The promos that went missing

[Toxxic 0]

So here they are instead. The first one was for before the 6-man, the second was for after:

 

 

 

“I said no more mistakes.”

 

Sean Davis and Spike Jenkins look uneasily at each other. Both of them are bigger than Toxxic - Sean more notably so, admittedly - but neither of them fancy catching his eye this evening.

 

“It’s quite simple, really,” the Straight-Edge Sensation continues, pacing up and down and apparently talking to the floor. “It all comes down to Mike Van Siclen. Spike, you shouldn’t have tried using his own damn move against him-”

 

“-dude, I was using the Defying The System, and that like falls forward instead of dropping them on their head-” Spike begins.

 

“I don’t give a damn what it does if the setup’s the same!” Toxxic snaps, fixing Hollywood with a glare that causes the junior straight-edger to shut his mouth. “And Sean,” Toxxic carries on, “I’d have thought you’d know by now that you can’t trust that bastard in the ring. If he goes limp, hit him a few times more anyway to make sure.”

 

Sean Davis just nods.

 

“We need to stay focused tonight,” Toxxic says, half to himself. “Forget the other two - you beat the crap out of Cortez last wednesday, so keep him isolated if you get half a chance. Work his head this time, not his ribs - that didn’t get us anywhere.”

 

The other two nod again.

 

“And what the bloody hell’s up with you tonight, anyway?” Toxxic asks, stopping his pacing to look at them. “You look like someone’s walked over your bloody graves!”

 

Sean and Spike look at each other.

 

“Dude... didn’t you hear?” Hollywood asks.

 

“Hear what?”

 

“Justin Bowers,” Sean rumbles. Toxxic continues to look blank.

 

“Man... they took him to the hospital...” Spike says, almost unwilling to complete the sentence in the face of Toxxic’s impassive stare. “...and... well, he didn’t come out again.”

 

“...and?” the Brit asks impatiently.

 

“You broke his damn neck!” Sean bursts out. “You tryin’ to tell me that you didn’t know? He won’t be wrestling again! Ever, probably! Jesus Christ man, you just ended a guy’s career!”

 

Toxxic’s expression doesn’t change. For several seconds he stares blankly at - or possibly through - Sean Davis, before suddenly snapping out of it.

 

“He got up on my shoulders,” the Straight-Edge Sensation tells them levelly. “That’s the equivalent of someone hanging upside down, chest-to-chest in front of Janus and asking him what that move called the Rage Unleashed is. You’ve got to know I didn’t set out to do that, but once he was there...” Toxxic smiles briefly, humourlessly. “Still, if it’s spooked you guys then hopefully it’ll be playing on the Urban Empire’s nerves too.” He points to the door. “Come on, it’s pretty much time. You guys go on ahead and find Marcus and Jet. I’ll... catch up with you in a minute. And remember...” he finishes, as Sean and Spike reach the door, “...no mistakes.”

 

Toxxic turns away as they leave, but his hearing is sharper than his stablemates realise and he can hear their conversation as they walk away down the corridor.

 

“So, does he do that Dangerlust thing every time he loses a match?”

 

“Recently... yeah.”

 

“We are winning tonight, aren’t we?”

 

“Dude, what’re you worried about? He can’t lift you!”

 

*click*

 

The door to the Revolution Zero lockeroom shuts, and Toxxic is left alone with his thoughts. The Straight-Edge Sensation looks up at himself in the washbasin mirror, and remembers his train of thought just before he won the World Title.

 

End the career of an established legend: check. Hello, Silent.

 

Break the neck of a promising rookie: check. So now I’m Edwin too.

 

“No,” Toxxic tells himself as he reaches in his bag for his T-shirt. “No, I’m not. Yeah, I went into 13th Hour wanting to hurt Kibagami. I wanted him gone. But I didn’t want to hurt Bowers. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... and he must have landed funny. Christ, I didn’t cripple Blazenwing with it... or Rickmen, and he took it off a ladder and through a bloody table.”

 

The Straight-Edge Sensation pulls the shirt over his head and stares at himself in the mirror, as if daring the reflection to start looking like some departed legend of the SWF.

 

“I’m not anyone else,” he says softly. “I am not a retread, I am not some bloody copy. I am me, and no-one else.”

 

Toxxic turns, and walks out of the door. The corridor is deserted, but he knows his way to the main arena. Tonight, he and the rest of Revolution Zero go head-to-head with the Urban Empire; three men who have promised to stop the Revolution, one way or another.

 

I am me, and no-one else. And you bastards are going to have to live with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Guys, we so rock!”

 

Spike Jenkins is almost dancing up the corridor with excitement, although it is only Sean Davis’ subtle support that is stopping Hollywood from collapsing after the battering he took in the 6-man tag match.

 

“I couldn’t have done it without you man,” Spike tells Sean as the Perfect Storm fields him again, “you kept me in it, dude!” Hollywood turns to Revolution Zero’s leader. “And Toxx - I don’t know what it was you did to Todd, but I know I got the pin off it! Man, we are an awesome team!”

 

“Yeah, you really kick ass at lying down on people...” Jet murmurs with a sly smile, which causes Marcus Washington to snigger behind his hand.

 

“Spike-” Toxxic begins.

 

“-I mean c’mon dude, we totally outclassed them!” Spike continues. “They didn’t have a damn chance!”

 

“Spike, this means shit!” Toxxic snaps at the junior straight-edger, causing his reverie to suddenly cease. “Yeah, we beat them, with Jet and Marcus running interference - but it wasn’t for the tag belts, was it? You two still aren’t tag champions, are you? And I don’t know how many more shots you’re going to get, no matter how many times we paste them in 6-mans.”

 

“So what’re we going to do about that?” Davis rumbles. Toxxic looks thoughtful.

 

“I dunno. I’ll think of something. But Sean, you did great out there tonight,” he tells the big man, “you were exactly where you needed to be when you needed to be there, and you used your strength really well.”

 

“Dude...?”

 

“Yes Spike, you did well too,” Toxxic tells the other team member. “I was about ready to choke you when you tried the Clean Living on Mike when he used to use the move himself, but it worked out OK in the end.”

 

“Alright!” Jenkins whoops, eyes still slightly unfocused from all the shots to the head. “Party!”

 

“Uhh... Spike?” Jet asks.

 

“Yo!”

 

“...why are you holding that briefcase?”

 

Spike looks down at the briefcase in his hand, then holds it out to Marcus Washington.

 

“Sorry dude - my bad, I forgot what with all the knocks to the head,” Spike grins. “I found it by the ring, guess you must have left it there after you hit Masked Man with it.”

 

“Spike,” Marcus says, holding up his steel briefcase in his right hand, “this is my briefcase. I hit Van Siclen with it too.”

 

“Oh.” Spike deflates, and looks again at the case he’s holding. “Uhh... so whose is this then?”

 

All five members of Revolution Zero suddenly take a very firm interest in the apparently innocent rectangular object clutched in the hand of the ex-stoner.

 

“You found it by the ring?” Toxxic asks Spike.

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“Masked Man has a briefcase,” Toxxic says thoughtfully, “doesn’t he...”

[janusd 0]

"That’s the equivalent of someone hanging upside down, chest-to-chest in front of Janus and asking him what that move called the Rage Unleashed is."

 

... (Y)