You Call That Press? Get Me A Real Interviewer!
Nov 24, 2017 20:58:17 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer and Hyperion like this
Post by Robbie A on Nov 24, 2017 20:58:17 GMT -5
23 October 2017
The FWA Coliseum, Moscow. By night it’s a rather impressive building, built within Moscow’s already impressive infrastructure. Tonight it holds a number of press conferences in preparation for this weekends feature event, Xtraction: Firewall. A number of media men and women sit within the press room, a modest capacity of about fifty though the room is at capacity. There is the usual hum of hushed talking, everybody in that room has a job to do and is no doubt reporting to seniority whilst trying to be respectful enough to allow everybody to hear themselves and the other person at the end of the phone. They all soon wrap up their conversations as the autonomous female voice of Alpha comes over the PA system.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Anonymous Xtreme Wrestling is now proud to bring you the former XHF Champion, Rob Arnold.”
Voices begin to hush as Arnold walks in, dressed in a full three piece suit he enters through a door on the left, cameras begin to click into action as he walks into the middle of the conference table, taking a small look around before taking his seat.
“Mr Arnold will now take your questions.” Alpha’s voice announces once more, Arnold looks unmoved, and nods to a gentleman at the back of the room.
“Rob, Greg Turbosh, European Wrestling Magazine, how are you finding Russia?”
“Honestly?” Rob sits back in his chair and strokes his beard. “I wanted to come in and make all sorts of jokes about it being so damn cold and hating it, but the reality is it’s not so bad. I guess when you set the bar so low what ends up happening is that whatever happens after that is more or less a bonus. The hotel is comfortable, I’ve been able to train pretty well, and the facilities in this arena are much more than I was expecting. I’m a man who believes in giving credit where it is due, and to the FWA I’ll say fair play, this place is not a dump.”
This is met with a fairly flat response, a few local reporters didn’t quite feel the jest in Arnold’s tone, not that there was much.
“Michael Oak, World Wrestling News Now, whilst your mention credit where it is due, do you feel that’s worthy for your team captain, The Storm Crow, following your recent match in Germany?”
Rob stares at Michael, slowly raises an eyebrow and folds his arms, seemingly choosing to ignore his, he then turns to another reporter and nods at them. Mr Oak is not one to be rejected however.
“Uh, Rob, are you going to answer my question?” He probes, causing Arnold to turn back towards him, arms still folded and brow beginning to furrow with frustration.
“No, because I’m not here to talk about Storm Crow, you can interview him and blow smoke up his a-” He stops, and takes a breath, attempting not to rant. “I’ve got a lot to say about him, but perhaps tonight isn’t the time when we have five opponents to deal with first.” He turns back to the journalist to move things along.
“Yes, Mr Arnold, Ji-Sung Pow, K Wrestling, all of Korea wants to know how you feel about teaming up with Sung-Heun Lee?”
Rob looks around the room, growing slightly exasperated, before turning back to Pow.
“Well, what I can say is that I don’t intend on leaving him in a bloody mess. You know, like I did a month ago. I can also say that I’m sure he will provide something to our team. Youthful exuberance, yeah, I’m sure he’ll provide that.”
There is a very deflated, borderline offended look back from Pow, Arnold chooses to move on and points to a young lady in the front row.
“Rob, Melissa Del Greco, Sky Italia, you’ll be working with two former colleagues, Scorpion and Price, in recent weeks we’ve seen that relationships have been difficult to say the least, do you feel that you can put all that aside this weekend?” Arnold straightens up in response, undoing the jacket of his three piece.
“You should be asking them.” Is the immediate response, which only gets a confused murmur from the floor in return, so he carries on. “Look, I know what you’re all thinking, Rob Arnold’s been upsetting everybody since he came back to wrestling, he’s put his hands on almost everybody in the team, he’s a weasel, and so on and so on. I hear things, I read what you guys write, I’m not ignorant to any of that, but I can honestly tell you that you’re so damn clueless.”
A second, more agitated murmur. Arnold holds his hands up.
