Friday, November 29, 2019

Ashes To Ashes: Part 5


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November 26th, 2019
Pittsburgh, PA
Off Camera
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It is late on Tuesday November 26th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  SCW Breakdown is being held in the Steel City and “The British Bombshell” Glory Braddock is staying at this Embassy Suites Hilton in downtown Pittsburgh.  The British Bombshell currently finds herself in a small bar area on the bottom floor of the Embassy Suites Hilton.  In times past when troubled, she would spend all of her available free time speaking with her father.  Braddock used to seek out her father’s wisdom and advice at every opportune moment.  Unfortunately that has become all but impossible now that Glenn Braddock is deceased.  The British Bombshell feels alone in the world.  She feels as if there is no one she can speak to, no one she can share her troubles with.  The blonde haired beauty sits on a stool, wearing denim jeans and a floral print cream colored blouse and a pair of black leather high heeled boots.  A glass of an unknown alcoholic beverage is sitting in front of her.  It’s barely been touched as she stares straight ahead, blankly at nothing.

“How long do you plan to stay up?” The voice, albeit familiar, startles Gloria ever so slightly.  She turns around in time to see her mother approaching her.  Mary Ford is wearing denim jeans, flip flops, and a floral print top.  Her brown hair hangs to just below her shoulders.  The British Bombshell smiles warmly as she shrugs her shoulders, indicating that she has no intentions of leaving the bar anytime soon.  Glory instead motions for her mother to join her.  Mary nods her head before walking over and sitting down on a stool next to her daughter.

“I would suggest you go to bed.” Mary answers in a scolding tone, much like a concerned mother. “Don’t you have an event tomorrow?”

Braddock nods her head in response.  It was her idea for Mary to come along touring with her.  The sudden loss of her father, Glenn Braddock, was a wake up call for The British Bombshell.  It made her realize just how fragile and how short life can be.  She wants to spend as much time as she can with her mother and truly get to know her.  Glory’s parents split up when she was still just a teenager and thus most of her adult life was spent away from her mother.  She wants to get to spend as much quality time with Mary Ford as she can, even if that means sometimes having to deal with an overly concerned mother.

“I’ll be fine, mum.” Glory remarks as she sips some of her drink.

“What is that you’re drinking?” Mary asks quizzically.

“Guinness.” Glory answers pointedly. “Do you have a problem with it?”

“None whatsoever.” Mary shakes her head. “I was just curious, that’s all.”

Braddock takes another sip of her Guinness before putting it back down on the bar.  A light chuckle escapes her mouth. “Sorry, mum, I guess I am a little jumpy this evening.”

“It’s quite alright, Gloria.” Mary flags down the bartender.  The bartender, a young woman, approaches. “I want what she’s having.”

The bartender nods and walks away to fill the order.  Glory turns and stares at her mother with a curious gaze. “You want a Guinness?”

“Why not?  You seem to enjoy it.” Mary chuckles and shakes her head. “To be perfectly honest, dear, I learned to drink the stuff from your father.  It gave us something to do together.  It also served as a way for me to forget about your father getting destroyed in wrestling matches.”

Glory watches as the bartender brings her mother a Guinness.  “Speaking with dad used to be my way of dealing with my problems.  Now that he’s gone, I may have to turn to alcohol myself.”

“You know that’s not true.” Mary says as she sips her Guinness.

“Do you have any other suggestions?  Because I am all ears, mum.”

“I’m all ears too, Gloria.” Mary answers as she motions to the ears on either side of her head. “And they work rather well, might I add.”

Mary brings up a good point.  Glory did bring Mary along on the tour so that they could bond, so that they could get to know each other better.  That was the entire purpose of bringing Mary along to the SCW events; so that Glory would have someone to talk to.  Yet the problems facing Glory Braddock right now are the kind that she would rather not share with her mother.  These are deeply personal problems dealing with Mary’s other child, Glory’s sister Chastity Noel.  Chastity Noel used to be Julia Braddock, but that was before she disavowed her entire family for reasons unknown to anyone but Chastity herself.  The British Bombshell secretly believes that the trauma may have led to Glenn’s demise.  The guilt he must have felt, how horrible he must have felt over his own daughter denying him, Glory is convinced it drove him over the edge.  She doesn’t want to add this to any pressure Mary may be feeling right now.

“I’d rather not talk about it, mum.” Glory turns her attention away from her mother and back to her bottle of Guinness.  She hopes Mary will just forget all about it.  No such luck.

