The Bankhead neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Fire Trucks from nearly a dozen different districts are responding to a massive fire in the neighborhood. Esmeralda von Krauss stands in the center of it all, looking on in horror as her server building and the various apartment buildings she set up for security are burning with most of the people she had hired trapped inside.
Esmeralda von Krauss: What is this? Why is this happening?
She runs toward the server building, seeing several bodies outside of the building. Security guards lay about, but amongst them she finds her Valkyries. Her chosen assassins claimed from a brothel in Canada, and amongst them…
Esmeralda von Krauss: D! Minerva!
As she rushes toward the bodies of her most talented Judges, a police officer tries to stop her in her tracks. She doesn’t even consider the consequences, a few stiff blows sends the police officer crumpling to the ground unconscious. She gets by the sides of Minerva and D. Both riddled with gunshot wounds. She speaks to them as if they could still answer her.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Who did this to you? Who?
A pair of people step out of the smoke surrounding the server building with wide grins. Esmeralda looks up at them with a tear streaked expression.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Steve? Isabella? Why?
Steve Awesome stands arm in arm with Isabella von Krauss.
Isabella von Krauss: I gave some thought about having living parents again and decided that I should be an orphan once again.
Esmeralda looks at Steve Awesome, who stands with a smug expression.
Steve Awesome: And I thought that crushing your spirit before our match would be a good thing.
Isabella von Krauss: And that’s not the only thing to come from our alliance…
Esmeralda von Krauss: What? What else could possibly come from this unholy alliance?
Steve Awesome: Heh. She said cum.
Isabella slides her hand down the front of herself, gliding over what appears to be a baby bump. Esmeralda’s jaw hangs open.
Esmeralda von Krauss: You would give to her what I have desired from you all of this time?
Steve Awesome: Seemed like the right thing to do to crush you.
Isabella von Krauss: You’re going to be a Grandma! Though you won’t live long enough to see her.
Steve Awesome: Him.
Isabella von Krauss: What?
Steve Awesome: She won’t live long enough to see him.
Esmeralda looks like she’s going to get up and fight, but slumps in defeat.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I am done. I don’t have anything left in this world. You may finish me at your leisure.
Isabella von Krauss: See, Stevie? You have already won before the match has even started. Let’s make sure she is properly weakened like the bitch she is.
Isabella draws a revolver and points it at Esmeralda, who sees it and looks down. Her tears for her fallen Judges fall to the ground.
Isabella von Krauss: You knew this was going to happen one day.
She fires several shots into Esmeralda’s chest, dropping her to the ground where a pool of dark blood begins to form around her. Unlike previous wounds that begin to heal almost as soon as the wound is made, these do not close.
Esmeralda von Krauss: My husband…will…avenge me.
Isabella squats down by Esmeralda’s head with a foul laugh.
Isabella von Krauss: Who do you think is burning inside that building behind me? Your husband was the first to fall, bitch.
She places the barrel of the gun to Esmeralda’s temple.
Isabella von Krauss: Goodbye, mommy.
BLAM!
Esmeralda von Krauss sits up in her bed. Or, at least she tries to sit up and headbutts Hehehe and Hahaha. She shoves them off of the bed with a grunt.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Was in aller Welt macht ihr zwei Narren? (What in the world are you two fools doing?)
The twins take a moment to work the German through their heads before answering. Do they even know German?
Hehehe: You were having-
Hahaha: A nightmare.
Hehehe: We were-
Hahaha: Worried about you.
Esmeralda looks from Hehehe to Hahaha, unsure for a moment whether or not to be bothered by their concern or touched. She consigns herself to a blend of both.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I was fine, dahlings. I assure you both of that. Now, be on your way. I think I would like to get properly dressed and head out to do some training.
Esmeralda stands up from the bed in her nightgown and swoons, nearly falling to the floor if not for the twins catching her. She lightly smacks them away.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I’ll have none of your pampering, dahlings. I merely stood up too fast. Once I get my bearings I shall be right as rain.
Hehehe: But you know-
Hahaha: That rain falls.
Esmeralda blinks for a moment in confusion until she gets the reference. She smiles and ruffles their hair each in turn.
Esmeralda von Krauss: It will be alright. I do not fall.
But of course, a nagging concern enters the back of her mind. She has never been dizzy from standing up before. Not ever. Could this be from the nightmare that she had? She hadn’t had a nightmare since before she had trapped Sticky the Clown into a corporeal form. Could he have found a way to escape his physical form? No.
Esmeralda walks from the room and in a moment, out into the open air of Armand’s airship. She walks to the ring that has been set up in the center of the deck. She runs her hand along the ring apron as she walks, frowning as she misses a step and almost falls to the deck.
Something is wrong. Something is wrong with her. A weakness. She gathers herself up and gives the twins, worrying from the door, a harsh look so that they scamper away. She gives the camera an iron gaze that gives way to a grin.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Steve Awesome. It has come to this. You turned me down time and time again when all I ever wanted was your love and your seed to make the perfect child so that I might raise it.
She chuckles and runs her hand down her sheer nightgown to where we can see a rather large scar below the belly button. The one scar on her otherwise flawless body.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Maybe I just required your seed. You could have given me what my husband cannot. Now, I shall take from you what my husband could not win. The X*Crown championship.
Esmeralda holds out her hand and, despite having been warned away, the twins come back to her side. This time they hand her an ivory foot long cigarette holder, a golden case, and an ornate zippo lighter.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I don’t know how it is that you managed to win the championship from Zoran Sainovic, though I am glad that you did. I do not know how you managed to get by on the Night of Champions main event against all of the other opponents that are so much better than you on paper, but I am glad that you did. It brings me such pleasure that I am going to be able to fight you in the ring and deliver the punishments that you so richly deserve for spurning my advances so many times.
She places her cigarette into the holder and lights it up, taking a drag. She closes her eyes, enjoying the moment and the rich, sweet flavor of the Egyptian cigarette.
Esmeralda von Krauss: You will wish that you were facing that monster, Zoran, in the ring once again when I get through with you, Steve. I am going to make sure that each and every one of your…baby mommas…and children are there to watch you getting dismantled in the ring once again. What will Zelda think when I pin you for the X*Crown championship and then kiss your weak, frail body in front of the whole world? What will any of them think when I put an end to the legend that is Steve Awesome?
She flicks ashes to the deck and swoons, feeling a wave of weakness wash over her. This is not right. She will need help that her husband cannot bring. She needs him.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I will begin a new era as X*Crown champion. I will be the greatest there is as I will be the one to defend the title until the End of Days tournament. I will be the one to come out of the other end of the tournament as a winner. I will be the one leading the XHF Network into glory at Supremacy next year.
Esmeralda holds out her hand again as she blows smoke into the air. Though she has actually asked for nothing, the twins bring her a smartphone.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I need to see you.