“I know, I know, not exactly the nicest thing I could be saying but ladies and gentlemen, you do me a disservice. I have only ever had one thing in mind when I come to work, hurt people, damage these people so I can be the best. It’s really quite simple. Now when you consider that almost every week of the year, these people will be the only people I have to hurt, I’m going to go out and do my best to bloody well hurt them! However this Sunday I have a separate group of men to break the ankles of. Now as much as I’d love to have a crack at that alone, I’m not stupid, I’ve been doing this a long time, I need to do this with Price, with Scorpion, with Lee, with Crow. I’m an asshole, not an idiot. So to answer the question Ms Del Greco, I can handle things if those chaps can, I’ll get the job done, don’t you worry about that.”
There’s a stunned silence, probably because there was an actual answer to the question. Now in full flow, Arnold swings a finger towards another gentleman near the back.
“Mr Arnold, that’s all very well to say, but it’s been well documented that you don’t really want to be here, and that you are the only member of Team AXW that specifically did not want to share a press conference with a team mate.” Comes a voice from the corner of the room. Arnold stands up and places his hands down on the table in front of him, staring a hole right through the reporter.
“Firstly sir, you never gave me your name.”
“My name is S-”
“I honestly don’t care so don’t bother. Secondly, that wasn’t a question.”
“No, but-”
Arnold raises a finger and continues.
“I don’t need to share this stage with anybody, and I don’t want to. You’re dead right, I’m here because I have to be. I’ll deal with that issue in time, in the interim there’s only one thing I can really do, go disfigure the faces of the FWA. Trust me, that’s all that I’m focused on now.”
Arnold pauses, and muses very quickly, before standing up straight.
“Do you know what? I was going to tell you, but you idiots don’t deserve to hear it, I’m going to find a real reporter, a reporter who actually knows how to speak to somebody like me...I’m going to find Nelly Angel. We’re done here!”
Arnold turns on his heels and walks out, more cameras begin to snap and loud whispers continue, the theme seeming to be how much of an asshole Rob Arnold is.
Welcome to the XHF Network.
Your Video Will Begin Shortly.
The scene opens to backstage at the FWA Coliseum, and stood with microphone in hand is the XHF’s number one interviewer, Nelly Angel.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are days away from our next XHF Network Global event, Xtraction: Firewall. I personally can’t wait, and somebody else who can’t wait is my guest at this time, The True Innovator, Rob Arnold.”
Arnold walks in from the right and places his arm around Nelly.
“Nelly Angel, it has been far too long, it’s actually nice to see a face that I don’t want to punch.”
“Er, thanks?”
“You are most certainly welcome, although nobody calls me The True Innovator any more, I certainly don’t, although I'm not a fan of this Rob Fucking Arnold business either, but don’t worry too much about that. You see, we are live, making internet gold on the XHF Network, and I can say that with confidence, because the alternative is a mad man and his pig, or full frontal bear cock and balls. And that, well, that is just disturbing, I mean I honestly don’t know how you guys have got away with that, even by our standards.”
Rob shakes his head, shuddering slightly.
“Sorry, I’m digressing, I’m just in such a good mood to be in front of an interviewer who actually can do his job.”
Nelly looks a little unsure at all of this, bordering on uncomfortable. Arnold takes no time to pick up on this.
“Nelly, what’s wrong my man?”
“You...you’ve never actually been this nice to me, I’m pretty sure you used to accuse me of stalking you.”
“And I’ve forgiven you for that, that was a long time ago...”
“I never stalked you though.”
“...and we’ve all moved on so much since then, I mean, you look like almost a completely different person from when we last saw each other, and I’m sure I do too!”
“Uhhh, yes, well...” Nelly decides to press on. “Firstly Rob, I wanted to check your condition going into this match, you were in quite a physical contest with Storm Crow almost two weeks back, are you feeling one hundred percent?”
“You know Nelly I’m doing okay, I’ll be honest I didn’t expect to be stood here knowing that less than two weeks ago I had splinters and glass being pulled out of me, but I am, and I did have a lot of glass and splinters pulled from me. Still, scars heal, bruises subside, and we go again, it’s what we do, it’s certainly what I do. Don’t get me wrong, even a seventy five percent Rob Arnold is a dangerous concept to many a man, but I’ll be going into this one hundred percent healthy.”
