Post by Valquist on Jun 9, 2015 18:52:10 GMT -6
Friday 5th June 2015
Infinity City, Infinity Arena
The day was young in Infinity City, but you would not know from being someone inside, looking out. The spectacular and historical structure lived in a state of permanent darkness, illuminated only by stage lighting. Chris McCarthy had ventured into the building from the front, where a beautiful dystopia of silver and glass towers dominant the epicentre of this endless city. Chris had accompanied Val to the city, determined to understand and live the schedule of a professional wrestler, so he could draw his own conclusions. Entering through the front with an electronic pass, Chris’s black leather jacket scrapped against chinking metal as he narrowly walked into the heart of Infinity’s sports infrastructure. Giant posters of the buildings future and past are littered throughout the short, rectangular entrance. There is a solitary poster dedicated to Infinity Wrestling, a poster of the city’s former most popular wrestler, Matt Rydell, delivering The New Dawn to an opponent.
Walking through the ring lights were dimly lit, the seats covered in a black fog. The only focus was on the bouncing ring-mat as Chris was more than surprised when he entered. A few hollow voices, all male, spoke loud. Val and four other wrestlers were practising tag team drills in the ring. Instead of having himself seen in the opening, Chris quickly scuttles along to one of the blackened seats and perches back so he was not to interrupt the action in the ring. Val was wearing a grey, sleeveless cotton hoody and was marshalling the training drills. Val had his hood up but was immediately recognisable for his radiant chocolate skin and his particular stocky, muscular tone.
Val runs the ropes, swivels back towards another wrestler, ducks an incoming clothesline, stops in mid-air and then stops. Just as the opponent turns Val drills him with his finishing manoeuvre, the Whirlwind, a spinning kick that generates an intense amount of speed and movement. Val connects perfectly, and the other wrestler sells the finishing move as you would expect. Chris was impressed that Val was able to do such a move given his age, but there wasn’t any fat on Val, he was just muscle and stamina. Turning into the light so Chris can see Val’s face, there are still many remnants of the attack sent by Jordan Jacob’s henchmen. Chris believed that distinction to be vital. Ryder did not sent those men.
A little while passes and Chris’s eagerness to unveil the identities of the other wrestlers was proving difficult. They were covered from head to head, not by clothing, but by the same technology that Valquist had used when he cut his first VOW promo. Chris remembers Val placing a small silver ball behind his ear, and within seconds his face was consumed with a stubborn silver likeness. Those these faces were not stubborn, they were covered head to toe, not by colour, but by clothing. The technology that Chris had no idea about, believing it just to be something of worth and design in Infinity City, had dimmed all skin tone, leaving their skins and faces as living shadows. The dim lighting over the ring did not help.
Twenty five minutes pass as the five wrestlers competed in a tag team match, with Val currently in the ring with the largest of the five. Well over six feet tall, broad shoulders to match Val, and a stomach that breathed heavily. Quite literally the definition of a powerhouse.
Val was currently reversing a series of punches by tossing the big man out of the ring. As the big guy tumbles, recovering quickly, it is he that notices the shadowed Chris McCarthy. The young Brooklyn native had no idea if he’d been caught, but there is a quick retreat by the other four men to the top of the titantron stage. Val grabs a white towel and a small bottle of water and sits next opposite Chris, only a small runway separating them both.
Chris
“So who are your friends, Val?”
Valquist
“I wish I could lie and declare them friends, but that is a truth far removed from reality.”
Chris
“You’ve literally never mentioned anyone else other than Isis. I came here and watched you for a week, these guys weren’t around.”
Val
“They weren’t available.”
Chris
“So they’re like an escort service. Available if not booked?”
Val
“The classy kind.”
Chris
“I’ve been sitting here a while, it’s refreshing to see you interact with people other than me. I’m beginning to think you’ll never find a nice girl.”
Val
“They’re old competitors of mine and Isis’s. Before any of this new-age wrestling, the VOW’s, we were part of a more intimate wrestling family. Not in the love-me, kiss-me kind of way, but in a they’ve been around for a very long time and we grew as wrestlers because of them type of way.”
