Post by Seth Dillinger on Jul 22, 2019 16:22:26 GMT -5
Saturday at Beach Blast...
A few hours later...
Seth chuckles to himself and keeps strolling.
Seth Dillinger: That's why I'm--
In the middle of his sentence, a figure comes careening in from off-screen and slams into Seth. Seth goes tumbling forward into the sand as the figure stands up, slamming foot after foot into the X*Crown champion's sides.
Romano: What the--
Taylor: Who the hell!?
The camera backs up to get out of the way, and the figure is clearly wearing a mask, obscuring their identity. Seth gets up to his hands and knees and crawls forward to the grass just over the sand dune, trying to get out of the sand to get his footing. The figure follows quickly, stalking behind Seth and snatching him up off the ground. The mystery attacker grabs the back of Seth's head and runs forward, driving him into the wall of a nearby beachfront resort. The figure hauls off and tries to punch Seth, who ducks down out of the way, causing the attacker to punch hard concrete instead. Seth takes a moment to pull himself back up to his feet and put some distance in between him and the attacker, then charges forward, wrapping up the attacker around the waist. Seth drives the mystery assailant back, back... back... AND THROUGH THE GLASS OF A ROOM AT THE RESORT! Both of them go tumbling back through the glass and into a room, which happens to be occupied.
Taylor: HOLY SH--
Romano: That's not good. That's not good.
A woman in a bathrobe shrieks and darts out of the bed, charging towards the door into the interior of the resort. Seth crawls over to the attacker and starts to try to pull the mask off, but the attacker grabs a piece of broken glass and swipes at Seth, causing him to roll off to avoid injury. Seth drags himself up to his feet, as does the attacker, leading to Seth grabbing the attacker by the back of the head and dragging him out through the open door. Resort staff and guests alike flee screaming as they see the X*Crown champ walking out into the poolside area, wearing nothing but a short swimsuit and covered in some cuts and scratches from going through the door. Seth scans around looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon. He sees a few grills by the swimming pool and starts marching over towards them.
Taylor: I don't like where this is going.
Romano: This is insane! Who the hell is this!?
Taylor: I think Seth's about to make sure he finds out!
Seth drags this person over to the grill and opens the hood of it, then brings the person's head down, slamming it into the metal grating on the grill. He picks their head back up and gets some vertical distance, then slams it back down on the grill again! He goes to do it a third time... but this time, the mystery assailant has grabbed an empty beer bottle sitting nearby on the grill and SMASHES it into Seth's head. Seth relinquishes his grip on the attacker and stumbles backwards in a daze. The attacker takes advantage of the opportunity and rushes at Seth, driving a boot into his chest. Seth flies backwards and splash lands in the pool, dipping underwater. Resort guests scramble out of the pool, yelling for security. With Seth briefly incapacitated, the masked attacker turns and books it, holding a hand to their face. Seth comes up for air, getting his hands on the edge of the pool to stabilize him, gasping for air as little trails of blood run off his chest and spread out into the water of the pool. He looks for a sign of where the assailant went, but he sees nothing.
Romano: I have no idea what just happened...
Taylor: Neither do I... are we getting medical to check out Dillinger?
Romano: We don't even know where he is!
Taylor: Folks, we'll keep you updated if any new information develops. Until then...
Romano: The show must go on.
Seth Dillinger: That's why I'm--
In the middle of his sentence, a figure comes careening in from off-screen and slams into Seth. Seth goes tumbling forward into the sand as the figure stands up, slamming foot after foot into the X*Crown champion's sides.
Romano: What the--
Taylor: Who the hell!?
The camera backs up to get out of the way, and the figure is clearly wearing a mask, obscuring their identity. Seth gets up to his hands and knees and crawls forward to the grass just over the sand dune, trying to get out of the sand to get his footing. The figure follows quickly, stalking behind Seth and snatching him up off the ground. The mystery attacker grabs the back of Seth's head and runs forward, driving him into the wall of a nearby beachfront resort. The figure hauls off and tries to punch Seth, who ducks down out of the way, causing the attacker to punch hard concrete instead. Seth takes a moment to pull himself back up to his feet and put some distance in between him and the attacker, then charges forward, wrapping up the attacker around the waist. Seth drives the mystery assailant back, back... back... AND THROUGH THE GLASS OF A ROOM AT THE RESORT! Both of them go tumbling back through the glass and into a room, which happens to be occupied.
