Loaded RP: Fate and Philosophy

“Have you ever sat around and pondered the purpose of life? You know, like why are here, what are we doing? Is there a God and if so, why did he put us on this planet where there is so much evil and wrong? Do we truly know anything, or is everything an illusion? Do we truly have free will, or is every decision we make nothing more than all of our past experiences influencing us to make one choice, the only choice we could ever possibly make? These questions come into everyone’s mind now and again. It makes you feel like the great philosophers of the Greek and Roman era. Socrates and Plato got nothin’ on me. I could spend all day brooding over these great mysteries of life. Anyone could.”

“But don’t you think that’d get a little depressing? I mean, there are no answers to these questions. Nothing you could possibly say will convince me that God exists. You see, the world operates in a certain way, and no matter what the answers to these ‘important’ questions are, in the end, it will be the same. I’m not going to waste my time wrapping my head around these issues, warping my brain and spending my entire life wasting away, deep in some ‘intellectual’ conversation about why the world actually exists and that I, in fact, do have the choice in all of the matters in my life.”

“I can’t help but to think about fate though, and what my destiny is. Whether or not it matters, the urge of wanting to know what is ahead in my life lulls me into a coma sometimes. I just can’t it. The feelings within me tell me that I am destined for greatness. And I am just now starting to believe that all of this could be a possibility. At It’s Super Effective, I earned the biggest win of my career. I defeated one of four Grand Slam champions in the history of this company, a living legend. And now I have the honor to call him my ally. Raider, I hope that our match showed you that you made the right decision in forming this partnership, and I will do much more than simply carry my own weight. The New Epoch beware, Raider and Ace Bennett are a unit, and we will show the WFWF who the real force is.”

“But look at me, I’m going off on a tangent. At the end of the day, this is what I’m saying. The WFWF has seen just the beginning of the rise of Ace Bennett. I’ve gained a new wind, and it’s going to be hard to take me down from this one. Momentum is on my side. Win, lose, or draw, I will prevail in the end. The mountaintop is close, I can feel it. The electricity is running through my veins. I will become a World Champion. Regardless of my mental situation, which while shaky is still probably better than the majority of the WFWF roster, nothing will stop me from achieving my goal.”

“Randel Benjamin and Dave Demento. The first victims of the cleansing that myself and Raider shall be undergoing in the WFWF. These two run around the WFWF claiming to be the greatest tag team in the company, yet can’t muster up enough gusto to even pick up a single victory in the division. I mean, the two bitch and moan their way into a position of having a tag team championship match, and then piss it away by losing to a team who isn’t even remotely established. I don’t even think those two like each other. Anyways, the point is, Benjamin and Demento should not be frolicking around thinking their entitled to everything just because they have pretty mouths. They’re almost as bad as Kyzer and his extravagance. Its mind numbing to think these two still have jobs.”

“Which is why the stipulation to our match is so beautiful. It’s their last chance. Myself and Raider have the opportunity to rid the WFWF of two of the parasites the walk the locker rooms. I have made it no secret that I take no issue in severely effecting, or ending careers around here. I stomped on Valorie Evans’ heart when I took her sweetheart National Championship away from her. She was never the same, and she disappeared. Braden Munroe and Tabitha Owens, have either of them really been the same since coming in contact with me? I think not. Especially Tabitha, who I’m sure is out there eating babies somewhere. And what about Hall of Famer Johnny Michaels? I beat him, embarrassed him and he left, never to be heard from again. I could go on, but needless to say, Dave Demento is no Johnny Michaels. Randel Benjamin is no Braden Munroe. So Demento and Benjamin, I hope you have good luck in the unemployment. I have bigger fish to fry.”

“Once I take care of those two, it is on to bigger and better things. Ripp Jackson and Thunder better not get too comfortable with those tag belts. A much more credible team is coming forward to take them away from your greasy little paws. Myself and Raider will bring a credibility back to those titles that it hasn’t seen since I arrived in this company. And then there’s the Survival of the Fittest Tournament. There is no doubt in my mind that I will win that tournament, I am fated to do so. There is no other person who hasn’t held the World Championship who has done more than me in this company than me, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I will not be stopped. Who knows, maybe me and Raider will meet again, this time for my World Championship.”



________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He had arrived. It was far too early for the show, but he was there. It was a sunny day. A slight wind made the trees and shrubbery surrounding the blacktop of the arena’s parking lot restless. His was the only car in the parking lot. A rental, Ace had to be careful driving around, didn’t want to amass any unwanted fines from the stingy rental company. His was the only car in the parking lot. He strategically parked himself near the back entrance, attempting to avoid being outside for any long period of time

He exited his car, and quickly made his way to the nameless arena in the nameless city. It all had meshed together at him at this point, and where he was no longer mattered. He found the entrance for the wrestlers, which was surprisingly already unlocked. Security must have had a special parking area or something. He found the locker room area and dropped his belongings. He was in a good frame of mind, all things considered. He had embraced being trapped within himself, and his winning effort at It’s Super Effective had quelled the blow a little bit. Checking his surroundings for a second, he found solace in the silence. It was short lived, however, and he soon found himself walking to a bathroom that was close by. He didn’t even bother fight it anymore. His hand met the handle, and with a twist he was inside. The nearest bathroom had become a meeting place of sorts for him. This was pretty clean for a public restroom, no crusty toilets is always a plus.

