Chapter 5: The Mountain Top

The four members of Legacy are once again out and about in the world.

“Why the fuck are we here?” Jackson Hart says while reluctantly tying a pair of shoes.

“Because Noah is going through some shit right now and this is what he wanted.” I said while standing up and patting him on the back.

“He broke up with his girlfriend.”Jackson says in a sarcastic tone.

“Fiancé. And she broke it off with him.” I said while pointing towards James and Noah walking back towards us.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Jackson stands up. “He’s been trying to fuck everything in sight since we joined GCWA, and now all of a sudden he’s butt hurt about it?”

“He’s a complicated man, who knows what’s going on through his head.” And right on cue Noah breaks away from Raven and approaches a random woman at the bar.

“Look!” Noah gets slapped on the face and puts his head down and walks over towards us.

“He’s dealing with it the best way he knows.” I said as Raven sits down and begins to put his shoes on.

“Yeah man can’t you tell he’s heartbroken? Stop being so callous Jax.” Raven said while looking down at his feet. “You can’t tell it on the outside, but he’s shattered.”

“See Jax, shattered…….” I affirmed.

“Sup yah cunts?!” Noah said joyfully as he plops down next to Raven.

“You okay bud?” I said while staring out over the room.

“Yeah man. I’m great.”

“What about that?” Jackson said while pointing towards the woman that just slapped him.

“Oh that? Numbers game man.” Noah smiles and continues with his shoes. Then all of a sudden Noah looks at the three of us. “Wait? Do you guys think I’m upset about Vita?”

“Yeah, that’s why we are here.” Raven said while standing up and walking over towards me.

“Are you kidding me cunt? We are here because HE wanted to do this.” Noah said while pointing directly at me.

“What?!?” I said while taking a step backwards as Jax and Raven quickly turned towards me. “Well….”

“Are you serious man?” Raven sternly said while staring a hole through me.

“Oh yeah cunt…. this was all his idea.” Noah chimed in whole also standing up.

“Well come on…. tell me you don’t need this?” I said while pointing towards Noah. “And you, come on you know you need this too.” I said as I switched over to Jax. “And I know for a fact that we need this James.”

“Come on man. We all have something going on. You three with the Righteous Rumble, and the two of us with the Project Honor Tag Team title match. I’ve got a World Title match...We need to be preparing for all of that.” Raven said with a disappointed look on his face.“For someone who has been doing this as long as you have, you of all people should know that this isn’t what we as Legacy need to be doing.”

“That’s where you’re wrong James.” I said as I puffed out my chest. “This is exactly what we need. With everything going on exactly what we need is a night alone. A night of fun. A night of Cosmic Bowling!”

The camera quickly pans back and opens up to a large bowling alley. Lasers are covering the room, as black lights illuminate the room. Teenagers are running around causing chaos, while their inattentive parents have their faces stuck in their phones.

”One night of just fun. No mentioning work. Just a bit of friendly competition with no stakes.”

“Fair Dinkum.”

“Fine.”

“Sure.”

Obligatory Fourth Wall Break:

You’d think it was just a friendly competition amongst friends, how wrong you would be. The four of them went into an all out war. Through the course of the night factions were created, broken and rebuilt. Somehow, some way, Shawn ended up with a gash above his eye, Raven had his shirt ripped, Jax had his watch broken, and Noah of all of them had nothing wrong with him.

We pick the scene up right after the final ball was rolled.

End Fourth Wall Break:

The four of us sit on the bench as I wipe the blood from above my eye.

“Well now wasn’t that just a barrel of laughs?” I said smirking towards them. James stands up and tries to fix his ripped shirt.

“Yeah Shawn, real fun. I never thought I would get a bowling ball thrown at my junk.” James said while pointing towards the lane.

“It was a kids ball cunt.” Noah interjects. “It wasn’t more than five pounds. You’ve had more weight on them before…”

“Don’t finish that sentence Noah.” I stopped him before he went any further, then quickly turn towards Jax. “See he’s not complaining.”