Taylor: HOLY SH--
Romano: That's not good. That's not good.
A woman in a bathrobe shrieks and darts out of the bed, charging towards the door into the interior of the resort. Seth crawls over to the attacker and starts to try to pull the mask off, but the attacker grabs a piece of broken glass and swipes at Seth, causing him to roll off to avoid injury. Seth drags himself up to his feet, as does the attacker, leading to Seth grabbing the attacker by the back of the head and dragging him out through the open door. Resort staff and guests alike flee screaming as they see the X*Crown champ walking out into the poolside area, wearing nothing but a short swimsuit and covered in some cuts and scratches from going through the door. Seth scans around looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon. He sees a few grills by the swimming pool and starts marching over towards them.
Taylor: I don't like where this is going.
Romano: This is insane! Who the hell is this!?
Taylor: I think Seth's about to make sure he finds out!
Seth drags this person over to the grill and opens the hood of it, then brings the person's head down, slamming it into the metal grating on the grill. He picks their head back up and gets some vertical distance, then slams it back down on the grill again! He goes to do it a third time... but this time, the mystery assailant has grabbed an empty beer bottle sitting nearby on the grill and SMASHES it into Seth's head. Seth relinquishes his grip on the attacker and stumbles backwards in a daze. The attacker takes advantage of the opportunity and rushes at Seth, driving a boot into his chest. Seth flies backwards and splash lands in the pool, dipping underwater. Resort guests scramble out of the pool, yelling for security. With Seth briefly incapacitated, the masked attacker turns and books it, holding a hand to their face. Seth comes up for air, getting his hands on the edge of the pool to stabilize him, gasping for air as little trails of blood run off his chest and spread out into the water of the pool. He looks for a sign of where the assailant went, but he sees nothing.
Romano: I have no idea what just happened...
Taylor: Neither do I... are we getting medical to check out Dillinger?
Romano: We don't even know where he is!
Taylor: Folks, we'll keep you updated if any new information develops. Until then...
Romano: The show must go on.
A few hours later...
Seth Dillinger weakly hobbles his way out of the emergency room in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, still clad in nothing but a swimsuit from earlier in the day at Beach Blast. The dusk sky shows that he is far removed from the bright, sunny afternoon that had been rudely interrupted. He pauses and raises a hand to his bare abdomen, gingerly touching it and wincing a bit at the pain. It wasn't the worst pain he had ever felt, that was for sure. That honor still belonged to Bobby Barratt unhinging his jaw with a baseball bat. But Seth would be lying to himself if he pretended like it didn't sting. Getting little tiny shards of glass impaled in your epidermis will do that to you. Gently, Seth pulls his phone out of his swimsuit pocket and thumbs around the app drawer, trying to find an Uber back to his hotel. He glances over at the camera and scoffs as he scrolls through the apps.
SETH DILLINGER
"Yeeeeeeup. That one stung like a bitch."
Seth presses the button in the app to search for an Uber. A notification pops up, warning of extortionary surge pricing.
SETH DILLINGER
"FOUR TIMES SURGE!? What the hell, man? It's not New Years Eve in New York City. All of this for Beach Blast?"
Seth rolls his eyes and shoves his phone in his pocket, turning to look at the long walk back to his hotel and sighing, heading off in that direction. Bare feet and neardly nude probably wasn't the ideal walk... but it was a walk Seth had done before, only for slightly more shameful reasons... and at least he was sober this time...
SETH DILLINGER
"So, like, the obvious, right? Some dude in a mask blindsided me a week before I have to defend my X*Crown in a match that looks straight out of Vince Russo's addled mind. Convenient timing, isn't it? I'm about to step into a deathtrap with four other people who are all absolutely batshit crazy. Let's be clear, any of them could've been the one to assault me at the beach. Whoever it is clearly wanted their identity hidden, which means they expect me to try to dig into a shitload of stuff to try to figure it out, which means I'm going to do exactly the opposite and just, like... no worry about who it was, man."
A car driving by, presumably full of drunk college students, blares on the horn as it passes Seth. The kids in the car lean out the window, shouting DILLINGEERRRRRRRR as they drive by, hooting and hollering. Seth stops in his tracks, watching the car go by, bemused, before waving back at them. They all cheer louder at his response as they fade out of earshot further down the road.
