boil down to being a potential victim of this company…or someone who’s gonna make it to the end of the night in this company. But honestly…none of this is my call to make, and your questions aren’t of much value to me, a physical competitor of the ring. Right now, I’m not focusing on *if* I’ll beat the Krieg, I’m not even focused on *when*, if I were to be so over-cocky. At this moment in time, as you stand there with that microphone taking in what I say with no real interest…I’m just *focused* on The Krieg. No more, no less. That’s just what I’m all about, Alex.
Avice gives a small motion of the head to suggest he understands. He holds up the mic again and looks to Debra.
Alex Avice: Ms. Mason, anything to add to that?
Debra shrugs her shoulders, frowning as she thinks over everything Johnny said with interest. She leans forward just enough to speak into the mic, brushing her blonde hair aside with one hand.
Debra Mason: Hmm, no, my partner said it well enough that nothing really needs to be added, Alex. The Krieg as a team is what’s being focused on here, while victory and defeat are just second-thoughts. But I will take the reins for John and say that as for Nash, it’s just a question of if he’ll bring his best on the level that’s enough to tackle The Krieg. He has to be just as focused as John is on the giants standing in the opposite corner tonight, or he’ll do nothing but throw off the entire order of the team. We know he can wrestle, it’s just a matter of will he…or is he just going to get in the way and risk another week like the triple threat tag team match two weeks ago?
Debra steps back, having said her piece. Johnny nods in agreement and satisfaction at what was said before turning back to Avice.
Johnny Noble: There you have it, Alex. Now…if you don’t mind.
Not waiting for a response, Johnny and Debra turn and walk away, leaving Avice standing there looking sheepish with his lone microphone. He gives his camera a glance and sighs.
Alex Avice: Well, uhhh, there we have it indeed. Johnny Noble and Debra Mason. What a pair…what a pair…
The interviewer lowers the microphone and continues to stand there as the camera turns and watches "the pair", as Avice put it, Johnny and Debra walking down the hall side-by-side, getting further and further away as the scene fades to black.
<END OF FEED>