“Gloria, I thought we were supposed to use this time to talk to one another.”

“We are and we will.” Glory sighs and shakes her head. “But not this.”

“If not this then what?” Mary asks. “If we’re not going to talk then I may as well go back home to Boston.  My nieces Kayla and Angelica would even talk to me more often than you.”

Mary scoots up off of the stool and starts to walk away.  It is at this time that Glory’s guilt gets the better of her. “Mum, wait!”

Mary Ford turns around to face her daughter.  Her eyebrows are raised slightly out of curiosity.  Glory sighs and motions for her to sit back down. “It’s about Chastity…”

“You mean Julia.”

Mary approaches and sits back down on the stool next to her daughter.  Unlike Glory, Melinda, Kurt, and other members of the family who have grown to accept Chastity’s “eccentricities”, Mary has not yet accepted Chastity’s change.  As far as she is concerned she is and always will be Julia Braddock, Glory’s younger sister.  Mary reaches over, snatches her bottle of Guinness, and takes another sip as she listens to her daughter.

“Yes, her.  Whatever name you want to give her, the fact remains that she has finally lost it.”

“What’s wrong with my daughter?” Mary asks with a concerned look on her face.

“You’d think that turning away from the family was bad enough,” Braddock shakes her head “but unfortunately she can still stoop to new lows.  Dad had given up on her, and maybe he shouldn’t have, but he did give up on her and he sold his wrestling school to me.”

“I remember.” Mary says, nodding her head.

“I thought that was the end of it but now that he’s dead, she’s found an attorney willing to represent her in an attempt to retake control of the school.”

“If your father sold the school to you then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“One would think but apparently dad never did have the will updated.  The will still divides everything evenly between me and Chastity.  Now I know that dad did sell to me before he died, so I would probably win if this went to court, but it would prove to be very costly.” Glory Braddock sighs deeply and shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do, mum.”

“And here I thought you were supposed to be a bright girl.” Mary says with a light chuckle in her voice as she tips back her bottle and sips some more of her Guinness.  Glory doesn’t find this humorous at all.  She tilts her head to one side and frowns.

“What’s that supposed to mean, mum?”

“Gloria, your father and I were far from perfect parents.  I could go on and on about how your father always put wrestling before myself, before you and Julia, and I would be right.  But let’s be honest, your father did the best he could.  And it wasn’t like I was the best mother.  I should have stayed.  I shouldn’t have given your father that ultimatum, I shouldn’t have forced him to choose between me and wrestling.” Tears are forming in the older woman’s eyes. “Honestly, I allowed you and your sister to drift away from me.  Your father allowed you two to drift away from him.  We’re both guilty of that.”

“Mum…” Glory reaches out and takes hold of her mother’s hands, squeezing them tightly.

“Your sister is not lost!” Mary exclaims.  “Do not give up on her the same way I gave up on the two of you!  That’s all I ask of you, Gloria.  Promise me that.”

There is a moment’s hesitation before Glory nods her head. “Yeah, I promise…”

Braddock takes one final sip of her Guinness and then hops down off of the stool she had been sitting on at the bar.  Without bothering to say goodbye to her mother, Glory starts to walk away from the bar area.  The British Bombshell makes her way towards the lobby of the hotel.  Braddock sits down in the middle of a comfortable brown leather sofa against a tall window overlooking the peaceful night sky.  The blonde beauty anticipates what happens next as, sure enough, her mother eventually finds her way to the lobby.  Mary sits down to Mary’s right.

“Glory, are you ok?” She asks.  Braddock shakes her head.

“No, mum.  I’m not.  I’m not ok because you’re asking me to do something impossible.”

“Impossible?” Mary asks quizzically. “Glory, all I’m asking of you is to be the peacemaker between yourself and your sister.  All I’m asking is for this ridiculous feud to end.  It’s what your father would have wanted.”

“Right and he’s not here is he?!” Glory exclaims loudly, catching the attention of what few people are in the lobby.  The British Bombshell sighs and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, mum.  It’s just…”

Braddock is about to respond when she is cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. She picks it up and looks at the caller ID which reads ‘Chastity’.  Immediately she excuses herself and places the phone to her ear. “Yes…”

Mary watches intensely as her daughter listens to whatever is being said on the other end.  Glory nods her head. “Yeah, I’ll be right out.”