Arnold runs his hand through his beard with a smug look.
“What do you know of your opponents, Team FWA?”
“Enough to be confident. I’d have liked to see them all in action live, but if we all got what we wanted in life then Coldplay wouldn’t still be making music. What a world that would be by the way.
So we have Dylan Black, Steve Dackle, the FWA Tag Champions, these guys were given the titles, literally given. So Nelly, I’ve got to get this off my chest, we all laugh and joke off in our homes about Russia being run corruptly, and how money talks in that country, but here we have a company that openly seems to be run by the mob, and their head two henchmen have been literally given the tag titles just because they can. Perhaps I’m doing these guys a disservice, especially in the case of Dackle. Dackle served in the military, and for that I have to respect the man for that because that, but he now runs with the mob, he takes a freaking dive like a bent boxer. With that, he loses all respect. Between him and the man who has a larger perm than an eighties housewife, they call themselves The Darkness. These boys don’t know anything about darkness, they just know how to take a cheap shot and take orders. When the real players come to play, they’re going to find out that they’re not good soldiers, they’re just cannon fodder.
Then there’s AK Andrews. Now there’s an interesting character, I want to like the lad, he’s from my neck of the woods, granted he may well be a little bit touched, but he’s a fighter, he’s got the right attributes. He reminds me of myself, if I was born from the wrong end of town that is.”
“Are you allowed to say that?” Quizzes Nelly.
“Too late to take it back now Nelly. Still, there’s a lot from my parts with extra fingers and toes, it’s fact.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you have extra-”
“Nelly you will not finish that sentence or so help me I will lock you in a crate destined for Siberia.” Nelly obliges, allowing Arnold to continue. “Andrews, he’s just lacking the brain, but the intention is there, he’ll be dangerous though, I won’t underestimate him.
Then there’s Ozymandias. I cannot lie, I am absolutely fascinated by the man. Equally though, I’m prepared for a fight with this man, much like Storm Crow, he needs to win, and when I say need I’m talking battle until there’s barely a heartbeat type of need. That doesn’t make a man dangerous, it makes his scarily dangerous, and to be taken very, very seriously. Following what happened at Critical Error, I’m very much in the frame of mind of how to deal with a man like that, however this time I will not falter. I can also tell that he shares similarities with me as well, he too makes out that he doesn’t want to be here, and isn’t afraid to tell the Russians that, I respect that. Still, Ozymandias, out of all the men in team FWA, I’m the most excited to face you, don’t disappoint me.
Then, finally, the captain of the FWA team, Jackson Grace.”
Arnold pauses and folds his arms, taking a deep breath.
“Plucky, not afraid to get his hands dirty, and the holder of their TV Title, for want of a better phrase. Another man I won’t be underestimating, another man who seemingly isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, a theme of this FWA team if I’m honest. Jackson Grace will need to understand though that being in the ring with me, you need to be more than just plucky, you have to be able to out think and out fight me, do you think you can do that? I’m not sure you can.”
“Now Rob, that’s all very well, but this won’t be in a standard match.”
“No, instead I have to participate in some freaking circus match. I’d accuse this of being something designed by the Russians, but my glorious leader V is beginning to pick up form for this too, so he’s likely to be complicit. As if pulling glass from my body wasn’t enough for the paying customer, now it seems I’m going to have to risk being set on fire. I can’t say I’m overly happy about that, nor am I keen on being ripped back open with barbed wire. I’m a grown man though, and I accept the risks. Equally though, those risks weigh as heavy for my opponents, as Storm Crow found out at Critical Error, I’m just as dangerous with my bare hands as I am a weapon, and none of these five Russian hitmen are ready for that.”
“Now I know you’ve not been so keen to talk about your team, but Rob, how are you going to keep onside with your fellow Team AXW members? Will you look to show some leadership as you actually have some Xtraction match experience?”