SETH DILLINGER
"Man, like, does it even matter which of them it was that attacked me? The end result is the same -- someone is trying to weaken me up before Night of Champions to make sure they have an advantage. And honestly, like, it's kinda flattering, you know? I'm such a big bad threat to them that one of them felt the need to take a cheap shot at me. Unfortunately for them, this isn't the first time has tried to blindside me like that. I mean, shit, I think every single Icon has done it at some point. Hell, maybe this WAS another Icon. Kira is one now, you know. Maybe Kira Izumi had to beat the shit out of me to get initiated. Who knows?"
Seth shrugs and starts back off down the road towards his hotel.
SETH DILLINGER
"It could've been Subject #42. I mean, that thing is... he's actually crazy. Legitimately. He's got government handlers and shit. He's basically a bona fide alien, I think? Maybe he should go with all the kids raiding Area 51 on September 20th, he might find his family, right?"
Seth pauses and holds his mouth in a wide grin, clearly being ironic in evoking a meme that has already died. Then, he dabs for effect, in case you ALREADY didn't get how sarcastic he was being.
SETH DILLINGER
"I don't know, man. The guy is a physical specimen, that's for sure. A hairless, ginormous freak. Dude could probably snap goddamn Kuroi in two, so long as Beethoven was playing in the background. I mean, I dunno, maybe he's not intimidating. It's possible that it's all a rouse. Maybe he's just some big dude who wanted people to be afraid of him, so he hired some actors to follow him around and pretend to be government goons. That's always possible, right? Sure, of course. I mean, it's not like I actually believe in aliens. Except... well, you know, one time I had take psilocybin pills, and then they weren't working, so I also maybe kinda started doing some other drugs, and I ended up tripping balls, and I swear to god, I know it was probably the drugs, but like, man, I think I met an alien. I think they abducted me and took me up and..."
Seth trails off, realizing how idiotic he sounds and turns to the camera, blushing a bit. He runs a hand through his hair and scratches the back of his head.
SETH DILLINGER
"I, uh... yeah man, drugs are bad, okay? But listen, even if Subject 42 is lying and this is all a show... the dude would still very clearly put on a mask and assault me. I mean, shit man, if he's lying about all this, then he's a pretty damn good actor who obviously loves a touch of flair and theatrics, right? Donning a cryptic mask and attacking me would be right up his alley. And... if he's not lying? If this dude is actually some kind of primal, carnal beast who needs to be caged by government operatives... then FUCK YES do I believe he'd be the type of person to assault me like that."
Seth reaches down and touches his wrapped torso again. Yep, still hurts.
SETH DILLINGER
"Or, you know, it could very clearly be Nausicaa Suzuki. Oh, I know, she's sweet and lovely and all that. I've seen her shit in SSS. She's young, and beautiful, and she's a ton of fun to watch. But that's EXACTLY why nobody would expect this from her, and it would make it the perfect plan. Nausicaa, however, is crafty. She's not the biggest. She's not the fastest. But, she's like Chris Card -- she knows how to bend the rules juuuuuust a bit to win. Some would call it cheating. Nausicaa would call it having fun. And, I mean, someone who skirts the rules just for fun would be the EXACT type of person to brutalize an opponent before a match in order to get an advantage. After all... it's all fun, right?"
Seth stops at a crosswalk, waiting a moment for the sign to flash WALK before heading across.
SETH DILLINGER
"And I mean... who else is there? Zolothach? I feel like this really doesn't even need to be said, but just in case..."
Seth motions the camera closer to him. As it comes in, Seth grabs the sides of it, and leans in, shouting loudly.
SETH DILLINGER
"ZOLOTHACH WAS FILMED LITERALLY MURDERING SOMEBODY. ON LIVE CAMERA. AIRED ON THE XHF NETWORK. AND IS NOT IN PRISON. WHERE--"
Seth claps.
SETH DILLINGER
"--THE FUCK--"
Seth claps again.
SETH DILLINGER
"--ARE THE--"
Seth claps yet again.
SETH DILLINGER
"POLICE!??"
Seth claps a final time and takes a step back away from the camera.