Chris
“Then why all the secrecy? Don’t give me the Infinity hates all of its wrestlers talk, I get that, but I thought there would be an open forum for these guys to express themselves without a worry hanging over their heads.”
Val
“People have the right to privacy, in such times they decided to opt-in to being out of the spotlight. They know you’re here, a wrestling reporter, and trust me, they think what you’ve got going is truly fabulous, but they don’t want a part of this.”
Chris
“Well have you spoken to your old war buddies about your losses of late? You were the centre of focus out there.”
Val
“That’s because I’m the most capable, the most equipped to help prevent recklessness and injury. The last thing I want is some rusty veteran breaking anyone’s neck.”
Chris
“Were they some of the old Infinity wrestlers?”
With perfect timing Val’s smartphone begins ringing, vibrating in his pocket. Val takes his time to wait for the call to go straight to voicemail. All he gives Chris is a smile as if he understood the timing of the call would be humorous had he been sitting where Chris was.
Val
“You’re going to laugh, but that was actually one of my father’s assistants.”
Chris
“That’s not a no.”
Val
“It wasn’t anything. Ever since Fate of the Gods I’ve been consumed with this pounding anger that sits increasingly heavily on my chest. We all agreed that there are greater forces as play, but we laughed it off. I’m a professional and I led a friendly training session. I need to be ready for the next hurdle. I need to be in the right frame of mind when I eventually call out Casanova English for the World Visionaries title. Or whoever may be champion at the time of calling. What happened before my match with Ryder, it can never happen again. Even if it’s for the sake of the story, I’m not one to repeat the same step. There’s no going back on my path.”
Chris
“We’re a long way off that moment.”
Val
“We’re a long way off anything in this world. People don’t get to the top just by being patron saints, with a golden record. I’m smart enough to realise that I’m still the new veteran in town, but after our little talk in New York after the pay-per-view, you’re right. Being a human often means getting kicked really hard in places that draw a grimace, again and again. It’s all human error and human trial. This path of enlightenment means I’m playing their game, and like it or not, the world isn’t always as bright and glorious as it seems, but there are signs with these Visionaries that they are warming to my charm. Every single one of them will dramatically up their game against me because they know the kind of fighter I am. But there’s a repeated formula that’s worked against my fate in VOW. Brett tapped and Ryder proceeded to show a diabolical nature and an unhealthy obsession with weaponry. It’s all just time old tactics, being sly and advantageous, and I’m not going to overcome that unless I’m ready to embrace what I truly believe Isis Derrida to be on my path. What I need Valquist to be.”
Chris
“You’re treading a slippery path with that name. You’ll only be pushed further into it should another defeat occur.”
Val
“We’re in the Asylum kid, when Batman goes in he’s always got a means that aids in the name of justice. Like it or not, Isis is here for my greater protection.”
Chris
“Just hammer in the distinction between Isis as a shield, and Isis in the flesh. His diary is full of powerful wordplays that are specially aimed at his opponents. You need to keep that same focus.”
Val
“Just trust me, you’ll fully understand what I mean the next time somebody tries to pull one over my eyes, in or out of the ring.”
Chris
“I’ll give you one thing, you’re right when you say he was clinical, and at times brutal. When I mean powerful, I mean he is the living definition of no holds barred. If he was a wrestling match, he’d be an anything goes Hardcore match. One on the independent scene with chainsaw’s, smashed glass, and pig’s blood.”
Val
“Also, in regards to what you’ve just witnessed. I’m not pulling the wool over your eyes. There is no conspiracy, nothing more than a few professionals keeping it professional. It’s going to be a long month before I’m back enlightening the Visionaries one event at a time, that’s such a long time.”
Chris
“You’d think that they’d do house shows, right?”
