Post by Jason Long on Dec 20, 2021 22:19:47 GMT -5
IMMORTALITY I // DESTROY
NOW I SEE STRAIGHT THROUGH YOUR EYES,
SO TANGLED, IN YOUR WEB OF LIES,
BUT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAUGHT YOURSELF, YEAH I KNOW,
YOU SAY, YOU HATE THE WORLD, BUT IT DOESN'T OWE YOU ANY THING,
THIS WORLD, IS JUST A HOLLOW SHELL.
—
NOW I SEE STRAIGHT THROUGH YOUR EYES,
SO TANGLED, IN YOUR WEB OF LIES,
BUT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAUGHT YOURSELF, YEAH I KNOW,
YOU SAY, YOU HATE THE WORLD, BUT IT DOESN'T OWE YOU ANY THING,
THIS WORLD, IS JUST A HOLLOW SHELL.
—
The sun was beginning to set in the distance, almost putting an end to the day as we found ourselves with Jason Long standing outside and on his upstairs balcony, looking out to the view of the city skyline that was Canton. The days were slowly counting down until Wired Consequences but for Jason— he just doesn’t feel the same as he once did before about the show. The hype, the electricity, the burning fire lit underneath him. All of it was gone. It was as if it was wiped away after recent events – to which it was – and all he could do was to just accept it. Allow himself to be aware of what his place used to be and just watch from the sidelines.
After watching from the sidelines at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t willing to allow himself to be a watcher anymore. In the mind of Jason, there was just one man that he could picture coming face to face with. And that was Havoc, the Prime Champion, the man that took his championship away from him. His focus wasn’t put onto his new opponent for Wired Consequences, there was no rhyme or reason for Jason to even care about him at this present moment. He wasn’t what Jason wanted. He wasn’t something that Jason wanted to put thought into right now.
His mind was directed towards the Prime Championship, and nothing else.
As he leaned forward, resting his arms along the banister in front of him, he hung his head down and took a deep exhale, closing his eyes and just soaking in the moment that he has to himself right now. This was the moment that he needed to get into the zone, to get into the right mindset if he wanted to think about Wired Consequences and not past it. With another deep exhale that passes through, Jason soon opened up his eyes and lifted up his head, looking back out into the distance before beginning to speak.
“It’s not a great feeling, you know?
To be robbed of your place because of something weaker. To be replaced out and to be put into something that people don’t care for. To be given the bottom of the card where nobody’s going to watch and learn the mistakes of a delusional bastard who’s been clout chasing heavily since he got back?
It’s not a good fuckin’ feeling at all.
To be pulled out of the championship match that you fought to the very end for in The Purge just for the sake of having this one-off match with someone that’s barely able to defeat someone like Noah Hope himself? The embarrassment makes me sickened to my fuckin’ stomach, I’ll be truthfully honest with you, but I just don’t understand why you’d want to do this to someone that’s had your back and came in to ruin – just about – almost all of my plans since I lost the Prime Championship.
Setting a man’s life up to be risked, setting a man’s life up to be taken, I should be in complete fuckin’ shock that you’re willing to do that but then again... we all know what you’re like when it comes to lives being at risk, don’t we? I saw you laugh at what I pulled earlier in the night but I expected that really, I had a feeling you’d try to pass it off as if it weren’t nothing and thought to yourself that the consequences wouldn’t come back to bite you later on. It’s why you fucked everything up for me. Thought I couldn’t do it, or perhaps, you knew something was wrong and you just had to make sure your golden boy was safe when Wired Consequences came to an end, right?
How wrong you just turned out to be, Arik.
Though, I do applaud the bravery you had to tell me that I had to face Jacob Steele if I really wanted to prove myself again to battle for the Prime Championship again. I do applaud your absolutely insane mindset to think that Jacob Steele is a roadblock in my way of becoming the top champion in Fallout again. I do applaud that you think there’s an extra bit of work I have to just put in to make sure I am back to being at my throne again. Takes a real kind of man to be able to tell someone like me something like that, you know? But I understand, you love self-sabotaging your own brand now that you’re the boss around here and there’s no higher up that can stop you from doing whatever you’d like. You’d love to ruin your own show and your own main event – which has already had one replaced, one pulled out and now, one put into another match because... reasons.”
Jason didn’t even give off any physical expression to the whole thing, not even a shrug of the shoulders, but just an elongated sigh that came after. A moment of silence passes before he nods his head and speaks again.
“I want you to learn something, Arik. I didn’t come to the last Fallout and threaten people with a firearm for some kind of shock factor or to put fear into people’s lives, it wasn’t what my true motives were meant to show. I wanted to make sure that people knew what was awaiting them in the near future because, either I put them down myself or I take lives on this fuckin’ brand, I will show no mercy for the weak and I have given up all other options to take back my place — the place that you took from me. And you know that someone like Jacob Steele was on that hit list I had prepared, you knew what you were willing to do when you put that man up against me, and as someone that’s been through a whole lot of shit in recent weeks and months?
