Post by somethingwicked on May 24, 2021 20:23:41 GMT -5
Lines of men and women form on either side of Warp, one of Tokyo’s most exclusive nightclubs. As the men wait for other men to leave, and the women enter rapidly for a third of the price, a black and gold Rolls Royce pulls up to the curb and demands the attention of everyone in the area, equally but for separate reasons. The women wanting to be inside the limo, and the men wanting to be the one getting out of it. The rear doors open to the left and phones are drawn from their pockets and photos are taken as Xavier Wolf steps out in a black on black suit, and smirks at the attention. Having spent so much time in Japan that he learned Japanese by accident, he called out to the crowd in their native language and was greeted warmly back. Not in admiration, but in the way an equal might respond. Which is what these people, most people outside the US, knew him as. An EDM head who just liked to drink and dance.
The bouncer separated the neon purple velvet ropes and let Xavier in without so much as a word, simply nodding at him as he passed. The doors opened widely and as the lights danced about, Xavier zagged through the crowd, his eyes affixed on the upper level. His wife Le’andra, was standing at the edge of the VIP floor, talking to Chen who was blown away by the extravagance of it all. Xavier made a mental note to ask if he spoke Japanese, which would infuriate him, and if you aren’t having fun in a place like this, why are you even here?
Stepping into the VIP Elevator and feeling the vibration of the music more so than the movement of the elevator, he felt some of the weight he carries lessened, if only slightly. Sarah was home. Marke was gone. Things were getting right. Of course some things were not perfect. But nothing ever was.
As the doors opened and a glass of champagne was offered to him, Xavier downed it and grabbed a second, heading to his wife with purpose. Just as he was about to reach her, he stopped. And he looked at her, and it hit him the way a wind blown branch lightly taps against a window pane.
“There’s always a war. In life, in this business, in our own minds. We fight wars against those we work with, those we live with. We war with strangers, with ourselves. It’s what we do. Humanity’s only commodity that we’ve perfected. And it is constant. We finish one war, and we immediately begin another. We can’t simply be defined by being us, we must also destroy them. And ‘them’ changes all the time. A different country, a different state, a different skin color, a different political party. Sometimes it’s an enemy, and sometimes, it’s a friend. Sometimes, it can even be a loved one.”
Le’ turned and saw him. She smiled brightly and walked toward him, leaving Chen in the midst of a sentence that he would be well aware she’d forgotten he had started. Love had that hold on her, and when she saw him, and he saw her, nothing else dared attempt to matter. His eyes deviated from her face to the absolute snug in all the right ways black dress she was wearing. Her hair flowing down around her shoulders. The bruises from the night before shown with little regard to how anyone else dared feel about them. If they knew her, they knew she was a warrior. If they didn’t know her, they knew she was now.
“No, not her.” Xavier thought. “There are many people in this world who may change their stance on me from one moment to the next, may exploit me for their own benefit, but disregard me as a person, but not her. She who has stood by me even when I stood nowhere near her. The woman who is not just my friend, and my wife, but the literal voice inside my head. Not her. Never her. ”
His free arm wrapping around her waist, he pulled her to him, as she pulled him to her. In the midst of dancing lights, music that could drown out any word ever spoken, all ceased to matter but for each other. Her eyes locked into his, she darted them to the right to a private room just off the VIP area. The tint of her eyes changed to a devious green, and a smirk evenly as devious grew slowly. In a moment's notice they were alone, confined to this room and each other. Her legs wrapped around him, and his legs damn near buckling from the pleasure of their combined efforts, both of them free to use their outside voices as no one was ever going to hear anything other than the music. Both finishing, they fell to the wall, sweaty and smiling.
