FADE IN.

Dan Ryan, wrapping his wrists in preparation for some training, leaning against a row of lockers. He's got a nice little smirk on his face.

DAN RYAN: "Diane Parker, oh good! For a little while I was worried there wouldn't be anyone to read me some Comic-con fan-fic bullshit this week. Thank the maker for you. It's a good thing that you and Princess Buttercup are so into 'literature'. I know how big the both of you are on studying and learning from your own failures and the successes of others. And really, thank you so very much for finally working out that whole 'smaller person finds the weakness of bigger person' archetype. Truly, now that you've figured that out, I'm doomed."

"I'm tempted to endlessly mock the two of you, Miss Parker, but I'm finding that it's painfully clear how little you are aware of me and what I can do." (Shrug) "That's fine. You don't have to be scared or intimidated. I'm just really confident in my abilities, and I think my record speaks for itself. Look for it in the library if you want, though you won't find it in the big-boob-warrior-princess-defeats-the-evil-king section where you apparently browse."

"To be really very succinct and to the point though, ma'am, what makes me different from Adam Waterman, Jan Gin Xiao, Eugene Dewey and Bubba Hayes is that pretty much no one outside of the DEFIANCE roster knows who the fuck they are, and everyone knows who I am. I know that's egotistical, and I know it sounds elitist, but I'm fine with that, because it's very very true as well. Furthermore, and most importantly, what makes me different is that Buttercup beat them, and she ain't beat me just yet, has she, sugar? I'm really not so different from Christian Light, in that she hasn't beaten him either, but I somehow suspect that wasn't the point you were trying to make, eh?"

"It's not really a simple matter of math, Miss Parker. Being exceptionally skilled just seems a little more painful when the math divide is so big. Being big alone makes you a tub of shit delivering furniture on the weekends in Poughkeepsie. Being big and an elite technical talent makes you an approaching-twenty-time World Champion."

"So yeah, don't be intimidated, sure. What do I care, really? Can't make a horse drink and all that..."

"Me? I'm not intimidated by Claira or Kai, but then that's not an indictment of either one. I've just been around so long and seen so much that you're more likely to sprout wings and fly off into one of your princess fantasy books than I am to be intimidated by anyone."

"If you think that a lack of knowledge of you and your girl Friday's history is the reason I'm so confident, why I'm so focused and determined to make her into a thin red bloodstain on the Pittsburgh canvas, and so sure that I can make it happen --- please, do me a favor and save me the history lesson. Don't send me anymore goddamn pamphlets and propaganda 'reflections on her life' bullshit, because sweetie, if there's a gap in my knowledge of Claira St. Sure that I feel needs to be filled, I absolutely promise you that I know how to google. I can type 'Claira and the Fairy Princess' just as well as anyone else and get a full biography of the mute wonder Claira St. Sure."

"It's not a personal thing, Diane, any further than goes this match. There's nothing special about you, Claira St. Sure, Kai Scott, or anyone else whose name you think you need to drop in a misguided attempt to put butterflies in my stomach. I've done it all, seen it all, so get real and stop acting like you can sit there with your Tina Fey glasses --- and make me nervous."

"I'm here to win matches, beat people up, and win championships like I always do, and no matter whether or not that makes me different from anyone else, it's just the way it is. I live and breathe it, and I don't need to paint you a picture to make you understand. All I have to do is get into the ring and outwrestle, outfight and outsmart Claira St. Sure. Right now, it would behoove little Claira to stop worrying about who to side with and start worrying about looking straight ahead at the best she's ever seen. Don't believe it?? Don't give a shit."

"It won't take me very long to change your mind."

FADE OUT.

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