A Broken Predator (Storm/Blood Money)

[ForeverKuroi]

"Mister Storm, what you have done was absolutely one of the most irresponsible things I have seen."

The scene fades into view. From black into a doctor's office. Michael Storm sits in a grey a-shirt with black jeans. He's sitting on a hospital bed with a middle aged doctor with brown hair and greying sides examining him. He pulls out a mini-flashlight

Storm: For getting into a car accident?

Storm shakes his head.

Doctor: Don't be cute with me. You intentionally crashed this vehicle. Now keep your eyes straight.

Storm: I didn't try to do anything except kill someone that has been ruining my life for years and years. ...Not that that's much better, I suppose...

Doctor: You're right. That's not much better. You need to get your medicine adjusted.

Storm: Well whoopdie-doo, white coat. Where do you think I am right now, and what do you think they do there?

Doctor: Look to your left.

Storm: You told me to look straight.

Doctor: Yeah. Well now I'm telling you to look left.

Storm sighs as he complies with the doctor's orders.

Doctor: You know, you could have gotten yourself killed.

Storm: I know. Car crashes are bad like that.

Doctor: Right, but people who are in car crashes don't immediately go into wrestling matches, especially after doctors tell them that they shouldn't be going in them in their first place. What with your CTE and all. Now look right.

Storm complies with a groan.

Storm: I'm not hurt. I'm not dead. I don't even have a single broken bone in my body. You have no reason to bitch.

Doctor: Well I'm not your mother, but I am your doctor. You don't have any broken bones, but you have bruised ribs and a bruised bone can sometimes be worse than a broken bone. I can put broken bones together, but bruised bones take longer to heal. I'm not going to spank on you on the bottom like your mother may, but I'm here to tell you what to do if you're not interested in killing yourself. I can tell you right now, with your medical, mental and psychological stake, going into matches right now is not too much different than putting the barrel of a gun to the side of your head and pulling the trigger.

Storm: You keep using that term - matches. I've been in one match since I came out. Now I'll give you this much. If I hadn't just come out of a car accident, I would have most definitely beaten Jason Justice, but that was my choice to make. Still, I have only been in one match since I've gotten out.

Doctor: Really? Don't act like you're not some sort of celebrity, Michael. I saw you at AXW's most recent event. I've seen you jumping off the corner with one of those loopdy-loop jumps. You want to tell me that wasn't some sort of wrestling move?

Storm: Well of course it was a wrestling move, but I'm saying it wasn't a wrestling match.

Doctor: Oh, well forgive me, Michael, but I guess since it's wasn't an actual wrestling match then the trauma that has been inflicted onto your brain has been completely negated!

Storm: ...

The doctor turns around and walks to the counter. He pulls out a file from his folder and brings it up to a white board. He presses a button and lights it up, where the picture shows a human brain. The doctor points the image to him as well as the image next to it.

Doctor: Do you see the changes of the white matter of the frontal neocortex?

Storm: I don't know what that means.

Doctor: Do you see where my finger is pointing? Look at that.

Storm: Ugh. Yeah, I see it.

Doctor: The first picture - the one to the left, was the image that was taken from when we diagnosed you. The one on the right is now, and you shouldn't have reached this sort of progression in this degenerative disease for the next couple of years. You're killing yourself, Michael. And this wrestling, this traumatic activity that you are inflicting upon yourself is killing you.

Storm: You said that the first time, didn't you? Why are you boring me with all these details? Can you just give me the prescription for my new medication so I can get going?

Doctor: If it was up to me, you wouldn't even be here. You would be in a treatment center for an attempted suicide.

Storm blinks a couple of times, surprised by what the doctor said.

Storm: Say what? Where the hell did you get suicide from this?

Doctor: You nearly kill yourself by crashing your car into a telephone pole. You've been off your medication and on a wonton path of destruction, putting your entire life in jeopardy. It sounds like suicide to me. Luckily for you, the courts appear to believe otherwise. They see it as you negligently choosing the worse actions you could possibly choose, which isn't an active decision to end your life. I don't see much difference.

Storm: I don't see in any of this you just said the words, "Here is your prescription."

Doctor: ...Only because you're better with it than without it.

Storm: The sooner I can do this, the sooner I can prepare for my match.

Doctor: Oh yeah? You're really going to end your life for a notch in your win column?

Storm: I'm going to choose to live a shorter but happier life than a longer but dull life, yes.

The doctor sighs and shakes his head.

Doctor: There are so many things you can do with your life, Michael. So many things that won't kill you. Listening to music. Going to concerts. Playing a board game. Traveling the world. You can do whatever you want, but instead, you're choosing the single most dangerous activity you can enter into. I even tell my patients to avoid these sort of activities, and my son participates in little league baseball.

