Fizz, Fireside, and the War on Xmas (or Very Donzig Xmas 2)
Dec 24, 2021 17:26:58 GMT -5
anthonycaffrey likes this
Post by Donzig on Dec 24, 2021 17:26:58 GMT -5
'....Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh...'
The song had been blasting through the building for hours, for what seemed forever. And the man sitting inside the tiny cement room looked around wildly, shaking his head as it dragged on and on. He leaned against the door, battering it with his fists before he fell to his knees. He pressed against the wood, shaking his head once more before he jerked back as he heard someone on the other side. The door was ripped open with a squeal of angry hinges, and he jerked backwards. Crawling towards the thin matress and the wall, before a huge gloved hand closed on his ankle.
He was pulled blinking into the light, and stared at the two figures staring down at him. They were huge, broad shouldered and thickly built as they frowned at him. They muttered to each other in their own tongue, and one of them grabbed the cheap red coat he wore to jerk him onto his feet. He had never heard them speak english, only their own language but they seemed to understand it. And he grabbed at them before being slapped aside by the larger one who bellowed at him, and he sobbed as he reached up to adjust the huge fake white beard on his face. He had tried to remove it once, and that had only set them off.
'Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun...'
'I thought of playing Green Day, but it seemed too spot on.' He was turned and saw a smaller figure sitting nearby, and dread rolled through him. This figure was the worst, unpredictable and cruel, he was chaos. The figure leaned forward in his chair, masked head tilting as steepled fingers lifted to tap against his mask. Then he slashed a finger across his throat, and from the nearby darkness the music cut off by the woman. She sent a flicker of terror through him as well, she seemed to be most normal of the four. Always so calm and smiling, but there was something dark in her pretty eyes. And the leader finally spoke, settling back again as he watched him dangle in his tattered cheap red suit in the hands of the huge monster they all called Moloch.
'Ah, our time together is almost over. You see every year for as long as I can remember, since the days of the BWA to the IWF every year I have hunted you down. I have made you suffer, fat man. Even before I became the Scourge we have played this game.' Donzig hissed, and he leaned forward once more. The dangling man stared, and he glanced around before he muttered.
'Please, please, I don't know what this--'
A hand slammed down on the arm of the chair, and Donzig rose. His coat swirled around him, buckles jangling as he shoved back his hood. Then he snapped his fingers, and the Death Squad shoved the sobbing man to the floor. Moloch pinned his arms, and Mormo grabbed his legs before Sinclair Godfrey moved forward. She sighed, and knelt down before producing a merry looking red and green cloth which she pulled tight over his face. His eyes stared wildly, rolling back in his head as Donzig picked up a pitcher of water. 'How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, old man. How fucking many--'
Screams echoed as the water started to pour, and we cut to darkness.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.'
Rasped a voice, and Donzig leaned forward from his ornately carved chair to throw a tattered looking red hat into the flames that burned on the fireplace. The flames swirled around it, devouring it with a faint hiss. Donzig watched the fire consume the cheap red wool and polyester as he stared into the hearth, and he leaned back slowly before a hand lifted to prop up his chin as he watched the fire before he shrugged. 'Much like the real Santa Claus, some people like fucking vermin escaping a drowning ship always manage to survive. They cling to the wreckage, and bob along above the surface of the hungry waters managing as always to find something new to cling to! Somewhere new to spread their filth and weakness, and bring ruin to whatever they touch!'
A grunt.
'Like rats, eh? But now as we approach--' Donzig paused, and he reached over to grab a long strip of paper which he stared at before he hissed. '--Good Riddance 2021: BANG! The Night away!'
He stared down at the paper, and then his fingers slowly tightened. Crumbling the strip up, balling it into his fist before he wrapped his knuckles against the arm of his chair. And he tilted his head, shrugging. 'Who makes up these names? Was there a fucking contest that I missed? Like a vote? Lucky we didn't get some name 'PeePee McPPViewFace!' The paper was flung into the fire, and the flames curled around the paper to blacken the edges before Donzig leaned forward again. Shaking his head before he continued. 'Frankly, I don't think 2021 is that terrible. After all it was 2021 that I came to the XHF, it was 2021 that brought the herald of Oblivion upon you! But maybe XHF is content to wear their chains, maybe they have come to love the fetters that bind them to this dying world.'
