"Last Call." — Masquerade II.

[Mav.]

— — — THE NEW AGE COMPOUND. — JANUARY 27TH, 2022. Though the days were drawing closer and closer to the pay-per-view of Supremacy, there was a little bit of nervousness within The New Age Killers — more importantly for someone like Jason Long — as he kept his words to a minimum when around James Raymond. It was clear to James that there was just something wrong about Jason when he’s not spoken for about an hour, then again, he knows that he’s been through a whole lot. With the recent amount of losses that he’s been taking, losing all of the championships that he was holding close to his chest, and even losing the one person that meant the most to him in recent times… the toll has taken a heavy hit onto Jason’s emotions, his mental health, and his train of thought. In his head, he knows there’s a big match just around the corner but– he just cannot come to even thinking about them when focusing on others, on everything else, and focusing on what he’s become as of recent weeks. This wasn’t what he was looking to become, not right now, and he’s finding it hard to break out of that mental mindset. James could only watch him sit at the table, his head held down, and the hood from his jumper covering him up—the thought of wanting to help him was there, but it was the question of if he could help him in any kind of manner. If there was one thing that he didn’t want to watch his best friend of five years fall down into, it was the deep dark hole of depression that he’s been through ever since he was a child. James always reminds himself of the toughened days that Jason had told him about, the days of those emotions being bottled up and never seeing the light of day until he finally cracks under the pressure. And judging by how Jason has looked the past couple of hours, he’s on the verge of cracking underneath all of the pressure – the weight resting heavily on his shoulders – and it was only a matter of time before he’d crack, and lord knows what he’ll attempt when he does break. James brings over a bottle of beer for Jason, placing it down in front of him, and although it’s not the smartest thing to give to a man who’s been through a whole lot lately– he knows Jason well enough to know that having a drink with him won’t harm him, it’ll help him speak more about his problems. Jason glances up and sees the bottle right in front of him, then gives a quick glare over towards James who takes a seat right in front of him at the table, before grabbing onto the bottle and taking one gulp out of it. There’s a disgusted look that comes onto his face but he shakes it off before the sour taste could settle in again on his taste buds. “Talk to me, man.” He exclaimed. “I didn’t get any kind of reminder as to how things were, all I’ve gotten out of you since I got here was just a simple hello and you just sitting there in silence like I’m not standing right here in front of you. Surely there’s something after happening now, right? I know this ain’t you, I know you’re never like this at all, not unless something seriously bad has happened. Just wanna make sure you’re good before we go ahead and face them Crinkly Bottom Boys at Supremacy, you know?” “Yeah… I’m good, man, I’m really fuckin’ good—” he soon let out a deep sigh. “I’m just… I don’t know how I’m feeling right now, it’s a weird feeling because it’s a feeling I’ve felt so many times before but this one… it just hits different, you get me? There’s just something about the way that I feel that’s drawing me away from doing what I love doing the most.” As he pauses, he takes another gulp from the bottle. “I want to go out there, but at the same time, I don’t want to lose.” James looks dead into the eyes of Jason, he could tell he’s being sincere in his doubt over himself just by how he looks– he’s defeated, in more ways than one, and he’s at that breaking point. “Look, man. This is what we’ve waited two whole months for, this is what we’ve waited all of this time for—and we just cannot go out there now and show someone like the Crinkly Bottom Boys that we’re weak, can we?” James questioned. “Are you willing to let them know that we came to Supremacy unprepared for them?” Jason simply shook his head at the question, “...it’s not like that at all, I’m just coming to the realisation of everything. I can’t continue forever, I truly cannot with the amount of problems that I might have wrong with me that’s always affecting me every two to three fuckin’ months of my career.” Once again, he sighed. “I’m not losing this match, because if I do, it could be our last chance – or even just my last chance – at trying to gain those Tag Team Championships.” “...nah, you’re not considering—” Jason soon interrupted him mid-sentence. “I am. Whatever happens between now and… just god knows whenever I make my real decision… it could be the last run of my career, after all of this time. I’ve done it all in five years, man.” A pause. “And, if I cannot carry you to these Tag Team Championships– then fate has decided that we’re just not destined for them.” The silence that filled the room afterward was of complete and total awkwardness, there was nothing more to add onto this conversation from either man. Though James is in denial that this could be his friend’s final chance, Jason was confident in his choice– the right choice. For not only himself, but for his mental state as well, and that was the key factor in all of this. The man has taken quite the mental beating throughout the past year and he’s finally reaching the limits once again. Finally reaching the limits of how far he can push himself through hell and back. “Jace, just know this one thing, man…” James leaned forward and bumped fist with Jason. “...we’re winning those fuckin’ Tag Team Championships no matter how much we’ve gotta put ourselves through to make it fuckin’ work. This is how we’re going to run the game now, it’s our fuckin’ era after all. We’ve just got to make sure that there’s nothing that’ll stop us like last time, alright?” The kind words of James Raymond were enough to bring a lighthearted smile on the face of Jason Long, something that he desperately needed after all of this time. The two soon clinked their bottles by the necks and chugged down whatever they had left from them, if this was going to be their last time together inside of The New Age Compound—then they’ll make the moment they have together a memorable one. A final hurrah to being the men that chased down the championships, and a hello to the days of being the champions, holding the gold on their shoulders. Just how it was meant to be from the