You’ve set up a man’s life to be taken away, and I hope you know what you’ve done, I hope to god that you know what you’ve just done to someone like Jacob Steele. Because for someone that was barely able to put away Noah Hope with no distractions, no help, nothing to give him any kind of advantage or even a disadvantage? You’ve set a man up for failure, you’ve set someone up for their own death date, you’ve set a man up for their own burial but nobody’s going to bat an eye on it until it’s done, right? Nobody’s going to bat an eye on it until it’s said and done, and when it has been done, they’re going to turn to you and ask you why did you set this up?
And there’s only one plausible answer to it all: violence.
Because you know that you’ve lit a fire underneath me.
Because you know that Jacob Steele has been roaming around unprepared.
And yet, you’re willing to risk his own life for mine and your pleasure.
The audacity for you to put me into this match, taking me out of the one I worked my fuckin’ ass off for, and then tell me that if I impressed you enough then you’ll think about giving me back my shot at the Prime Championship. All you’ve created was a moshpit where I can do whatever I’d want and however I’d like. Putting in my own kind of sick twisted madness into the mix and letting everything just stir as months, and months, and fuckin’ months of bullshit is brought back and is paid off for what happened to me.
If it was the setting of violence that you needed, then all you had to do was ask and I would have given it to you. There wasn’t a need to beat around the bush about it and think everything was going to be okay after it was said and done, you know? You didn’t have to pull your special strings to get my blood boiling more than what it was. None of this was necessary to even begin with. But you did it, Arik. You did it. And now you get to sit there and let people watch in fuckin’ horror for what I am about to do to the pet project – if at all he was one to begin with – as I mangle him from the inside out and bring him back to being the obscure and the forgotten.
Truthfully, you can thank me later for taking out the trash that is the fanboy of True Society. You can thank me later for putting the end to wrestling’s greatest walking failure. And you can thank me later for giving this brand something that it needed again, and that was The King marking his territory as it once were.”
A pause.
“But I must thank you, Arik, for one thing that you’ve brought to me again. You brought back my hunger, my passion, my drive, my power. And that should be something for you to be feared about.
If you still care for threats.”
A beat.
“Jacob Steele.”
Jason paused for a moment at the mention of the man’s name, reminding himself of the recent weeks of torment that he had brought onto him, as his fists curled up into a ball and tensed up.
But with a deep breath, he calmed himself down and released the tension on his right hand. Taking a moment before even beginning to speak again so his mind could be cleared and his words wouldn’t come out as a fumble. Once he was ready? He lifted his head back up and spoke.
“Let’s not haste for any longer, Steele, we both know why we’re here.
You’ve been showing up like a ghost in the night just coming to ‘haunt’ me and throw me off of my game when I’m closing in on the end of something, and you didn’t do it once but you did it twice and even after the match, you want to sneak attack me and try to put yourself into a fight that you just know you cannot fight your way out of even if you tried. And for weeks, and I do mean for weeks, I’ve been constantly asking myself why does someone like you want to throw me off of what I’m doing and why is someone like you back and trying to prove something to someone they had no previous interactions with? And then it crossed my mind, this is just a common move from Jacob Steele when he wants to show up and try to begin a complete rebrand for himself, ain’t it?
And, of course, he picked me as his target because — well, who wouldn’t have picked me to get some rub of clout from, huh? Jacob Steele is trying to get that rub off of me so he can go around and say that he stood face to face with one of the best that’s in this sport today. Think about it though for a second, he did it last year during Dickie Watson’s reign as Grand Champion and gave him a free defence to his championship, stat-padded the fucker so he can be this icon of the brand for the first season and the better first quarter of the second season. I can stand around here and ask people what has he done since then, since he got the shit beaten out of him against Dickie, but there’s nothing there that’s supportive to his cause. A small minor win against someone after but then, just like always, he disappears and is gone ‘for good’.
Until he finds someone like me to prey on and clout chase again like he always fuckin’ does, and you could admit that I’m absolutely wrong and that there’s a definite reason for why you’re coming after me, Steele. But it’s the same rinse and repeat story for you again and again, right? Isn’t it the same story that’s been told since the days of whatever fuckin’ promotion you’ve been apart of — and most recently in the likes of Project: Honor and Wrestleworld.
The same story goes for someone like you, doesn’t it? You’re a man that’s been through a lot and now, with everything behind him, it’s time to work on the future and become the man that you should have been all of those years ago. These were your words and not mine, remember? Things that you said only last year in 2020. And it stands out a lot with how things have been since the day that you said those words and the days that have passed recently, Because you’re still hunting for a way to forget the past and create a new you. And, if it wasn’t for the fact that I have no championship to my name again, you’d be clawing your way into a free championship match just like you did with Dickie Watson.