Rob pauses, fleeting some anger, before slowly nodding in acceptance.
“Everybody keeps asking that, everybody knows that I’ve not exactly been employee of the month, I accept that, because I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be a poster boy. Now don’t get me wrong I want to be top of the tree and I accept that comes with its own conditions, but this is a separate occasion. We all have something to prove, all ten of us can make a little bit of history and that is not to be disregarded. I can tell you now Nelly that I will not do anything that I believe will jeopardise my opportunity to make that history. If you want my real honest opinion, and why I’ve taken exception to that question in the past, is that perhaps the spotlight of that question should be on the likes of Price, of Scorpion, of Lee. I’ve given them all reason to see a big target on my back, will they go for it? They all get a free pass this Sunday, but what about me...do I get a pass?
Now, as for the experience, you’re right. Ironically that day it was Mongo who needed my help, he enlisted the Brotherhood to grasp onto power, and guess what? We got the job done, he kept the company. If any of my team want to know how we went about it, they are welcome to ask me, yet they all choose to hide away from me.”
“Well, I don’t know if hide is the right word, I spoke to Price earlier and he basically said ‘everybody hates Rob Arnold, he’s a jerk’...he also didn’t use the word jerk, he may have thrown a few more obscenities in there.”
Rob stares at Nelly, brows raised.
“This is exactly my point, he wants to take pot shots at me right now that’s fine, but I’ll be all business this Sunday, and when he gets burned by the Russian goons and starts bitching I won’t be entertaining it.”
“I’m just relaying what he said, don’t shoot the messenger!”
“Oh I won’t Nelly, but how about we finish this message. Duke Kosloff, you’ve started something, and I’m going to finish it, I’m going to beat down and break your five best goons, I’m going to make sure that by the time I’m leaving Russia, you’ve got no company to run because your best talent are taking their next few months worth of meals through straws. Bring your monsters, bring your vigilantes, bring the darkness, in fact, bring as much darkness as you like, because that’s where I thrive, that’s where I lurk. When the fires become embers and begin to die out, you’re going to wish you heeded my warning, that you and your mob money pawns should beware of what lurks in the darkness, beware of Rob Arnold.”
Scene out.
The FWA Coliseum, Moscow. By night it’s a rather impressive building, built within Moscow’s already impressive infrastructure. Tonight it holds a number of press conferences in preparation for this weekends feature event, Xtraction: Firewall. A number of media men and women sit within the press room, a modest capacity of about fifty though the room is at capacity. There is the usual hum of hushed talking, everybody in that room has a job to do and is no doubt reporting to seniority whilst trying to be respectful enough to allow everybody to hear themselves and the other person at the end of the phone. They all soon wrap up their conversations as the autonomous female voice of Alpha comes over the PA system.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Anonymous Xtreme Wrestling is now proud to bring you the former XHF Champion, Rob Arnold.”
Voices begin to hush as Arnold walks in, dressed in a full three piece suit he enters through a door on the left, cameras begin to click into action as he walks into the middle of the conference table, taking a small look around before taking his seat.
“Mr Arnold will now take your questions.” Alpha’s voice announces once more, Arnold looks unmoved, and nods to a gentleman at the back of the room.
“Rob, Greg Turbosh, European Wrestling Magazine, how are you finding Russia?”
“Honestly?” Rob sits back in his chair and strokes his beard. “I wanted to come in and make all sorts of jokes about it being so damn cold and hating it, but the reality is it’s not so bad. I guess when you set the bar so low what ends up happening is that whatever happens after that is more or less a bonus. The hotel is comfortable, I’ve been able to train pretty well, and the facilities in this arena are much more than I was expecting. I’m a man who believes in giving credit where it is due, and to the FWA I’ll say fair play, this place is not a dump.”
This is met with a fairly flat response, a few local reporters didn’t quite feel the jest in Arnold’s tone, not that there was much.
“Michael Oak, World Wrestling News Now, whilst your mention credit where it is due, do you feel that’s worthy for your team captain, The Storm Crow, following your recent match in Germany?”