A shrug, and Donzig leaned forward again. 'But don't worry, I will free them too. Which brings me to Vodka Fizz, you see? Soon I will break him inside of the Hell in a Cell, I will tear the flesh from his bones, and I will purify him inside the violence of the four walls of steel! And when he limps back into Fireside? I will take whatever scraps are left of the so-called Heart and Soul of Fireside and take the Spark Title from him.'
Donzig reached up slowly, his hand splayed across the surface of his mask before fingers tightened. He pulled the mask off, lowering it before he tilted his head to stare down at the mask. He said nothing, and then he slowly sat the mask aside before his fingers tapped against the carved wood of his chair. He rolled his shoulders, leaning back as he lifted a hand to rake fingers through his wild tangle of his beard. 'All I can think of in the long nights are how to make my enemies suffer, how I can hurt them, how I can make them see how very wrong they are to stand in my way. It consumes me, it burns me, and so when I think of Fizz and his lies? His little games? His little snide comments? It makes me want to hurt him. To punish him. And these people?'
Donzig frowned, and he settled back again with a wave of his hand.
'They love him for it. Him and his fucking golf cart.' A sneer, those cold eyes flashing as he continued with a shrug. 'Let's see how much longer they love you, let's see how much longer they adore the great Vodka Fizz when I am through with you! You see Fizz they love you because you're what they aren't! But you and I? We know the truth don't we? And at 'BANG! The night away!' I am going to take your precious Spark title, and then the mask we will be off, eh? They will all see you for what you are, and we will see how much they all love you then!'
Donzig stared into the flames, leaning forward to push around the wood with a wrought iron poker. Sparks and flames swirled, and leaping into the air as he kept digging before he sat back again. The poker dangling from his hand, and he tilted his head as the flames were reflected in those empty eyes.
'You see Fizz, this is the long game isn't it? Because once I defeat you, once I do what I denied my old friend Felix of doing? And I break you? I will look into the eyes of our real enemy, and he will know me. And he will know that the Reckoning comes.'
Donzig sat back now, a hand lifting as he rubbed his fingers together. A cold smile on his lips, and he shrugged. 'Anthony Caffrey. The Purple Emperor himself. You see I once thought you and I understood each other, that business was business! But, but, you are a creature of envy aren't you? A man ruled by jealousy, and I can understand that. I have let that sin rule me before, yet--'
The hand fell.
'--you much like another group of men who once were here? You slapped my hand away, I offered you friendship and you repaid me with insults? Well, the Scourge will not be insulted by you. And so I am going to hurt you, the only way I can. I am going to break Fizz, and I am going to take the Spark Title! And everyday you will have to see one of your precious titles in the hands of a man you rejected.'
That face twitched, and Donzig leaned back again with a shrug.
'But it gets better. Because I know she is watching, I know she sees and hears the words I say. And you all think she is just a pretty woman with a heart of gold, but? I know darkness when I see it, Fizz. I know darkness when it speaks to me, Anthony.' A faint smile, and Donzig purred. 'She knows what we are, what we represent, what we are capable of. And she is content to wait for now, but soon? Well, her and I will not play these games like we are.'
Donzig shrugged, smiling slightly as he lifted a hand to drag through his beard. 'One of us will be left laying in our own blood, broken, changed. And I can't even say which one of us it will be, but facts are? I don't care. I hunger for the embrace of Oblivion, and yet I can not rest yet can I?'
Donzig's hand curled into a fist, and he turned back to the fire.
The Day Before....
Eli Dresden stared with wide eyes at the gaudy display of Christmas cliche scattered across the yard of the nearby house, and she could see even in the daylight the randomly blinking lights. Slow displays of more Christmas icons moved across the wall of the house in a tangle of lights, and she shook her head before stepping up the stairs to knock at the door.
It opened after a long moment, and Donzig stared at her from behind his mask. Eli arched a brow, the Scourge of the XHF was wearing a Christmas themed apron. He dusted his hands, throwing a red and green kitchen towel across his shoulder. And he met her gaze evenly, and she hid a smile behind her hand. 'Ah, what are you--'
'I am trying to make cookies, but it is not going well.' He sighed mournfully. And Eli shrugged her shoulders, and looked around the street before turning back to Donzig.
'I know what you did, Donzig.'
'Ah, you mean the pile of Donzig and Donzig-gun merchandise I sent to Dommy. I am not sure how you knew.'