Xavier Wolf
“ If these are the kinds of ‘hello’s’ I can expect, I’m gonna beat you more often. “
Le’Andra Fury
“ You don’t have to beat me for these sort of hello’s, ‘zavi. Just simply be where I am. “
Xavier Wolf
“ That reminds me. I still owe you a honeymoon. “
Le’Andra Fury
“ You don’t owe me a honeymoon. You owe us one. And we’ll have it soon enough. “
The rest of the night was full of shots, dancing, hunting, acquiring, and putting the prey to task, before retiring to their corner suite in the cerulean tower. There, drinks flowed freely, and exploration was the phrase of the day. Xavier having spotted a very pretty japanese man, with Le’ having brought back a wonderful young woman, the four partied and partnered over and over over the course of the night and most of the morning. What was not fucked on, was fucked near. No area or orifice was safe nor left untouched. With their playthings exhausted, Le and X took to the balcony and made slow love as the sun rose behind them. After they both finished for what felt like the hundredth time, they sat down on the nearby couch, and lit a very large joint composed of a banana leaf and some of the finest weed Japan could provide. The morning was looking to be incredibly relaxing. And then, the phone rang.
Smoke was not the only thing pushed out of his lungs, as he looked down onto the caller id. It was only a matter of time before Kal had machinations form due to Stylez’s untimely departure from the day to day at OPW. Xavier had hoped pointlessly, that it would be a greater amount of time than a single night. Handing the joint to Le’, he pulls his sunglasses off his face, massages the bridge of his nose, and presses the little green button, which might as well just stand for ‘become annoyed’.
Kal Wolf
“ Good fucking morning, Made man. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Morning, big. What’s up? “
Kal Wolf
“ We need to get together. Discuss this next phase of shit. With Johnny gone now is the time to cement our fucking hold.. “
Xavier Wolf
“ That so? “
Kal Wolf
“ Fuck yes. Meet me in Yoyogi park. We’ll talk there. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Can’t this wait until we’re stateside? “
Kal Wolf
“ No, we need to strike while the fucking irons hot. There’s a fuck lot to plan. A fuck lot to discuss. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Kal, I’m not meeting you today. I’m relaxing, spending the day with my wife. “
Kal Wolf
“ Fucking funny. I wasn’t asking. Be there. “
In a matter of minutes, Xavier is showered, dressed, and waiting for his car to pull up outside the hotel. When in Japan, Xavier tends to tone it down a bit from his usual modes of transportation. Where as in the states its usually a helicopter or a high end vehicle of limited production, here it was a simple Lexus GX. Fast enough but not insane, and comfy enough but not boastful. It was important to have a well checked ego with the Japanese. Everyone else could lick his taint, though.
As he pulled out(which is not something he’s known for doing), three cars pulled in, and their doors opened immediately. Leading the charge to Xavier was none other than FBI agent John Rancor. John, who was something of a media darling these days from his arrest of the sex trafficking, gun running, child pornographer Thomas Marke. He must have just come from an interview because he had makeup on his face and one of those little microphones hanging from his tie. Xavier smiled as if he was happy to see him. It was not mutual.
Xavier Wolf
“ Johnny! Long time no see, how’s the missus? “
John Rancor
“ Get out of the car. We need to talk. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Counter offer, I stay where I am, and we do not. “
John Rancor
“ It’s about our arrangement. “
Xavier Wolf
“ What is this, a movie? It’s obviously about our arrangement, It’s just, yeah, I don’t give a fuck. “
John Rancor
“ You’re gonna start. It’s not too late to put this all back on you. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Oh it so is. See.. “ Xavier leaned onto the door, resting his right left arm on the car door and his right arm ontop of his left, and then his chin ontop of his right arm. He smiled in the kind of way a child who knows they’re getting a cookie does, right before they get said cookie. “ You guys arrested my ‘father’ on these charges, took him into custody, proceeded to let him escape, and now wish to pin them on his innocent son? There’s no way you get a conviction. I could hire you as my lawyer and walk, skippy. “
John Rancor
“ Johnny isn’t playing ball, X. He’s trying to turn states, say that it was you who orchestrated the whole thing. Made him look like a patsy. “
Xavier Wolf
“ ...well, I mean. I did. I did that. I did all of it. “
John Rancor
“ What do you think is going to happen when he testifies in his defence that a, you were just as complicit, b, He has proof, and c, thomas marke wasn’t involved at all. Have you thought about that, at all?? “
Xavier Wolf
“ ...come here. “
John Rancor
“ I don’t come to- “
Xavier reaches out and grabs Rancor by the back of the head. He jams his chin down on the other side of the door and pulls his throat onto the frame of the door, speaking from behind gritting teeth, as agents point guns at him while barking orders.