The British Bombshell hangs up her phone. “What is it?  What did she want?” Mary asks curiously.

“She’s outside and she wants to speak with me.  Alone.” With that, Glory stands up and starts to make her way towards the exit.  Mary shouts after her…

“Gloria!  Try to remember that she is still your sister!”  Mary’s voice is pleading but Glory doesn’t appear to listen as she continues her determined stride out of the lobby and through the exit door.  The face of The British Bombshell looks more determined than ever as she glares into the night sky.

“Chastity!  Where are you?!”

“Over here.” The voice doesn’t startle her in the least, as she was expecting this.  She turns to her right in the direction of the voice in time to spot her sister, Chastity Noel, approaching.

“What do you want?” Glory asks in a demanding tone.  Chastity scoffs at this, shaking her head.

“You are hardly in a position to make demands, Glory.” She pats herself on the chest. “But I am.  And I demand to know what your answer is, dear sister.” Chastity places an extra added emphasis on the word ‘sister’, as this is part of her case behind why she wants the Braddock Wrestling School.

“Why are you doing this?” Glory demands.

“I just want what is owed to me.”

“You could have had it without the fuss and without the fighting.  It could have been easy but you had to go and abandon the family.  You left us.” She points a finger directly at Chastity. “You rejected our father, the man who raised you, the man who taught you everything he knew about this business, and you turned your back on him.”

“It isn’t as nice and pleasant as you believe.” Chastity approaches a black metal bench and sits down.  Glory Braddock walks over and sits down next to her. “But then again, you would have nothing but favorable views of our father considering you were always his favorite.”

Glory stares as tears form in Chastity’s eyes. “You shouldn’t be surprised that I turned my back on our father and changed my name, you shouldn’t be surprised that I am so loyal to Mason Van Stanton, because him and Aphrodite and so many others view me as the favorite whereas all my life my own father played favorites with us.”

Chastity shakes her head. “But of course you would never notice it, would you?  Because you WERE the favorite.”

Braddock sighs deeply. “Chastity, I...I had no idea you felt this way…”

“I call bullshit on that.” Chastity remarks, shaking her head. “There’s no way, outside of pure ignorance, that you couldn’t have known and that’s why I am doing this out of spite.  But maybe…maybe doing this out of spite isn’t the way.” She shakes her head. “Maybe I’ll just drop the lawsuit and let you move on with your damn life.”

“Chastity, I’m sure we can work something out.”

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Later That Night
Off Camera
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“Are you serious?!”

Kurt Logan, the husband of Glory Braddock, is seated on the edge of the king sized bed of their hotel room.  He is staring with a stunned expression upon his face at his wife who is stripping down out of her clothes.  The British Bombshelll tosses her boots aside first.

“I’m certain, love.” Braddock slowly pulls off her denim jeans and tosses them aside. “This bitter rivalry between myself and my sister needs to end.  One of us needs to be the bigger person.”

The blonde tosses her floral print blouse aside.  She is now standing in front of her husband in just lace pink bra and panty set.  Braddock then walks over to her suitcase where she reaches inside and produces a matching pink nightgown.  Glory puts the nightgown on, walks over to the king sized bed, and lies down next to her husband Kurt.

“Maybe she needed to be the bigger person, have you ever thought of that?” Kurt asks.  Glory sighs deeply.

“Yeah, well, I won’t argue with you on the fact that she has been acting rather childish about this whole debacle.  No arguments at all whatsoever.”

“Childish is putting it mildly.” Kurt remarks pointedly. “She rejected your entire family.  She turned her back on your entire family.  I’m not sure she’s entitled to anything at all, and yet you’re giving her half-ownership of the wrestling school?”

“It is her legacy and dad never did take her out of the will.” Glory shrugs her shoulders. “Who knows?  Maybe dad forgave her at the end of it all?  We’ll never know.  But what I do know is that she raises a good point.  Dad did play favorites with us and it wasn’t right, not right at all.  She has every reason to feel the way she does.”

Kurt sighs and shakes his head. “You’re being too kind to her, but that’s just my opinion babe.”

“Maybe you’re right?” She leans over and kisses him on the cheek. “But the truth is that we cannot let hate run our lives.  We have to let go and move on if we ever expect any of this to heal.”