Eli blinked, eyes widening. 'What? Natalie is going to murder you! Are you insane?'
'The boy needs a role model, Eli! Vodka Fizz is not a role model! With his golf cart and his dub step! And what is that shit he drinks, really?' Donzig snapped petulantly, and Eli shook her head as she looked away. Then she shoved her hands in her pockets before speaking again.
'No, I mean the other thing.'
'Steve loves glitter, he will be fine.'
'Ah, what? You know what nevermind.' Eli waved a hand. 'I meant the other thing.'
'Listen, if Caffrey doesn't like strippergrams at his office? He should have sent a memo!' Donzig snarled, and Eli blinked once more.
'How much free time do you have?'
'Frankly, you'd be surprised.' Donzig growled, wiping at his hands with the towel again.
'No, I meant the toy drive.' Eli said, and she gave a faint grin. 'And the orphanage.'
Donzig froze, and if the mask could look surprised? It did.
'Fagh!'
'Someone gave the toy drive a huge stack of XHF toys, and a very generous donation.' Eli said, and she smiled again as her brow arched. 'And that same someone showed up at the orphanage and did the same thing.'
'Well, it wasn't me.'
Eli snorted. 'No, it was a pretty British woman who wore black.'
Donzig stared, and he grunted. 'See! That doesn't prove anything.' Eli rolled her eyes, and snorted as everyone in the XHF knew Sinclair Godfrey didn't make a move without Donzig. Clearly the Scourge had been caught, and he shrugged. 'Clearly, I was trying to display how much more giving and generous I am then say Dominicus, or that cheapass you work for!'
Eli rolled her eyes, clearly not buying that at all. 'Sure. Right. Yeah.'
You want to come inside?'
'Ah, you know I better not. I am sure Sinclair wouldn't be happy to see me.' Donzig nodded sagely, and he glared suddenly across her shoulder. Eli turned to see a white haired man climbing the steps to his door, pausing to wave. Then he went inside, and she turned back to Donzig who growled. 'Who was that?'
'Goldstein, he mocked us by not decorating for Christmas after all this work.' Donzig waved a hand at the yard, and Eli stared at the menorah in the old man's window. She turned slowly, and cleared her throat.
'Donzig, you know he's --'
The scene cut away, and a scream of 'WHAT?' covered a long shot of the neighborhood.
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh...'
The song had been blasting through the building for hours, for what seemed forever. And the man sitting inside the tiny cement room looked around wildly, shaking his head as it dragged on and on. He leaned against the door, battering it with his fists before he fell to his knees. He pressed against the wood, shaking his head once more before he jerked back as he heard someone on the other side. The door was ripped open with a squeal of angry hinges, and he jerked backwards. Crawling towards the thin matress and the wall, before a huge gloved hand closed on his ankle.
He was pulled blinking into the light, and stared at the two figures staring down at him. They were huge, broad shouldered and thickly built as they frowned at him. They muttered to each other in their own tongue, and one of them grabbed the cheap red coat he wore to jerk him onto his feet. He had never heard them speak english, only their own language but they seemed to understand it. And he grabbed at them before being slapped aside by the larger one who bellowed at him, and he sobbed as he reached up to adjust the huge fake white beard on his face. He had tried to remove it once, and that had only set them off.
'Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun...'
'I thought of playing Green Day, but it seemed too spot on.' He was turned and saw a smaller figure sitting nearby, and dread rolled through him. This figure was the worst, unpredictable and cruel, he was chaos. The figure leaned forward in his chair, masked head tilting as steepled fingers lifted to tap against his mask. Then he slashed a finger across his throat, and from the nearby darkness the music cut off by the woman. She sent a flicker of terror through him as well, she seemed to be most normal of the four. Always so calm and smiling, but there was something dark in her pretty eyes. And the leader finally spoke, settling back again as he watched him dangle in his tattered cheap red suit in the hands of the huge monster they all called Moloch.
'Ah, our time together is almost over. You see every year for as long as I can remember, since the days of the BWA to the IWF every year I have hunted you down. I have made you suffer, fat man. Even before I became the Scourge we have played this game.' Donzig hissed, and he leaned forward once more. The dangling man stared, and he glanced around before he muttered.