Rob stares at Michael, slowly raises an eyebrow and folds his arms, seemingly choosing to ignore his, he then turns to another reporter and nods at them. Mr Oak is not one to be rejected however.
“Uh, Rob, are you going to answer my question?” He probes, causing Arnold to turn back towards him, arms still folded and brow beginning to furrow with frustration.
“No, because I’m not here to talk about Storm Crow, you can interview him and blow smoke up his a-” He stops, and takes a breath, attempting not to rant. “I’ve got a lot to say about him, but perhaps tonight isn’t the time when we have five opponents to deal with first.” He turns back to the journalist to move things along.
“Yes, Mr Arnold, Ji-Sung Pow, K Wrestling, all of Korea wants to know how you feel about teaming up with Sung-Heun Lee?”
Rob looks around the room, growing slightly exasperated, before turning back to Pow.
“Well, what I can say is that I don’t intend on leaving him in a bloody mess. You know, like I did a month ago. I can also say that I’m sure he will provide something to our team. Youthful exuberance, yeah, I’m sure he’ll provide that.”
There is a very deflated, borderline offended look back from Pow, Arnold chooses to move on and points to a young lady in the front row.
“Rob, Melissa Del Greco, Sky Italia, you’ll be working with two former colleagues, Scorpion and Price, in recent weeks we’ve seen that relationships have been difficult to say the least, do you feel that you can put all that aside this weekend?” Arnold straightens up in response, undoing the jacket of his three piece.
“You should be asking them.” Is the immediate response, which only gets a confused murmur from the floor in return, so he carries on. “Look, I know what you’re all thinking, Rob Arnold’s been upsetting everybody since he came back to wrestling, he’s put his hands on almost everybody in the team, he’s a weasel, and so on and so on. I hear things, I read what you guys write, I’m not ignorant to any of that, but I can honestly tell you that you’re so damn clueless.”
A second, more agitated murmur. Arnold holds his hands up.
“I know, I know, not exactly the nicest thing I could be saying but ladies and gentlemen, you do me a disservice. I have only ever had one thing in mind when I come to work, hurt people, damage these people so I can be the best. It’s really quite simple. Now when you consider that almost every week of the year, these people will be the only people I have to hurt, I’m going to go out and do my best to bloody well hurt them! However this Sunday I have a separate group of men to break the ankles of. Now as much as I’d love to have a crack at that alone, I’m not stupid, I’ve been doing this a long time, I need to do this with Price, with Scorpion, with Lee, with Crow. I’m an asshole, not an idiot. So to answer the question Ms Del Greco, I can handle things if those chaps can, I’ll get the job done, don’t you worry about that.”
There’s a stunned silence, probably because there was an actual answer to the question. Now in full flow, Arnold swings a finger towards another gentleman near the back.
“Mr Arnold, that’s all very well to say, but it’s been well documented that you don’t really want to be here, and that you are the only member of Team AXW that specifically did not want to share a press conference with a team mate.” Comes a voice from the corner of the room. Arnold stands up and places his hands down on the table in front of him, staring a hole right through the reporter.
“Firstly sir, you never gave me your name.”
“My name is S-”
“I honestly don’t care so don’t bother. Secondly, that wasn’t a question.”
“No, but-”
Arnold raises a finger and continues.
“I don’t need to share this stage with anybody, and I don’t want to. You’re dead right, I’m here because I have to be. I’ll deal with that issue in time, in the interim there’s only one thing I can really do, go disfigure the faces of the FWA. Trust me, that’s all that I’m focused on now.”
Arnold pauses, and muses very quickly, before standing up straight.
“Do you know what? I was going to tell you, but you idiots don’t deserve to hear it, I’m going to find a real reporter, a reporter who actually knows how to speak to somebody like me...I’m going to find Nelly Angel. We’re done here!”
Arnold turns on his heels and walks out, more cameras begin to snap and loud whispers continue, the theme seeming to be how much of an asshole Rob Arnold is.
Welcome to the XHF Network.
Your Video Will Begin Shortly.