SETH DILLINGER
"I mean, I'm repeating myself... right? Am I blacking out? Is this an episode of Black Mirror? Not three months ago in the buildup to the Rumble, I pointed out that Zolothach was like, legitimately murdering people on camera? Like, we all watched, ON CAMERA ON THE XHF NETWORK, as this batshit crazy broad Tabitha Osborne sliced her father's penis off. I feel like I'm being punked. Am I being punked? WE AIRED AN ENTIRE FAMILY BEING TORTURED AND MURDERED ON THE XHF NETWORK AND LITERALLY NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PERSON OTHER THAN ME REACTED TO IT. That's it, right? Right!?"
Seth is wildly gesticulating, his eyes wide at the incredulity of the whole sitatuion.
SETH DILLINGER
"And now here I am! Three months later! Back in the ring with -- and I cannot stress this enough -- a LITERAL murderer. Except now, apparently, she thinks she's a disciple of C'thulu or some shit. I don't know, you guys, I don't know. Just like...yeah, I don't think we need to review the ten thousand ways in which Zolothach could ABSOLUTELY be insane enough to assault me before the match. Actually, though... the attacker didn't try to slice off my dick and feed it to me or anything weird like that. Maybe that points at it NOT being Tabitha Osborne?"
Seth shudders at the thought and instinctively cringes over a bit, as if to protect his man-parts at the mere THOUGHT of Zolothach getting near them.
SETH DILLINGER
"And Tommy Holiday? Forget about it, man. The guy is brutal. Calculated. Methodical. He's a misogynistic piece of shit that relishes in violence and destruction. Don't you think someone like that would have no problem taking the cheap road to get the upper hand? I mean, shit, if that was Holiday in the mask back there... he probably nutted when we went through the glass. That's his thing. That's what gets him off."
Seth shudders again, this time at the thought of Tommy Holiday getting off. It was -- in a word -- disturbing.
SETH DILLINGER
"I mean, simply put, the Tower seems built for him. It's the ultimate orgasm for a toxic macho violence fetishist like Holiday. He's just another frustrated manchild who watched Fight Club and didn't realize it was biting satire and took it seriously. Violence and chaos and blood and blah blah fucking blah. And just like every other wannabe Tyler Durden, he sure does have a load of promises of what is going to happen at Night of Champions. He's gonna walk in and do some violent shit and blood blood blood and he's gonna win. I mean, fucking original pitch, bucko."
Seth rolls his eyes.
SETH DILLINGER
"Do you know how many guys promised to do the same shit at the Rumble? Jesus, if I had a nickel for every time Jeffrey Viper said he was going to be the next X*Crown Champ. Anthony Caffrey made a promise that he would 'leave the ring with the X*Crown and the AXW Undisputed Championship'. Dylan Black vowed to eliminate me. The list goes on and on. And I already know what you're thinking, Tommy, because you're so fucking unoriginal that I've seen a hundred guys like you. You're probably preemptively creaming your pants thinking of grabbing a microphone and telling me how that doesn't matter, because none of those guys are THE OUTLAWWWWW, right? THE OUTLAWWWW is different and shit, right? Right? You're not just another schlubby chump to roll over and take it, right?? That's the thing with people like you, Tommy. You think you're special, and you think that your own insistence on being different or special will eventually make it true. But that's not how the world works."
Seth finally walks up to the entryway to his hotel and turns back to the camera.
SETH DILLINGER
"Simply put... it doesn't matter who it was, because every single one of my opponents is capable of this assault. You know what that means? Every last one of them will do whatever it takes to win. It means I'm walking into Night of Champions expecting to walk out with several more shards of glass impaled in me, and maybe a broken nose or black eye. Maybe more. This isn't a joke. I'm walking in there with a group full of people that are capable of unspeakable things. And yet... I don't think they fully grasp who I am. Not because they're incapable of critical thought -- well, maybe except for Subject 42 -- but because everyone underestimates me. I'm just Seth Dillinger, the laid back party guy, I'm not worth worrying about, right? See, people judge a book buy its cover. I'm laid back, but I'm also only the fourth two-time X*Crown Champ in history. I love a good party, but I'm also the first person in AWF history to hold two titles at the same time. So bring your worst, guys (and ladies). Come and chop off my dick or throw me through glass or stick needles in my nose or whatever. I'm not underestimating you all. Are you sure you can say the same about me?"
Seth winks at the camera and turns to walk into his hotel as the scene fades out.