“What do you want?”

“Easy there, killer. No need to be testy now.”

“I’m not in the mood for your games right now. You’ve gotten your way. I’m broken. You win. No need to complicate things further. Have fun.”

“Well that’s all well and good, but I have a surprise for you, my friend.”

“Oh…goodie.”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.”

“Well I don’t appreciate the whole controlling my body against my will thing.”

“Do you want what I’m offering or what? You’re turning my mood, and I’m not feeling too giving anymore.”

“Fine, what is it that you could possibly have that will make this any better.”

“A phone call.”

“A phone call?”

“Yes. I’ll let you call her. Just once. For ten minutes, maximum.”

“You can’t be serious. Stop messing with me.”

“Hold on there. There are a few conditions. No telling her where we are. No mention of me. The second you do either of those things, I take over. And we don’t want what happened to mother to happen to her, now do we? I mean, you’ve been doing so good for us lately, you wouldn’t want to mess that up?”

There was a slight hesitation. What was he up to? Could there possibly be some sort of trick he was trying to play on him once again? At this moment it didn’t really matter to him, he wanted to speak with his sister.

“Alright, cool. Let’s do it.”

“Go ahead.”

He pulls out his phone, unabated by his inner self. To his surprise, he finds himself completely able to dial the buttons required to call his sister, an action he hadn’t been able to do since coming off of his medicine. He finishes dialing and brings the phone to his ear. It rings.

….

….

….

…..

…..

“ANSWER!!!”

….

“Hello!?! Ace?”

“Alicia!”

“Oh Ace, please tell me that that’s really you!”

“It’s me. I don’t have much time. Ten minutes.”

“Ace you need to listen to me. You’re in trouble. Big trouble.”

“You don’t think I know that?”

“I’m not even talking about the medicine thing. I mean you’re potentially in trouble with the law. Apparently no one warned your friend there that punching someone in the nose and breaking it is illegal.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you even realize what you did?”

“Apparently not.”

“You punched Chris in the face when you got your wallet back. He’s going to press charges if you don’t come back. We need things to go back to normal. It’s not just for me now, it’s for you too.”

“It’s not that easy Alicia.”

“It’s as easy as picking up a bottle of pills Ace! You have it in you to do that much!”

“CAN’T YOU SEE!?! HE HAS CONT-”

The phone falls silent. A new calm arises over Ace’s face, a calm that replaced the once frantic nature in his eyes.

“Ace? Are you there.”

“Yes, I am.”

She can tell. It’s clearly obvious to her that this isn’t the same person she had just been talking to.

“You aren’t my brother.”

“Physically I am. Mentally, of course not.”

“You’re sick.”

“You’re so kind.”

“Give me my brother back! Or else you will be locked away too!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You don’t think so?! I’ll-”

“Now now now. You won’t do anything. And you want to know why? Because I know that you know what happened the night our mother died. I know that you know that I pulled the trigger of that gun and wasted our mother. I have no regrets. I did it on purpose. She deserved to die. She didn’t allow me to be the fullest person I could be. So I got rid of her. And I’m not afraid to do the same thing to you. I will skin you alive and the pour acid on your putrid mess of a body. I will rip your eyeballs out and make earrings out of them. I will tear you apart limb from limb and then hand deliver each part to those who are closest to you.”

There is a disturbing calm in his voice that unsettles Alicia. She sits silent on the other line, unable to say anything.

“Don’t you dare mess with my plans, or you will end up just like our mother. At least our father knows not to mess with me. Are we clear?”

“I will find you. And I will make sure you never rear your sick twisted head around my brother ever again.”

“That will be your biggest regret I’m afraid.”

He hangs up the phone and then subsequently throws in hard into the trash can, shattering it to tiny pieces. He looks back at the mirror, as he gives control of the body back to the true Ace.

“What the f*** was that?! That wasn’t nearly ten minutes!”

“You knew the rules. You broke them. I rescinded the phone. Simple as that.”

“So that’s the only opportunity I’m going to get to speak to her?”

“Afraid so.”

An anger overcomes Ace, he feels himself getting angry, but he doesn’t allow himself to. He decides it’s in his best interest to forget this for now and focus on his upcoming match.

“Whatever. So are you going to tell me this bigger picture that you have in mind in regards to Raider.”

“I told you, everything is going to plan-”

“Just stop…”

Before he could finish his thought, he peers to the door and standing there is, speaking of the devil, Raider. He finds his ally looking at him, dumbfounded at the scene he had just witnessed unfold.

“Uh.. Everything okay?”

Ace feels himself gain full control of his voice and his body. It seems as if though he is letting himself handle this situation. He gives his newfound friend a grin.

