When: Unknown
Location: Inside Stalker’s mind

V/O:
This is your slow jam request DEFTONES loop, brought to you by none other than your homeboy REZIN - Don’t you die on me you fucking prick or i’m going to come in that tank and beat your fucking ass!

‘Birthmark’ by Deftones blares into Jason ‘Stalker’ Reeves eardrums. He stirs around in his regeneration tank. It’s day #97, it’s a wonder it’s been this long but to have the same playlist and friendly reminders it was helpful to keep Stalker’s vitals in an appropriate state. His mind however, drifted elsewhere.

Riley Reeves:
Hey you…

Fading into Riley Reeves 1998 Yellow Ford Mustang, she was seated in the front seat holding her belly while wearing a sundress. Jason Reeves was half asleep in the passenger seat perplexed as to why he was even ‘waking up’.

Jason Reeves:
Who.. wh…

Riley Reeves:
You tell me Jason… you kept talking about our daughter. Jessica and something about an UBER? What exactly is an Uber? Is that a french word?

Cracking his neck the twenty or so year old Jason Reeves looks at the passenger side window of his wife’s yellow mustang. A car that he had not been inside of for nearly 20 years. His mind told him one thing, ‘look at your reflection’ but his body was telling him to throw up. Which he did.

Riley Reeves:
Oh my god.. Jason.. Are you okay?!?

Heaving outside of the now open car door, Jason stops hyperventilating for just a moment before realizing he might just be dreaming. Instead of responding to Riley he pulls himself free from the open door and attempts to crawl away from the car.

Riley Reeves:
Jason… stop please… wait I can…

As the world grows flush with blurs Jason crawls and peels away at the concrete, the song ‘Rickets’ now playing in Jason’s ears.

Riley Reeves:
Oh sweet Jason… how I love you…. Ever more…

Jason Reeves:
What the fuck is that…? If I had this…

STOP! Stalker said to himself, you are losing to this nightmare. Crawl faster! Pulling himself away from the now haunting looking Mustang, Jason’s scene has turned into that of a horror movie.

Riley Reeves: [screaming]
We won’t get to play anymore soon, honey. You need to listen to me okay? I’m not.. This wasn’t supposed to be how you’d react.

Unfortunately Jason can’t contain himself, instead he crawls further, seeing a small light in the distance from what looks like an open shed.

Jason Reeves:
You… you.. Are not my wife. This is some sort of fucked up dream. I… need to wake up.

Riley Reeves:
Stop Jason… listen to me.

Appearing above him is Riley Reeves clapping her hands above Jason’s head, snapping his vision up to his dead wife. This dream was ripping Jason’s mind apart at this point. The shed that once appeared in the distance was now a foggy visual unseen and unattainable.

Riley Reeves:
Sweetie you don’t understand. As much as I would love to live out your favorite day with me, I don’t have time to go around. You are going to wake up soon and with that… There is something I need to tell you.

Jason Reeves grumbles as he sits up to his knees.

Jason Reeves:
What do you mean… My favorite day?

Riley Reeves holds her hands on her belly and lets out a bitter sounding sigh, the type of sigh that someone would let out if they were disappointed in their friend or loved one.

Riley Reeves:
We drive to the doctor’s office, we find out it’s a girl, we stop for Ice Cream at a shop 20 minutes from here. We talk baby names and you promise that you’ll find a promotion that keeps you closer. You even said you’d talk to my dad.

Jason Reeves:
Man... fuck Terry.

Riley Reeves:
You’d slip into that mindset a bunch too, but typically I could pull you out and we would play out your dream just fine… I don’t have much time now so I figured hopefully this message will stick.

Jason Reeves:
Message? What message are you trying to give to me now.. After everything?

Riley Reeves:
You’re.. in danger Jason. I’ve seen it myself. There’s a shadow coming that is going to make life unbearable for you. Something…. That was never meant to come to light.