'Please, please, I don't know what this--'
A hand slammed down on the arm of the chair, and Donzig rose. His coat swirled around him, buckles jangling as he shoved back his hood. Then he snapped his fingers, and the Death Squad shoved the sobbing man to the floor. Moloch pinned his arms, and Mormo grabbed his legs before Sinclair Godfrey moved forward. She sighed, and knelt down before producing a merry looking red and green cloth which she pulled tight over his face. His eyes stared wildly, rolling back in his head as Donzig picked up a pitcher of water. 'How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, old man. How fucking many--'
Screams echoed as the water started to pour, and we cut to darkness.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.'
Rasped a voice, and Donzig leaned forward from his ornately carved chair to throw a tattered looking red hat into the flames that burned on the fireplace. The flames swirled around it, devouring it with a faint hiss. Donzig watched the fire consume the cheap red wool and polyester as he stared into the hearth, and he leaned back slowly before a hand lifted to prop up his chin as he watched the fire before he shrugged. 'Much like the real Santa Claus, some people like fucking vermin escaping a drowning ship always manage to survive. They cling to the wreckage, and bob along above the surface of the hungry waters managing as always to find something new to cling to! Somewhere new to spread their filth and weakness, and bring ruin to whatever they touch!'
A grunt.
'Like rats, eh? But now as we approach--' Donzig paused, and he reached over to grab a long strip of paper which he stared at before he hissed. '--Good Riddance 2021: BANG! The Night away!'
He stared down at the paper, and then his fingers slowly tightened. Crumbling the strip up, balling it into his fist before he wrapped his knuckles against the arm of his chair. And he tilted his head, shrugging. 'Who makes up these names? Was there a fucking contest that I missed? Like a vote? Lucky we didn't get some name 'PeePee McPPViewFace!' The paper was flung into the fire, and the flames curled around the paper to blacken the edges before Donzig leaned forward again. Shaking his head before he continued. 'Frankly, I don't think 2021 is that terrible. After all it was 2021 that I came to the XHF, it was 2021 that brought the herald of Oblivion upon you! But maybe XHF is content to wear their chains, maybe they have come to love the fetters that bind them to this dying world.'
A shrug, and Donzig leaned forward again. 'But don't worry, I will free them too. Which brings me to Vodka Fizz, you see? Soon I will break him inside of the Hell in a Cell, I will tear the flesh from his bones, and I will purify him inside the violence of the four walls of steel! And when he limps back into Fireside? I will take whatever scraps are left of the so-called Heart and Soul of Fireside and take the Spark Title from him.'
Donzig reached up slowly, his hand splayed across the surface of his mask before fingers tightened. He pulled the mask off, lowering it before he tilted his head to stare down at the mask. He said nothing, and then he slowly sat the mask aside before his fingers tapped against the carved wood of his chair. He rolled his shoulders, leaning back as he lifted a hand to rake fingers through his wild tangle of his beard. 'All I can think of in the long nights are how to make my enemies suffer, how I can hurt them, how I can make them see how very wrong they are to stand in my way. It consumes me, it burns me, and so when I think of Fizz and his lies? His little games? His little snide comments? It makes me want to hurt him. To punish him. And these people?'
Donzig frowned, and he settled back again with a wave of his hand.
'They love him for it. Him and his fucking golf cart.' A sneer, those cold eyes flashing as he continued with a shrug. 'Let's see how much longer they love you, let's see how much longer they adore the great Vodka Fizz when I am through with you! You see Fizz they love you because you're what they aren't! But you and I? We know the truth don't we? And at 'BANG! The night away!' I am going to take your precious Spark title, and then the mask we will be off, eh? They will all see you for what you are, and we will see how much they all love you then!'
Donzig stared into the flames, leaning forward to push around the wood with a wrought iron poker. Sparks and flames swirled, and leaping into the air as he kept digging before he sat back again. The poker dangling from his hand, and he tilted his head as the flames were reflected in those empty eyes.
'You see Fizz, this is the long game isn't it? Because once I defeat you, once I do what I denied my old friend Felix of doing? And I break you? I will look into the eyes of our real enemy, and he will know me. And he will know that the Reckoning comes.'
Donzig sat back now, a hand lifting as he rubbed his fingers together. A cold smile on his lips, and he shrugged. 'Anthony Caffrey. The Purple Emperor himself. You see I once thought you and I understood each other, that business was business! But, but, you are a creature of envy aren't you? A man ruled by jealousy, and I can understand that. I have let that sin rule me before, yet--'
The hand fell.
