Post by FXR Dane Preston on May 22, 2021 17:00:23 GMT -5
Events take place prior to International Incident
The Compound, Parts Unknown - April 23rd 2021
Travel day was always a big to-do at the Compound. With so many of us contracted to OPW, it sometimes felt like every member of both families were traveling with us. Today was different. Things have been tense lately, between Damon’s cancer and retirement, Sarah getting kidnapped, Xavier and Vincent, with a huge assist from one Ms. Anicka Swan, taking down Thomas Marke in an act of justice, and my concussion and PTSD, people were walking on eggshells all day long.
Any chance I got to drag Murphy out, I did, because the last thing he needed was to be cooped up at Sarah’s. Kal and I kept him busy as a distraction, and Demonhunter was the perfect project to occupy our time since we really couldn’t do much else about Sarah’s abduction. To see Murphy happy that Sarah is home, but angry because she’s been hurt so much. Not many people can see it, but I can. Kal can. Allison can.
We were all in the garage, having some beers and doing some tinkering on Demonhunter, its rear end on the Dyno; it was myself, Kal, Murph, and Damon. My relationship with Allison’s father has been tumultuous throughout the years. But ever since his diagnosis and retiring from the wrestling business, he’s a lot more laid back. Almost friendly. I feel for the guy, having had to give up what he loved to do almost as much as he loves his family. That’s enough to break a guy.
I listen as Damon recounts the story of when Jenna, VooDoo and Allison were kidnapped along with Bre’Anna Martinez and Winston, our ex-family butler and quietest resident on the Compound. Back after DJ was born, and Jenna was pregnant with JJ, Bryan A. Dyamond had a mental break and one of his multiple personalities, one Rayne R. Rivid, abducted all of them as a way to attack the Wolf and Riggs families. To hear Damon tell the tale, with emotions I’ve never seen from him, is enough to make me want to go crawl into bed with Allison and just hold her. Murph was listening intently to Damon’s every word, not a lot of folks can have that kind of traumatic experience as a connection, but they did.
MDM
“But how d’ye help someone been through kinda shite? She masks ‘er pain, but I know, I see it.”
DAMON
“Put that out of your head for now. She needs peace, comfort, protection and love. She has a lot of protection and comfort here with all of us. You just focus on loving her and giving her the peace she needs. When the time comes for her to seek help, you’ll know.”
KAL
“Wish I coulda been there to see that look on his face…”
Kal sips at a glass of scotch before running his free hand through his beard. Murph tips his beer to each of us, one by one.
MDM
“I have to thank all o’ ya lads. Didjer best ta keep me sane while she was gone. ‘Specially the two o’ ya fellas.” Murphy gestured to Kal and me. “As bad ass as this ol’ ride o’ Dane’s turned out, I know ya used it to keep me goin. Needja’ll ta know I ‘preciate whatcha did. Gonna turn in and give me lass some peace and love. Thank ya Damon, for all you did to help get her back, and for the words.”
We all gave Murph a hug, clapped each other on the back and he went on his way. I nod to Kal and he climbs into the driver’s seat to start the car. I gesture for him to rap on the gas pedal a couple of times. I noticed when I was in town gathering trip supplies, that the throttle cable felt sticky getting to full throttle. Zapping some lube into the throttle cable sleeve and guide should do the trick. With a wide open hand, all fingers spread, Kal nods and punches the pedal to the floor. Throttle response was instantaneous, without me signaling him, Kal let off the gas and repeated the process a few more times. No more throttle cable sticking, so Kal and I give each other a thumbs up and he kills the engine.
KAL
“You’ve outdone yourself this time around, Fixer. I just picked up a handful of Grand Nationals and Buick T-Types for you to replicate this build on.”
DANE
“Get your money back. You know damn well that I searched high and low for a non-SS body. I’m not bastardizing T-Types or Grand Nationals.”
KAL
“What do you take me for, a heathen? The bodies are all repops, made from original molds and stamps, but nothing OEM from factory.”
DANE
“You should have led with that.”
KAL
“And miss the opportunity to rattle your cage? Not a chance, kid.”
DAMON
“When you say a handful, exactly how many shells did you buy?”
KAL
“Five of each body. Why? It’s just fuckin money. You can’t take it with you when you die, so spend it while ya got it. Besides, I made back what I spent on those shells an hour later. I’m not even sweating it, so why are you?”
DAMON
“Not sweating anything, I was curious how many you got, because you’ll be short one when they get here...”
KAL
“Didja ever stop to think that’s why I got so many?” Kal reached for his phone as it just began to ring. “Yeah babe, I’m in the Hangar with Dumb and Dumber. Sure, I'll be there in a minute.”
DANE
I point at Damon, “haha, you’re Dumber.”
DAMON
“I’m fairly certain that’s you, Dane.”
KAL
Ending the call and slipping his phone back in his pocket, Kal cuts in. “Nah, you’re both Dumb and Dumber. Or Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, you figure it out. Ang needs me at the house, so I’m gonna take off. Fixer, shoot me the parts list for the frames and all the shit I need to order from Mopar. We’ll chat with the interior people once you’re all back from Japan. And don’t drink all my beer, Dane.”
Damon and I chuckled as we both fist-bumped Kal before he headed home. The next couple of minutes were quiet, I continued to do some fine tuning under the hood. Cleaning up some of the wiring and braided lines. I knew Damon had something he wanted to say, so I let him work up the nerve.