Xavier Wolf
“ You didn’t tell them? I don’t like being yelled at. “ The agents continue to bark orders, their tone and volume increasing in anger and frustration. “ I. Don’t. Like. Being. Yelled At.“
John Rancor
Agent Rancor puts his hand in the air, and silently tells the other agents to lower their guns. Xavier lets go once they do, and John takes a deep breath, almost throwing up from the lack of oxygen.
Xavier Wolf
“ Johnny has no proof. He had proof, but I had someone who liked him, but loves me, get it for me. Because loyalty means something to some people. “
John Rancor
“ oh yeah? What about you? “
Xavier Wolf
“ I’m very loyal. To my ideals, my people. My dreams. My desires. “
John Rancor
“ Johnny was one of your people, wasn’t he? How loyal can you be if you sold him out just to save your own ass? “
Xavier Wolf
For a moment Xavier contemplates telling the agent everything. The apartment building, the hit attempt, the file of proof Johnny had maintained on X’s every move to use if shit ever went too far. But this guy doesn’t need to know any of this. All he needs to know is one small sliver of truth. “ ...well, I don’t like being yelled at. So. “
Xavier pulled out and left squeezes past the car ahead of him and into the open road. The agents holster their guns, and look to their lead, who is gasping for air still, and angry as fuck. He will stand there for 2 more minutes trying to compose himself, and failing epicly. Meanwhile, Xavier drives to a nearby coffee place, and on the screen he sees Ani being interviewed by several different factions of ‘news’. It was a big week for The Dark Swan, with her taking over a very large import/export business, her boyfriend going to jail, and her title shot. She was taking it all in grace, though, and Xavier commended her for it. He expected her to be mad at him for keeping this to himself, but she had kept Sarah a secret for the entire time, so as far as he was concerned, they were even. She had saved his sister, and he had sent her boyfriend to prison on multiple counts. Even.
But, ‘what if’ he thought. What if she didn’t understand the need to have one of them in jail? What if she was mad that it was Johnny, and not X? What if she blamed him? What if she blamed him and won the title? What if she didn’t respect his right for a rematch?
Could this be the war he’s waiting for? The one that he can feel when he wakes up in the morning, and puts his feet on the floor? Could it be the one person he’s always had in his corner has been expelled into an opposing one? No, he told himself. Not her either. She would be mad, and they were going to fight, but not a war. Eventually she’d see his reasoning. Hell, even Johnny would see his reasoning. It was just a matter of timing. And his timing was always good. Even when it didn’t work for anyone else. Xavier exits the coffee shop, and heads off into the direction of a park visible in the distance.
Sitting on a park bench, watching a couple play with a small child, he sips his coffee and flips through his phone. Emails asking what he’s up to, missed calls from associates, and friends. And a message sent to Sarah, but one not responded to. Suddenly, The smell of draco noir suddenly overtakes Xavier, and a shadow falls upon him. Standing there with a shit eating grin in place of his grimace, Kalvin Wolf, GM of OPW and eldest brother of the Wolf clan stands.
Kal Wolf
“ You ready for this fucking shit? “
Xavier Wolf
“ I’m 90% ears. “
Kal Wolf
“ Wolfpack 2021. You, Vin, Murphy, Dane, Ally and Le. Is that great or fucking what? Show these people who the fuck we are, and what we do! Reignite the flames of our legacy, once and for fucking all! “
Xavier Wolf
“ Yeah. What about Ani? Or Vhodka? “
Kal Wolf
“ Look, Vin’s gonna be done with that any second, And Ani...well. She’s not really stable enough for this. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Jesus christ. Do you even listen to yourself? Or do you just... “ Xavier makes a vomiting expression, which is not sexy at all despite what some might think, and sits back on the bench. Laughing, but very much annoyed. “ First, I’d love to see you say that to Vin. Dead ass. Second, Anicka Swan is a member of this family. More so than some others. I’d suggest you talk about her with respect. “
Kal Wolf
“ X, you’re going to take that belt back. You need a team that is going to back you up. Vhodka just lost to Paul Mont. Enforcer is lucky to have been in the midcard as long as he has. You need a better class of people around you. People that won’t shit the fucking bed when it fucking counts. “
Xavier looks at Kal, and a raised eyebrow, side glance is delivered. Xavier has seen this expression on Kal’s face many times, and each and every time it has been an act of saying what he wanted to say, without actually saying it. What he was wasn’t saying was that Xavier had become like those he surrounded himself with, and he had shit the bed. Xavier was not happier for not having heard it spoke aloud, and Kal was not anywhere near as safe for having simply hinted at it.