Didn’t really think this through enough, did you?”
The silence that came after was left there intentionally, a moment for that question to sink into his opponent’s mind as Jason continued to keep his position – leaned forward against the railing and looking out into the distance.
As he began to shake his head from side to side, he adjusted his own posture and stood back up straight but yet continuing to stare out towards the skyline. The orange sky ever-so-slowly fading into a darker shade of orange as the sun continued to set over the horizon.
His focus? Directly onto Jacob Steele.
“And that’s always been your problem, Steele. You never think anything through enough and once you realise that you’ve gone too far and can’t turn back? It’s already too late for you to try. It’s always been a constant problem for you and yet, you never seem to clear up your mistakes, it’s always with the moving on and then disappearing to hope people forgot about your past run in this industry again. Not once does it cross your mind that people will constantly remember you for how much running you continue to do when you don’t have something to fight for, or you constantly rack up the losses to your name, or whatever it is that gets you to just fuck off into the night and never come back again unless you’re given something or you get a whiff of something that’ll bring your name value upward.
That’s why you’ve come to me, right? To someone like you, I am the pinnacle of what this sport has to offer and to someone like you, I am the right man for you to bounce off of in the hope that more people are going to be saying the name of ‘Jacob Steele’ but they’re not, are they? There is absolutely nobody that’s cheering out for Jacob Steele and it’s all... just like your plan has failed on you. Here you were, expecting the big crowd reaction for when you came back and everyone saw your face under all of the paint you wore, but I heard nothing but silence and I heard nothing but confusion when you showed up out of the blue.
And that hurted you, didn’t it?
Somewhere, deep down inside of you, Steele, you were hurt. Somewhere deep inside of your heart, it seemed to have shattered because of all of the hard work that you put into bringing this complete rebrand that you spoke about? All of it completely backfired on you and now, you have nothing to hold you up when you’re knocked down. The light side of you seemed to have turned into this dark side and now, you run around like a dad-bod emo kid thinking he’s still cool and all that but this whole look? It ain’t it. I mean, all of your looks have been on and off and it seems like every time I look at you? There’s always something about you that just doesn’t seem right. Something that doesn’t feel the same. You walk away and then you come back, new persona and everything, and even a new look to obscure your face so you seem so unrecognisable for a moment until someone points it out that you are who you are.
What was it, Steele? Too embarrassed with your loss to Dickie? Too embarrassed with how things went down at Wrestleworld? Still holding that L you took against someone like Alice Gamer? What’s with the face paint that you’ve become someone that hides then shows his real features? I know behind the paint you’re hiding something, holding back on something that’s troubled you for the past year, and now you want to unleash all of that out on me.
Isn’t that right?”
Just as he finished that sentence, a slight little smirk grew on his face and then he began to laugh, almost hysterically, as he leaned back and took a few steps back - almost tumbling over with laughter but he was soon able to pick himself back up, bringing himself back into the same position as he once was before, but keeping the smile on his face as he shook his head.
“Oh, man, I do love it when they’re so naive to their surroundings.
Are you so certain that any of this is about you? So certain that any of this is meant to be about you and creating your own future? Making sure that people can finally put some respect onto your name? Because rest assured, Steele, none of this has ever been about you and what you need to achieve. The odds have NEVER EVER been in your favour the minute you finally showed your face. And what do you hold that people can see that might make them change their own minds?
You might think you might have everything to gain but nothing to lose, but even then, that’s not entirely true because there is something that you have yet to lose and that’s the one thing that’s kept you going all of this time.
Your life.”
The exclamation on those words were strong, his smile was instantly wiped away and all that was left was a sterned look resting on his face as he looked back out into the distance. Taking in a deep inhale and holding it in before exhaling - and beginning to speak once more.
“And that’s the only thing right now you’re holding onto dear life for, the only thing that you’ve been holding close to your chest ever since the words that I spoke at the last episode of Fallout, the only thing that’s been keeping you from walking back into people’s lives unexpected and trying your best to ruin them. You really might not think it, but your life's on the line, and you’re doing nothing about it? You’re doing fuckin’ nothing with yourself other than just standing there and look menacing and scary whilst I am here waving a gun around that carries a bullet in it’s chamber with your name etched onto it. You’d rather continue to attack me from behind when I’m not looking and just get any kind of sneak attack on me like you’ve constantly done before?
You’re fuckin’ pathetic, Steele. Really fuckin’ pathetic.