beginning. — — — NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA. — FEBRUARY 18TH, 2022. As the opening visual brings us inside of the Lakefront Arena in the heart of New Orleans, we’re greeted with the flag that represents the New Age Killers draped over the ropes and the shot panning out and showing us the two men that currently stood inside of the ring. James Raymond and Jason Long, smiles on their faces as they look directly into the camera before The King was the first to speak. “It seems like every single time that we’re put into a match for the XHF Tag Team Championships– fate is always there to kick us back down the mountain and make us fall the whole way down to the bottom, no matter how hard we’ve tried to climb that proverbial mountain and no matter how many times we’ve went through the same trial and errors as just about anyone else. Though, trying to make you picture how we feel is a little bit pointless when it comes down to the situation we’re in right now.” A quick deep breath is taken. “Every single time we’re in this situation, we’ve told you the history. Every single time we’re given this position, we’ve told you the trials and tribulations that we had to go through to get here. And it’s not just us that does it either, it’s just about anyone that ever wants to step between these ropes and fight for those championships. Pick the names out of the hat, you’ll come to find they’ve taught us the valuable lesson of what it’s like to lose and lose and lose again in the hopes to gain something – even if it’s only for that split second – to gain something and to cherish it like it’s a prized possession.” James began to rub his hands together, his smile soon becoming a smirk. “And the stories that have come from us, the stories of our times being together and trying to capture the one thing that has eluded us as a team, the stories of our fall and our rise… it’s like a rags to riches story come to life, and as I stand beside a man who knows the feeling all too well about having a rags to riches story, what we have right in front of us?” A pause, letting the question sink in. “It’s no rags to riches story, no, it’s the downfall and the decline of what used to be valuable championships. Though, let’s not be in haste on making judgemental calls here. The Crinkly Bottom Boys are well deserving of their dues. After all, look at the teams that they’ve beaten along the way to gaining the position they’re in right now. Steve Awesome and Curtis Kanyon, two legends of the XHF as they have proven to be time and time again. Natalie Burrows and Adrien Cochrane, the FIRESIDE World Champion and the former XHF X*Crown Champion. And all of those other teams in the Tag Team Annihilator tournament that helped you gain the shot? The list of names is pretty big, I applaud the both of you for making it this far.” “There’s nothing we could tell you that would mean much to hurt you—you’ve beaten the best that’s been thrown at you, you’ve beaten the best of those that’s been given to you for defences, and you’ve proven yourselves time and time again as a legitimate team and not the laughable jokes that people expected out of you. And hell, you took us into the fight that we needed to just reawaken ourselves. Fought us into a draw and we, understandably, were given the second chance to come back and fight for those titles again.” Jason hesitates for a moment with his words, letting out a sigh and shaking his head. “But that’s something that nobody has been able to do against you ever since you’ve begun this run from out of nowhere, to bring the champions into a predicament where they tied with their opponents. It’s never been achieved before and as much as we don’t want to underestimate you, as much as we don’t want to undermine you and think we can beat you, knowing that we can fight you two into a draw?” The King let out a light chuckle. “That’s just what we needed to know heading into this match, lads.” “Jason’s right, boys. As much as we’ve known the people you’ve beaten – and believe me, we’re not telling you that we’re going to beat you because we both know it’s possible to beat us – that sign of weakness in yourselves when we fought the two of you into a draw shows us that you can be beaten, as much as people now believe that these two entertainers are somehow an unstoppable force in the ring.” James slightly grins. “And what’ll that mean when it comes to tomorrow night, Blobby and Edmonds? What’ll that mean for the both of you when it happens to be the two of us once again bringing that same fight and bringing that same fire that we did at Supremacy? It’ll be the end of a joke that should’ve ended a long time ago. The end of what should’ve died when at Supremacy until you dragged us into the waters with you.” “So whilst the two of you sit there and create parodies of people’s pasts, just know that we’re not here for the laugh and the joke, we’re not here for the sake of coming in and just putting on a fight for everyone to see—” He tutted. “No, we’ve come with the intent of winning those Tag Team Championships. Our sights are on those Tag Team Championships. And we’ll make sure that we’ll keep on fighting until we’re either the champions or we’re both left for fuckin’ dead inside of that ring.” Jason falls silent as he begins to think to himself, he remembers the moment that he shared with James just before Supremacy. The King glanced over to his tag team partner and James gave him a quick nod, which made Jason nod back in reply before turning his focus back onto the camera. ”This, for us, might be our last chance of ever gaining these championships. This might be our last chance ever to gain any kind of tag team gold – but we’re not going down without a fight and we’re most certainly not going to go down empty-handed – so I beg of you, Crinkly Bottom Boys. Bring your fuckin’ best and we’re going to bring ours. At Masquerade, the joke is fuckin’ over and this’ll be our last call in claiming we’re soon-to-be XHF Tag Team Champions. So help me god, I’m not letting you two win. No matter what you might think of it to be— this is not your time, lads. This is fuckin’ ours.” James brings an arm around the tensed-up Jason Long, a large smile on his face as he looks into the camera and brings up the tone of his voice to a louder volume. “And by now, Crinkly Bottom Boys – Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby – you should know how the old saying goes around here for us. IT’S THE NEW AGE KILLERS! IT’S THE N-A-FUCKIN’-K! ‘TIL… FUCKIN’...” A pause. “Death.” A click of the fingers from The King brings the lights inside of the arena to darkness, making the feed soon end upon the lights going out. — — —