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On Camera
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When I say something I mean it.  Abigail Lindsey, I meant it when I said I had nothing else to prove to you, I meant every word when I said you and I had no further business to finish.  Week in and week out you can continue to stick your nose in my business but all it will do is annoy me.  Would it provoke me into climbing back into the ring with you?  No, because that’s what you want and I’m not one to give someone like you what they want just to satisfy your sick little games.  So Apocalypse was supposed to be it; that was supposed to be your one and only shot at me, Abigail, and you failed.  Tough luck.  No more rematches because I want to move on to new challenges and new challengers.  I do not have any desire to continue beating your ass all of the ring and choking you out.  I already know I can choke you out, everyone already knows I can choke you out, there’s nothing to prove.  So there’s no way you were going to get me in the ring.

Yet somehow you found a way.  I guess I should have seen it coming, because you are very intelligent.  I should have known that you would have found a way to get me in the ring.  People like you, people who have no moral code and no ethics to speak of, of course you would do anything and stoop to any low in order to get me in the ring.  So it doesn’t come as to any surprise that you would align yourself with someone like Clyde Sutter.

Understand one thing Abigail, this match isn’t about you or any perceived “unfinished business” between you and I, because I want to make it perfectly clear right now that we have NO unfinished business.  You are riding Clyde Sutter’s coattails.  He is the only reason you are going to get another match with me and you know it.  If it hadn’t been for him and what he did to Alistaire Allocco then this little tag match between you and him against me and Peyton wouldn’t be happening.

In other words, Abigail, make good use of this time because this is the last time you’re going to get me in the ring.  People like you don’t deserve to get whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want it in this business.

You’re scum, Abigail.

You could’ve earned my respect and earned another opportunity to wrestle me by proving your worth inside the ring, not with blindside attacks and definitely not by associating with the worst of humanity.  And yet that is exactly what you did.  You attacked me from behind...gee, how original, you did it at Rise To Greatness and you did it again on Breakdown...can you think of anything else or is that all your feeble mind can come up with?  And as if that weren’t provocation enough you choose to side with a man who put Alistaire on the shelf.

Instead of working for it, working to earn another fight with me, working to earn my respect, you take the lowest of low roads.  What little respect I did have for you is completely gone. The fact that you’re willing to work with a monster like Sutter makes you scum, garbage, and Peyton and myself are going to take out the trash.

Speaking of garbage, there’s your tag team partner and chosen associate Clyde Sutter.  You are worse than Abigail in my eyes because you are the antithesis of everything my father fought for.  You are the opposite of what my father stood for and taught at his school.  That’s why I kicked you out of my school, Sutter.  You look at professional wrestling not as a noble sport between two competitors to see who is the best, but instead as an excuse to hurt someone just for the sake of hurting them.

Alistaire Allocoo didn’t deserve what you did to him.  No one deserves to have their very career threatened by a no good bully like you.  That’s all you are, mate.   You’re just a bully who knows he’s big, knows he’s bad, and knows he can use his strength and power to his advantage.

That isn’t what wrestling is supposed to be about, mate.  Wrestling is supposed to be competitive contest of kings and queens but people like you bastardize it when you try to take people out for no reason other than just to prove that you can.  And you think that makes you a tough guy?  Newsflash, wanker; you’re being used and manipulated by Abigail Lindsey all because she knows that you’re her golden ticket to a match against me.

How does it feel knowing that you’re being manipulated, tough guy?  Or better yet, why don’t you tell me how it feels to have the very breath of life itself choked out of you because that’s what is going to happen at Clarity.

I stood by and let you happen, Clyde.  That was my mistake.  I didn’t listen to the warnings from my trainers at the school who told me you were trouble.  I didn’t find out about your problems until it was too late.  And for some ungodly reason SCW chose to hire you.  All of these were mistakes but since I made the first mistake in ignoring you and letting you happen, it now falls upon me to eliminate you once and for all.

And I will be proud to do it standing side by side with Peyton Rice.  That young lady is everything good about wrestling.  She fully understands what this sport is about, she isn’t scum like you Abigail and she isn’t a troublemaker like you Clyde.  She is in this for the right reasons and if she wants to accomplish something in this sport she would go about it the right way, by busting her ass and working to earn it, not manipulating her way through shady tactics like you Abigail, and not by trying to end someone’s career like you do, Clyde.

Peyton represents everything good about this sport while you two represent everything that is bad.  At Clarity, I proudly stand by Peyton’s side to take out SCW’s garbage.  Sic Semper Tyrannis...


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