All you’ve shown was you being half the man that you were all of those years ago, half of the man that you were when you tried to usher in this brand new rebranding of yours, and half of the man that tried to find his footing here when he walks into championship shots that he never fuckin’ earned. Where are those balls when I HAD the gun in my hand, Steele? Were you sitting in the back shitting bricks in case I really pointed it at you and fired? Were you wondering around the building and hoping I’d drop the gun at some point, just waiting for an opportunity to open where I’m unarmed, so you can do what you do best and be a fuckin’ coward? There’s absolutely no fuckin’ balls on you, Steele, because if the roles were reversed I would have grabbed the barrel of the firearm and pushed it close to my head, telling you to pull the fuckin’ trigger and be a man about it.
But you’re nothing like that, you’re full of fuckin’ shit. All that’s left of Jacob Steele is a hollowed shell of his former self from ten years ago or more when he was in EAW. When he was welcoming people into his supposed ‘apocalypse’. Just when are you going to learn that you started something that you know fuckin’ well you just couldn’t finish by yourself? Is it going to click into your mind at some point? Are you going to find that epiphany before this match happens? And will you find peace knowing that the days of your life on this earth are slowly ticking away as the seconds go by?”
A half-smile began to grow on Jason’s face as he continued to talk, before bringing in the silence as he adjusted his posture once again, standing back up straight and now, for the first time since the cameras began to roll, he looked towards the lens of the camera.
“And that’s what drives me to do what I must, Steele. For what I’ve seen, and what you’ve done to me in recent weeks, it’s shown me enough and I’ve felt enough to know that - at this rate - you clearly do not value the life you live anymore and are willing to die fighting if it came down to it but that’s just not going to happen. Well, it might, but not the way that you plan out for it to be done. You see, when the ‘match’ begins and the fight is underway? I will give you some free shots in but once that’s done? I’m twisting the whole narrative on it’s fuckin’ head. I’m going to beat the fuckin’ shit out of you and give you exactly what you’ve deserved for the weeks and weeks that you have constantly fuckin’ SCREWED WITH ME, STEELE.
To give you what you deserved? Oh, it’ll be blissful and I will enjoy every single second of it, and I will savour every single hit you take, because it’s what you deserve. You might not think you deserve it but you know what you have done to me, you know what you have cost me, you know what kind of embarrassment that you have given me because of your own actions. And because of those actions, there will be consequences, and the consequences deserve to be sacrificial in debt. Believe me, Steele, you could have easily not gone down this path with me, but you chose to strike on multiple occasions and you done it at the worst possible fuckin’ time ever.
And I will leave you laying like you’re Demaryius Thomas. For dead.
And as they rain down from the heavens, watching you die and letting out cheers, they’ll never realise what truly had killed you in vain. Because, you see, I just so happen to find an old relic of my past and it’s held onto something that I just didn’t want to release into this world again. And, truth be told, I was saving it for a special kind of someone but you - Jacob Steele - have earned that right to face him. You get to face the demon that I held back on for almost a calendar year. Ever since my own mother’s death. As much as I’d like to tell you how I’m going to beat you down, Steele...
I have no idea what he is going to do with you, and that terrifies me - for your own sake.”
Jason soon hung his head low, closing his eyes for a moment before bringing his head up in a quick motion and opening his eyes, as they had become pure white in just a blink.
“I give you one warning, and only just the one warning, Steele.
Please, find your family and find them quick. Tell them thank you for keeping you alive for so many years, find your wife and children if you have any and tell them how you really feel about them, thank everyone in your life that has carried you along the dark road you’ve travelled through, Steele. And once it’s done? Come and find me at Wired Consequences. The weeks that you’ve spent feasting on the spotlight you leapt onto because of Jason have come down to this very moment and I wouldn’t want you to waste any more time than you’d need to.
Your attempts at being something, have proven to be nothing, and now what do you do when you come face to face with something that’s not even from this earth? Or, at the very least, from this dimension you live in?
Because what comes at Wired Consequences is everything that you’ve tried to attempt? All of it backfires on you, and you are left with nothing, and you are left with the dying last breaths I shall leave you in. And in those moments, your life will flash before your eyes and you’ll relieve every single moment that you cherished. But do not let me keep you waiting for that last beat to pump through your heart, walk into the light and continue on the path you have been destined for.
And continue to knock on the door you’ve been knocking on for weeks. Death’s door. He’s been waiting long enough for you to walk through. So don’t keep the devil waiting, old friend. Bring the fight you need, but prepare for the failure that awaits you, I’ll make sure that your final fight is memorable.
Long Live... The King of Immortality.
ALL FUCKIN’ HAIL.”
His voice sounded like an echo as he roared, but within a blink of an eye, the white pupils of Jason soon turned back to normal and now being back to his original self. A glance down at his hands and then back up to the camera, giving his trademark half-smile to the camera before winking as he walked out of the shot.
Fade to black.
—