“I’m not….” Jax says while taking off his watch and tossing it in the garbage. “Only because I can use the Legacy Credit Card to buy a new one.” Jax looks to where a Camera would be and smiles.

---

**Commercial Break**

Voice Over:
Are you sick and tired of not being able to have the finer things in life?[/i_2

Scene:
A man standing in a Rolex Store emptying and turning out his pockets. A single tear rolls down his cheek.

Voice Over:
Don’t you think it’s about time that you take control of your life and demand only the best? Can you afford an interest rate larger than your mother’s weight? If so only four men can help you realize your dreams and make you a sicker human in the process.

Scene:
The man turns towards the door, where a sick light show and smoke begin to pour into the store. Four men walk through the fog and into focus. James Raven, Shawn Warstein, Noah Jackson, and Jackson Hart.

**Static Covers the Screen before the commercial can end**

---

“Hold up….” The commercial quickly cuts out as James chimes in. “Noah, we are not shooting a commercial for a Legacy Credit Card!”

”Well why not cunt?” Noah leaps to his feet. “Isn’t this what you’ve wanted? To expand Legacy beyond the borders of what we call comfort?”

“Well yeah Noah, but we aren’t in this to screw people out of money.” James responded while rolling his shoulders. “Jax you’re okay with this?”

“It’s an idea.” Jackson shrugs™, I slap him on the shoulder and hold out my hand. “I’m not paying you because I shrugged.”

“It’s okay I’ll just add it to your tab.”

“What tab?” Jackson asks while throwing a bowling shoe in my direction.

“Anytime someone does one of my trademarked moves, I add it towards a running tab. Like Noah will never be able to actually pay me back.” Noah shrugs™ and smiles at Jax. “And speaking of which, James are you going to foot Betsy’s bill…. or am I just never going to see that money either?”

“We don’t charge full price to one of our own….”

“Yeah I’m not going to forgive that amount of money….” I said pointing at James, and then immediately stopped myself. “What do you mean…. One of our own?”

“What I mean is….” James tries to continue, but is quickly interrupted by Noah.

“You mean to tell me that we chose Betsy over Step-Mum?” Noah leaps up to his feet and begins to head towards James.

“No Noah, not at all.” I said while grabbing him and trying to calm him down. “Atty not being here was a team call, just as Betsy is.”

“Well…..” James drifts off of his sentence before Hart chimes in as well.

“Well what. We put Atty to the vote, it’s only fair to everyone that we put Betsy to the vote as well.”

“Yeah but didn’t Atty get the votes to be in?” [/i_2Noah asks the group.

“Yeah.” I said.

“Well then why is this even a question?” Noah throws his hands up and pulls out his phone. “I’ll call her right now and let her know, and James you can call Betsy with the bad news.”

I snatch the phone from Noah. He lunged for it as I raise the phone high above my head and just barely out of his grasp.

“Noah, we all know why that isn’t the case. She’s not in. Betsy needs to be put to the vote.” James nods, as does Jax. Noah slumps his shoulders and begrudgingly agrees.

“All in Favor of adding Betsy Granger to Legacy say anything but no.” I said to the group.

“Obviously.” James said without a second's notice.

“No cunt.” Noah said out of spite.

“Yeah sure whatever.” Jax responds.

“It’s all on you cunt. Break their heart.” Noah suggested while patting me on the back.

I was stuck, I loved Atty but as a group we voted her in before she up and left. I absolutely love Betsy. She’s awesome and would be a great addition to the group.

“Can we table this for a later discussion?” I asked. Noah stands there with his mouth agape. Hart shakes his head and scoffs. James just smiles at me and gives me a reassuring nod.

“Yeah man. Nothing has to happen today. You can cast your vote when you want.” James reassured the group, but mostly to take their gaze off of me.

“Just this isn’t what I had imagined when you said we were expanding.” I said towards James, as Noah looked at the two of us with a concerned look.

“Whatcha talkin bout Willis?” Noah said as his head flipped between the two of us.