The scene opens to backstage at the FWA Coliseum, and stood with microphone in hand is the XHF’s number one interviewer, Nelly Angel.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are days away from our next XHF Network Global event, Xtraction: Firewall. I personally can’t wait, and somebody else who can’t wait is my guest at this time, The True Innovator, Rob Arnold.”
Arnold walks in from the right and places his arm around Nelly.
“Nelly Angel, it has been far too long, it’s actually nice to see a face that I don’t want to punch.”
“Er, thanks?”
“You are most certainly welcome, although nobody calls me The True Innovator any more, I certainly don’t, although I'm not a fan of this Rob Fucking Arnold business either, but don’t worry too much about that. You see, we are live, making internet gold on the XHF Network, and I can say that with confidence, because the alternative is a mad man and his pig, or full frontal bear cock and balls. And that, well, that is just disturbing, I mean I honestly don’t know how you guys have got away with that, even by our standards.”
Rob shakes his head, shuddering slightly.
“Sorry, I’m digressing, I’m just in such a good mood to be in front of an interviewer who actually can do his job.”
Nelly looks a little unsure at all of this, bordering on uncomfortable. Arnold takes no time to pick up on this.
“Nelly, what’s wrong my man?”
“You...you’ve never actually been this nice to me, I’m pretty sure you used to accuse me of stalking you.”
“And I’ve forgiven you for that, that was a long time ago...”
“I never stalked you though.”
“...and we’ve all moved on so much since then, I mean, you look like almost a completely different person from when we last saw each other, and I’m sure I do too!”
“Uhhh, yes, well...” Nelly decides to press on. “Firstly Rob, I wanted to check your condition going into this match, you were in quite a physical contest with Storm Crow almost two weeks back, are you feeling one hundred percent?”
“You know Nelly I’m doing okay, I’ll be honest I didn’t expect to be stood here knowing that less than two weeks ago I had splinters and glass being pulled out of me, but I am, and I did have a lot of glass and splinters pulled from me. Still, scars heal, bruises subside, and we go again, it’s what we do, it’s certainly what I do. Don’t get me wrong, even a seventy five percent Rob Arnold is a dangerous concept to many a man, but I’ll be going into this one hundred percent healthy.”
Arnold runs his hand through his beard with a smug look.
“What do you know of your opponents, Team FWA?”
“Enough to be confident. I’d have liked to see them all in action live, but if we all got what we wanted in life then Coldplay wouldn’t still be making music. What a world that would be by the way.
So we have Dylan Black, Steve Dackle, the FWA Tag Champions, these guys were given the titles, literally given. So Nelly, I’ve got to get this off my chest, we all laugh and joke off in our homes about Russia being run corruptly, and how money talks in that country, but here we have a company that openly seems to be run by the mob, and their head two henchmen have been literally given the tag titles just because they can. Perhaps I’m doing these guys a disservice, especially in the case of Dackle. Dackle served in the military, and for that I have to respect the man for that because that, but he now runs with the mob, he takes a freaking dive like a bent boxer. With that, he loses all respect. Between him and the man who has a larger perm than an eighties housewife, they call themselves The Darkness. These boys don’t know anything about darkness, they just know how to take a cheap shot and take orders. When the real players come to play, they’re going to find out that they’re not good soldiers, they’re just cannon fodder.
Then there’s AK Andrews. Now there’s an interesting character, I want to like the lad, he’s from my neck of the woods, granted he may well be a little bit touched, but he’s a fighter, he’s got the right attributes. He reminds me of myself, if I was born from the wrong end of town that is.”
“Are you allowed to say that?” Quizzes Nelly.
“Too late to take it back now Nelly. Still, there’s a lot from my parts with extra fingers and toes, it’s fact.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you have extra-”
“Nelly you will not finish that sentence or so help me I will lock you in a crate destined for Siberia.” Nelly obliges, allowing Arnold to continue. “Andrews, he’s just lacking the brain, but the intention is there, he’ll be dangerous though, I won’t underestimate him.