'--you much like another group of men who once were here? You slapped my hand away, I offered you friendship and you repaid me with insults? Well, the Scourge will not be insulted by you. And so I am going to hurt you, the only way I can. I am going to break Fizz, and I am going to take the Spark Title! And everyday you will have to see one of your precious titles in the hands of a man you rejected.'
That face twitched, and Donzig leaned back again with a shrug.
'But it gets better. Because I know she is watching, I know she sees and hears the words I say. And you all think she is just a pretty woman with a heart of gold, but? I know darkness when I see it, Fizz. I know darkness when it speaks to me, Anthony.' A faint smile, and Donzig purred. 'She knows what we are, what we represent, what we are capable of. And she is content to wait for now, but soon? Well, her and I will not play these games like we are.'
Donzig shrugged, smiling slightly as he lifted a hand to drag through his beard. 'One of us will be left laying in our own blood, broken, changed. And I can't even say which one of us it will be, but facts are? I don't care. I hunger for the embrace of Oblivion, and yet I can not rest yet can I?'
Donzig's hand curled into a fist, and he turned back to the fire.
The Day Before....
Eli Dresden stared with wide eyes at the gaudy display of Christmas cliche scattered across the yard of the nearby house, and she could see even in the daylight the randomly blinking lights. Slow displays of more Christmas icons moved across the wall of the house in a tangle of lights, and she shook her head before stepping up the stairs to knock at the door.
It opened after a long moment, and Donzig stared at her from behind his mask. Eli arched a brow, the Scourge of the XHF was wearing a Christmas themed apron. He dusted his hands, throwing a red and green kitchen towel across his shoulder. And he met her gaze evenly, and she hid a smile behind her hand. 'Ah, what are you--'
'I am trying to make cookies, but it is not going well.' He sighed mournfully. And Eli shrugged her shoulders, and looked around the street before turning back to Donzig.
'I know what you did, Donzig.'
'Ah, you mean the pile of Donzig and Donzig-gun merchandise I sent to Dommy. I am not sure how you knew.'
Eli blinked, eyes widening. 'What? Natalie is going to murder you! Are you insane?'
'The boy needs a role model, Eli! Vodka Fizz is not a role model! With his golf cart and his dub step! And what is that shit he drinks, really?' Donzig snapped petulantly, and Eli shook her head as she looked away. Then she shoved her hands in her pockets before speaking again.
'No, I mean the other thing.'
'Steve loves glitter, he will be fine.'
'Ah, what? You know what nevermind.' Eli waved a hand. 'I meant the other thing.'
'Listen, if Caffrey doesn't like strippergrams at his office? He should have sent a memo!' Donzig snarled, and Eli blinked once more.
'How much free time do you have?'
'Frankly, you'd be surprised.' Donzig growled, wiping at his hands with the towel again.
'No, I meant the toy drive.' Eli said, and she gave a faint grin. 'And the orphanage.'
Donzig froze, and if the mask could look surprised? It did.
'Fagh!'
'Someone gave the toy drive a huge stack of XHF toys, and a very generous donation.' Eli said, and she smiled again as her brow arched. 'And that same someone showed up at the orphanage and did the same thing.'
'Well, it wasn't me.'
Eli snorted. 'No, it was a pretty British woman who wore black.'
Donzig stared, and he grunted. 'See! That doesn't prove anything.' Eli rolled her eyes, and snorted as everyone in the XHF knew Sinclair Godfrey didn't make a move without Donzig. Clearly the Scourge had been caught, and he shrugged. 'Clearly, I was trying to display how much more giving and generous I am then say Dominicus, or that cheapass you work for!'
Eli rolled her eyes, clearly not buying that at all. 'Sure. Right. Yeah.'
You want to come inside?'
'Ah, you know I better not. I am sure Sinclair wouldn't be happy to see me.' Donzig nodded sagely, and he glared suddenly across her shoulder. Eli turned to see a white haired man climbing the steps to his door, pausing to wave. Then he went inside, and she turned back to Donzig who growled. 'Who was that?'
'Goldstein, he mocked us by not decorating for Christmas after all this work.' Donzig waved a hand at the yard, and Eli stared at the menorah in the old man's window. She turned slowly, and cleared her throat.
'Donzig, you know he's --'
The scene cut away, and a scream of 'WHAT?' covered a long shot of the neighborhood.