FADE IN.

Pittsburgh, PEE-AY ---- Fight Club Pittsburgh

Ryan climbs down from the ring, steps aside and starts wiping the sweat from his head.

DAN RYAN: "So -- FIST of DEFIANCE."

"I'll admit, this wasn't specifically on my radar. The idea, of course is to simply beat everyone put in front of me, and so I've gone about my business, taking it one step at a time, content to prove myself. Enough people have spoken my name with such reverence and with such hype that even I've grown tired of it. I'm much more interested in proving myself, especially when your name is all that people know you for."

"Now, a few weeks ago, something got started. It was inevitable, I think, that I get roped into this Untouchables mess eventually one way or another. You can't have a gang of meanies running rampant through the company, collecting gold like Lash Graham collects stuffed animals and not eventually be forced to take a side."

"Last week, of course, I had a match with Christian Light, who if people are to be believed, has lost his way a little bit. I gave the Untouchables an opening, really, practically daring them to get involved and force my hand. I was quite ready to make my decision, had Kai Scott actually gotten into the ring."

"Instead, he did an adults-on-Charlie-Brown wah-wah speech, and walked away. Too bad; I was all excited about a confrontation."

"As a consolation prize, at Untouchable 2013 I will be facing his former student, the FIST of DEFIANCE, Claira St. Sure, whose name is almost impossible to say without sounding like you have a lisp. Go ahead, try and say the woman's name without sounding like Dusty Rhodes. It can't be done."

"Claira, I tend to, as a man not unaccustomed to holding championship gold, give the champion the honor of saying what they need to say first. It's a respect thing, a tradition which I think matters if you intend to win a championship and represent it the right way. If the title doesn't mean anything to you, by all means, disrespect the 'office'. But me? I like to do things kinda old school."

"But you, like Christian Light before you, are deaf and mute, not willing to say anything or hear the call of history as it builds up to overwhelm you. I don't really know what your problem is. I don't know why you don't seem to care about defending your title on a show like this, but I want you to understand clearly that I do care about taking it from you. Anyone who says that a title in this sport isn't important is trying to self-consciously appear aloof to win cool-points. I win cool-points by beating people up."

"They say you're fond of telling a story; of setting the stage. I occasionally like a nice little short story about what my opponents are thinking, but these days I like to tell stories a little differently. I like to meet people in the ring and blast them in the side of the head with my knee, club them across the face with my fist, throw them across the ring with a suplex variety or two. I like to tie people into knots and listen to them scream for mercy. I tell my stories with action, and right now, the story you're telling is that you don't even give a shit."

"Well, Claira, I know you're in a pickle. Your former mentor is gang-bangin' and you're left in the middle, not knowing where to turn. Diane Parker has you all set for this match, I'm sure, simulating what it's like to have a six-foot-seven-inch, three hundred pound monster blasting away at you and dropping you on your head --- you know, since it's so easy to prepare for --- but when the time comes, in a match like this...."

"Claira, really, I don't like your chances all that much."

"Now I know it's been a hard life. I don't know why your parents gave you a milk cow's name, and I don't know why you're forced into the emotional conundrum that you're in. But, what I do know is that the FIST of DEFIANCE is on the line, and I want it."

"That's simple, right?"

"No mind games, just me and you, one time, one night, and a new FIST."

"Kai Scott is small potatoes, my dear. I made manipulation and deceit into an art. I made being an asshole and still dominating in the ring a science. Quite simply, I can do it all. Forget about your mentor. At Untouchable....?"

"You meet the MASTER."

FADE OUT.

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