“You didn’t tell him?” Jax said while stifling laughter. “Oh this is going to go over well.”

“Tell me what!?!?” Noah panicked as he quickly assessed the three of us. Jax with a smile and James and I looking anywhere but at Noah.

A scene transition so sick you’ll think you’ve got the clap.

I sit next to Shawn Warstein on a narrow wooden bench, atop a hill away from the rest of the world. We look down from the summit, as we always have and always will.

“Why did you bring me here?” he asks.

“To talk.” I answer simply.

He’s quiet for a long moment, watching a bird settle in a nearby tree.

“So talk,” he says with a shrug.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I bite my tongue, wisely choosing to collect my thoughts before speaking. We sit in silence for a long moment more.

“Did you have something in mind, or did you just want to shoot the shit?” he presses.

“C’mon, Shawn, what do you think I want to talk about?” I mutter with a reflexive shrug, before digging into my pocket and pulling out a five to hand over for using his trademark, “We need to figure out what the fuck is going on. What are we doing? Where are we going? What do we want Legacy to be?”

“Is this about Betsy?” Shawn queries.

“No,” I tell him adamantly before reconsidering, “Or maybe, in an indirect way? It’s about expansion in general. It’s about what we’re building in Project: Honor beyond winning this tournament. It’s about being on the same page! I don’t understand why that’s such an offensive idea to you!”

“Uh huh” he mutters dismissively.

I bite my tongue again, staring up at the sky and taking a deep breath.

“You’ve gotta talk, dude,” I tell him, “You don’t want Betsy in the group? Tell me. You want someone else? Tell me. You want out of Project Honor?”

“Psh, honor…” he scoffs.

”Celestial Lovers are snakes,” I grant him, “What do you want me to do about it? What’s done is done and what’s said was said and said and said. Fuck ‘em. If that’s not your problem, than fucking tell me!”

My voice carries down the hill, booming and echoing and startling a few birds up from the trees and into the sky. Shawn is quiet, watching the birds circle above us and descending back towards their trees.

“I want someone else in Legacy,” he finally blurts.

My heart skips a beat. I was worried about this. He’s entitled to his reasoning but I was convinced he’d back her joining us… and the idea of telling her it wasn’t going to happen was a daunting one.

“Alright…” I begin slowly, “Someone from Project Honor?”

“Nah.”

“So, what…” I prod, trying to connect the puzzle pieces, “You want to turn down Betsy and add someone else from GCWA, right in front of her every week?”

“Nobody said anything about turning down Betsy, I said I wanted someone else,” he clarifies, his eyes never leaving the birds that circle in the sky.

“But someone who’s not on the same rosters we are?” I ponder, “Thats sketchy, man. It would have to be someone that was basically an extension of ourselves. Our attitude, our aggression, our values… we can’t just license the stable name to someone that’ll fuck it up for us. We’re not a McDonalds franchise.”

“No shit,” Shawn mutters, “I know what we need as well as you do, James. We started this shit together. I’m saying I might have someone.”

“So them, AND Betsy?”

“Who says we can't?” he says with a shrug. Damn he makes that motion look smooth. There’s a reason he got it trademarked.

I don’t answer him.

“You were pushing expansion all this time, why not go all in?” he asks.

“Then I’ve got one more.” I blurt out, “Someone in Project Honor. We can’t do what we do in GCWA unless we get an extra body to help us out when things are tight.”

He turns his head away from me.

“Three names on the table, huh?” he asks with a whistle, “That’s a big jump from four.”

“So we don’t do it if the names don’t fit.” I say, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

He’s quiet for a while, then nods.

“Think… calamity…” I whisper as he turns to face me slowly.

“Hmmm…” he ponders, “Interesting.”

“Give me yours,” I prod.

“Think… bubblegum…”

I ponder for a split second before I know exactly who he’s talking about. We both sit in silence for a long, long moment.

“So, what now?” I ask.

“We talked,” he says, “now we think.”

“We win the tag team titles and take over Project Honor.”

He doesn’t say anything.

The silence is deafening.

FADE

OUT