Bankhead, Atlanta, Georgia at one of the apartment buildings not controlled by Esmeralda von Krauss, a shadow darts up the fire escape stairwell. It opens a window on the sixth floor and creeps in, closing the window behind it.
Inside the apartment, it creeps through the rooms.
“Alyssa?”
A light clicks on and in the dining area of the apartment we see “D” standing there across from Esmeralda von Krauss.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Surprise, dahling.
D takes a look at her and shakes his head.
D: No. Not doing this.
He turns around to go back out the fire escape when Esmeralda calmly presses a button on a remote. The building shakes as a series of small explosions rip the fire escape apart. D turns around, anger plain on his face.
D: Are you insane?
Esmeralda von Krauss: I need your talents. Something is wrong with me.
D looks at her for a moment and then starts walking toward the door to the apartment.
D: There was something wrong with you when you accepted that psychopath, Isabella Worthington as a child!
He reaches for the door, but Esmeralda slides in between him and the door. She deflects his hand away from the door.
Esmeralda von Krauss: You need to help me!
D: No!
D goes for a backfist, but Esmeralda deflects it. He launches another half dozen strikes that Esmeralda handily blocks before going for a palm strike to the chest. D backflips away, using the palm strike as a launchpad to send himself further away. As soon as D’s feet hit the floor, he leaps forward and hits a spear that sends both of them through the door. Esmeralda crashes into the wall on the other side of the door, leaving a crater in the drywall.
D pulls away and sinks an elbow into Esmeralda’s midsection, continuing his motion into an uppercut. He hits a quick hurricanrana that sends Esmeralda back into the apartment. D walks back into the room where Esmeralda is slowly getting back to her feet, but she has a moment of weakness and falls to her knees.
D stands there, a hard look on his face as he regards her. She betrayed them all by showing support to the woman who tried to kill everyone connected to the von Krausses just so she could use the name. However, looking at her now where she seems so weak. He glances to the fire escape where flames crawl across the wall. The explosives started a fire. Who would have known?
D: We need to leave this building before we die in it.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Not until you help me. What is draining my strength? Is it the prospect of facing Steve Awesome in the ring?
D: That clown can’t be causing this kind of weakness in you. We need to leave the building or we will die. Now!
Esmeralda starts to stand, but her strength leaves her once again and she falls to the floor.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Just leave me to die. You can have Justice and all of my holdings. My husband won’t want them.
D leans down and pulls Esmeralda up. He puts one of her arms over his shoulder and they begin walking out of the burning building.
D: I cannot let you just die.
Hours later at a motel room, D has Esmeralda laying on the one bed that is in the room. The television is on to show the news of the explosions and fire at an abandoned apartment building.
D hands Esmeralda a cup of tea.
D: Here. It will shore up your strength.
Esmeralda sips from the tea.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Why have I been weakened?
D: Is there anything strange going on in your life right now…stranger than normal?
Esmeralda von Krauss: I have been having these vivid nightmares. I never have nightmares, I instill them in others.
D nods while holding a hand over her chest.
D: I have heard that you have recently slain a blood hag. This would make two of a coven of three. I would say that the final hag is casting a spell of some kind on you. I don’t know what the spell is, but I can probably track it as she casts it in the night. You just need to stay strong.
Esmeralda gives a dry chuckle.
Esmeralda von Krauss: All the strength that remains within me is being used to look strong, dahling.
D: Then use your strength to be strong. Look weak and marshal your strength for that last attack. I will need to keep using you as bait until after the Reign show at least.
Esmeralda nods and sips at the tea some more. She motions to the abandoned apartment building as it collapses to the ground.
Esmeralda von Krauss: That was a bit crazy. What I did in manipulating you to listen to me. For that, I am sorry.
D sighs and puts a hand on Esmeralda’s shoulder.
D: You are the Mother of Justice. I should have listened to you before the explosives needed to be triggered. Get some rest. I need to go and get us something to eat.
With that, D walks out through the door to the apartment building, leaving Esmeralda by herself. She turns and looks to the camera.
Esmeralda von Krauss: There you have it, Steve. My strength is being drained away by my enemies. You have a chance to defeat me in the ring with me in such a state.
She reaches into a long pocket more suitable for a wand and pulls out part of a crimson foot long cigarette holder. It broke during her scuffle with D. She sighs and gets out her gold cigarette case and ornate zippo so she can light up a cigarette directly to her mouth like some kind of monster.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Now I did not say that you would have a great chance to defeat me in the ring. My strength is waning, but it is not gone. I can still defeat the Clown Prince of the XHF Network. I don’t know why it is that I had thought that someone like you could have made a perfect child with me. If any of your children inherit any of your mental capacity, I would mourn for them as I left them in the woods for the wolves to devour.
No, I think I can still manage to have the strength to defeat you in the ring and become the greatest X*Crown champion of all time once this curse is lifted from my body and the hag that cast is slain like the others.
Esmeralda takes a nice, long drag from the Egyptian cigarette and blows the smoke into the air with a half-grin that fades to that of a sad smile.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Now, it does seem to me that despite you’re being an idiotic man-child that you did love Zelda and her you. For my small part in breaking the two of you up, I am sorry. I did not want to interfere in your relationship. I only wanted what my husband could not give me in the form of a child. In this case, a child of physical perfection was a bonus. I didn’t want child support as I’m rich. I didn’t want you as a mate. I have Armand. I just wanted a baby, born of my own flesh to hold as my own. Is that too much to ask for.
Esmeralda’s hand goes down to below her belly button. Her pained expression tells its own story.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Doctors have told me that I am unable to become pregnant because of the scar tissue here. Scar tissue from…an accident long ago. But, who are these Doctors to tell me what I can and cannot do? I am Esmeralda von Krauss and my progeny will be strong! I just need to find the right man to do the job. That’s all.
Tears roll down Esmeralda’s cheeks, but she pays them no mind as she continues to smoke her imported cigarette and flicks ashes onto the floor.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I want to fill the void within me. I need to. Winning the X*Crown will show the world that I have what it takes to become the best. It will show me that I still have the fire and desire to become a mother as well as champion of the entire Network.
Steve Awesome. No hard feelings, but I will be coming for you as hard as I can. If the match goes long, it might favor you, but that’s why I will have to fight to crush you as quickly as I can. I will burn bright before your defeat in the middle of the ring.
I will have that X*Crown from you, dahling. Nothing will stop me now.