Xavier Wolf
“ You’re right about that. I think I'll start now. “ Xavier stands up, looks his brother in the eyes. Kal’s body tenses as he sees the fight coming just from Xavier’s expression. And he readies himself. “ I get why you thought this was a good idea. I don’t get why the fuck you thought I would think this was a good idea. I can’t tell if you've been hit too much or not enough, bigs. We’re not taking your hand-me-down stable. I’m not ostracising two people who are the backbone of this business because you don’t like them. Vin and I have plans, Our Plans. We’ve made our own way this entire time, we’ll keep that going. “ Xavier attempts to walk away, but Kal grabs his arm, and holds him to his spot. A smile creeps across X’s face, and he steps back in front of Kal, who closes the distance between the two.
Kal Wolf
“ Wolves don’t fucking ask, Xavier. I’m telling you. As the General Manager of the OPW, who can make your professional life a living fucking hell, and as the Alpha of this fam- “
Xavier Wolf
“ Fuck outta here with this alpha shit. You let this stuff go to your fucking head, big. Like I got it when it was part of the mythos for the fans but you really took it 97 steps too far. We ain’t betas, we ain’t pups or any other goofy ass name you wanna hand out. We’re grown the fuck up. Been that way forever. You gotta try it. It’s pretty good. “
Kal Wolf
“ You’re going to do what the fuck you’re told!!. “
Xavier Wolf
Xavier smiles, and his hand releases his coffee. As it tumbles downward toward the ground, he spins on his heels.. “ You must’ve forgot... “ Xavier knocks Kal’s hand away, and no sooner than his grip is broken, Kal’s other hand comes up and crashes against X’s jaw. X backs up a step, and answers with a quick jab to Kals face, landing directly beneath his eye, followed by a second which barely grazes his ear as Kal avoids swiftly by ducking under the arm, popping up on the other side, and elbowing Xavier in the head, sending him stumbling. Kal grabs X by the shoulder, and X twists beneath his arm, scoops him up onto his shoulder and on the wood and concrete bench, hits a modified Exhodi to settle things once, but not for all. Kal lays there, shards of splintered wood torn into his clothing, As Xavier wipes the blood trickling out of his eyebrow with the back of his hand. “ I don’t like being yelled at.. “
Xavier moved away quickly, as Kal brushed the splintered wood off his back, and got up on one knee. His eyes locked onto his younger brother, he tries to follow, but is surrounded by fans who rush to make sure he’s ok, but also to take metric fuck ton of pictures. Xavier is gone by the time the crowd disperses, and Kal sits on the now broken bench, angrier than he has been in a very long time. Despite the anger, and the violence, this was no more than what these two were used to. This was normal. This was what brothers of their kind did. This would not be a war. An argument, sure. But not a war.
Climbing into his car, and connecting to the bluetooth, he called out to the voice recognition system to dial “Bats,” but the call went straight to voicemail, and he left a message. As he finishes, he turns a corner and sees the very person he was trying to call sitting outside a small cafe, her phone in hand and a coffee in front of her. Across from her is her fiance, Murphy. The two are sitting quietly. Deciding to have a little fun, he calls her back with intent to keep calling her until she picks up. But she doesn’t even notice he’s calling. He tries Murphy as well, and again, straight to voicemail, not even a glance at the phone. He goes to get out of the car, when it occurs to him. He barely saw them on the flight out to Tokyo. They hadn’t laughed at any of the memes he’d sent her. In fact, the only conversation they’d had was practically small talk. The two of them weren't ignoring his calls. They had blocked them.
Stepping out of the vehicle, he walked right up to their table, and as soon as she saw him, he saw him, and stood up in front of her. The anger in both of their eyes was evident, but despite this, Xavier couldn’t believe it. After all he’d done, how hard he’d worked, she was mad at him? Mad at one of the only people that had worked so hard to find her and rescue her? And then it hit him. He wasn’t the hero.