Then there’s Ozymandias. I cannot lie, I am absolutely fascinated by the man. Equally though, I’m prepared for a fight with this man, much like Storm Crow, he needs to win, and when I say need I’m talking battle until there’s barely a heartbeat type of need. That doesn’t make a man dangerous, it makes his scarily dangerous, and to be taken very, very seriously. Following what happened at Critical Error, I’m very much in the frame of mind of how to deal with a man like that, however this time I will not falter. I can also tell that he shares similarities with me as well, he too makes out that he doesn’t want to be here, and isn’t afraid to tell the Russians that, I respect that. Still, Ozymandias, out of all the men in team FWA, I’m the most excited to face you, don’t disappoint me.
Then, finally, the captain of the FWA team, Jackson Grace.”
Arnold pauses and folds his arms, taking a deep breath.
“Plucky, not afraid to get his hands dirty, and the holder of their TV Title, for want of a better phrase. Another man I won’t be underestimating, another man who seemingly isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, a theme of this FWA team if I’m honest. Jackson Grace will need to understand though that being in the ring with me, you need to be more than just plucky, you have to be able to out think and out fight me, do you think you can do that? I’m not sure you can.”
“Now Rob, that’s all very well, but this won’t be in a standard match.”
“No, instead I have to participate in some freaking circus match. I’d accuse this of being something designed by the Russians, but my glorious leader V is beginning to pick up form for this too, so he’s likely to be complicit. As if pulling glass from my body wasn’t enough for the paying customer, now it seems I’m going to have to risk being set on fire. I can’t say I’m overly happy about that, nor am I keen on being ripped back open with barbed wire. I’m a grown man though, and I accept the risks. Equally though, those risks weigh as heavy for my opponents, as Storm Crow found out at Critical Error, I’m just as dangerous with my bare hands as I am a weapon, and none of these five Russian hitmen are ready for that.”
“Now I know you’ve not been so keen to talk about your team, but Rob, how are you going to keep onside with your fellow Team AXW members? Will you look to show some leadership as you actually have some Xtraction match experience?”
Rob pauses, fleeting some anger, before slowly nodding in acceptance.
“Everybody keeps asking that, everybody knows that I’ve not exactly been employee of the month, I accept that, because I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be a poster boy. Now don’t get me wrong I want to be top of the tree and I accept that comes with its own conditions, but this is a separate occasion. We all have something to prove, all ten of us can make a little bit of history and that is not to be disregarded. I can tell you now Nelly that I will not do anything that I believe will jeopardise my opportunity to make that history. If you want my real honest opinion, and why I’ve taken exception to that question in the past, is that perhaps the spotlight of that question should be on the likes of Price, of Scorpion, of Lee. I’ve given them all reason to see a big target on my back, will they go for it? They all get a free pass this Sunday, but what about me...do I get a pass?
Now, as for the experience, you’re right. Ironically that day it was Mongo who needed my help, he enlisted the Brotherhood to grasp onto power, and guess what? We got the job done, he kept the company. If any of my team want to know how we went about it, they are welcome to ask me, yet they all choose to hide away from me.”
“Well, I don’t know if hide is the right word, I spoke to Price earlier and he basically said ‘everybody hates Rob Arnold, he’s a jerk’...he also didn’t use the word jerk, he may have thrown a few more obscenities in there.”
Rob stares at Nelly, brows raised.
“This is exactly my point, he wants to take pot shots at me right now that’s fine, but I’ll be all business this Sunday, and when he gets burned by the Russian goons and starts bitching I won’t be entertaining it.”
“I’m just relaying what he said, don’t shoot the messenger!”
“Oh I won’t Nelly, but how about we finish this message. Duke Kosloff, you’ve started something, and I’m going to finish it, I’m going to beat down and break your five best goons, I’m going to make sure that by the time I’m leaving Russia, you’ve got no company to run because your best talent are taking their next few months worth of meals through straws. Bring your monsters, bring your vigilantes, bring the darkness, in fact, bring as much darkness as you like, because that’s where I thrive, that’s where I lurk. When the fires become embers and begin to die out, you’re going to wish you heeded my warning, that you and your mob money pawns should beware of what lurks in the darkness, beware of Rob Arnold.”
Scene out.