Jason Reeves:
This has to be me tripping on some of Rezin’s stash. What the hell, did they put me on when they dragged me into the Den? Or.. or am I dead?

Riley Reeves:
Fate is putting something against you that… even The Kabal can’t see coming. So consider me your prophet. The whisper of the snake will be enticing but something you need to break free from, the books don’t know about her but I do. 

Jason Reeves:
Who’s the snake? And what fucking book? You are sounding like Jessica again. I never bought into that shit.

Riley Reeves:
The snake is venomous and it hisses with the rhyme of Games. It was said numerous times but.. But I could not make it out. It’s up to something… out there. 

Jason Reeves:
I think… this is weirder than I’m used to, are you sure I'm not dead?

Riley Reeves:
I wish that I could change the way you saw me here and now. If I knew this moment was what you clinged onto most I would have been different to you.… Jason. I didn’t realize how connected we were. The shadow that will loom in your mind won't last forever but while it does - remember this one thing. No matter the whispers and lies you hear she will always be your daughter.

Jason looks dumbfounded as he stares at his wife Riley, the dream visage of the woman that was sporting a pregnant belly. She was the only woman Jason ever truly loved and cared for enough to marry.

Jason Reeves:
Of course she will always be my daughter. Jessica right? That’s the name we decided on…?

Riley looks at her husband and shrugs her shoulders.

Riley Reeves:
That was the name you decided - just know that you’ve been asleep too long and no matter what happens next you need to make them remember.

Jason Reeves:
Make who remember?

Riley Reeves:
Jason… honey.. Everyone. Your World. Remember? Has it been that long? 

Jason Reeves:
I had been doing that. I… I was doing what she wanted. What… Jessica wanted.

Riley Reeves:
Exactly… Jason. DEFIANCE has always been ‘Jessica’s World.’ To you and to everyone else. You’ve never been able to let yourself make it your domain. 

Jason Reeves:
The Kabal they’ve twisted her mind…

Riley Reeves:
Stop making excuses, Jason. This is no longer her story. She is on her path and you must focus on yours. Don’t lose your voice when they pull you free. And do your best to avoid the whisper snake. I don’t know… I don’t know where that voice comes from but it echoes every other night now.

Jason Reeves:
Well.. What… What should I do?

Riley Reeves:
Make them bleed and turn the world crimson. Make them remember what it was like when you would stand in the center of the ring, trash the world champion and be booed out of the stadium on a nightly basis. Make them… remember the monster that threw Rocko Daymon through a third floor window.

Stalker stands up dusting himself off as ‘Ceremony’ by Deftones kicks into his mind, he pushes Riley away from him as he walks forward.

Jason Reeves:
You say we’ve relieved this moment time and time again? Who’s to say that anything will change after now? Or that I won’t simply wake up again in this same dream? How will I remember this moment? 

Riley Reeves:
When you wake up - you may not be able to remember anything - I'm just hoping at this point. 

The memory begins to fade around Jason, he looks unsettled for a moment, unsure of where to step or walk. Things felt ‘different’ here.

Riley Reeves:
Jason Please… Focus.. We don’t have much time… Older enemies will be the key to your savior, you just need to give in to ‘the pledge’ yourself.

Jason Reeves:
No. I turned that down once and that… you know that was the reason why we got into this mess.

Riley pauses as the song shifts in Stalker’s mind, the scene of his dream encounter with Riley shifts away. Now, in reality something approaches his regeneration tank. A shadowy figure approaches and leans against the tank pressing their face against the glass and keeping their identity obscured.

Voice: [Snake Like]
Soon… soon, my pet. I’ve read the notes and heard the risks, I think I may just take them myself. Oh... I can’t wait till we get to talk...

Finger flutters and echoes reverberate loudly throughout the lab as the unseen figure taps away and whispers against Jason ‘Stalker’ Reeves regeneration tank pulling away ever so slightly with a long fingered scrape against the glass. Fade to black.

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