Storm: Look, I don't give a fuck what you think, and I sure as fuck don't care what your little kid does. On June 3rd, I'm being a part of history when I join the AWF in going against the AXW in a five on five war rules match. There are five people standing in my way of victory: The Anomoly, Price, Curtis Kanyon, Effigy and Shawn Rossdale. I have to be able to beat them, and I'm not going to do it by sitting in bed sipping on a cup of tea and relaxing with a heat pack.

Doctor: You also won't be beating them if you're dead, Michael. You won't be beating them if that is the last match you ever fight because you die in the middle or shortly afterwards. No. Then they would win, because you would be a dead body that used to be someone. Now here. Take this prescription, and think about your life... while you have a life. You have so much potential. Now do something with it.

The doctor scribbles onto a pad and gives it to Michael Sotrm, who greedily took it away from him. He walks out of the office and walks out into the parking lot. Instead of having his old baby, his yellow Lamborghini Countach, he now has a different car. A normal car. He walks out to his other car, which is a black Lincoln MKZ. There, he walks inside and starts the engine. He pulls out and looks to the camera through the rear view mirror.

Storm: The AXW is going to die on June 3rd. It will meet its gruesome end through the hand of Michael Storm. After all, how fitting...

Storm shoots off a smirk to the camera.

Storm: They say that death is a five letter word, but this isn't about letters. This is about names, and there are five names which will receive their proverbial death. Shawn Rossdale, The Anomoly, Price, Effigy and Curtis Kanyon. I'll be ready for all of you next Sunday. For four of you, this is going to be a new experience, but for one of you, you've already seen all the pain that I can deal. And it seems to be the most accomplished one on your team. You remember me, don't you... Curtis Kanyon?

Dramatic pause.

Storm: I mean, come on. I've taken the XHF Hardcore Championship from him. I've shed blood from his body. I've even eliminated him from the XHF Rumble a mere month ago. I've done that to him and I can do the same to the rest of you. After all, short of Dylan Black, I was the longest lasting wrestler in the XHF Rumble, and that's because I can take any amount of pain. Don't you remember who I am? The Raging Storm? The Prince of Pain? This isn't just a name that was made for me and for my history, it's all exemplified from what I have done within the past few months!

Storm keeps his palm on the steering wheel but lifts his fingers off as he counts them along.

Storm: I get diagnosed with CTE, something that makes most people cower and quiver over. Most people quit, but I stay along. I've wrapped myself in barbed wire and hit my Prince of Pain on Price at Supremacy. I've lasted in the XHF Rumble for nearly five hours. I've eliminated people. I've proven my endurance. I've proven my resolve, and there is nothing that any of you can do in order to topple me. Not anyone on the AXW side, and not even you...

Storm sharpens his eyes as he looks at the camera through the rear view mirror.

Storm: ...Randy Angel.

Just mentioning that name forces Michael Storm to deeply inhale and then exhale.

Storm: You've been a thorn in my side, a big problem. You've caused me nothing but anguish and anger. And I know what you've done at the XHF Rumble. It makes me want to kill you in cold blood here and now. Think about it. With all the time that I've spent in this ring, I could have won. I could have take out everyone else and could have walked out with gold around my waist. But no. ...you had to happen. You had to do what you wanted because you thought you were my friend, that you thought you were helping me. Well here's some news, Randy.

Storm slightly bites his lip, like he's about to enjoy what he's finally about to say.

Storm: You're not my friend, you're not helping me and the only time I will be happy with your thought in my mind is if I find out that one of us is dead and with everything you've done for the small time that I've known you, I'm not really going to care which one of us is dead. The only reason I'm keeping you out of harm's way right now is because I'm hoping you'll be more good than harm. Again, I don't need you in my life and I don't want you in my life, but perhaps you might be useful. If you've been making my life a living nightmare by accident than you might be worth a damn if you're trying to annoy everyone else. So yeah. Once we're in the match, we'll go after AXW. We'll out-wrestle them, out-muscle them and out-skill them. And I might even tap you in or out of the match if the match dictates such. If we win, I might even damn shake your head, but after Xtraction: Blood Money is done, I don't want to see you again. I don't want to hear your voice. I don't want to smell the stench of alcohol from your mouth. To be crystal clear - basically, the moment I stop thinking about you is the moment I begin to become a happy man.

Storm lets his shoulders slouch down, finally feeling a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

Storm: But for now, I'll allow you to rip apart our opponents. I am hurt. I am battered and I am injured, but make no mistake, I am still the predator here. We are about to delve into this feast where we become ravaging animals, taking down the prey. And the prey is Curtis Kanyon. And the prey is Price. And the prey is Effigy. And the prey is Shawn Rossdale. And the prey is The Anomoly.

The camera slowly zooms into Storm's face. Then his eyes.

Storm: And the prey is The AXW.

Storm smiles a sinister smile, slowly nodding his head. The screen fades to black.