[Disengage the Promografier.]

[Engage the Smacktalkulator.]

CSS:
You know, there’s one thing that my opponents, they all got that I don’t.  Christian Light.  Legend the World over, multiple time World Champion.  Heidi Christenson.  Also a legend the World over, put together an amazing comeback story at the end of Def 1.0.  Alceo Dentari.  Not familiar with the PTC, sorry, but I know he been around for a while, done a lot.

You mus understand that Kai Scott, he like the PTC less than he like the old CAL and the WfWA, he would no spend a cent on PTC tapes.

Then there is me.  The kid.  The newcomer.  The Cinderella story.  

I heard it all.

[Claira’s in the same wrestling gym that she was last time around, standing in the ring, in full ring attire, taped fists and red robe with the shiny silvery-white satin trim, hood down.]

CSS:
It’s funny to remember, but when I first came to wrestling, I was supposed to be Heidi’s evil clone.  Only, a couple months after that Kai decided he did no hate Heidi anymore and I was to quit mocking her and learn to be myself.  Probably for the best, but it still feel strange to look at Heidi.

Super-kicky-ladies, was it, Angus?

But I would never claim for a second that Heidi is not formidable, or that my past made me somehow able to understand her on a level that other people don’t.

Yoshikazu YAZ, he say that Kai is a Heidi fanboy, and maybe it is true.  I watch her matches, you know, watch how she avoids the power moves, watch how she ducks and moves and works men down to the mat and how she avoids letting herself be trapped.  Kai probably has a couple hundred tapes of Heidi’s matches.  And you know, even if he drop the evil clone thing, I still owe a lot to Heidi.  If she did not exist, maybe I would still be in Jamaica fighting on the streets for pittance.

But I try to move past that.  Kai, Diane, and even before he turn crazy Jonny too, they all say, speak for yourself, be yourself, speak the words that feel right.

I thank you, Heidi.  

But I am not your copy, not your clone, not your imitator.  I will not be a lesser version of you.

[Claira leaned forward on the ropes.]

CSS:
Alceo Dentari, you can count me among the many who expect Heidi to destroy you, but I almost hope she doesn’t.  I almost hope you win.

You talk, very loudly, for a man who would not face me if his advantage was not five on one.  

Even now, look at you.  You throw Yoshikazu YAZ to the wolves because he intimidates you.  It does nothing but cost your side.  And then when he is eaten by the wolves, you blame him for that too, though you lacked the courage to face them yourself.

You turn on Elijah Goldman because he dares to expect you to follow the orders you agreed to follow.  

You already reap the rewards a coward earns, Dentari.

And I do not fear or respect you.

[Pushing off the ropes, Claira stepped back from them.]

CSS:
Christian Light.

May I ask you something, Christian?

When you were a rookie like me…

How did you feel?

I know you go far back.  You were already a legend when the man who trained me was a rookie.  You won the CAL World Title the same night Kai Scott and Mr. Dude, as The Untouchables, failed to beat Sam Carnage and Bobby Baker for the CAL Tag Titles.

Excuse me, NWCal, but details.

[Again, she grips the top rope with both hands.]

CSS:
But specifically Christian.  How many times did you lose your big match before you won your first one?

Cos I been wrestling long enough to know that there are few mountains so hard to overcome, as the ones you build yourself, when you can make it to the big match and then you can’t win.  Kai tell me that, because you know, he never win a singles World Title, and look at where he is now.

The CAL feared him.

Much of Defiance cannot even keep straight who he has working for him.

He don’t want to let me end up like that.  And, although I thank him every day for what he has done for me, I don’t want to end up like that either.

Last time, Christian, I was in my first main event.  There was more on the line than just a win.  I could afford to lose.

But not this time.

[Her grip on the top rope tightens.]

CSS:
I lose to you a second time, I am second best.  I am the person who won everything else but could not beat Christian Light.  I am the person who’s War Games win and record eighty points in the regular season would mean nothing, less than nothing, if I prove not good enough to beat Christian Light.  My legitimacy, my legacy, it revolves around my ability to beat Christian Light.  Even if I lose, and I go on to win the 3 way dance and the entire tournament, I still carry the stigma with me, that I cannot beat Christian Light.

Christian, I hate it, because personally, you’ve given me no cause to hate you.  You’ve been supportive of me when we worked in War Games, you’ve done nothing but treat me with respect, and with as much kindness as a sport like professional wrestling can allow.

But no matter what, Christian.

I have to beat you.

I HAVE to beat you!


=-=-=


When Kai was injured, he left a copy of his apartment key to Diane Parker so that she could access his tape stash.

One of the things he’d taught her about how to manage a wrestler was to follow her instincts.

When he started speaking strangely and then fled the gym, Diane decided to follow him.

She could move faster than the mostly wheelchair bound Kai Scott, and she didn’t wait to make sure he was headed back there, because she was sure he was.  She parked a few blocks away, in the parking lot of a strip mall where he was unlikely to notice her car, and she sprinted to his apartment building and up the stairs, and she waited.

Soon, she heard the elevator ding, and saw Kai walk down the hall, pushing his wheelchair in front of him, and step into his apartment.

Her coverstory was ready if he noticed her, she just wanted the tape of the Light/CSS match from HERI 08.

He picked up his phone and dialed something.

“I’m trying as hard as I can to make sure they’re not involved.” He said.

Then, “No, she’ll be fine one way or another.”

And “I’m prepared for that, but it’ll be dependent on the finals anyway.  Hopefully it won’t be an issue and if he does, it’s an easy pass anyhow.”

He was quiet for what seemed a long time then.

Finally he spoke again.

“Actually, if she isn’t listening to this as we speak I’ll be very disappointed in her.”

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