Val
“Trust me Chris, most of these guys have a hard time scripting their own promos for the night. It’s only been a few months but I’ve been witness to many disasters. Poorly constructed sentences, an abundance of swearing, irrelevant cutaway stories they want to work into the show, a general irrelevance, lacking any personal touches, or real interaction. Some of what these guys can come up with is delightful, but one definitely outweighs the other. So yeah, trying to get these guys in one place every day for five is a grand stretch. You’ve just to learn to live with it, and just let it be. I don’t pass reservation easily, this is after all the city believing in an Infinite mantra, but we’re all men of taste, just most of these Visionaries are different. Just like how they think I’m different.”
Chris
“Do you get on with any of them? From my experience with you, you’re confidently shy with a lot of them.”
Val
“You can make friends in the Asylum, but they are not lasting. None of those I’ve been fond of have been there forever. I’m Infinity’s last man standing, the last symbol of good for this city in a professional wrestling sense. I get along with Cameron Behringer, he too is a member of the enlightening community, and I’m pretty certain that Neptune likes me. As if likes me, likes me. Aside from that I tend to leave the inmate’s to rule the jungle. I’m too old and too far removed from petty politics and all of the internal workings.”
Chris
“Is that what you miss most about Isis, his company?”
Val
“I’ve let Isis just be there, that’s all you can do. When something is one half of everything you do, the sting of him leaving for his new life never fades. When it is colder or hotter, you feel it. After victory or defeat, it will never mean as much unless he is here. But you’ve just got to somehow embrace the reality that he’s gotten onto another train in life, and he’s out there too feeling exactly the same. Thing is with Isis, I know he’ll be watching every match, yelling at his screen, telling me to rediscover his own clinical edge against his opponents, and that is enough. As long as we’re both here for each other, in any aspect, it’s better than one of us being widowers to one another.”
Chris
“I had a friend once like that, but you know the story. He fell in love, and the girl completely changed him for her betterment. He’s not allowed out without permission and a lead now.”
Val
“It’s ok to change for those you love, just like you said, and Isis has told me in the past, but the line of love and respect is thin. You’ve still got to be the first and last you at the end of the day.”
Chris
“Here here.”
There is a brief moment when silence dominates between the two during this incredibly drawn out conversation. Chris sits cupping his hands whilst Val drinks his water. The two are more than content by simply sharing time with each other. Val puts his feet up in the chair in front of him, totally relaxed after a gruelling in-ring workout. Chris sits forward, more rigid in persona than Val, never once switching his brain off from his world of wrestling.
Chris
“So that begs the question then, doesn’t it? What’s next for The Valquist?”
Val
“I guess my answer would have to be dinner.”
Chris
“I’m being sincere here, Val.”
Val
“As am I. Let’s not jump the gun. Infinity’s a huge place, and as you’d imagine there is an abundance of fusion restaurants. It’s like the New York Deli equivalent.”
Chris
“What, so switch my brain off from wrestling entirely? I don’t think I was made like that in the factory.”
Val
“I’m demanding it. It’s been a rough few weeks. First Brett, and then Ryder. If you can’t remove yourself from this world, then over time you’ll become a slave to it. You won’t enjoy it, and you’ll end up leaving it. Without satisfaction or finality. You need an off-switch or you’ll never be able to reflect, and to strategise for the future. So how about we fulfil both our dietary needs and go to a Sushi-Pizza mash-up.”
Chris
“That doesn’t sound like a real thing, in any city.”
Val
“It’s more real than the names of ninety-nine percent of wrestlers.”
Chris
“Like Valquist?”
Val
“That’s my actual name.”
Chris
“Just ‘Valquist’?
Val
“A man doesn’t need two names.”
Chris
“You sound like one of the rejected X-Men.”
Val
“Then I guess I’ll welcome you to the home of Xavier’s most gifted.”
They both laugh, to end their light hearted talk. Val, confident as ever, is willing to leave Infinity Arena as he is dressed, completely comfortable in his own skin. Chris straights his jacket and his clothes before they both depart, just two more bodies in a sea of Infinity residents going about their every day. Val, at last, was not thinking of his past, and was taking this time to reflect on the future, a future which he knew given time, would become concreted reality.
___________________
@thevalquist
VOW: Breakthrough 27: Online Exclusive
___________________
@thevalquist
VOW: Breakthrough 27: Online Exclusive