DAMON
“Mind if I talk to you about this whole Brandon and Michelle issue?”
And there it is, I knew it was only a matter of time before super-chill Damon became Zero Chill. Well, it’s as good a time as any I suppose.
DANE
“Knock yourself out, Old Man.”
DAMON
“I’ve been thinking. After seeing your chat with my sister, and after dissecting your promo, there are some talking points that really got me to do an internal retrospective. You’re absolutely right, about me and my temper. How I let my emotions get the better of me and it clouds my judgement at times. Causing me to make bad decisions.”
DANE
“Go on, I’m listening...”
DAMON
“The whole thing with Brandon, when you guys came to me, you were both rough around the edges. Both of you had solid training before you even got to me, you just needed polish and direction. The problem with Brandon was that he had his vices, and that brought unwanted trouble to our doorstep sometimes. But not only that, he was so self-righteous and full of himself...”
DANE
“Sounds a lot like you don’t you think?”
DAMON
“That’s exactly my point. I trained myself. I didn’t have anyone take me in and teach me how to do what we do. Fighting was something ingrained in me, I adapted to the wrestling business easily. Brandon showed promise, but he was stubborn and his vices and predilections brought unnecessary trouble and attention to you. Between you two, you were receptive to coaching and criticism, you showed respect, even when I was hard on you. In terms of ability, you both reminded me of myself; cold, calculating, cutthroat. But you were easier to work with and had more finesse and polish. Pros and cons, no pun intended, were weighed and considered. I looked out for your best interest, especially when you and Allison...”
DANE
“You were protecting me?”
DAMON
“Securing your future...”
DANE
“But you created the single biggest threat in my career. Brandon doesn’t blame you, he blames me, he just hates you for casting him out. But me, I’m the guy that he feels took his spot. I’ve tried burying the hatchet with the guy for years. All he sees, all his wife sees, is me being an extension of you...”
DAMON
“They’ll get over it someday, they’ll see you as your own man.”
DANE
“Not when I’m the guy that replaced you at the head of the table, they won’t!”
DAMON
“Stop being so melodramatic, I’m not dead, so you haven’t really replaced me.”
DANE
“I’m talking about the business you idiot, not the family!”
DAMON
“HEY! Do not speak to me like that...”
DANE
“Or WHAT!?! Are you going to cast me out next? Seems to me that's what you're good at!”
DAMON
“Now you listen to me, you ungrateful asshole! I have given you everything. A home. A family. A career. I did everything to prepare you for the business. And what have you done with all of that? You crawled into a bottle and hid when it got too hard on ya. No titles worth mentioning, ya squandered your shot at NOTHING in EWA. You let yourself get suckered by Odin Balfore in aW. You put yourself in a bad spot against Stylez and his lackeys THREE GODDAMNED TIMES, Dane! Not to mention confronting Brandon and Paul alone and getting yourself injured again right when you were supposed to get back in the ring. The only things you’re any good at is building and racing cars and fucking my daughter!”
It all happened so fast after those words escaped his lips, all I remember was spearing the Old Man and hooking his head between my arm and ribs as I unloaded right hand after right hand onto his face. Someone had to have heard the scuffle and pulled me off of him.
I came to sometime later, laying in bed inside our stateroom on Howling Wolf One. My right hand was bandaged up, but otherwise I felt fine. I flexed my hand a couple times and looked up to see Allie and Bella watching something on TV, Bella glanced at me and smiled then nudged Allison.
Both ladies came over to the bed, Bella gently took my bandaged hand in hers and kissed it. Allison stood with her arms crossed, giving Bella a side-eyed look, prompting her to place my hand back on the bed and walk out of the room.
DANE
“How’s the Old Man?”
ALLISON
“He’s fine. Kal walked back in to grab something and pulled you off of him. One and Two were with him, on the off chance that something would happen between you two. People can say what they want about Kal, but he’s one of the smartest people around.”
DANE
“This time I felt myself snap. I wasn’t in control, but I remember all of it. That’s got to be good, right?”
ALLISON
“Good? Not even close. Yes, you being able to recall things is a good sign, but what happened was far from good. I know that this isn’t your fault. Daddy was just as much in the wrong for what he said, and please trust I will have words of my own with him when we get back. But your snapping is not good for anyone. When we get back from Tokyo, we need to bring in some neurologists and psychiatrists to see what can be done...”
DANE
“That’s overkill, babe...”
ALLISON
“Is it Dane? What happens if you’re irritable and something sets you off around the twins? What if you get set off working with DJ, JJ and now Wyatt...”
DANE
“These are not the same things. We’re literally talking about hostility triggering these episodes. I haven’t attacked anyone unprovoked.”
ALLISON
“What about Shane? Hell what about Taj Escobar? You weren’t injured back then, but your history of snapping on people is well documented.”
DANE
“Those...are...fair points. Okay, when we get back, we find more experts. There’s got to be a treatment or something I can do to regain control.”
ALLISON
“That’s all I’m asking for.”
She laid down next to me and I rolled over, draping an arm over her.
ALLISON
“I’m still mad at you, you know.”
DANE
“I know, my love. I know.”
ALLISON
“You can come back in now, Bellz, I know you’re standing right outside the door.”
Without any hesitation, Bella came back in the room and did a running jump onto the bed at my back. I need to thank Kal for putting such large beds into the rooms on this plane.