He was the villain. He had lied, his brother had lied, and they had set out to do precisely what she had made them promise not to do. They manipulated the entire family into some sob story because they felt what had not happened to them, was their job to fix. They made one of them out to be a villain and the other to be a cast away in order to keep their truth hidden. And because of all of this deceit, these lies, Stratford was able to use something that led the authorities, and Thomas Marke, directly to Sarah. Sarah who had done nothing to any party. Sarah who would be tortured, and beaten, and kept captive, waiting each day to find out of she’d see another one. Not because of what she had done, but because of the lies that they had told. The actions they had committed. They had not rescued her from her hell. They’d built it.
And as his sister, who once had loved him more than any other stood before him with her lips curled into a shaking and sinister snarl, he realized. She turned her back and sat down, forgetting that he was even there. Xavier looked at Murphy who was still meeting his gaze. He gave him this head tilt half shrug thing before sitting down himself. It had never even entered his mind that things would be this way. The war he imagined had many faces on the other side during the moments he spent preparing himself for it.
Graham Clauson who he had not been ducking so much as simply forgetting he mattered. A name in this business for sure, he’d done very little in OPW to garner the attention it was quite clear he wanted. He spent more time talking against it than he did working for it. Even his sniveling manager, Cuntsniff, had more balls than he did. And that wasn’t saying much. But he had expected some sort of war from him. Even if it was only as dangerous as the card game of the same name.
Apathy, one of the only people in the entirety of the OPW who was as dangerous as she was rich. Granted, she wasn’t him. But she was close. Close enough that if she wanted to, she could really blow right past him, and take her spot at the top. But she was too interested in being A plague to realize she had one. Her hyper fixation on trying to ‘cure’ the business of people like himself, and his family, only to know deep down that she only really wants to replace them. It’s why she’ll never cure anything, as they say, the medicine is often worse than the illness. And it’s never been more correct.
He even considered it to be Enforcer. Who had been for the most of his run in OPW, the guy who he relied on to help keep the Syndicate going. The addition of Vhodka and that guy she fucks was good, but Enforcer had been there from the start. The three of them, Le, Enforcer, and himself, were the nuts and bolts of the thing. Of course, there was one other, but he was gone now. So that meant that maybe Enforcer was going to try and use this to push past him, maybe he’d set out to overtake Xavier, the First and Only Made Man in OPW, and seize his moment at the top where he was sure to belong. Xavier knew he’d get there. But he’d be damned if he got there through him. Friend or not. Actually, he might let an enemy surpass him, just to see how he failed at the higher echelon. He’d never do that to a friend. He’d do much worse.
But it wasn’t any or all of them, it was none of them. The war that would begin his next phase, the start of the end, would not come from a stranger. It would come from love. Like the acid that burns the most, love is the hate that stays the longest. Climbing back into the SUV, he sped off, well aware that the anger she had, she had earned. And that it was only going to get worse once she spoke to Kal. He took a moment to sulk in that reality, while adjusting to his new one.
The war he was waiting for was here.
The war he was waiting for was her.
The next day he woke up back in the states, still sleeping on the jet he took back. He had gotten several calls from the others who were on Kal’s flying mini-mall, but he wasn’t feeling it. He wanted to be alone. He needed to be. So he took his own jet, a modest Falcon 50EX. He had invited Le’ of course, as being alone with the one you love is never really alone, but she had business to attend to in Japan, so she was staying behind for a few days. He was disappointed, of course. But it was better for both of them. He had a lot on his mind, and not a lot of ways to deal with it.
Beyond his own personal shit, he had the Made Man publicity shit to do, which he was sure that his agent, his own sister who now hated him, was going to sign him up for everything under the sun. At least, he hoped she would. Hating him that much at least felt like there was a way back. If she didn’t do anything at all, well...that was a fate so bad that even he couldn’t dare imagine.
The first phone call was from a small independent radio station. He had tried to get them to tell him who was the one who booked it, but the lovely young lady didn’t know, as she was just an unpaid intern. He hated unpaid interns. Not only do you get what you pay for, but the idea that you would have someone do an entire job that you obviously value, but not pay them for that job is as scumbaggish as a person can get and not even the scumbag of the year, Xavier Wolf, would do something like that.