“Oh, what’s up man? Sorry, I was just getting myself riled up for the match later. You know how it goes.”

“Yeah… Look, I just wanted to say congrats on the win, but, uh… Can we do this in the hall and not in the bathroom? I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.”

Fair enough, Ace lifts his arms up, and offers Raider to go after him. They both go through the door. Ace has calmed himself, knowing he can say whatever he wants. He had a sort of confidence in his stride as they walked down the corridor. They had one hell of a match at It’s Super Effective.

“Anyway, like I was saying… You definitely took me to my limits and held your own at It's Super Effective. I wasn’t expecting that out of you. I’m glad I could be the spark you needed to get back on track. But to be honest… I don’t really remember much of the end of the match… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…”

“Hey, no worries. You ready to go for our match tonight?”

“Yeah, all set. These guys combined are about four of us combined, but from what I’ve seen their all talk, stupid, and can’t last more than five minutes in the ring. I figure if we can outlast them that long, it should be a walk in the park.”

“Just make sure you keep up out there. We might have a shot at the Tag Titles if we win this match and I wouldn’t mind adding another Championship to my resume.”

“I’ll do my part. Speaking of championships, I bet you’re thrilled at the announcement of the Survival of the Fittest Tournament. You could finally get your shot at being number one contender for the Title.”

In truth, this was the first moment he had thought of the tournament since its announcement. The true Ace was more looking forward to getting a tag team championship opportunity, since it was something that he had never really had. But he decided he would just go along with him to be friendly.

“Yeah, I plan on winning that tournament and going on to win… You know what… Let’s save that for another day. Just make sure you got my back tonight. I gotta go finish warming up.”

“Aight, man. I’ll see you out there.”

Raider offers his hand, which Ace accepts in a handshake. Heading back to the bathroom as inconspicuously as possible, Ace finds himself panicking. Did he see him? That would ruin everything. He felt his heart race as sweat began to bead from his forehead. He doesn’t even need his puppeteer’s assistance in finding his way to the bathroom. In a blur, the door swings open, and slams shut behind him. He finds himself staring into the mirror, looking deep into his own eyes.

“If something like that ever happens again, it’s your neck. And I promise you that."

Ace slinks over the sink, horrified of what may of just happened. Despite being his friend, he doesn’t want anyone knowing his deepest secret who doesn’t need to know. Eventually, he finds himself leaving the bathroom. He has a match to win.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


“This is beautiful. Everything is going just as planned. I have all parties involved in my plan right in my back pocket. He is controlled, Alicia is out of the picture, and Raider is completely oblivious. Wonderful. Ace Bennett is going places. It doesn’t matter how he gets there, it just matters that he gets there. You know what? It’s good to finally get that big win that I’ve needed my whole career. Everything is finally coming to fruition. Hell, it looks like I’m even going to be in line for something I never expected, a tag team championship run. Maybe I’ll keep Raider around a little longer than I expected.”

“I didn’t realize how beautifully everything would fall into place. Alicia is too stupid to try and come and find me, and even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. I’m in control. The person she knows as her brother is my puppet, and this whole personal life thing is nothing more than a game to me anymore. He is my dough, and I can mold him to do whatever I want with a simple flick of the wrist. And now that I’m looking ahead at the schedule that I’m on, my plan could unravel faster than I expected.”

“First, I get to cast aside these two fat losers who are way in over their heads in the first place out of this company. They’ll go hungry, but oh well, I can’t worry myself with such trivial things. Hell, I’m doing them a favor. Maybe they can lose a bit of that excess chub by looking for a job in fast food instead of being the customer. They may as well pack their bags now, because even Raider is better than the two of them combined, just imagine what I can do to them.”

“Then comes my first chance at glory. The WFWF Tag Team Championships. Raider is a competent partner; he proved it when he refused to tap out to me. I’ll give him his due credit, but I won’t hesitate to stab him in the back if he dares try to cross me. But for right now, he is a valuable ally, one whom will come in useful for me for the next couple of months. Maybe I’ll throw him a bone or two on the way, but in the end, choosing me will be his demise, as much as his ego probably still tells him he’s better than me. Ripp Jackson and Thunder, I’m sure you guys have some mythical world inside of your head where you think you’re good, but I hate to inform you, this is real life. It will be a relatively easy job for me to take away those belts from you, and I have every intention of doing so.”

“Then things get a little tricky. I’ll have to find some way to get rid of Raider, which hasn’t quite come to me yet. But maybe I can shed him once I win Survival of the Fittest. You see, while the other me is confident, I simply know I will win that tournament. Who else will there be? David Brennan? The New Epoch will be in shambles and he will be picking up the pieces. Drake Elias? Please, dude has beaten a few nobodies and now thinks he is worthy of the big time. What a joke. I’ll stop there, simply because I’m not going to waste my time naming off the countless names and faces that don’t really matter. The only one that matters is the person speaking to you right now. Ace Bennett. The future WFWF Tag Team Champion, the future Survival of the Fittest Winner, and the future WFWF World Heavyweight Champion.”