Portland, Maine
“Firestorm” Jonathan Mills stands in front of a hotel room door with his card key in hand. He slides the card into the slot and opens the door. He walks into the room to set his bag onto the bed when he notices someone sitting on his bed—a woman. The first thing that he notices is long, slender legs that lead to a blue power suit with a skirt. He notices that she sees him staring at her legs and looks up to her face.
Jonathan Mills - Oh, I’m sorry. I must have the wrong room. Weird though that my card would work for it.
The woman chuckles and holds up a card of her own.
Woman - Oh, it’s alright. You are in the right room. I just told them that I was your fiance and needed access to the room. They didn’t question it.
Jonathan nods, mostly to himself before he sets his bag down by the bed and sits down next to her.
Jonathan Mills - Great. Though, who are you and why did you need access to my room?
Woman - My name is Naomi Brooks and I am an independent journalist that is looking to get a job with UCI. You are Jonathan Mills, otherwise known as Firestorm. You are looking to get in on the DPW show and be a part of the open challenge to take on Abdul bin Hussain for the DPW National title that I am certain will be converted into a UCI championship when they open.
Jonathan Mills - So, what? You’re looking for an interview?
Naomi Brooks - Yes,I am looking to interview you to get a job with this wrestling company as their interviewer. Their lead if given the chance.
Jonathan raises his eyebrows and grins.
Jonathan Mills - I guess you are in the right place. I suppose that I can give you an interview.
Naomi Brooks - Great!
She gets out her smartphone and turns on Facebook Live.
Naomi Brooks - Hi, fans. I am Naomi Brooks and I am trying to get a job with United Championship Infinite by getting an interview with DPW National championship challenger, “Firestorm” Jonathan Mills. Jonathan, how long have you been in the wrestling industry?
Jonathan Mills - I have been in the industry since I was sixteen years old. I’m thirty-seven now.
Naomi Brooks - That’s quite some time for someone to be in the ring. Have you had much success?
Jonathan Mills - I’ve won a title or two in my years of wrestling. I’ve also taken a few breaks.I might have also died a time or two, but I got better.
Naomi gives Jonathan an incredulous look.
Naomi Brooks - You’ll have to forgive me, but how does one “get better” from having died? You look like you’re in your twenties right now?
Jonathan Mills - It’s a long story, but in the end I did get better. Right now, my youth is being maintained by nanotechnology. Have you heard of it?
Naomi Brooks - Yeah, in sci-fi movies, but not in real life.
Jonathan Mills - Yeah. It’s very real and I am very much into it. Well,I guess it’s very much in me as an untold number of nanobots flow through my veins to help me reach the pinnacle of health. I also work out compulsively and train like each match coming up is going to be my very last.
Naomi Brooks - Very well. What do you think about Abdul bin Hussain as the DPW National champion at the end of that company’s life?
Jonathan wrinkles in hose at disgust at the mention of the wrestler.
Jonathan Mills - I think that the man is a menace to professional wrestling. He should not be allowed to compete, much less get the chance to win a championship. He’s a bad, bad man and I know something about bad men. I would even go as far as to say that he might be a terrorist in the making. I wouldn’t be shocked if he came to the match with a bomb strapped to his ribs on the chance that he might lose the match, he can take the winner out with his last breath.
Naomi Brooks - Those are pretty strong words for a man who did win the championship and held onto it long enough to be proclaimed the champion at the eve of DPW. Now he gets to defend that title against all comers in an open challenge. I would think that someone who is not a fighting champion would not agree to these terms. He would try to hand-pick a single challenger to be able to be secure in his upcoming victory.
Jonathan Mills - I don’t think that Abdul chose this. I think that Abdul would have chosen one of his cronies to fight against so that he knew that he was going to keep the title and retire as a champion. This was his plan, I am certain of it. Instead, he has to defend against anyone who would like to step into the ring against him. I am not afraid of him. I have been an underdog most of my life but now I feel that I have evolved beyond that of an underdog.I am a fierce wrestler of an evolved wrestling style. I will enter that ring and take down Abdul bin Hussain along with any other challenger that would dare come up to me to fight me for the right to be DPW’s final National champion. I am a fighter. I mean I used to let game cards from a collectible wrestling card game determine how I will fight, but those days are long behind me. I have trained. I have fought. I have bled. All in the name of becoming a better wrestler. To evolve into a better fighter.
Naomi Brooks - Do you have any strategies that you would like to share about this upcoming match?
Jonathan Mills - I mean. No battle plan survives contact with battle, but I will say this. I plan on sticking and moving. I don’t know how many people are going to be in this match so I don’t want to present my back to anyone to prove to be a tempting target. I know it’s going to happen at some point, but the more I keep moving and blasting people,the quicker this match can narrow down to the champion and me. The man who hates the United States of America so much and yet spends all of his time here instead of in “better companies” that are overseas in different countries. Abdul,if you don’t like the United States and our wicked President, you do know how to get on a plane and get out of here right? Right?
Naomi Brooks - How do you think that Abdul bin Hussain will respond to an interview like this?
Jonathan just shrugs with a smile.
Jonathan Mills - I would assume that he would go on about how he would be tempted to sue me for slander, but that would be embracing the America tradition of suing the pants off of anyone who speaks out against you. I wouldn’t think that he would have the balls to do something like that. I think it will make him mad at me at the very least. This is fine as angry people tend to make mistakes in the ring that I could exploit to seize that championship away from him. You never know what a mad man is going to do. To most people, that is something of a scary thing. To me? It’s Tuesday night.
Naomi Brooks - Anything else to say to Abdul bin Hussain?
Jonthan Mills - Yes. Abdul, I’m going to come into this match with the goal to defeat you. You won’t be able to say that someone else ws pinned and so therefore I was awarded the title. I will on your shoulders to the mat, but first I will beat you from ringpost to ringpost.I will show you why the American way is the best way in the entire world. I will show you the determination that comes from American spirit in defeating foes threatening our way of life. You will bleed. You will beg. You will surrender to me as is fitting for a man who is about to pass the torch. I don’t doubt that you will come down to the ring, expecting to win the day, but that's not going to happen. I will be the final DPW National champion and I will be the one to take this championship into the new company to wear the new championship belt with pride. Real American pride.
Naomi Brooks - So, you voted for Trump?
Jonathan Mills - No. I’m not allowed to vote, but that doesn’t mean that I would have voted for Trump would I be legal to vote.
Naomi Brooks - And why are you not allowed to vote?
Jonathan Mills - I am a felon, who tried several different plans to take over the world and failed. But that’s neither here nor there.
Naomi Brooks - But but but…
Jonathan Mills - This is where you leave as you don’t know exactly what felonies that I have committed to be in such a state and don’t know what I would do to you should I become displeased with you. I mean, I won’t because I’m not that person anymore, but you never know.
Naomi Brooks - Yeah, I’m going to leave. Thank you for this interview, Mr. Mills.
Jonathan Mills - Please, Mr. Mills was once the name of my late father. Call me Jonathan.
Naomi Brooks - Right, Jonathan. I will be seeing you later I hope for another interview once UCI opens for their regular season.
Jonathan watches as Naomi quickly makes an exit and opens the door to the wet bar. He gets out a cola and an airplane bottle of whiskey and mixes the two in a glass over ice. He sits back down on the bed and sips at his drink.
Jonathan Mills - Abdul bin Hussain. Get ready for the storm to come. A firestorm!