He answered a few questions about what it was like fighting his wife, and his brother, and he joked that he’s been beating them both in very different ways for years, now they just filmed it. The conversation of course went to Stratford, who everyone was so sure he’d pick Xavier for his next title defense. But Xavier wasn’t sure. See, Johnny was gone. And that meant things were up in the air. The only way one could know where those things were going to land, was if you in fact had thrown them. And no one knew that. Not yet at least.
So Xavier sat back in his jet, packed in his private hanger, and drank champagne as countless calls in from different radio stations, e-mags, and the like came in, with the exact same questions as the one before it. Growing tired of these, he hung up on the last one grateful that the questions were over, but with the doorway to his jet darkened by Aldo Diamond, his friend and fellow degenerate, he knew the questions were going to get going again. And they’d be a lot harder to answer.
Xavier Wolf
“ Aldy. Drink? “
Aldo Diamond
“ I don’t wanan drink, es. I wanna know what the hell is happenin’ “
Xavier Wolf
“ Sorry. You’ll have to be more specific. And are you sure about the drink? I’ve got a 20 year scotch, knock your socks off. “
Aldo Diamond
“ I don’t wear fucking socks, and I drink malt liquor. Let me do that specific shit, tho. Why the fuck did we just spend the better part of the last few years building a fucking empire just to throw it away now? Like, you realize a shit ton of guys went down for this, right? “
Xavier Wolf
“ No one that mattered. “
Aldo Diamond
“ Johnny went down, bro. That’s heffe. You forget. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Aldo, Who was it that struck deals with all of these dirtbag clubs scattered across the United Taint of america? Was it Johnny? “
Aldo Diamond
“ No, Es. It was you. “
Xavier Wolf
“ That’s right. And all the shit you had to do, how much of it came from Johnny? “
Aldo Diamond
“ I get what you’re playing at, Es. But we lost a lot of people. Chiggy, Goozle, even Lil Manna. “
Xavier Wolf
“ ….those are people we know? really? “
Aldo Diamond
“ Es, we look like fucking turncoats. You get that, right? Like these guys aren’t gonna shrug that off. They’re gonna get out, and come out swinging. All of us you spared are gonna get merced the hell out just like you. ‘Cept we didn't do shit. “
Xavier Wolf
“ Aldo, Sit down. “
Sitting down immediately, Aldo shoots the glass of scotch before him. Xavier, or Nomad, whatever or whoever he was, was a serious man who didn’t take lightly to being questioned. In all things both business and private, Xavier knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. He took no chances, he left nothing to be gambled. And if he was doing something, as anyone who knew him could tell you, there was a good chance he was doing it for more than one reason. Xavier leaned forward, pouring them both another glass.
Aldo Diamond
“ I didn’t mean to... “
Xavier Wolf
“ I know. You’re loyal, Aldo. It’s one of the reasons why you’re sitting here, and not in jewelry. Let me tell you about Johnny. Johnny, who once burnt down an entire apartment building, with people in it, to send me a fucking message. Johnny, who sent us into the shittiest parts of this country to make deals with rapists, murderers, and sex offenders, so that he could make money. Johnny, who used my wife to get me back under his thumb, who worked with my brother to monetize me once more, for their benefit. Johnny, who saved records of everything we did for him, so he could trade on it the second his ass got in trouble. That Johnny, used those very people your so concerned about, to entrap us. Wiggy, and Charizle, and the rest of them...They weren’t our guys. They were his. And if they get out, let them come. I’ll put them in a different hole. I didn’t betray the man we worked for, Al. I worked for him so I could betray him. “
Aldo Diamond
“ ...Es...This is crazy. “
Xavier Wolf
“ What can I say. I don’t like being yelled at. “
Aldo Diamond
“ So what now, Es? We go our separate ways? “
Xavier Wolf
“ No. We go our way. Let me tell you what that looks like.. “
Aldo Diamond, no relation by the way, sat there, and shot back glass after glass of expensive scotch which had he been wearing socks, might have actually blown them away. But instead his bare feet stayed inside his old boots, and his bloodshot eyes peered into the future that Xavier Wolf was laying out. He closed his eyes for a second, and swore he could see it, as we see the shadows return and bring us back to the darkness from which we came.