PROMO: Here we go again

[Toxxic 0]

A few hours before Lockdown

 

The mood in the Revolution Zero dressing room is sombre. Spike Jenkins plays FireProWrestling on his Gameboy Advance, but his heart clearly isn’t in it. Sean Davis sighs and tries to read the same page in his book for the fourth time before losing the thread again, giving up and hurling the offending novel at the wall in disgust. Even Marcus Washington looks slightly uneasy, and the reason for their mood is conspicuous by his absence.

 

Toxxic. The Straight-Edge Sensation, the leader of Revolution Zero, the fastest-rising rookie in recent memory... and now the former World Heavyweight Champion, courtesy of a Shooting Johnny Press that saw the Barracuda win the match and the World Title find a new home around the well-tailored waist of Johnny Dangerous. They haven’t seen or heard from Toxxic since Storm, when his title reign went belly-up after a mere 20 days. And now tonight, the team of Hardcore Gamer’s Champion Sean Davis and ‘Hollywood’ Spike Jenkins faces Hollywood Boulevard for the Tag Team Championship.

 

Spike pauses his game and looks up at Sean., who stares blankly back. They know they’re a good team and they know that they can take it to Van Siclen and Cortez tonight, but they’d feel a hell of a lot easier in themselves if they knew where he was...

 

*click*

 

Abruptly the doorhandle turns, and all three men whip around. Jet steps through, looking slightly surprised at being the centre of attention... and then Toxxic walks through the door after her.

 

“Dude!” Spike says, jumping up. “We weren’t sure if you were coming...”

 

“Why not?” Toxxic asks, apparently surprised. Spike suddenly looks uneasy.

 

“Well... we hadn’t heard from you man, and you know it’s been kinda usual that World Champions take off once they’ve lost their title,” Spike explains, “-I mean Danny kept disappearing, Va’aiga got himself fired, and Grappler left, and Duran sort of faded out for a bit, and Janus left and thank fucking God man, y’know?” The Secondary Straight-Edger grins suddenly. “But it’s great to see you again dude! So, what’s the plan for tonight?”

 

“Forget tonight,” Davis rumbles, stepping forward. “I want to know what happened on Storm.” The big man stares down at the Straight-Edge Sensation - not in a confrontational way... not yet, anyway.

 

“I got it wrong,” Toxxic says, staring levelly back at the Perfect Storm.

 

“You underestimated him?” Davis asks.

 

“No,” Toxxic replied, “I misjudged him. I planned for a different match and a different style. I don’t know how the bloody hell I kicked out of the MI Slam,” Toxxic continues, “but I thought that would throw him more than it did, so I didn’t react quick enough afterwards.”

 

“Ok then,” Davis replies. “You think you can take him?”

 

“Oh, I know I can take him,” Toxxic asserts, “...on the right day. The question is; will I get a rematch, and that’s something we’re going to have to wait to find out. But for now we’ve got other things to think about,” he continues, shutting the door behind him and resting his black holdall on the bench, “namely, getting you two the Tag Titles. Your plan of attacking Cortez and Van Siclen was fair enough, but it seems to have got the Mask back on their side.” The Straight-Edge Sensation strips off his jacket and hangs it on a peg, then starts rummaging in his bag.

 

“So what’s the plan?” Spike asks his leader’s back. Toxxic locates his eyeliner and pulls it out before turning around.

 

“Simple. I’m going to let off a bit of steam against Justin Bowers, and you two are going to win the tag belts. We’re not going to make any more mistakes - not me, not you, not any of us. And just in case Masky decides to stick his concealed nose into our business and be at ringside...” the right side of Toxxic’s mouth creases up in his trademark lopsided grin “...I’ll be there to get ‘hands-on’ myself, if needed.”